Physics
for future Presidents
What every world leader needs to know
(also known as PffP, Physics C10, and L&S C70V)
Want to teach this at your university? See below.
taught
by
Richard A. Muller
Professor of Physics
(click on the photo for a more interesting one)
(or, for a high-res version
of the photo above , click here)
Wednesday Aug 27. I've created quiz slips. You will need one if we have a quiz
on next Tuesday. Bring extras and you can give them away and make friends (or
sell them and make a profit). They are in both pdf and image formats.
Monday
Aug 25. I've posted the names of the GSIs, their contact information, and a
table that shows which discussion sections they teach. Your GSI will be grading
all of your HW and all of your exams. Learn the name of your GSI; that will be
required on our pop quizzes.
Monday
Aug 25. I've posted a
new version of the PffP calendar, better formated. You can look at his either
as a pdf or as an
image. Don't
forget, however, that the very first HW, your "bio",
is due by Friday Aug 29 at 11 pm.
Sunday Aug 24. I have posted the Fall 2008 versions
of Chapter 1 Energy html
or pdf, and Chapter 2
Atoms and Heat html or pdf for those of you who do
not yet have your textbook yet.
Aug 20. I posted the PffP calendar for this semester, Fall 2008. This includes all HW, lectures, and dates for the two midterm exams and final exam. I do not give exams except on the fixed dates; if you are on a team and are traveling on those dates, we can usually arrange to have your coach give the exam.
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Class Textbook, required for this course. Due to a publisher's glitch, it can't be ordered just yet at its discount price of $51.25, but that will be fixed by Aug 21. If you are in a rush, you can buy at higher price ($68.25) at the bookstore.
|
There
are two books I have written titled Physics for Future Presidents.
The one on the left is the textbook for this course. The new fall edition has
13 chapters including multiple choice and essay questions, and is the
required text for PffP. Note that the new edition for Fall 2008 contains a
chapter on Climate Change. If you are taking the course, do not buy the
Spring 2008 edition, but wait until the new edition is available. It costs
$51.25 to buy it online, shipping included. (Make sure you use the special
code that you get when you get to the website.) Unfortunately, due to a
publisher's mistake, it will not be avaialbe for online purchase until Aug 20
or 21. (To get the low price, read the link carefully and use the discount it
offers.) It is also available at the bookstore for a higher price, $68.25.
Don't worry about the delay ordering it online; the first few chapters are
posted in the far left column so you can read them while you wait. |
Popular Version Not for this course. Click image to order it. |
IMPORTANT: For those enrolled in the course there are three HW requirements for the first week of classes (Thursday through the following Tuesday).
HW 1 due Friday August 29 is
to send me answers to 12 questions below via email.
HW 2 due Tuesday Sept 2 (day after Labor Day)
is a reading assignment: read Chapter 1 and be prepared for a brief quiz. I've
put this chapter online, in case you don't yet have the book yet. it is available
in both html and pdf formats.
HW 3 due Tuesday Sept 2. Read
this page (which is the syllabus) to see if there is anything else applicable
to you.
Details for HW 1: Send me email. In the subject line of your email put your LAST NAME, FIRST NAME, your student ID number, and then the words PffP bio. So the subject line should look like this, but with your name in place of President Bush's (unless you are President Bush):
Bush,
George, 84083242, PffP bio
In the body of the email itself, copy the following list of questions and put in your answers after each one.
1. full name (first, middle initial, last):
2. Student ID# (SID):
3. Name for to address you. First name? Nickname? :
4. Secret name, for posted grades (12 character limit). If you use your student
ID, then the grade is public:
5 . email address:
6 . telephone (where do I call if you are late for the final exam?):
7 . year (Freshman? Senior?):
8 . major (or a guess for future major):
9. which are you enrolled in: Physics or L&S:
10. most advanced physics you have studied (if any), e.g. "HS
physics" or "none":
11 . physics subject you are most interested in learning about in this course:
12. Why are you taking this course?
13. Team membership, if any. (What position? What event?) Do you work (earn
money), or plan to work?
14. Tell me about yourself. What do you do when not studying? Participate in
sports? Work? Play a musical instrument? Write? Compose? Sing? Dance? Watch
movies, sports? Politics? Activism? Read? (Fiction? Nonfiction?) Fix cars?
Cook? Join any clubs? Volunteer? Ambitions? Anything about yourself you are
willing to share. Don't be shy.
Then send the email (make sure the subject header is correct first, i.e. LastName, First, Student ID, PffP bio) to: ramuller@berkeley.edu.
