"Is it a fact--or have I dreamt it--that, by means of electricity, the world of matter has become a great nerve, vibrating thousands of miles in a breathless point of time?" 
     --Nathaniel Hawthorne

Questions/comments (*.png) 

Pick up your Quiz 3; scores posted online
Discussion of selected questions at waiferx.blogspot.com

Quiz 4 Flashcard Questions (*.pdf)

Ch. 18.1: Electric Current
Ch. 18.2: EMF and Circuits
Ch. 18.4: Resistance and Resitivity (*.pdf) (*.mov)

Questions/comments (*.png) 

Midterm 1 Announcements
     Wednesday, 3/14, 12:30-1:50 PM
     Bring your scientific calculator
     **USE YOUR OWN UNIQUE 4-DIGIT P.I.N.**
     **EQUATIONS PROVIDED**
     Closed-book, closed-notes
     No Scantrons; circle/write answers directly on Midterm
     Five multiple-choice questions = 15 points
          No work needs to be shown; no partial credit
          (Three questions adapted from Spring 2012 Quizzes 1-3)
          (Two questions adapted from Midterm 1 (Chs. 17.1-17.2) flashcard question packet)
     Two short-answer questions = 20 points
          Partial credit given for relevant discussion
               Refraction, total internal reflection: one question
               Thin lens equation, ray tracings: one question
     Two worked-out problems = 40 points
          Partial credit given for approach and method
               Path length, reflection phase change interference: one problem    
               Electric field of two point charges: one problem
                

Due 12:00 AM before start of next class
     Reading assignment 14 (*.html)

"...Important as is dexterity in the handling and adjustment of apparatus, it can not be too strongly emphasized that it is grasp of principles, not skill in manipulation which should be the primary object of General Physics courses."
     --Robert A. Millikan

Preparation
Pre-lab assignment 7 (*.html) 
     (Due 12:00 PM before start of lab)

Equipment 
     rulers/metersticks (12", 1 m, 2 m)
     whiteboards, markers
     aluminum foil roll
     catalog/directory/book, with several hundred numbered pages
          (student-provided books okay)
     digital multimeter (voltmeter/ammeter/ohmmeter)
     capacitance meter (if not part of digital multimeter functions)
     banana plug wires, alligator clips

Digital Multimeter Setup  
(These instructions do not need to be included in your step-by-step procedure.)   
Turn dial from "off" to "capacitance" (usually a symbol with two vertical lines).  Plug wires into the "COM" and "V-Ω" sockets, and connect these wires to your capacitor plates.  After you are done, turn the dial back to the "off" position.  

Research Question 
"Capacitance [of a parallel-plate capacitor] is proportional to the area of overlap [of the two plates] and inversely proportional to the separation between conducting sheets."
     --"Capacitance," Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 
         retrieved March 3, 2011 (*.html).

How plausible are each of these two dependencies for a parallel plate capacitor comprised of pages sandwiched between two aluminum foil sheets?

Tasks
Procedure 
Write a step-by-step procedure on a whiteboard.  Instructor will check it off for full credit before data collection.  (It is okay to do some preliminary scratch work.)  Procedure should be detailed enough for another Physics 205B student to reproduce your results, without having to "fill in the blanks."  Instructor may instead make suggestions or corrections that need to be completed before your group can receive full credit.  

Data
Record your data on another whiteboard.  Instructor will check it off for full credit before laboratory ends.  Data should be detailed enough for another Physics 205B student to understand what relevant quantities were measured for interpretation later.  Graphs may be plotted by hand on graph paper, or printed out from a computer.  

Make sure you have a copy (hand-written, smartphone photo, etc.) of your instructor-checked procedure and instructor-checked data before cleaning up equipment and leaving laboratory today.
Report Format
Procedure
Data
Discussion/Conclusion
Describe how the data is used to answer the research question.  Discussion should be detailed enough for another Physics 205B student to reproduce your results, given similar data.  

Your report should include all three parts, manuscript format (double-spaced neat writing or typed; equations/calculations can be written in by hand).  Due at the end of next laboratory.  (Reports up to one week late are graded for half-credit.  No reports accepted more than one week late.)  Additional credit awarded for instructor verifiably receiving report during the first 10 minutes of next laboratory.
Preparation/Reflection Points
1 = Pre-lab reading assignment (graded for completion)
1 = Post-lab reflection assignment (graded for completion)

Report Points (due at end of next lab, +1 bonus for early submission)
1 = Procedure (graded for completion during lab)
1 = Data (graded for completion during lab)
3 = Discussion/Conclusion/Report 
     3 = Complete, thorough, understandable
         (Reproducible by another student from start-to-finish.)
     2 = Minor, "resolvable" omissions--acceptable effort
         (Some common-sense/intuitive steps missing.)
         (Another student would need a few minutes in order to "fill in the blanks.")
     1 = Major "problematic" omissions--minimally acceptable effort
         (Some essential/critical steps missing.)
         (Another student would need to ask questions in order to "fill in the blanks.")
     0 = Unacceptable or no significant effort beyond original in-lab work
                    
1 = Early bonus for report received by instructor up until first 10 minutes of next lab
                    
Follow-up
Complete this week's lab report and post-lab assignment, next week's pre-lab assignment, and review lab instructions.

Due 12:00 PM before start of next lab
     Post-lab assignment 7 (*.html)

"...Tests are a gift.  And great tests are a great gift.  To fail the test is a misfortune.  But to refuse the test is to refuse the gift, and something worse, more irrevocable, than misfortune."
     --Lois McMaster Bujold

MIDTERM 1: 12:30-1:50 PM
     **PLEASE SIT IN EVERY OTHER SEAT**
     **NO CELL PHONES/MEDIA PLAYERS/PDAS ALLOWED**
     USE YOUR OWN UNIQUE 4-DIGIT P.I.N.
     WRITE NAME AND P.I.N. ALONG EDGE OF MIDTERM
     CIRCLE ANSWERS, SHOW WORK DIRECTLY ON MIDTERM
     FINISHED EARLY?  TURN IN MIDTERM, BE CONSIDERATE AND QUIET WHEN LEAVING

Due 12:00 AM before start of next class
     Homework report 15 (*.html)
     Reading assignment 15 (*.html)

Conceptual Question 17.15
Problems 17.51, 17.55(b), 17.57(a),(c), 17.73, 17.79, 17.83