Dear Physics 606 Students,
Please read the important information below and click on all the links
on the homepage to learn more about your
other responsibilities in taking this course.
Welcome to How Things Work II. This is a course in conceptual physics
that focuses on objects that involve electricity, magnetism, light,
radiation, and nuclear energy. This will be the first time we have
taught this course using CDS instead of videotapes. The demonstrator
and lecturer is Professor Lou Bloomfield who has originated and
developed the courses How Things Work I and II at UVa. The lectures on
the CDS are not rehearsed, but are edited versions of live lectures
given at UVa. Assignments and administrative
information related to the undergraduate course have been edited from
the
CDS. Most of the several hundred students in the class take it as an
elective
to fullfill a science requirement. Although the class that is taped is
an
undergraduate class, you will still find the lectures and demos
interesting and stimulating. Our purpose in making this course
available to teachers
is to provide you with a myriad of physics examples of “How Things
Work”
in everyday life and demos that you can use in your classroom as a
teacher.
This is an excellent way to motivate young people to learn about
science.
Some of you may find the level of physics discussion in the classroom
on
the CDS too rudimentary. However, you may find the
multiple-choice exams
more challenging as well as arriving at the correct explanations for
the
essay questions for the case studies that I assign for homework. Dr.
Bloomfield
starts most of his lectures with a question and proceeds to discuss the
physics
surrounding the question. From the discussion of specific applications
we arrive at the general physics principles. The case studies assigned
for homework
are quite informative and provide an excellent way to study and learn
physics
concepts. You may also obtain information on how to build any of the
demos
you see in this course. For example, see the website
http://howthingswork.virginia.edu/demonstrations.html#skating.
WebAssign
After I get confirmation from the School of Continuing and Professional
Studies that you have registered, I will set up a user name and
password on WebAssign for you. I will notify you by your personal email
and you will be able to log on to WebAssign. You then must learn how to
submit homework by taking the "test" on Webassign that teaches you how
to use the system. Click on the webassign link on the course home page.
UVa Email
You must activate your UVa email since all correspondence will be
through your UVa email address. Please click on the link on the home
page that shows you how to activate your UVa email. You will be
assigned a username and password for your UVa email.
Blackboard
After you have activated your email address, you must obtain your
username and password to use features of Blackboard at UVa. Please
click on the Blackboard link on the home page and familiarize yourself
with it. Blackboard will be used as a discussion board, chat room, and
drop box for this course. Blackboard username is the same as your UVa
email username. Password is fist initial of first name, first initial
of last name,first three digits of SSN, 4 digit birthday.
Example
Name John A. Smith
UVa email jas2g@virginia.edu
SSN 036268791
Birthday June 2
username jas2g
password js0360602
Lecture CD's
The CD's will be sent by UPS to the address on your registration
form. Please RSVP via email when you have received the CD's.
Please click on the link General Course Information to learn how to
read the CDs.
Textbook
The recommended text is the second edition of How Things Work. the
second edition the chapter on water steam and ice is on the website and
not in the book. You will need access to the website material, which is
located at
http://rabi.phys.virginia.edu/HTW/book.html.
Note that in the table of
contents
you can click on the blue type, which is the material not in the book,
and
it will come up on the website. This material is actually contained in
the
longer first edition. If you have the first edition, you really don’t
need
the second edition of the book, since all problems are rewritten on
WebAssign. Please click on the link General Course Information to see
where to buy the textbook..
Please click on all the links on the
homepage to learn about your
other responsibilities in taking this course.