If you do this correctly (right header, etc.) then you will be granted one quiz point. Submit it incorrectly and you will get 0 quiz points. Fail to do it and you may be dropped in favor of a waitlisted student. Here is the required format. I apologize for the formality of this, but we have over 500 students, and unless it is done correctly, my computer can't sort them without my intervention.
Welcome to "Physics for future Presidents." The title is serious. The official designation is Physics C10 or L&S C70V (the course is cross-listed), and sometimes called qualitative physics -- but this is not trivial physics. You will be learning material that is generally not learned by the physicist until after earning a Ph.D. After every lecture, you should come away with the feeling that what was just covered is important for every world leader to know. (Except, perhaps, for the material on Relativity, which is just interesting.)
The Spring 2007 KGO ABC7 story about our class can be viewed online. Be sure to watch the video too. The link is: Top Universities Offer Free Lectures Online. You can also read the older SF Chronicle newspaper story about our course. I was recently interviewed on KQED radio about my new popular book, and that interview can be heard or downloaded here: Interview on KQED Forum.
Please note that if you take this class, attendance at the lectures is REQUIRED. So please don't sign up unless you intend to get there every TuTh at 9:30 am. If you do make it on time, I promise to make it worth your while. My goal is for this to be the best course you have ever taken. If there are times when you can't make the lecture (you are off competing on a team, or you have to pick up a friend at the airport), then you may be excused provided that you follow the following procedure prior to missing the class.
I check attendance (and reading) by giving surprise quizzes. For these, you should bring with you a few copies of quiz strips, printed out from the quiz strip page. The extras will be useful to sell to other students who have forgotten theirs;) Absence will be excused if email is sent to your GSI (copy to me) before the missed lecture, and if it contains a reasonable excuse (e.g. you were killed in a terrorist incident, you have to be away to compete in a sporting event, or your friend had to be picked up at the airport). Don't make up excuses; if you do, and I find out, you will get an F in the course.
If you have
more than 2 unexcused absences, I will lower your grade by
1 grade or more. (Your A+ will become a B+. If you are earning a C you will get
an F, since I don't like to give Ds.)
Lecture absence excuses. To be excused, send a carefully-formatted email to your GSI prior to the missed lecture. The "subject" MUST be in the following format: Last name, first name, day of month to be excused and month. So, for example, the subject might look something like this:
Last Name, First Name, 10 April
The text of your email excuse should be your reason for missing lecture. It could be due to illness, or a need to pick up a friend at the airport. Don't be creative; be honest. If there was some reason that you could not send the email prior to the lecture, then send it afterwards to your GSI with an explanation for the lateness.
No prior physics is required. In fact, even if you had no physics in high school, you will not be at a disadvantage. Moreover, even if you are a physics major, you will find that most of the material is new. Physics majors spend so much time learning the math and to abstract calculations that they often do not get to the important results. This course is now open for physics majors too, in fact, is is an excellent supplement for your other physics courses.
The course does use some math. But I have never had a student complain that the math was too hard. I expect everyone to be able to use calculator notation, the symbols used on calculators when the numbers are large or small. So, for example, one billion is 1E9. That means 1 followed by 9 zeros. (The "E" stands for "exponent", and really means "10 to the power of".) Likewise, one billionth is written as 1E-9. This is equivalent to what is called "scientific notation." There will be a discussion of such notation in the discussion sections in the first week.
In
addition, you need to be able to find square roots. That means that for homework and
exams you probably should have a calculator that will do this. Quick review:
take the square root, multiply it by itself, and you'll get the number. Check
your knowledge by verifying the following examples. If you have trouble, come
to the first discussion section with questions and requests for review.
(will be reviewed in discussion sections)
sqrt(81) = 9
sqrt(2) = 1.414 (approximately)
sqrt(1E40) = 1E20
sqrt(2E40) = 1.414E20 (approximately)
sqrt(2E-40) = 1.414E-20 (approximately)
2E5 x 3E9 = 6E14 (i.e.numbers in front multiply; exponents add)
6E5/2E9 = 3E-4
Weekly Homework (starting Thursday 4 September 2008)
The HW and reading is given in the posted schedule. You
will read the entire textbook. Typically, we will cover one chapter each week.
Reading is due by Tuesday lecture. You are NOT required to answer the questions
at the ends of the chapters. Those are only to test your knowledge, and are for
your own private use. Most of them were taken from previous quizzes or exams.
Thursday
email HW. Every week you are expected to find and read an
article on physics or technology from a newspaper or magazine. It should be a
serious article. Good sources are
-The New York Times (which has a science section every
Tuesday)
available
online at www.nytimes.com
-Science News (a brief but excellent
newsletter available
in the library and on newstands)
-Popular Science, Scientific American, Discover, New Scientist,
or some similar magazine
-www.Economist.com (the best weekly
newsmagazine!)
