Department of Physics & Astronomy

Physics 1202B – Physics for the Sciences II Course Outline

1. Course Information
Course Information
An introductory laboratory-based course in physics covering the principles of oscillations and waves,
fluids, electric fields and potential, capacitance, DC circuits, magnetic fields, and electromagnetic
induction. Fundamental physics concepts are introduced with examples in physical, biological, and
medical processes to develop students’ problem-solving skills.

Together with Physics 1201A, this course is a suitable prerequisite for modules having an introductory
physics requirement (including modules in the Faculty of Science, modules offered by the basic Medical
Science departments, and professional schools requiring a calculus-based laboratory course in physics).

Pre- or co-requisites
One of Physics 1201A or 1401A or 1501A, or a minimum mark of 80% in Physics 1101A. Calculus
1000A/B or 1500A/B or Numerical and Mathematical Methods 1412 A/B.

Anti-requisites: Physics 1402B, 1502B, the former Physics 1102B, 1029B, 1302B.

Unless you have either the prerequisites for this course or written special permission from the Department
of Physics & Astronomy and your Program’s Counsellors to enroll in it, you may be removed from this
course and it will be deleted from your record. This decision may not be appealed. You will receive no
adjustment to your fees in the event that you are dropped from a course for failing to have the necessary
prerequisites.

Lectures: MWF 11:30–12:20 pm, NCB 101

Labs: four 3-hour labs approximately every two weeks.

2. Instructor Information
Office
Instructors Contact Office Phone
Hours
[email protected] x88438
Prof. Stanimir Metchev or via JIRA ticket PAB 201 Tue, 1–2pm
Labs: Dr. Shailesh Nene via JIRA ticket MSA-2203
Dr. Isabelle Cyr (Coordinator) via JIRA ticket
Fri, 12:30-
TAs – Physics Help Centre [email protected] PAB 26 2:30pm

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Additional help beyond Instructor office hours and TA-run Physics Help Centre:
• 3rd-year MedSci student help (Sarah Malik, Jason Lu): TBA
• PASA Help Centre: TBA.
• Peer-Assisted Learning Centre
• OWL Forum

For any course-related issues or questions, please see Prof. Metchev after class, email [email protected],
or create a JIRA ticket at https://help.sci.uwo.ca/servicedesk/customer/portal/8. Please, allow 48 h for a
response. Instructors will not be able to respond to direct email. See Section 4 for information on Labs
and the lab instructor.

Students must use their Western (@uwo.ca) email addresses when communicating with their instructors.

3. Course Syllabus, Schedule, Delivery Mode

Course delivery and assessment includes three weekly in-person lectures and demonstrations, in-class
iClicker quizzes, on-line Perusall reading and annotation, on-line Mastering Physics Dynamic Study
Modules, and an in-person laboratory component with 4 three-hour labs. Please, see the “Lab Info for
Physics 1202B” document under the Syllabus tab on OWL.

Course-level learning outcomes:

The aim of this course is not only to gain a thorough understanding of the physics topics covered in class,
but also to learn how to think like a physicist when describing phenomena or solving problems. Thus, by
the end of this course, students should be able to:
• use periodic functions to quantify the displacement, velocity, acceleration, and energy in simple
harmonic oscillations and waves;
• acquire an intuitive understanding of fundamental physics concepts with examples in fluids;
• provide a coherent microscopic description of electric and magnetic phenomena and use these to
generate macroscopic laws;
• extend and apply Newton’s Laws of Motion and the principle of conservation of energy to
electromagnetic and wave phenomena;
• use a step-by-step problem-solving strategy underpinned with conceptual understanding to
logically work through complex problems;
• reason through conceptual physics problems using clear, concise writing and diagrams;
• use knowledge and/or intuition to evaluate whether the answer to a problem makes sense;
• perform appropriate experimental set-up, data collection and analysis to investigate a physical
relationship;
• apply research skills such as measurement taking, uncertainty propagation, graphical analysis, and
written discussion of results in the lab;
• Engage in critical analysis of a problem individually and through team effort effectively
communicating your approach to others through labs, group projects and in-class activities.

