General College Physics

Wisconsin Lutheran High School

Week 2 (Aug. 19 - 23)

Reading: PSE Chap 1, Physics and Measurement

Topics: This week, we finish our discussion length, time and other units, unit conversions, dimensional analysis. We will also focus on orders of magnitude and how to estimate quantities.

Homework and Laboratory Exercises: Due Wednesday of week 3. Lab due Thursday of week 3.

Pendulum laboratory experiment

Study the guidelines for how to keep a laboratory notebook.
Suspend a pendulum bob from a thin cord. Pull it back, release it, and measure the time for one oscillation. How far did you pull it back? How long was the pendulum? What is the weight of the bob? Be sure to estimate and record the uncertainty in each of your measured quantities.
Repeat this procedure for several different cord lengths, recording your procedure and data in your lab book notebook
Using Logger Pro, make a (beautiful) plot of the period of oscillation as a function of the pendulum length. Be sure to clearly label your axes and make your data points large and visible (but not too large).
Does your data behave as you expect, based on dimensional analysis? Fit an appropriate mathematical function to your data to see if it matches your expectations.
Print your plot and fix it into your laboratory notebook. Explain what you learned from your experiment and what you would do differently if you were to do the experiment again.
Scan and submit all of the laboratory notebook pages from our pendulum experiment this week.

Estimate the speed of the earth as it orbits around the sun. Hint: the earth is bit under 100 million miles from the sun. Solution.
Estimate the number of spiders inside your house. Explain your reasoning. Solution.

Quiz: our first quiz will be on Monday of week 3. It will cover material from weeks 1 and 2.

Registration for College Credit: Wisconsin Lutheran College is requiring students in this course who are interested in obtaining college credit to apply by September 15, 2023. Please apply in the application link below for each class you are wishing to apply for college credit.

https://admissions.wlc.edu/register/foundations

Students will have until October 21, 2023 to drop the course with Wisconsin Lutheran College. Once students apply we will wait for Wisconsin Lutheran College to confirm eligibility and requirements for college credit and communicate out further information. Please reach out to Mr. Davis if you have any questions.

Classroom problems: As a reminder, these are some of the problems we worked out in class…

Dimensional analysis: determine how the period of a pendulum depends on its length and the acceleration of gravity.
Dimensional analysis: determine how the frequency of a stretched vibrating string depends on its length, tension, and mass per unit length.

General College Physics

Return to course website.

Course syllabus

The world around us is in a state of constant change: the sun and moon rise and set, waves crash, mists rise, rain falls, fires burn, rocks form, and mountains crumble. Amidst all of these changes, there are certain patterns; there is a discernible order. In other words: the stars, the seas, the clouds, the rocks, and the earth itself each seem to each have a particular nature. Physics is the careful study of the natures of things. In fact, the word physics literally means "natures" in the Greek language.

General College Physics is a year-long introductory college-level course for advanced (typically junior or senior level) students at Wisconsin Lutheran High School. It is a dual-credit course offered at Wisconsin Lutheran High School in collaboration with Wisconsin Lutheran College. This means that students enrolled in the course have the option of receiving credit for a four-credit algebra-based laboratory science course from the College.

During the first semester, we will primarily study the science of motion and its relationship to forces. Topics include: dimensional analysis, measurement, uncertainty, estimation, dimensional analysis, 2 dimensional kinematics, projectile motion, newton’s laws of motion, force diagrams, centripetal force, circular motion, conservation of energy and momentum, torque, angular momentum, oscillations, and gravity. During the second semester, we will explore a number of inter-related topics including: heat, thermometry, the laws of thermodynamics, electricity, magnetism, optics, electromagnetic induction, radiation, atomic theory, and nuclear physics.

Emphasis on theoretical topics, careful thinking, laboratory experiments, and problem solving makes this course challenging. My aim is to help you succeed in this course, and to have fun while learning physics. So please do not hesitate to contact me with any problems you may run into this semester!

Course textbook: The course will be organized around a book: the Pocket Guide to accompany Physics for Scientists and Engineers (4th edition) by Serway. (I’ll call this PSE for short.) I would highly recommend obtaining a copy of this book. It is inexpensive, compact, and well-written. It will make a very handy addition to your home science library. If you don't want to buy it, I will have copies to loan out for the semester.

Course time and location: The course meets on a rotating schedule in WLHS 223—the science wing on the first floor of WLHS.

Professor: Dr. Kuehn from Wisconsin Lutheran College (WLC) is the professor for this course. Contact info: kerry.kuehn[at]wlhs.org

Teaching Assistant contact info: The Wednesday course sections (beginning in September) will be overseen by a teaching assistants. Alyssa Ebeling is an upper-level physics major at Wisconsin Lutheran College. Here is her contact info: alyssa.ebeling[at]wlc.edu

Course websites: In addition to the course information provided through WLHS’s OnCampus system, we will be also using a website I’ve designed for this course: www.greatphysics.com/WLHS/

Homework exercises: I will assign weekly homework problems. These are designed to deepen your understanding of lecture material and to prepare you for the quizzes and tests. I do not intend to grade your homework solutions; I will merely give you credit for handing in your best attempt by the due date.

Laboratory exercises: Some of our weekly assignments will include laboratory work. Labs will typically take up at least two class periods. Your laboratory notebook pages must be submitted by the assigned due date. More details about the required format and expectations will be discussed before the first laboratory period. You will need to order/purchase a dedicated laboratory notebook. Here are guildlines on what to include in your laboratory notebook.

Quizzes: We will have in-class quizzes almost every week on Monday. To prepare for quizzes, you should read the assigned book chapter (at least once), review the lecture material, complete all of the homework problems, and review the homework solutions.

Tests: We will have a midterm exam before the end of the first (and third) quarters and a comprehensive final examination before the end of the second (and fourth) quarters.

Software: Logger Pro 3.15 Is an excellent data analysis software package. Download for Wndows 10, 8.1, 7, and for macOS 10.14, 10.13, 10.12, 10.11, 10.10. For more details on how to download and install Logger Pro click here.