Physics of Everyday Life

1902.150



"People who have a conceptual knowledge of physics are more alive to the world, just as a botanist taking a stroll through a wooded park is more alive than most of us to the trees, plants, flora, and the life that teems in them."

-Paul Hewitt

This course by no means will turn you into a "Physicist" or even a "Scientist;" just as a course in Music Appreciation does not turn you into a "Composer" or "Musician." What the course will do is give you a deeper understanding and appreciation of physics than you would have had otherwise. After this course, you will take a more perceptive view of your physical surroundings.

We observe physics everyday. Everyday phenomena from satellite motion to the morning dew can be explained using the ideas that do not require mathematical rigor. What does it mean to be "weightless"? Why do bees buzz? What is radon and why is it dangerous? Why does it feel hotter when it is humid? You will be able to answer these questions and many more after taking Physics of Everyday Life. More importantly, you will become experienced in discovering physics as it pertains to your own experiences and life.

In a traditional physics course, the formal laws of physics are presented in a lecture and later demonstrated in a laboratory. However, this physics course is not going to be a traditional physics course. In this course, we are going to combine experience with formal learning during lectures. Physics will be presented by actually doing and seeing the physics. The traditional lecture is usually a passive experience. Instead we will use both lecture time and laboratory time for activities and labs. We will do a lot of learning during class. You will have at your side your classmates and instructor acting as guides to help you along. Coming to class to both contribute and receive help is important!

We will work in small groups extensively in this course. Whenever possible we will do "Activities" which will enable you to use real things to help you visualize and conceptualize the physics we are studying. Laboratories will also be used to achieve this goal as well as to learn sound experimental laboratory techniques and methods.

Physics can be a demanding course. One of the rules to succeed is to KEEP UP. You can not slack off for a week and expect to catch up. You have to work on physics every day. Many things have been built into the course to help you succeed: group work, BETA groups, experiential learning, computer simulations, etc. (the Tutoring Center usually has tutors available as well). (In the past, students who miss more than 2 classes usually have found that their grade suffers).

We will be using microcomputers, hands-on materials, and active participation to learn physics. In addition to learning physics, you will acquire valuable computer and laboratory skills, as well as develop your reasoning skills to a greater extent than you would in a traditional laboratory setting.

You will be expected to communicate with me and each other using email. The course will have its own web page and you are expected to check the page at least once a week for announcements or other messages. Of course, we will learn as a class how to do this!

Your learning will depend on what you give and take back from your experiences during lecture and laboratory time.


Student Role in the Classroom:

Although the professor will help lead the discussion in linking the formal laws of physics to everyday life experiences, students will also be responsible for discovering physics in their everyday lives and bringing this knowledge with them to share with the class. Many times, the topics discussed will be driven by student input.


This format of this course is NOT lecture. Although lectures will be a part of each classtime, time will be dedicated:

  • to student learning in small groups
  • active learning via "hands-on" experiments in class
    •
  • students communicating science during classtime



    • Essence of the Course:

    a. Objectives:

    1. The student will learn how to take a more perceptive view of their physical surroundings by learning the central ideas, principle, and relationships of physics. 2. The students will learn how to take hands-on approach to learning which will readily transfer to the elementary as well as secondary classrooms.

    3. The student will learn the "scientific method" - both practically and historically.

    4. The student will learn how to communicate physics both through writing and speaking as it pertains to their own experiences and everyday phenomena.


    b. Topical Outline: The text which will be used initially is Conceptual Physics by Paul Hewitt. It is a respected text for the non-science major. Other possible texts include:

    Physics for Poets, Robert March; Physics as a Liberal Art, James Trefil; Invitation to Physics, Ken Greider


    The course will include selected topics from the sections presented in the textbook:

    I. Mechanics: Motion, Newton's Laws, Momentum, Energy, Gravitation, Rotational Motion, Special Relativity

    II. Properties of Matter: Atomic Nature, Solids, Liquids, Gases

    III. Heat: Temperature, Thermal Expansion, Transmission of Heat, Change of State

    IV. Sound & Light: Vibration and Waves, Sound, Light, Color, Optics

    V. Electricity & Magnetism: Electrostatics, Electric Field and Potential, Electric Current, Electric Circuits. Magnetism, Electromagnetic Induction