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Course Schedule (approximate):

Week Y&F Sections Topics Perusall / DSM / Lab

14.1–14.3, 14.5, Simple harmonic motion; energy in SHM,

1. Jan 8-12 Perusall 1
14.6; 15.1, 15.2 pendulums; Properties of waves
15.3–15.8; Energy transport by waves; superposition of Perusall 2
2. Jan 15-19 16.1, 16.6, 16.7 DSM 16
waves: interference, beats, standing waves
16.3–16.5; Properties of sound waves; Perusall 3
3. Jan 22-26 12.1, 12.2 DSM 17
Pressure, fluid flow
12.3–12.6; Continuity equation, Bernoulli’s equation, Perusall 4
4. Jan 29-Feb 2 21.1–21.3 Lab 1
turbulent flows; Electric charge, Coulomb’s law
Electric force and field, charge distributions, Perusall 5
5. Feb 5-9 21.4–21.7
matter in electric fields DSM 21

Fri, Feb 9, 4pm Midterm 1 (Weeks 1 – 5) Midterm 1

Perusall 6
22.1–22.5; Electric flux, Gauss’ law, charges on conductors;
6. Feb 12-16 DSM 22
23.1–23.3 Electric potential energy and electric potential Lab 2
Feb 19-23 No classes (Reading Week) No classes

23.4, 23.5; Equipotential surfaces, electric potential gradient; Perusall 7

7. Feb 26-Mar 1 24.1, 24.3–24.5 Capacitance, energy storage in capacitors, DSM 23
dielectrics

25.1–25.5; Current, resistance and Ohm’s law, electrical Perusall 8

8. Mar 4-8 24.2 power, electromotive force, safety; capacitors in Lab 3
circuits;
Electric circuits, Kirchhoff’s rules, electrical Perusall 9
9. Mar 11-15 26.1 – 26.4
measurements; R-C circuits DSM 24

Fri, Mar 15, 6pm Midterm 2 (Weeks 6–9) Midterm 2

Magnetic force & field, magnetic flux, motion of Perusall 10

10. Mar 18-22 27.1–27.8 charged particles in a magnetic field, magnetic DSM 26
force on current wires and loops, DC motor Lab 4
Magnetic field of moving Perusall 11
11. Mar 25-27 28.1–28.7
charges/conductors/solenoids, Ampère’s law DSM 28

Magnetic induction, Faraday’s law, Lenz’s law, Perusall 12

12. Apr 1-8 29.1–29.4
generators, motional EMF DSM 29

Apr 11-30 Final Exam Period Final Exam

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4. Course Materials
OWL: The course OWL site is the home base and launching platform for all learning
components. This is the primary method by which information will be disseminated
to all students in the class outside of in-person lectures. The course OWL site will
also contain additional information on suggested practice questions, links to pre-
recorded lecture and problem-solving videos. A calendar with course deadlines,
lecture notes, access to interim grades, announcements, etc., is also available from
the course OWL site.

Textbook: The course textbook is hosted on Perusall with assigned reading/comment posts. It
is a selection of chapters from two Pearson Physics textbooks by Young & Adams
and Young & Freedman. These are the same materials as for PHY 1201А. You do
not need a new textbook if you have already purchased this. The textbook can be
accessed through the Perusall tab on the OWL course site.

Mastering Physics: Access to Pearson’s Mastering Physics, the accompanying on-line learning
resources and Dynamic Study Modules, is included with the textbook package.
There is no need to buy a separate access code. The Mastering Physics materials,
which include the Dynamic Study Modules assignments, instructional videos, and
practice problems, are accessed via the Pearson tab on the OWL course site.

iClicker: In-class quizzes will be administered through the iClicker app. Make sure that you
have an account in the iClicker student app with your UWO email address. You will
need the iClicker app to get credit for the in-class quizzes. iClicker can be accessed
from the iClicker tab on the OWL course site.

Lab Manual: Physics Laboratory Manual 2023-2024 for Physics 1202B. This Lab Manual is
available for purchase on Perusall, or directly from the Western Bookstore. You
need to purchase the second-semester lab manual separately; it is different from the
first-semester lab manual. The lab manual can be accessed through the Perusall tab
on the OWL course site.

Technical Requirements
A laptop computer or a smartphone with a wireless internet or data connection that runs the iClicker app
for in-class quizzes. A calculator for the Midterm and Final exams.

