Physics for future Presidents
What every world leader needs to know
(also known as PffP, Physics C10, and L&S C70V)

taught by
Richard A. Muller
Professor of Physics


(click on the photo)

Note to Fall 2007 students:
We are using a revised edition of the text for this fall semester.
It can be purchased online from Thomson Publishers with free shipping:
Physics for future Presidents Fall 2007 Edition
You'll also be able to get it (at a higher price) at the campus bookstore.

Below I post the web page below for the previous semester.
I'll be creating a new web page soon.


Not sure if you should take this course? Read below.

For students from Fall 2006, please go to the old web site.
The index for this site is on the left side of this page.
New items will be posted below, with the most recent ones at top.

 

The KGO ABC7 story about our class can now be viewed online. Be sure to watch the video too. The link is: Top Universities Offer Free Lectures Online.

 

Welcome to "Physics for future Presidents"! The title is serious. The official designation is Physics C10 or L&S C70V (the course is cross-listed), and sometimes called qualitative physics -- but this is not trivial physics. You will be learning material that is generally not learned by the physicist until after earning a Ph.D. After every lecture, you should come away with the feeling that what was just covered is important for every world leader to know. (Except, perhaps, for the material on Relativity, which is just interesting.)

A quick way to get a sense of this course is to browse through one of the three posted chapters of the textbook: Energy, Radioactivity, or Waves and UFOs. You can purchase the textbook at a substantial discount price of $48.87 including shipping (instead of the list price of $57.29), if you order online directly from the PffP book website at Thomson. Remember to enter the promo code ICHP0614 at the site checkout. It is also available at Amazon at an even higher price of $63.95 plus shipping. The book is also available at the campus bookstore at an even higher price (but with no shipping) of $66.75, or at Ned's Books on Bancroft for $62.50.

Read the SF Chronicle newspaper story about this course.

Not sure if you should take PffP? Look at some of the old exams. Would you like to be able to answer these questions? After taking this class, the average student got 75-80% of the questions correct. Imagine yourself, one semester from now, feeling comfortable and competent with this material! Don't avoid this class because you are afraid of math. Some math is required (see below) but I have never had a student complain that the math was too difficult. If you're still not sure, watch the beginning of my first lecture from fall 2006.

Unlike last semester, no PRS (Personal Response System) "clicker" is required. They didn't work well last semester, so I am abandoning them for this semester. For in-class quizzes, you should bring with you a few copies of quiz strips, printed out from the quiz strip page.

Please note that if you sign up for this class, attendance at the lectures is REQUIRED. So please don't sign up unless you intend to get there every TuTh at 9:30 am. If you do make it on time, I promise to make it worth your while. My goal is for this to be the best course you have ever taken. If there are times when you can't make the lecture (you are off competing on a team, or you have to pick up a friend at the airport), then you may be excused provided that you follow the following procedure prior to missing the class:

Lecture absence excuses. To be excused, send a carefully-formatted email to me prior to the missed lecture. The "subject" MUST be in the following format: Last name, first name, day of month to be excused and month, and name of GSI. So, for example, the subject might look something like this:

Last Name, First Name, 24 January, GSI name

The text of your email excuse should be your reason for missing lecture. I could be due to illness, or a need to pick up a friend at the airport. Don't be creative; be honest. If there was some reason that you could not send the email prior to the lecture, then send it afterwards with an explanation for the lateness. My email address is ramuller@lbl.gov.

Prerequisites

No prior physics is required. In fact, even if you had NO physics in High School, you will not be at a disadvantage. Moreover, even if you are a physics major, you will find that most of the material is new. Physics majors spend so much time learning the math and to abstract calculations that they often do not get to the important results. This course is now open for physics majors too, in fact, is is an excellent supplement for your other physics courses.

A fundamental requirement is that you must come to lectures. Absence will be excused if email is sent to me before the missed lecture, and if it contains a reasonable excuse (e.g. you were killed in a terrorist incident, you have to be away to compete in a sporting event, or your boy/girl friend had to be picked up at the airport). Don't make up excuses; if you do, and I find out, you will get an F in the course.