-San
Francisco Chronicle
(online at SFGate.com)
-Do NOT
use ScienceDaily.com unless you are cautious.
Its articles tend to be superficial and misleading, and that
could lead to a lower score for you.
-NEVER
use the Yahoo science page. It is too frequently low quality.
By Thursday evening (11 pm) submit a one to three paragraph essay to your GSI via email. Write your essay in the body of your email; do not attach an external file (such as a Word document or pdf file). The "subject" of your email should be in the following format:
Last name, First name, HW, day month (that HW is due)
for example:
Bush, George, HW, 16 January
Remember to email it to your GSI,
not to Muller! (Again I apologize for this formality, but teaching 500 students
without error isn't easy.)
Your homework grade will be 0 (if you didn't hand it in), 1 (if you did a poor job), 2 (if you did a good job), or 3 if you did an exceptionally good job (only for the best two or three emails for that week). I plan to post the best submission every now and then so that others can see what we like. Note: you do NOT have to understand the article you read, as long as you can clearly state what aspects of the article you did not understand! Try to write something that other students will find interesting.
For each homework submission email, do the following (or you will lose
points)
1) State your name, SID, and
secret name
2) Include citation or link to
article. (Which newspaper? Page number? Who wrote it?)
3) No attachments allowed.
Simply email text to your GSI. I suggest that
you write your summary in a
word processor and spell check it, and then cut
and paste into an email.
4) 300 or 350 words is about
right. Use about 1/2 - 3/4 of that
to summarize the article, and
the rest to draw connections to
class or ask relevant
questions.
Half of the homework grade will be based on the quality of the writing. Imagine that you are briefing the U.S. President on an issue that you consider important. Your essay should be a pleasure to read! You will lose credit if you have more than one misspelling, or have any error in grammar (run-on sentence etc.). If English is not your primary language, please state your primary language at the beginning of the email.
Late homeworks are usually not accepted, unless there is an extraordinary excuse. The fact that you had an exam the next day, or a huge project, is not extraordinary. You can always prepare your homework a week or two in advance, but please don't submit it more than a few days in advance of the due day. Email your excuses to your GSI, not to Muller.
Exams. We will have two midterm exams and a final exam. Each exam will have an essay question and a series of multiple-choice or otherwise short questions.
The first midterm exam is tentatively scheduled for Thursday Oct 2, 2008, in class (9:30 am). If you cannot be present at that time, contact me immediately. The exam will consist of two parts: approximately 20 short questions and an essay question. For sample exams, see the old exams from previous semesters. To see how the GSI will grade the essays, look at essay guidelines.To see some essays that scored a perfect 20 in past semesters, see explosions and nukes.
The second midterm exam is tentatively scheduled for Thursday Nov 13. It will be in class, and similar in format to the first midterm. If you cannot be present at that time, contact me immediately.For sample exams, see the old exams from previous semesters. To see how the GSI will grade the essays, look at essay guidelines. To see some essays that scored a perfect 20, see eyes and Greenhouse effect.
The final exam is scheduled for 8 am (!!) on Tuesday Dec 16. If you cannot be present at that time, contact me immediately. If you have other exams scheduled on this day, consider dropping that class; I will not give you the final exam either early or late. The exam will consist of two parts: approximately 40 short questions and one or two essay questions. It will be like two midterm exams. For sample exams, see the old exams from previous semesters.
Grades. Your final grade will be based on the following breakdown:
·
quizzes:
10%
·
midterm
exams: 20% each
·
final
exam: 40%
·
homework
+ discussion section participation: 10%
The grade distribution will be approximately the following: 30% of the students will earn an A, 45% a B, and 25% a C or below. This is the same distribution that is used for Astronomy 10. Beware: it is easier to earn a C than you might think. Every semester I have students who got a C, and write me saying that now they can't register in their chosen major, or they will lose their scholarship, and they seek my help. All I can do is cry with them. The easiest way to get a C is to miss a few quizzes or forget to hand in a few homeworks. For permission to hand in your HW late (or to do one that you missed) you must seek permission from your GSI. For exam issues, I (Muller) am the only person to contact.
Cheating:. Two years ago I flunked two students who were talking to each other on the final exam. (They said that they were only discussing how to spell a word.) I consider that very light punishment. In the future, I am determined not to be so lenient. Last semester I caught 8 students cheating on quizzes -- in some cases having others take the quiz for them. They were also severely punished.
