PHYS 101 :: Physics Illinois :: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Course Description

College Physics:  Mechanics & Heat

Credit: Credit is not given for both PHYS 101 and either PHYS 211 or PHYS 213.

Prerequisite: Trigonometry.

Physics 101 is a non-calculus-based approach to classical mechanics and thermodynamics. Topics covered include:

Course Goals

By the end of this course the student will be able to:

Course Components

All students are required to participate in all course components. 

Credit is granted in each course component. 

All course components are subject to the Academic Integrity Policy.

Learning Strategy

Our learning philosophy is tailored to help students efficiently process problems in physics by providing the necessary experiences.

In introductory physics, the learning philosophy of the Department of Physics can be summarized as follows:

  1. Think About It! (pre-lectures and checkpoints)
  2. Untangle It! (lectures)
  3. Challenge! (homework)
  4. Experience It! (labs)
  5. Close the Loop! (discussion)

This course covers a large amount of new material:

Component Description

Think About It: Pre-lectures and Checkpoints

Due before each lecture, these web-based assessments are designed to introduce the key ideas/concepts of the lecture. 

Assignments are due as presented in the course schedule.

Pre-lecture

Checkpoint

Untangle It:  Lecture

Each lecture will focus on a topic of the day as described in the course schedule. 

There are two options for lectures: one is synchronous (attend lectures on zoom at regularly scheduled times) and the other is asynchronous (you watch a recorded lecture on mediaspace).  The two options of necessity have slightly different grading schemes.  The deadline for taking the asynchronous option is 10:00pm on Sept 25.

For students in the synchronous lectures, you will need to:

For students in the asynchronous lectures, you will need to:

You are enrolled in the synchronous lecture by default.   You can opt into the asynchronous lectures on gradebook.  The deadline for taking the asynchronous option is 10:00pm on Sept 25.

We recommend taking the synchronous option if possible.

The notes from each lecture will be posted on the course website, see the links in the course schedule.

Challenge: Homework

The web-based homework is typically due every Thursday, according to the schedule on the course website and in flipitPhysics.

Homework is assigned and distributed through flipitPhysics.  The homework is due according to the course schedule.

Homework problems are designed to:

Background for the homework is provided by:

To start work on a homework assignment:

Experience It: Laboratory

Students must be on time for lab. No credit will be granted to students arriving more than 10 minutes late for lab.

The laboratory portion of this course will consist of seven (7) pre-labs, four (4) 3-hour laboratories, and a lab practical. Students are expected to:

  1. Arrive on time with the required laboratory manual.
  2. Execute the laboratory exercises by:
    1. setting up simple experiments to investigate topics studied in class
    2. making predictions about the outcome of an experiment
    3. performing measurements of different phenomena studied in lecture
    4. analyzing experimental results
    5. answering questions concerning the results and predictions.
  3. A laboratory write-up which will be completed during the session and turned in at the end of the lab session.

The lab cycle (see course schedule) is designed to provide the opportunity to experience the concepts developed in lecture.

Close the Loop: Discussion

Students must be on time for discussion. Students arriving more than 10 minutes late for discussion will receive a grade of 0% on their group assignment for the day.

Each discussion session will consist of the following:

Supplemental

Also there will be open office hours every week to give students one-on-one assistance if they need more help.  Do not be bashful about taking advantage of these!  Up to 10 extra credit points will be awarded for students who show up for office hours, two (2) points per question, as documented in the office hour queue.

Academic Integrity

All activities in this course are subject to the Academic Integrity rules as described in Article 1, Part 4, Academic Integrity, of the Student Code.

Infractions include, but are not limited to:

Violations of any of these rules will be prosecuted and reported to the student's home college.

All aspects of the course are covered by these rules, including: