Models of Motion

Dear friends,

I hope you are having a good spring break. Next Monday, we start the 3^rd quarter of the program. The schedule will be the same as the previous 2 quarters: lectures and workshops on Monday and Tuesday, and labs on Friday morning.

There has been a small change in the classrooms. Monday mornings we will have class in the library building (LIB 1540, below the library). To reach this room, enter through the main entrance to the library, go downstairs, and walk towards the end of the corridor. If you have never been in this area, try to arrive a few minutes early the first day of class, since there is a lot of construction happening in the building. Monday afternoons, we have class in the usual place (SEM 2 B 1105); Tuesday, we have class/workshop in LH2 (rotunda); Friday, we have lab in the CAL.

This quarter we will start studying electromagnetism (EM), chapters 19, 20 and 21, and integration techniques, chapter 8. Try to read some of these sections before Monday.

Also, start thinking about your project for the science carnival. You can work alone or with one partner. You can do research, a presentation of a lab technique, a demonstration or you can build “something”. Think about supplies or equipment you might need.

Monday May 26^th is a holiday (President’s day.)

The annual meeting of the American Physics Society, Northwest section) will be in Portland, OR on May 16-17. Check the webpage: http://www.lclark.edu/dept/physics/apshome.html

We need to start thinking about the logistics of the trip (food, transportation, etc.). If you have any ideas, let’s talk about it during the first week of class.

See you on Monday, Mario

Feb 28: Lab procedure posted

11/27 Mario: the link to self evaluations and evaluations of faculty is http://www.evergreen.edu/evaluations/studentselfevaluation.htm

11/23 Mario: Final exam Physics, Thursday 29th, at 1 p.m. <---CHANGE

11/20 Ab: There is an error in a line of code on the Gravity/Classes program you are doing: The website has:

ivelocities = 0,0,0],[.1,0,0],[0,.1,0],[-.1,0,0
Our web program will not allow for correct representation of this, so I cannot show you directly what to change it to, but you will need 2 open braces at the front, and 2 ending ones at the rear.. A list of lists with 4 total entries.

another piece of help: One of your fixes is to set the velocity in the class. This line should be:

self.velocity = vector(vel[0],vel[1],vel[2])

Or use Jessica's discovery: self.velocity=vector(vel)

Remember, there is no pos variable in the class planet. If you want the position it is tied to the view attribute. Use plist[x].view.pos

11/19 Mario: The answer key to the Calculus exam is already posted.

11/17 Ab: Check the week 9 and 10 Schedule. I have included a practice sample competency test so you can practice for the Tuesday exam. This is priority 1 if you have any of the 4 competencies you need to redo. A few of you have all the programs checked off. If you do not have an email from me with all the programs checked, I will have you run them for me on the Lab of the last week. You will not be penalized, and if you want to improve your score, you can show me your latest or corrected version and I will upgrade your score. I feel very bad about the problems creating this situation, but we must solve it now. Please use your extra time to get help if you still have a problem with one of the programs. I have included some help for you with the Mastermind program: in particular some code that will give you the feedback given 2 codes as parameters. If you are stumped, use this code, but make sure you comment where you got the code from. If you have your own code, even better. Make sure you come prepared with Astrophysics, Fusion, or other questions for Seminar this week.

11/15 Ab: If you would like additional information about classes in Python, check this website out: www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld/tutclass.htm

11/5 Mario: Physics lab procedure attached at the bottom of the Schedule link (as word or pdf). Print and read before lab tomorrow 9 a.m. (All students have lab)

11/15 Ab: Check the Seminar link of week 8 to prepare for the Seminar Monday. You will need to look at several websites and prepare some questions.

11/14 Ab: I have been having great problems running some of the code sent to me, due to errors in the programs, indenting or return problems, file problems, and my own computer problems. Please make sure you have a portfolio of your programs (do not delete them), and If I cannot get them running correctly, I will have you demo them for me on the last week of class. Since you can run the programs, you know if they work and what does not work, but I do not. You will run them for me and show me what they can do if I cannot get them to work for me first. Again, you will not lose any credit as long as you can demo a working program to me.