The course does use some math. But I have never had a student complain that the math was too hard. I expect everyone to be able to use calculator notation, the symbols used on calculators when the numbers are large or small. So, for example, one billion is 1E9. That means 1 followed by 9 zeros. (The "E" stands for "exponent", and really means "10 to the power of".) Likewise, one billionth is written as 1E-9. This is equivalent to what is called "scientific notation." There will be a discussion of such notation in the discussion sections in the first week.

In addition, you need to be able to find square roots. That means that for homework and exams you probably should have a calculator that will do this. Quick review: take the square root, multiply it by itself, and you'll get the number. Check your knowledge by verifying the following examples. If you have trouble, come to the first discussion section with questions and requests for review.

examples of Math required

(will be reviewed in discussion sections)

sqrt(81) = 9

sqrt(2) = 1.414 (approximately)

sqrt(1E40) = 1E20

sqrt(2E40) = 1.414E20 (approximately)

sqrt(2E-40) = 1.414E-20 (approximately)

2E5 x 3E9 = 6E14 (i.e.numbers in front multiply; exponents add)

6E5/2E9 = 3E-4

first HW due for all students

We have a lot of material to cover, so we will get off to a running start. There are two HW requirements due for the first week -- but if you enrolled late, then these are still due as soon as you are in the class.

One is a reading assignment (read Chapter 1 in your text. I've put this chapter online, in case you don't yet have the printed version: it is available in both html and pdf formats.

Two is to send me information via email. If you do this correctly, and on time (by Friday evening of the first week of classes, or within one week of your enrollment, if you enroll late) then you will be granted one quiz point. I will be receiving a lot of this mail, so you will not be granted credit unless you do it in the following way:

In the subject line of your email put your LAST NAME, FIRST NAME, your student ID number, and then the words PffP bio. So the subject line should look like this, but with your name in place of President Bush's (unless you are President Bush):

Bush, George, 84083242, PffP bio

In the body of the email itself, copy the following list of questions and put in your answers after each one. Be sure to include the first line, "PffP bio" so that my email program will sort it properly:

PffP bio Fall 2006
1. full name (first, middle initial, and last)
2. SID:
3. nickname (what do you like people to call you? Maybe just your first name.):
4. secret name, for posted grades (not too long: 20 character limit!):
5 . email address:
6 . telephone (where do I call if you are late for the final exam? I've actually done this.):
7 . year (Freshman? Senior?):
8 . major (or best guess):
9. enrolled in physics or in L&S?:
10. most advanced physics you have studied (if any), e.g. "HS physics":
11 . physics subject you are most interested in learning about in this course.
12. Why are you taking this course?
13. Tell me about yourself: What do you do when not studying? Do you play a musical instrument? Like any sports? Play on a team? Join any clubs? Volunteer? Ambitions? Anything about yourself you are willing to share. Don't be shy.

Then send the email (make sure the subject header is correct first, i.e. LastName, First, PffP bio) to:

ramuller@berkeley.edu.

Weekly Homework (starting Tuesday 16 January 2007)


The HW and reading is given in the posted schedule. You will read the entire textbook. Typically, we will cover one chapter each week. Reading is due by Thursday lecture. You are NOT required to answer the questions at the ends of the chapters. Those are only to test your knowledge, and are for your own private use. Most of them were taken from previous quizzes or exams.

Tuesday email HW. Every week you are expected to find and read an article on physics or technology from a newspaper or magazine. By Tuesday evening (by 11:59 pm) you will submit a one to three paragraph essay to your GSI via email. Write your essay in the body of your email; do not attach an external file (such as a Word document). The "subject" of your email should be in the following format:

Last name, First name, HW, day month (that HW is due)

                 e.g.

Bush, George, HW, 16 January

Remember to email it to your GSI, not to Muller!

The article could be a news story (the Science Times section of the New York Times is published every Tuesday), or a magazine story (e.g. from Scientific American, Science News, Popular Science, Discover, or some similar magazine).

Your homework grade will be 0 (if you didn't hand it in), 1 (if you did a poor job), 2 (if you did a good job), or 3 if you did an exceptionally good job (only for the best two or three emails for that week). I plan to post the best submission every now and then so that others can see what we like. Note: you do NOT have to understand the article you read, as long as you can clearly state what aspects of the article you did not understand! Try to write something that other students will find interesting.