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5. Methods of Evaluation
Student performance will be evaluated regularly throughout the term with the following assignments:
• 12 Perusall Reading and Annotation assignments, one every week, 6 annotations per
assignment. All Perusall assignments are open at the beginning of the semester, and sequentially
close on Fridays each week, after the respective material is covered. The best 10 out of 12 count
toward your grade, each worth 1%. The scoring is carried out as following:
o Contributing thoughtful questions and comments to the class discussion, spread throughout
the entire reading
o Starting the reading early
o Breaking the reading into chunks (instead of trying to do it all at once)
o Reading all the way to the end of the assigned reading
o Posing thoughtful questions and comments that elicit responses from classmates
o Answering questions from others
o Up-voting thoughtful questions and helpful answers
Note: The annotations on Perusall can be seen from all students within the study group and are
supposed to be strictly on the reading material and on previous annotations of peer students of the
study group. Perusall annotations can for instance be questions or a helpful response to a question.
No personal or disrespectful comments or reactions are allowed. In case of inappropriate online
behaviour, the responsible student will be removed from the Perusall study group and will receive
a mark of zero for the entire Perusall component of the course.
• 8 9 Dynamic Study Modules on Mastering Physics: all open at the start of the course. These
should be completed as you progress through the material. Best 7 out of 8 9 count toward your
grade, each worth 1%.
• 12 iClicker in-class quizzes, administered approximately once a week, on any day of the week
without advance notice. Best 8 10 of 12 count toward your grade, each worth 1%.
• 4 labs, each worth 2.5% (0.5% pre-lab quiz and 2.0% lab report). To receive full credit:
o complete and pass with ≥75% mark your pre-lab quiz under Tests & Quizzes;
o ensure that your lab worksheet score on Gradescope is ≥50%;
o if both are true above, your lab score on OWL will be 100%.
• Two Midterms, 15% each, location and seating to be announced via OWL / PostEm:
o Midterm 1, material from Weeks 1–5: Feb 9, 4 pm;
▪ Make-up: Feb 15, 4pm;
o Midterm 2, material from Weeks 6–9; Mar 15, 6 pm;
▪ Make-up: Mar 21, 6pm.
• Final Exam, 33%. Cumulative, scheduled by the Registrar.

The overall course grade will be calculated as listed below:

Weekly Perusall assignments (best 10 out of 12) 10%

Mastering Physics Dynamic Study Modules (best 7 out of 9) 7%
iClicker in-class quizzes (best 10 out of 12) 10%
Laboratory exercises (4 total, 2.5% each) 10%
Midterm Exams, 15% each 30%
Final Exam (scheduled by Registrar’s Office) 33%

The Department of Physics & Astronomy may, in exceptional cases, adjust the final course marks to
conform to Departmental policy.
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6. Student Absences
If you are unable to meet a course requirement due to illness or other serious circumstances, please follow
the procedures below.

Assessments worth less than 10% of the overall course grade:

• Perusall Reading and Annotation, Mastering Physics Dynamic Study Modules, iClicker
quizzes (1% each). No accommodations or make-up are offered; we drop the lowest two in each
case. Start the online assignments ahead of the deadlines, and keep up-to-date with the Perusall
readings. Deadlines will not be extended.
• Absence from a Lab (2.5% each). Please, refer to the Lab Information document.

Assessments worth 10% or more of the overall course grade:

For work totalling 10% or more of the final course grade, you must provide valid medical or supporting
documentation to the Academic Counselling Office of your Faculty of Registration as soon as possible.
For further information, please consult the University’s medical illness policy at
https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/accommodation_medical.pdf.
The Student Medical Certificate is available at
https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/medicalform.pdf.

• Midterm Examinations (15% each): There will be one make-up exam for each Midterm. That
may be written with the permission of the Academic Counselling office of your home Faculty. If
you missed both a midterm and its makeup and with academic counselling approval, then your
midterm grade weight will be shifted to the final exam.

Absences from Final Examinations

If you miss the Final Exam, please contact the Academic Counselling office of your Faculty of
Registration as soon as you can do so. They will assess your eligibility to write the Special Examination
(the name given by the University to a makeup Final Exam).

You may also be eligible to write the Special Examination if you are in a “Multiple Exam Situation” (e.g.,
more than 2 exams in 23-hour period, more than 3 exams in a 47-hour period).

If a student fails to write a scheduled Special Examination, the date of the next Special Examination (if
granted) normally will be the scheduled date for the final exam the next time this course is offered. The
maximum course load for that term will be reduced by the credit of the course(s) for which the final
examination has been deferred. See the Academic Calendar for details (under Special Examination).

