Announcements for Physics 272 (Prof. Agashe) – Spring 2018

 

(1). Official letter grades are now posted on testudo.

 

(2). The final exam has been graded and scores are posted on ELMS. The distribution of final exam scores is posted here (average is 53.45 out of 70, with standard deviation of 11.88).

 

Solutions to final exam are posted here.

 

(3). Please check that all your scores have been correctly entered in ELMS: if needed, contact the TA’s directly [Nate Dudley (ndudley@umd.edu) for HW’s and 

Yi-Hua Lai (laiyihua@terpmail.umd.edu) for quizzes and exams] about any discrepancies here.

 

(4). HW 12 has been assigned here, due May 14 (Monday) in folder kept outside Rm. 3118 of PSC.

 

(5). Office hours during the week of May 14:

 

(a). Monday: 11 am. to noon by me in Rm. 3118 of PSC and by the TA (Yi-Hua Lai) 1 to 2 pm. in Rm. 2101 of Toll Building

 

(b). Tuesday: 11 am. to noon by me in Rm. 3118 of PSC and by the TA (Yi-Hua Lai) 2 to 3 pm. in Rm. 2101 of Toll building

 

(c). Wednesday: 2 to 3 pm. by the TA (Yi-Hua Lai) in Rm. 2101 of Toll Building

 

If you really can't make it to any of these, then send me email to set-up an appointment.

 

(6). Final exam (covering all topics) is on May 17 (Thursday) from 1.30 to 3.30 pm. in Rm. 1201 of Toll (Physics) building (same day/location as usual lecture, but different time).

 

(a). It will cover material from more-or-less the entire course, i.e., HW’s 2-12 (roughly chapters 21-31 from Giancoli): in particular, there will be 6 problems,

each with multiple parts. First one will be on Ampere's law for simple geometry; second on Faraday's/Lenz's law (including mutual inductance); third on a

RC circuit (there will be not be any need to use Kirchhoff's laws); fourth on force/torque on one current (or moving change) due to magnetic field of another current

(in a simple geometry); fifth on the basics of a plane, sinusoidal electromagnetic wave and last one on Gauss’s law for a simple geometry.

 

Furthermore, the two problems on Gauss’s and Ampere’s law might involve cases where you will have to carefully compute the enclosed charge/current, e.g., involving

constant current/charge density multiplied by appropriate area/volume, as in problem # 1 of 1st midterm or example 28-26 from Giancoli, which was also done in lecture:

I will go through both problems as part of the review session (see more below).

 

(Note that all of these are rough descriptions only.)

 

(b). The exam problems will be of (roughly) similar level of difficulty/ease as the ones on HW (which are mostly from the textbook Giancoli), problem-solving sessions on

Wednesdays and quizzes. So, if you need to practice, just go through these problems and use other problems (there are plenty of them) from the textbook. In fact,

the problems there are marked level I, II or III (in order of increasing difficulty): most HW problems were picked from category II so that you could try others with same tag.

 

Also, problems in textbook are categorized by sub-topic: for example, Ampere’s law is (secs. 28-4 and 28-5) is covered by problems # 28-25 to 28-31, while Faraday’s/Lenz’s laws,

including motional emf (secs. 29-1, 29-3 and 29-2) are # 29-1 to 29-35. So, it should be easy for you to find a problem on a specific topic that you need to practice.

 

Anyway, some problems for your practice (simply taken from from Giancoli) are posted here.

 

(c). You will not have to actually do an integral in this particular exam (of course, once you use symmetry of the problem, e.g., integral B . dl in Ampere's law problems etc.).

 

(d). This is a closed book/notes: all formulae you need will be provided (but without explanation) on the exam cover sheet (like in 1st midterm/quizzes so far). 

 

A sample cover sheet is posted here (again, the actual one on the exam might be slightly different).

 

(e). I will conduct a brief review of the relevant material during this Friday (May  11) from 2 to 4 pm. in Rm. 1304 of Physics (Toll) building. I will also

be available in my office (Rm. 3118 of PSC) before (1-2 pm.) and after the review (4-5 pm.).

 

During this review, I will discuss the following problems (I might not be able to go through all of them in the 2 hour period): # 34 from Wednesday session,

which is # 31-30 from Giancoli (i.e., on basics of a plane, sinusoidal electromagnetic wave); example 28-26 from Giancoli, which was also done in lecture (Ampere’s law);

# 29 from Wednesday session, which is essentially problem 30-2 from Giancoli (Faraday’s/Lenz’s law and mutual inductance); # 1 from 1st midterm (Gauss’s law);

quiz 8, which was based on problem 27-44 from Giancoli (charged particle moving in magnetic and electric fields) and # 18 from Wednesday session, which is based

on problem 26-45 from Giancoli (RC circuit).

 

Also, a list of formulae/concepts is posted here in order to help you study, but (again) this cannot be brought to the exam.

 

(f). You should bring calculators.

 

(7). Please complete official course evaluations here by May 11 (Friday): thank you again for the feedback.

 

(8). All solutions are posted here.

 

(9).  The average score (out of a maximum of 45) on 2nd midterm is 34.4, with standard deviation being 8 (detailed distribution of scores is here):

solutions are posted here.

 

Note that problems 3 and 4 were graded by the TA (Yi-Hua Lai: laiyihua@terpmail.umd.edu) so that if you have questions about details of grading for

these, then I prefer you discuss it directly with the TA. While # 1 (Ampere’s law) and 2 (Faraday’s/Lenz’s laws) were graded by me so that you can ask me

about that part of the grading.

 

However, before you come to us with questions about grading, please take a careful look at the solutions, since some of your questions might be

answered simply by doing that.

 

(10). The average score (out of a maximum of 45) on 1st midterm is 29.25, with standard deviation being 7.07 (detailed distribution of scores is here):

solutions are posted here.

 

(11). The problems to be solved by you in groups during the Wednesday sessions are here and their solutions are here.

 

(12). Each HW will worth a total of 50 points (for 5 problems). However, a couple of problems (randomly chosen) will be graded

thoroughly: they will carry higher weight (per problem), while remaining ones will be graded more coarsely for less weight.

 

(13). There is an excellent opportunity for you all to continue your physics studies during the coming Fall semester in Florence, Italy:

our own Prof. Orozco will teach Phys273 (i.e., sort of continuation of Phys272), while other physics classes will be taught by local faculty (with 

Prof. Orozco overseeing the entire program).

 

Please see the PDF here and contact Prof. Orozco (lorozco@umd.edu) if needed for more details.

 

(14). The schedule/location of office hours is as follows (they are also listed on the course webpage):

 

(a). By instructor:

 

 Tuesday: 3-4 pm. in in Rm. 3118 of PSC

 

 Thursday: 2-3 pm. Rm. 1304 of Toll building

 

(b) By Yi-Hua Lai (one of the TA’s)

 

Monday: 1.00-2.00 pm. in Rm. 1304 of Toll building

 

Wednesday: 2.00-3.00 pm. in Rm. 2101 of Toll Building

 

Please note location and day carefully. The ones in Rm. 1304 of Toll building (which is actually a small classroom) will be sort of informal discussion sessions, i.e., you are not required to attend them, but it will be useful to do so.