Re: Physics for Scientists and Engineers

["Richard W. Tarara" <rtarara@saintmarys.edu>]

Maybe just a bit more information would help.  Just how much
oscillation/waves/fluids is really done in this curriculum (class days
spent?)--do these topics ever spill over into the second semester?  How does
the faculty feel about abandoning Thermo (from a physict's persepctive) for
the non-physics majors in these courses?  {We have some real concerns about
doing that in our courses here in light of what we find our Chem and Bio
students _really_ know and understand about the topic.}

rick

-----Original Message-----
From: Eugene P. Mosca <mosca@nadn.navy.mil>

> Among those who teach this course there is concern as to which topics to
> cover and how long to spend on each topic.  In recent years topics in
> mechanics have been covered the first semester and topics in electricity,
> magnetism, and optics the second semester.  Here mechanics includes
> kinematics, Newton's laws, work-energy, impulse-momentum, gravity,
> rotational kinematics and dynamics, oscillations, mechanical waves, and
> sometimes fluids.  The second semester typically includes all the E&M
> topics typically offered in a textbook, excluding ac circuits, an optics
> includes geometrical and physical optics.  Typically the course enrollment
> 900 and includes English, history, and political science majors as well as
> those majoring in science and engineering.