Note: missed work can only be excused through one of the mechanisms above. Being asked not to attend
an in-person course requirement due to potential COVID-19 symptoms is not sufficient on its own.

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7. Accommodation and Accessibility
Religious Accommodation
When a course requirement conflicts with a religious holiday that requires an absence from the University
or prohibits certain activities, students should request accommodation for their absence in writing at least
two weeks prior to the holiday to the course instructor and/or the Academic Counselling office of their
Faculty of Registration. Please consult University's list of recognized religious holidays (updated
annually) at
https://multiculturalcalendar.com/ecal/index.php?s=c-univwo.

Accommodation Policies
Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact Accessible Education, which provides
recommendations for accommodation based on medical documentation or psychological and cognitive
testing. The policy on Academic Accommodation for Students with Disabilities can be found at:
https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/Academic Accommodation_disabilities.pdf.

8. Academic Policies
The website for Registrarial Services is http://www.registrar.uwo.ca.

In accordance with policy,

https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/policies_procedures/section1/mapp113.pdf,
the centrally administered e-mail account provided to students will be considered the individual’s official
university e-mail address. It is the responsibility of the account holder to ensure that e-mail received from
the University at their official university address is attended to in a timely manner.

There are no restrictions on calculators. However, any “smart” devices with ethernet connectivity are not
allowed.

Scholastic offences are taken seriously, and students are directed to read the appropriate policy,
specifically, the definition of what constitutes a Scholastic Offence, at the following Web site:
http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/scholastic_discipline_undergrad.pdf.

Computer-marked multiple-choice tests and exams may be subject to submission for similarity review by
software that will check for unusual coincidences in answer patterns that may indicate cheating.

Remote Proctoring Software may be used in this course, including in the event of health lock-down. By
taking this course, you are consenting to the use of this software and acknowledge that you will be required
to provide personal information (including some biometric data) and the session will be recorded.
Completion of this course will require you to have a reliable internet connection and a device that meets
the technical requirements for this service. More information about this remote proctoring service,
including technical requirements, is available on Western’s Remote Proctoring website at:
https://remoteproctoring.uwo.ca.

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9. Support Services
Please visit the Western Engineering Academic Counselling webpage for information on add/drop
courses, academic considerations for absences, appeals, exam conflicts, and many other academic related
matters: https://www.eng.uwo.ca/undergraduate/academic-support-and-accommodations/academic-
counselling.html

Students who are in emotional/mental distress should refer to Mental Health@Western

(https://uwo.ca/health/) for a complete list of options about how to obtain help.

Western is committed to reducing incidents of gender-based and sexual violence and providing
compassionate support to anyone who has gone through these traumatic events. If you have experienced
sexual or gender-based violence (either recently or in the past), you will find information about support
services for survivors, including emergency contacts at
https://www.uwo.ca/health/student_support/survivor_support/get-help.html.
To connect with a case manager or set up an appointment, please contact [email protected].

Please contact the course instructor if you require lecture or printed material in an alternate format or if
any other arrangements can make this course more accessible to you. You may also wish to contact
Accessible Education at
http://academicsupport.uwo.ca/accessible_education/index.html
if you have any questions regarding accommodations.

Learning-skills counsellors at the Student Development Centre (https://learning.uwo.ca) are ready to help
you improve your learning skills. They offer presentations on strategies for improving time management,
multiple-choice exam preparation/writing, textbook reading, and more. Individual support is offered
throughout the Fall/Winter terms in the drop-in Learning Help Centre, and year-round through individual
counselling.

Western University is committed to a thriving campus as we deliver our courses in the mixed model of
both virtual and face-to-face formats. We encourage you to check out the Digital Student Experience
website to manage your academics and well-being: https://www.uwo.ca/se/digital/.

Additional student-run support services are offered by the USC, https://westernusc.ca/services/.

This course is supported by the Science Student Donation Fund. If you are a BSc or BMSc student
registered in the Faculty of Science or Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, you pay the Science
Student Donation Fee. This fee contributes to the Science Student Donation Fund, which is administered
by the Science Students’ Council (SSC). One or more grants from the Fund have allowed for the purchase
of equipment integral to teaching this course. You may opt out of the Fee by the end of September of
each academic year by completing the online form linked from the Faculty of Science’s Academic
Counselling site. For further information on the process of awarding grants from the Fund or how these
grants have benefitted undergraduate education in this course, consult the Chair of the Department or
email the Science Students’ Council at mailto:[email protected].

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