Note: do NOT send the HW to my email address, or it will be lost. Send it to the HW address of your GSI, given in the GSI contact information (to be posted).

For each homework submission email, do the following (or you will lose points):
        1) Put your name in subject line of your email (Last, First) and the due date (e.g. 24 January).
                                example: Muller, Richard, 24 January
        2) Include citation or link to article. (Which newspaper? Page number? Who wrote it?)
        3) No attachments allowed. Simply email text to your GSI. I suggest that
         you write your summary in a word processor and spell check it, and then cut
         and paste into an email.
         4) 300 or 350 words is about right. Use about 1/2 - 3/4 of that
         to summarize the article, and the rest to draw connections to
         class or ask relevant questions.

Half of the homework grade will be based on the quality of the writing. Imagine that you are briefing the U.S. President on an issue that you consider important. Your essay should be a pleasure to read! You will lose credit if you have more than one misspelling, or have any error in grammar (run-on sentence etc.). If English is not your primary language, please state your primary language at the beginning of the email.

Late homeworks are usually not accepted, unless there is an extraordinary excuse. The fact that you had an exam the next day, or a huge project, is not extraordinary. You can always prepare your homework a week or two in advance, but please don't submit it more than a few days in advance of the due day.

 

Exams and Grades

Exams. We will have two midterm exams and a final exam. Each exam will have an essay question and a series of multiple-choice or otherwise short questions.

The first midterm exam is tentatively scheduled for Thursday February 22, 2006, in class (9:30 am). If you cannot be present at that time, contact me immediately. The exam will consist of two parts: approximately 20 short questions and an essay question. For sample exams, see the old exams from previous semesters. To see how the GSI will grade the essays, look at essay guidelines.To see some essays that scored a perfect 20 in past semesters, see explosions and nukes.

The second midterm exam is tentatively scheduled for Thursday April 12. It will be in class, and similar in format to the first midterm. If you cannot be present at that time, contact me immediately.For sample exams, see the old exams from previous semesters. To see how the GSI will grade the essays, look at essay guidelines. To see some essays that scored a perfect 20, see eyes and Greenhouse effect.

The final exam is scheduled for 8 am (!!) on Tuesday May 15. If you cannot be present at that time, contact me immediately. If you have other exams scheduled on this day, consider dropping that class; I will not give you the final exam either early or late. The exam will consist of two parts: approximately 40 short questions and one or two essay questions. It will be like two midterm exams. For sample exams, see the old exams from previous semesters.

Grades. Your final grade will be based on the following breakdown:

  • quizzes: 10%
  • midterm exams: 20% each
  • final exam: 40%
  • homework: 10%

The grade distribution will be approximately the following: 30% of the students will earn an A, 45% a B, and 25% a C or below. This is the same distribution that is used for Astronomy 10. Beware: it is easier to earn a C than you might think. Every semester I have students who got a C, and write me saying that now they can't register in their chosen major, or they will lose their scholarship, and they seek my help. All I can do is cry with them. The easiest way to get a C is to miss a few quizzes or forget to hand in a few homeworks. For permission to hand in your HW late (or to do one that you missed) you must seek permission from your GSI. For exam issues, I (Muller) am the only person to contact.

Cheating:. Two years ago I flunked two students who were talking to each other on the final exam. (They said that they were only discussing how to spell a word.) I consider that very light punishment. In the future, I am determined not to be so lenient.

to contact Muller:

My email address is ramuller@berkeley.edu. Equally good (and shorter to type) is ramuller@lbl.gov.

My office hours:

Monday 11-12, and Thursday 11-12 (after class), in 390 LeConte
Other days: email or telephone to arrange.
Afternoons: I am often available afternoons at my LBL office. Telephone or email to arrange.

I spend most of my time at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Blg. 50, Room 5032.
You can telephone me there at (510) 486-7430.

You can also telephone me at home (before 10 PM, if possible!) at (510) 849-1940. For an emergency, call any time.

My personal and research web site is http://muller.lbl.gov.