11/13 Mario: Everybody (groups A and B) has physics lab on friday, week 8, at 9 a.m. Physics and calculus homework due monday week 9, before the calculus exam (9 a.m.) <---Correction

11/8 Ab: For Seminar this week we will be helping you settle on a VPython individual programming project. Come with ideas you would like to try. Mario will talk physics and I will talk VPython. Try to think of levels.. where you want to end up and a number of progress points along the way. We will have our last program involving gravity and classes in Lab this week.

11/7 Ab: I will be grading your programs on Monday at school, due the the faster internet, so if you need a couple of extra days to finish up your programs, you have them. Send them in one email to me by Monday at 4 and you are good to go. I will be online most of today for questions. I will add a forum for student questions as well. If you are done, see if you can help a fellow student in this forum with a question or 2. Email me also with questions. Read Ch 10 and 12 carefully for next week, and run the example programs. We will be applying classes to a gravity program for you next and last program, along with Mastermind and your Individual Project, which could be an extension of an existing program or the Classes/Gravity program. I will be online periodically the next few days and over the weekend, so if you need help, try me there. Good Luck with your programs! Ask Questions!

11/5 Ab: Please have all the programs, including Target, Arrays, and Collisions, emailed to me by Friday of this week. I have sent you an email of all the programs I have recorded. If you did not recieve this email, please see me right away. I would like you to include all programs you do not have checked off in a single email, sent to abvemodmo7@hotmail.com. Title the subject: Programs for "your name" Put several spaces between the codes, and include a #name and #program name for each program. Make sure indents are correct. I will run each program and reply to your email with the results. You will not need to turn in your progress on Mastermind this week. Make sure you are completely caught up with your other programs. Again, they are: form letter, change, craps, craps2, array, car, target, and collisions. We will proceed with Classes and Gravity next week. Your individual project could be an extension of this, or another topic of your choosing.

10/31 Mario: Prepare for Seminar on monday, week 7. Check the Seminar link.

10/27 Mario: Answer key to calculus and physics homework week 4 attached at bottom of Homework link.

10/26 Ab: Please check the Homework link on the right for week 5. You should clearly see what is expected and what is a 'challenge' for both assigned programs. If you are not clear, see me on Monday, or email me. We will be writing in groups the Mastermind program next week. Jeff L, and Martin have sent me some work on this already. If you have some significant progress on Mastermind already, please let me know before monday. You will be working in groups of 3, so please think about who you would like to work with to program Mastermind. We will write some of it together in class. We will review priorities and past assignments on Monday, so come with questions then.

10/25 Ab: I will be more specific on what is expected and what is a 'challenge' in future programming assignments. Some folks really went to town on the Graphics part of craps, and got into the swamps. If you are still hung up on Craps2 or Target, see me ASAP, but begin to work on the assignments for next week: Arrays and Collision. The expectations for these 2 programs should be clear. The last part of Arrays, implementing a Binary Search is a Challenge, as it implementing a harder sort than the insertion sort we talked about in class. When you read Ch 11, you can skim over the parts covering Objects, which is really pages 253 to the end of the chapter. We will be designing Mastermind next week, so if you have been working on it, let me know before then, and show me your progress.

10/25 Mario: Lab procedure friday week 5 and 6, attached at the bottom of Schedule link.

10/24 Ab: Check the Seminar link for details on next weeks help session. Make sure you see me when you are ready for another test for reading or writing code. 7 or lower should retest. The Visual Python lab for this week should implement only the 1 dimension collision. Try the 2d if you can, but there are a couple of gliches we are trying to solve in the algorithm on the week 5 CS lab page.

10/23 Mario: Seminar week 7 (Nov 5th), our discussion will cover the first 4 chapters of the Copernican Revolution. Second half later.