GSI information. Office hours. Visit any GSI. Get to know them all! We have spread out office hours so that they don't conflict with the discussion sections, and we emphasize early week since midterm exams are on Thursdays. Office hours for the particular GSIs will be listed below.
Sebastian
Wickenburg (head GSI)
email: wickenburg@berkeley.edu
phone (before 10
pm): 510 717-7683
office hour: in 473
Birge, time to be determined.
Paul Bruno
email: paulbruno@gmail.com
phone (before 10
pm):(510) 282-3122
office hour: in 473
Birge, time to be determined.
C. Mia Ihm
email:ihm@berkeley.edu
phone (before 10
pm):(312) 206 6705
office hour: in 473
Birge, time to be determined.
Amber Lancaster
email:
amberlancaster@berkeley.edu
phone
(before 10 pm): (314) 397-2020
office hour: in 473
Birge, time to be determined.
Patrick Lee
email: patrick.robin.lee@gmail.com
phone:(559)
284-4019
office hour: in 473
Birge, time to be determined.
Andrew Myers
email: atmyers@berkeley.edu
phone (before 10
pm): (919) 302-9513
office hour: in 473
Birge, time to be determined.
Lindsey Nolan
(don't confuse with Lindsay Wells, below)
email: linznol@berkeley.edu
cell phone (use
with discretion, and only before 10 pm): (813) 767-6130
office hour: in 473
Birge, time to be determined.
Sasha
Peterka
email: peterka@math.berkeley.edu
cell phone (use
with discretion, and only before 10 pm): (510) 229-7196
office hour: in 473
Birge, time to be determined.
Lindsay Wells
(don't confuse with Lindsey Nolan, above)
email: lindsay.clarke13@gmail.com
cell phone (use
with discretion, and only before 10 pm): (410) 299-0888
office hour: in 473
Birge, time to be determined.
Discussion Sections: Below is a list for the Fall 2008 semester. The initial GSI assignements will be shown in the table below. Send your Thursday HW and your requests for excused absences to your GSI.
|
101 |
M 1-2 |
105
Latimer |
|
|
102 |
Tu
12-1 |
B51
Hildebrand |
|
|
103 |
W3-4 |
9
Evans |
|
|
104 |
Th
11-12 |
151
Barrows |
|
|
105 |
F 1-2 |
6
Evans |
|
|
106 |
M
12-1 |
4
Evans |
|
|
107 |
Th
1-2 |
6
Evans |
|
|
108 |
W
11-12 |
2
Evans |
|
|
109 |
M
11-12 |
6
Evans |
|
|
110 |
Th
2-3 |
174
Barrows |
|
|
111 |
M 1-2 |
155
Barrows |
|
|
112 |
Tu
1-2 |
4
Evans |
|
|
113 |
W 3-4 |
6
Evans |
|
|
114 |
Tu
11-12 |
151
Barrows |
|
|
115 |
M
12-1 |
2
Evans |
|
|
116 |
M
11-12 |
2
Evans |
My email address is ramuller@berkeley.edu. Equally good (and shorter to type) is ramuller@lbl.gov.
My office hours:
Monday 11-12, and Thursday 11-12 (after class), in 390 LeConte.
You may call me at my cell phone (510) 735-6877, before 10 PM, if possible. For an emergency, call any time.
My personal and research web site is www.muller.lbl.gov.
Not sure if you should take PffP?
You will learn important things. Look at some of the old exams. Would you like to be able to answer these questions? After taking this class, the average student got 75-80% of the questions correct. Imagine yourself, one semester from now, feeling comfortable and competent with this material.
Afraid of math? Don't avoid this class because you are afraid of math. Some math is required (see math) but I have never had a student complain that the math was too difficult.
Hate physics? So do about 30% of the students who enter this course. They swore they would never take physics again, usually after a bad experience in high school. This course is different, rigorous, but designed for the liberal arts student (also pre-law, pre-everythingelse).
Never had any physics before? Don't worry. The same is true for about 35% of the students who take this class. You will not be at a disadvantage (or at least only a minor one). Very little of the material we cover is taught in the typical high school courses. Even less is taught in AP physics.
Watch a sample lecture. If you're still not sure, watch the beginning of my first lecture from fall 2006.
Want to teach this course at your university? The textbook has already been used at U. Chicago, U. Wisconsin, U. Kansas, U. Nevada (Reno), New Mexico State, and the course has also been taught at (I'm not kidding) San Quentin. The book can be purchased by your students online for $49.49, or it can be ordered by your bookstore (which will then charge a higher price to the students). If you are interested in doing this, you might like to look at the Table of Contents, Preface, and Pedagogy section of the book (available in html or pdf).