GSI information. You are welcome to visit the office hours of any GSI. The office hours will be arranged soon.
                  

Below are the discussion sections, with the current GSI assignments. Click on the GSI name to get contact information.If you need to change your discussion section, send email to Shawn with your explanation. He will try to accommodate as many desperate students as he can.

101 M 1-2 9 Evans Zack Subin
102 Tu 12-1 103 Moffitt Shawn Thorne
103 W 3-4 3 Evans Janet Casperson
104 Th 11-12 3 Evans Zack Subin
105 F 1-2 9 Evans Andrew Myers
106 M 12-1 70 Evans Jennie Chiu
107 Tu 1-2 3113 Etcheverry Michael Leitch
108 W 2-3 3 Evans Janet Casperson
109 M 11-12 3 Evans Hannah Swift
110 Tu 2-3 110 Wheeler Shawn Thorne
111 M 1-2 4 Evans Jennie Chiu
112 Tu 12-1 105 Latimer Michael Leitch
113 W 3-4 136 Barrows Hannah Swift
114 Th 11-12 105 Lattimer Jan Korsbakken
115 M 12-1 75 Evans Jan Korsbakken
116 M 11-12 110 Wheeler Andrew Myers

Office hours. Visit any GSI. Get to know them all! We have spread out office hours so that they don't conflict with the discussion sections, and we emphasize early week since midterm exams are on Thursdays.

      Shawn Thorne (Head GSI)
                    discussion sections: 102, 110. See chart for locations.
                    HW email: "subject" should be "Last Name, First Name, HW, Date HW is due"
                           send to shawn.thorne@gmail.com
                    cell phone: 510-295-3740
                    office hour: Tuesday 1 pm in 473 Birge 
                    to contact for questions (but NOT for HW) sthorne@berkeley.edu

      Janet Casperson
                    discussion section: 103, 108. See chart for locations.
                    HW email: "subject" should be "Last Name, First Name, HW, Date HW is due"
                           send to janet.gsi@gmail.com
                    office hour:  Wednesday 1-2 pm in 473 Birge
                    to contact for questions: janet.casperson@gmail.com

      Jennie Chiu
                    discussion sections: 106, 111. See chart for locations.
                    HW email: "subject" should be "Last Name, First Name, HW, Date HW is due"
                           send to jennie.chiu@gmail.com
                    telephone: (650) 575-9848 (call before midnight)
                    office hour: Tuesday 2 pm in 473 Birge 
                    to contact for questions (but NOT for HW) jenchiu@berkeley.edu

       Jan Korsbakken
                    discussion sections: 114, 115. See chart for locations.
                    HW email: "subject" should be "Last Name, First Name, HW, Date HW is due"
                           send to janiko@berkeley.edu
                    cell phone: 510-717-0709 (before 10 pm)
                    office hours:  Tuesday 12 noon in 418 Hearst Mining Building.
                    to contact for questions: janiko@berkeley.edu

      Michael Leitch
                    discussion sections: 107, 112. See chart for locations.
                    HW email: "subject" should be "Last Name, First Name, HW, Date HW is due"
                           send to michael_leitch@berkeley.edu
                    cell phone: 415.827.6419 (before 10 pm)
                    office hours:  Thurs 11-12 in 473 Birge
                    to contact for questions: michael_leitch@berkeley.edu, or telephone

      Andrew Myers
                    discussion sections: 105, 116. See chart for locations.
                    HW email: "subject" should be "Last Name, First Name, HW, Date HW is due"
                           send to atmyers2@gmail.com
                    phone: 919-383-3750 (before 10 pm)
                    office hour: Wednesday 10 am in 473 Birge
                    to contact for questions: atmyers@berkeley.edu

      Zack Subin
                    discussion sections: 101, 104. See chart for locations.
                    HW email: "subject" should be "Last Name, First Name, PffP:HW, Date HW is due"
                           send to subin@berkeley.edu
                    telephone: (510) 847-7618
                    office hour: Tues 2-3 in 473 Birge
                    to contact for questions: subin@berkeley.edu
                    Zack also maintains his own web page with handouts for his sections.