    VI. Atomic and Nuclear Physics: Atoms and Quanta, Radioactivity, Nuclear Fission and Fusion


    Physics of Everyday Life is a prerequisite for Patterns of Nature II: Projects in Calculus and Physics, and is taken as a physical science general education lab course by a significant number of elementary education majors. (Elementary Education majors need a specified curriculum related to NJ core science standards). Therefore, the following core of material should be included from the above list, however the extent of coverage is flexible:

    I. (Motion, Newton's Laws, Momentum, Energy, Gravitation, Rotational Motion)

    II. Properties of Matter (general overview)

    IV. Sound & Light (Vibration & Waves)

    V. Electricity & Magnetism: (Electrostatics, Magnetism, general overview of current and potential)

    VI. Atomic and Nuclear (general overview)


    The instructor will include additional topics in the total semester course based on student interest from experiences with past classes or from polling the current group of students, in complement with their own research expertise and talents.



    The laboratories will emphasize doing and seeing the physics studied in class. There will be approximately 12 laboratories selected from activities such as (but not limited to):

    1: Free fall: Students will measure their reaction time by catching a ruler that is dropped.

    2: Conservation of Momentum: Collisions

    3: Two-dimensional Motion: Projectiles

    4: Angular Momentum: Gyroscopes, bicycle wheels and rotating platforms

    5: Mechanical Advantage: Pulleys and ramps

    6: Archimedes Principle: Buoyancy

    7: Pressure and Bernoulli's Principle: Barometers and differences in pressure

    8: Sound Waves: Wavelength, frequency, harmonics of sound waves

    9: Color Lab: Filters, Addition, Subtraction of Colors

    10: Polarization: Half-wave, quarter wave filters and light

    11: Optics & the Pinhole Camera

    12: Converging and Diverging Lenses

    13: Electrostatics: Like and Unlike Charges

    14: The Banana Battery

    15: Magnetism: Mapping magnetic fields of permanent magnets and electric currents

    16: Radioactivity: Radon Monitoring, Activity, Half-life


    c. Evaluation Procedures:

    Students will be evaluated by exams, laboratory write ups, homework, class participation (level of participation in small groups, level of contributing everyday physics discoveries, level of communicating physics to the class) , and a final.


    d. Course Evaluations:

    The departmental teaching evaluation form will be used at the end of the course. An evaluation (anonymous) will also be given to give the students a chance to say what they like and don't like about the course/methods, as well as what they perceive "works" and "doesn't work" with the course. This evaluation can be given the first day, mid-semester, and/or end of semester to see how student perception evolves.

    Materials required for Physics of Everyday Life:

    Conceptual Physics, Hewitt 8th Edition

    Conceptual Physics Lab Manual, Robinson

    Practicing Physics, Hewitt

    3.5" Computer Disk (Macintosh Formatted) (you can reformat DOS disks to MAC)


    Physics Workshop

    Studies have shown that students who study in small study groups perform better than students who work independently. Students usually find that studying with a group is a more efficient method of studying - they don't seem to get "hung up or stuck". When studying in a group, students can pool their knowledge and work together toward the final answer. Since this is the method used in the "real world," it is a good idea to learn how to work efficiently in a group and how to use it as effectively as possible.

    There will be a scheduled physics workshop every week. In the past students who regularly attended workshop had higher homework grades than students who did not. Homework is 25% of your grade (more than a test). It will make a difference in your final grade.

    Workshops will usually be a place where students can work on and compare HW. It is best to have tried all the problems before coming to workshop so you'll know what you need help on, and be able to help others. Workshops will also help prepare students for the 3 exams given during the semester.

    The purpose of the workshop is for students to work with students. There will be a lab monitor present at all the workshops. The monitor's job is to help students when the group gets "stuck" on the problem. The monitor is not there to do the problem. In general, the lab monitors will not be given answers to the problems. Monitors are students who have successfully completed their physics courses and are there to give their "educated input." Asking the monitor for help should come after the "group" decides it is stuck. (In the "real world" there are no monitors to go to....)


    Catalog Description:



    The goal of this course is to expose students with a non-science background to physics. The students will experience the excitement of physics by examining phenomena of our everyday environment. The historical development of such ideas will be studied as well. Topics selected for study include Mechanics, Matter, Heat, Sound, Light, Electricity, Magnetism, Atomic, and Nuclear Physics. Physics will be communicated conceptually rather than mathematically.