Your Professor is Charles F. Perdrisat, residing in room
302
(phone 221 3572, e-mail perdrisa@jlab.org). My office hours
will be
Mond., Wedn. from 9 to
12, and Friday
from 9 to 3:30, or by appointment.
The
best way to
communicate rapidly with me is via e-mail: perdrisa@jlab.org.
The internet address for this course is http://www.physics.wm.edu/~perdrisa/phy208/
; there you will find the list of .html files available to you.
(for example the syllabus)
The class meets on MWF from 10:00 to 10:50 in room 238;
Fridayfrom
1:00 to 1:50 we meet in xxx to discuss problem assignments;
questions will
be entertained, suggestions on how to solve the problems assignedor the
material
of the course might be offered.
I will follow the text; (note that this semester I will use the 5th
edition of Thorton and Marion. The problems differ in part from
previous editions I strongly recommend that you work out all the
examples in the text; in some chapters
they represent half the materialand.
I may discuss a selection of them in class. We start with chapter 2
and
the goal is to do everything to the end chapter 8 (more or
less).
You are expected to have the required text: Thornton and Mario, Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems, 5th edition.
Home work will be assigned each week, typically 5 (but not
less
than 4) problems due on Wednesday at 10 am. The problem assignments are
on
the syllabus (which might be updated from time to time). You
are encouraged
to use
your preferred mathematical package to solve equations or calculate
integrals; your solutions should contain enough information on the
method
used, and possibly simplifications made, for the grader tobe able to
verify
that your work
is original. Problem solving is an essential physicist's
skill, and will be strongly tested (or challenged) in this course.
The TA responsible for grading is Rui
Yang, rxyang@wm.edu; office in room xxx (third floor)
Relative weight
of the 4 components of your grade will
be 15% for test I, 25% for test II,
30% for final
and 30% for home work.
This page will be modified as necessary. Don't
hesitate to ask questions in class.