1	PHY2048 and PHY2048C Lecture: TR 8:00 – 9:15. Instructor: Dr Bernd A. Berg. Office hours (Berg): Keen 615 TR 9:30 – 11:00 and by appointment. Phone numbers: 644-6246 (during office hours). Otherwise also 644-6217 (at CSIT). Recitations and Labs: See syllabus.
2	First Week Exceptions Dr Tabor is out-of-town and I replace his lectures, which are on top of my office hours. Therefore, my office hours are this week shifted to: T,W 1:00-2:00 pm, Keen 615. The time (not the location) coincides with Dr Tabor’s normal office hours.
3	"Students," Students, who did not register for a Lab need their previous Lab credit approved. Students of my class: See me at my office hour, this week! Students of Dr Tabor’s class: See Dr Tabor next week! Book: Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Vol. 1. By Paul A. Tipler and Gene Mosca, 5^th edition, Freeman Worth Publishers. Credits: See syllabus.
4	Attendance You have to register your first class attendance with one of the forms provided. If you did this already at yesterday’s recitation, you are done! Otherwise, Now is Your Last Chance to Register Your Attendance! Otherwise, you will be dropped from the course. Our Experience: Attendance and performance are closely related (graph).
5	Recommended Working Style Try to solve CAPA problems before the recitation, so that you can ask focused questions. Try to understand the Lab assignment before you go there. At least: Print CAPA and Lab instructions out before the corresponding sessions. Read the core parts of Tipler after the corresponding lecture. Come to class!
6	Mini Exams Six Mini Exams take place on Thursday. Nothing gets you more credit for this course! Prepare them Wednesday afternoons (evenings if it has to be). Focus on what was said in the preceding Tuesday lecture and Wednesday recitation. Midterm and Final are similar to the Minis, just longer.
7	Physics is the science of the fundamental laws of nature and their applications. Analytical method and experimental confirmations. Classical physics: Mechanics, electromagnetism and thermodynamics (Galilei, Newton, Maxwell and others). Modern physics: special and general relativity; quantum theory (Einstein, Heisenberg and others).
8	Physics is Simple (in contrast to widespread believes) If you understand physics you can derive everything from few principle and there is little to memorize. If you try to learn physics by memorizing all the formulas, you may still pass, but you will have a hard time. The ability to understand distinguishes human intelligence from nowadays artificial intelligence of computers (computers are very good in memorizing). However, nobody really understands human intelligence.
9	Système International Seven Units: second (s), meter (m), kilogram (kg), ampere (A), kelvin (K), mole (mol), and (not used in this course) candela (cd). Second (s): Frequency of a certain cesium transition 9,192,631,770 cycles per second. Meter (m): Distance traveled by light in vacuum in 1/299,792,458 second. Kilogram (kg): Standard body kept at the International Bureau of weights and measures in Sèvre (France).
10	More on Units Conversion of units: Conversion factor, e.g. 1 mi / 1,610 m = 1 mi / 1.61 km = 1 . 240 km = (240/1.61) mi = 149 mi etc. Checking calculations: In physical equations like A = B +C the quantities A, B, and C must have the same dimensions or units. For instance length in m or area in m^2.
11	Scientific Notation Exponents (examples in CAPA notation): 1.0E7 = 10^7 = 10,000,000 1.0E-7 = 10^{-7} = 0.000 000 01 Care is required when adding or subtracting numbers. E.g. 1.200 x 10^2 + 8 x 10^{-1} = 120.0 + 0.8 = 120.8
12	Significant Figures The uncertainty in experimental results can often only be estimated. An indication of it is implied by the number of digits used. For instance, 2.50 m measured means: 2.495 ≤ measurement result < 2.505 .
13	Order of Magnitude The nearest power of ten of a number is called its Order of Magnitude. Examples from Tipler’s table 1-3: Size (m) Mass (kg) Time (s) Proton 10E-15 Electron 10E-30 Period of visible light 10E-13 Sun 10E9 Sun 10E30 Age of earth 10E17 Another illustration: “Zooming in on Tallahassee.”
14	CAPA If you cannot logon: Send e-mail to me with the following information: Your family name, given name and middle initial. Your SS, section number and favorite e-mail address. If you do not want to send your SS by e-mail, see me during my office hours. Note, by technical reasons all students are registered as “section 1” in CAPA.
15	Web My lectures will be posted on the web. Instructions how to find them: Start on the “homepage of the physics department”, go to “Faculty”, then to “Berg” and from there to “Teaching”.