This unit has hurdle requirements, specifying a minimum standard that must be attained in aspects of the unit. To pass this unit you must obtain a mark of at least:

- 50% in the unit overall

as well as 

- 40% in the final examination  

- 40% in each of the laboratory activities

- 40% in at least 8 of 12 quizzes

Required and Recommended Texts and/or Materials

Textbook

Matter and Interactions by Ruth Chabay and Bruce Sherwood.

Either Volume 2 (Paperback) or the combined Volume (hardbound). Note that Volume 1 is the required text for PHYS107 in semester 1.

Web Resources

More information on the required text as well as additional ressource material can be found at http://www.matterandinteractions.org/

There are also other high quality learning resources on the web which we would recommend to you to use in your studies. The HyperPhysics site hosted by the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Georgia State University is widely acclaimed and used. The site also has mathematics learning resources on the maths used in physics.

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe.html (Mechanics, and, Electricity & Magnetism).

Increasingly there are excellent web-based interactive simulations available – some are in the on-line resources that support the textbook. We encourage you to conduct your own web searches for others, and to develop your own critical judgment of which sites provide high quality resources that assist your learning. Two that we recommend to you are:

• http://www.explorelearning.com/ The Explorelearning Gizmos: follow links to Grade 9-12, Physics, Motion and Force; and Electricity & Magnetism. You will have to register to use this site.

• http://phet.colorado.edu/simulations/index.php?cat=Featured_Sims The University of Colorado, Boulder, Physics Education Technology (PhET) Simulations: follow the links to Motion; Energy, Work & Power; and Electricity, Magnets and Circuits. This site also contains maths resources, for example vector addition.

Technology Used and Required 

Lecture notes, tutorial questions and answers, weekly exercises, and other resources will be posted on the PHYS106 iLearn site.

Learning and Teaching Strategy

This unit is taught through lectures and tutorials and through undertaking laboratory experiments. We strongly encourage students to attend lectures because they provide a much more interactive and effective learning experience than studying a text book. The lecturer is able to interpret the physics that you will be learning, showing you the relationships between different components/concepts and emphasising the key physics principles involved. Questions during and outside lectures are strongly encouraged in this unit - please do not be afraid to ask, as it is likely that your classmates will also want to know the answer. You should aim to read the relevant sections of the textbook before and after lectures and discuss the content with classmates and lecturers.

This unit includes a compulsory experimental component. The experiments are stand-alone investigations and may include topics not covered by the lecture content of this course - they are an important part of the learning for this unit and the skills learned are essential for a well-rounded physics graduate.

You should aim to spend an average of 3 hours per week understanding the material and working on the tutorial problems and exercises. Attempting tutorial questions and weekly exercises is one of the key learning activities for this unit. It is by applying knowledge learned from lectures and textbooks to solve problems that you are best able to test and develop your skills and understanding of the material.

As mentioned, there are many useful web resources on this material and we encourage you to seek out youtube videos on electromagnetism and other resources.  However, while reading over the lecture notes and reading the textbook are very important, reading notes and watching physics videos are passive learning activities. It is critical that a substantial portion of your study time in physics is devoted to active learning strategies by attempting numerous problems from the text, tutorials, assignments and past exams. It is simply impossible to become adept in this subject by watching physics problems, you must do physics problems.

Lectures:

There are three lectures per week, as timetabled. Lectures follow the chapters from Volume II of the textbook Matter and Interactions.

Week 1: The electric field

Week 2: Electric fields in matter

Week 3: Electric fields of distributed charges

Week 4: Electric potential 

Week 5: Electric field and circuits

Week 6: Circuit elements

(The midsemester exam will cover content up to this point)

Week 7: Magnetic field

Week 8: Magnetic force

Week 9: Patterns of field in space

Week 10: Faraday's law

Week 11: Electromagnetic radiation

Week 12: Waves and particles

Week 13: Revision

Tutorials

You should attend one tutorial per week. 

Laboratory work

Lab experiments start in week 1. See the section on Laboratory Practicals. 

Laboratory Requirements

The laboratory component is an essential component of your studies and so counts for an appreciable fraction of your final assessment (25%).

The laboratory work is designed to introduce you to some of the basic skills and techniques that are used in experimental physical science. Some of the activities in the laboratory may not relate directly to the material in the lecture course. This is because the laboratory activities are intended not only to illustrate physical concepts but also to provide training in the experimental skills that are required of practicing physicists, scientists and engineers.

You will be provided with instructional material in the form of Laboratory Notes which can be found in the Laboratory Resources section of iLearn, and assisted in the laboratory by a team of demonstrators, many of whom are postgraduate research students. The laboratory program is designed to operate independently of the lectures, although some of the work topics will be discussed in lectures. Indeed there is some advantage in becoming familiar with a topic in an experimental situation before you meet it in lectures. That is often the case in real life!

You will be issued with a Laboratory Notebook in week 1. For each laboratory session, except in week 1, you are required to complete some preparatory work (Pre-Lab) before attending your nominated Lab session. Typically the Pre-Lab will require you to bring some material to the lab to be pasted into your lab book. A portion of your mark for each lab session is allocated to the Pre-lab work. To figure out which Prelab to do do, please consult the Laboratory Schedule on iLearn.

Location of the 100-level Physics Laboratory, E7B114.

The laboratory is located on the ground floor of building E7B, at the NE corner (room 114). Entry is from the courtyard at the opposite end to the main staircase.

Laboratory Attendance Requirements

You are required to attend and to satisfactory complete all rostered laboratory sessions. Each time you attend the laboratory you must sign in and out (legibly) in the attendance book.

If you miss a laboratory session and wish to lodge a "disruption to studies" request you can start this process at https://ask.mq.edu.au.  You will require a medical certificate or other form of evidence to complete this process - contact the unit convenor if you are unsure.

Laboratory classes are compulsory and students who do not attend all classes will be deemed to have failed to meet the learning outcomes of the unit. Moreover, it is a hurdle requirement that you must achieve at least 40% for each of the nine assessable laboratory sessions.

If you miss a laboratory class, or if you fail to meet the hurdle requirement (at least 40%) for any activity, then you must complete a “Request to schedule a Catch-up laboratory session” form. You will find it on iLearn, or you can click the link here. Catch-up lessons will be run in the mid-semester break and in week 13, at the following times:

1. In the mid-semester break:
   • Monday 18^th September at 9am
   • Wednesday 27th September at 2pm
   • Thursday 28^th September at 2pm
2. In week 13:
   • Wednesday 8^th November at 2pm
   • Thursday 9^th November at 9am
   • Thursday 9^th November at 2pm

Laboratory Assessment

Details of the laboratory assessment have been outlined in the first section above.

Laboratory Safety

You are required to follow all safety guidelines given in the lab manual, and as outlined by your lab supervisor. Food and drink cannot be taken into the laboratory and students without suitable covered footwear will be refused admission.

Laboratory Schedule

The first laboratory session will be in the first week of semester. The schedule of labs is posted in the lab and on the iLearn page for your unit. Please attend your nominated laboratory session. If you have difficulty enrolling into a lab session that suits your timetable, then keep trying over a few days as students often move between sessions.