FY527: Physics A (5 ECTS)

STADS: 07011601

Level
Bachelor course

Teaching period
The course is offered in the spring semester.

Teacher responsible
Email: molgaard@cp3.dias.sdu.dk

Timetable
Show entire timetable
Show personal time table for this course.

Prerequisites:
None

Academic preconditions:
Students taking the course are expected to:

• Have basic knowledge of vectors and calculus.
• Be able to use the fundamental laws of arithmetic on abstract symbols (do calculations using letters rather than numbers)

Course introduction
The aim of the course is to enable the student to do calculations and make predictions in classical mechanics, electromagnetism and optics, which prepares the students for their future courses and gives them essential practice with the mathematical tools they will use in the future.

The course builds on the knowledge acquired in high school and forms the foundation for their future studies in chemistry, biochemistry and molecular biomedicin.

In relation to the competence profile of the degree it is the explicit focus of the course to:

• Give the competence to create mathematical models of physical systems.
• Give skills to solve physical problems using mathematical tools.
• Give knowledge and understanding of classical mechanics, electromagnetism and optics. Including the concept of energy, angular momentum, electrical charge and optical phenomena.

Expected learning outcome
The learning objective of the course is that the student demonstrates the ability to:

• Perform simple mathematical derivations.
• Identify the most relevant components of a physical system.
• Describe a physical system with a mathematical model.
• Apply Newton’s laws to predict the future behaviour of a physical system on the basis of a mathematical model.
• Compute the electric and magnetic fields from simple charge distributions and currents.
• Analyse the motion of charged particles in electric and magnetic fields.
• Explain the concepts of reflection and refraction, and through them how optical lenses work.
• Apply their understanding of lenses and optical effects to describe optical instruments like microscopes and glasses.

Subject overview
The following main topics are contained in the course:

• Physical quantities and units.
• Motion and kinematics.
• Newton’s laws, forces and momentum.
• Mechanical energy, work and power.
• The motion of rigid bodies and rotation.
• Periodical motion and waves.
• Basic electromagnetism.
• Optics.

Literature

• Richard Wolfson: Essentials of Univer-sity Physics Vol 1 & 2, Third Edition, Pearson, 2016.

Website
This course uses e-learn (blackboard).

Prerequisites for participating in the exam
None

Assessment and marking:


Expected working hours
The teaching method is based on three phase model.
Intro phase: 20 hours
Skills training phase: 30 hours, hereof:
 - Tutorials: 30 hours

Educational activities
In the study phase it is expected that the students work independently with the material including examples and problems in the book and to study the study phase notes that will be distributed. It is also expected that the students will study the take-home problems that are all important elements of the study phase. The students can expect to receive feedback from an instructor. Finally it is expected that the students will spend part of the time to catch up and refresh their minds on the problems they have solved in the skills training phase.Educational form
The intro phase consists primarily of lecture with a focus on involving the students through questions and discussions.

In the training phase, the students will solve and review problems based on the theory introduced in the intro phase.

Language
This course is taught in Danish or English, depending on the lecturer. However, if international students participate, the teaching language will always be English.

Remarks
The course cannot be chosen by students who have passed FF502, FF508 or FY529.

Course enrollment
See deadline of enrolment.

Tuition fees for single courses
See fees for single courses.