      Hannah Swift
                    discussion sections: 109, 113. See chart for locations.
                    HW email: "subject" should be "Last Name, First Name, HW, Date HW is due"
                           send to hkswift@berkeley.edu
                    cell phone: 510.229.9800 (before 10 pm)
                    office hour: Wednesday 11 am in 473 Birge
                    to contact for questions: hkswift@berkeley.edu

      

The required text for the course is "Physics for future Presidents." You can buy it:
Online from the publisher for discounted price of $48.87 if you remember
      to enter the promo code ICHP0614 at the site checkout. Shipping is free!
Online from Amazon at the substantially higher price of $63.95 plus shipping.
     Why would you want to do that?
ASUC Bookstore at an even higher price of $66.75 (but no shipping), or at
Ned's (across the street at 2480 Bancroft Way) for $62.50.

The publisher has given me permission to put four chapters online. Here they are:
      Chapter 1: Energy
      Chapter 2: Atoms html or pdf
      Chapter 4. Radioactivity
      Chapter 7. Waves and UFOs.

 

Update notes from the Spring 2007 Semester appear below:

Final grades are now posted. I hope you did better than you expected. Have a great summer, and keep learning physics!

PffP on TV. Channel 7 KGO ABC7 news plans to broadcast a story about our class on Monday May 21 at 6 pm. They are already showing ads for it. After it airs, it can be viewed on the internet.

May 13. I've posted Shawn's Notes from his Final Exam Review session.

May 12. The Review Session is scheduled for Sunday May 13 from 11am -2pm in 2050 VLSB (Valley Life Sciences Blg). Give your mother the treat she really wants -- do well on your final exam! I have also posted a list of assigned seats for the final exam, and a map of the seats in Wheeler auditorium. Please write down your seat, and look at the map so you'll have some idea where your seat is. Note that the even seats are on the right (as you come in from the back), odd seats on the left, and the 100 series seats are in the center. Here they are: assigned final exam seats and map of Wheeler Auditorium.

April 27. I've posted the grades up to the midterm exam. (These do not include subsequent HWs.) Your midterm grades count for 80% of this, HWs for 10%, and quizzes for 10%. Note that the final exam will count as much as two midterms -- so your grade can still change substantially, up or down. Please check the exam, quiz, and HW entries. If you find mistakes, notify your GSI, not Muller. All errors must be reported by May 8, the day of the last lecture. The grades are posted here.

Aprl 11. I've posted Shawn's notes from the midterm review.

April 10. I've posted the seating assignments for Midterm 2. I hope you like your seat...

April 10. There will be two review sessions for the upcoming midterm. They will be held on Tuesday April 10 at 7-8:30 pm. and 9-10:30 pm. (These are the correct times. The times previously posted here were wrong by a half hour.) Please plan on attending one, but not both. (The room only seats 200.) The location is 100 Genetics-Plant Biology building, GPB. That building is located in the north-west of campus; see the posted map.

4 March. I've posted the current grades for all students. This is based 80% on the midterm exam, 10% on HW, and 10% on the quizzes. Students who have not yet taken a midterm have the temporary grade of I. An entry of -99 indicates that you were excused, and the computer will skip over that entry. Check the accuracy of the entries; if you find an error, notify your GSI (not me) by Thursday 15 March (the Ides of March) at the latest. A score of zero indicates that you did not hand in a HW, quiz, or midterm.

20 Feb. The seating assignments for the first midterm exam are now posted.

29 January. I've now posted two HWs that earned 3 points: HW by Lisa Xue and by Christa Culver. Congratuations Lisa and Christa!

27 January. I have posted links to news publications that you can use for your Tuesday HWs.

21 January. The ASUC bookstore has sold out of our text. They will get more in by Thursday, and you can still order directly from the publisher. I have permission from the publisher to put the required reading for this Thursday, Chapter 2, on line in both browser format Chapter2.html and in pdf format Chapter2.pdf which is better for printing out.

16 January. There was an error in today's lecture. I correctly showed that a kilowat of electricity will cost about $2.40 per day. But when I multiplied this by 30 days/month, I wrote down $45. The correct multiplication of $2.40 x 30 gives the answer to be $72 per month. Times 365 days per year, the cost is $876 per year.