10/22 Mario: Physics exam, thursday 25th, 1 p.m. LH 2

10/22 Mario: Monday, the 29th, instead of a seminar discussion we will have a Calculus/Physics Workshop, where we will work in small groups solving problems.

10/22 Mario: On tuesday, the 23rd, we will have Comp Science lecture at 1 p.m., and Physics lecture at 2:30 p.m.

10/21 Mario: Answer key to calculus exam attached at the bottom of Homework link

10/20 Mario: Answer key to physics homework week 3 attached at the bottom of Homework link

10/17 Mario: Read Seminar week 5

10/17: Make sure you are practicing Reading and Writing code. Thursday will be the last inclass opportunity to ask questions. The test Monday will have 2 questions: One reading and one writing. I will be online today from 1:30-4 or so, and periodically in the evening. I will be in my office (Lab 1, 1006) from 5-8pm on Monday also. Remember to tap on my window if the door is locked. My window faces our lecture classroom.

10/15 Ab: We will have a Read Code/Write Code exam on Monday, Oct 22, at 10:30. Make sure you practice**10.

10/14 I will be in my office, Lab1, room 1006, from 4pm to 8pm on Monday. If you need help on Craps or the Car program, that would be a good time to get help. I am also online periodically on IM, so check there too. Finally, Drew is looking at the Change programs and will be emailing you feedback as well as trying to find times to get some tutoring hours. Use him. Finally, please do not use the class email group for anything but class related content. Make sure you have your research and forum entry in for Seminar before 1pm Monday.

10/12 Mario: Thursday, 1 p.m., Calculus exam

10/10 Ab: I will be online tonight using IM if you have question or problems with the Change program or need help getting started on the Car/Craps/Mastermind/or projectile programs. Make sure you have all assignments into MASU dropbox by this thursday. Only one mastermind algorithm per group. Include all group members in your Word doc.

10/10 Mario: The document lab2physics.doc is attached at the very bottom of the schedule page. Read it before lab on friday.

10/5 Ab: I have updated the homework page for week 2. There are 3 folders in MASU, Change, Projectile, and Mastermind. Put each assignment in the appropriate folder. Only one entry per group for Mastermind, and send it as a word document with your group members on it. The other 2 should be Python IDLE programs. Include your name, email, and assignment in comments (#) Here is a website I found recently involving some math talent to figure out. See if you discover how it works: http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/games/magic-gopher-central.swf Make sure you read chapter 7 before Monday. Also, if you have not installed MSN Instant Messenger and added the emails on the list to your contacts, please do so right away.

10/4 Mario: For Seminar, Monday week 3, we will discuss the life and works of Fibonacci. In preparation for our discussion, research, write and submit a one-page essay (max 2) about his life and times, his works, contributions to number theory, mathematics and science. He is famous for the Fibonacci sequence, the golden ratio and "the rabbit problem", but that is just a small portion of his work. List -and be prepared to explain- five (5) "places" where the golden ratio appears: in nature, architecture, number theory, etc. The challenge is to list the least popular examples. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of webpages dedicated to this problem. There are also many books in the library with references to his work. Do not choose the first most popular hits. Do not cut-and-paste. Describe the problems in your own words. We will compare your list with the lists of the other students.

10/3 Ab: I have had some trouble logging in to my hotmail account from home. If you need me quick, use the vanetta@evergreen.edu email. Only about a dozen of you have added me to your contact list in Instant Messenger. I would like to have some online help sessions soon. Please add me and everyone else to your IM contact list. Remember to review your notes and book questions for Thursday's class.

10/3 Mario: Rejoice! The calculus books have arrived.

10/2 Mario: I attached the physics lab procedures for friday morning (group B, 9 a.m. at the CAL) at the very bottom of the schedule page, under the name lab1.doc

10/1 Ab: Remember to turn in your Form Letter program in Lab this week. We will try to go paperless next time. Remember to get together with your group working on Mastermind. Turn in a set of directions to play Mastermind next time in Lab. Only teach how to play, not the rules of the game. Just how to pick the next guess. When you do, see if you can make easier or more efficient instructions.