Physics for future Presidents
What every world leader
needs to know
(also known as PffP, Physics C10, and L&S C70V)
Want to teach this at your university? See below.
taught by
Richard A. Muller
Professor of Physics
(click on the photo for a more interesting one)
(or, for a high-res version
of the photo above
, click here)
Popular Version |
 There are two books I have written titled Physics for Future Presidents. The
one for popular audiences -- meant to be read by a general reader (rather
than studied), is shown on the left. The textbook for this course is shown
on
the right.
Click on either image for more information. The popular version has five
sections: terrorism, energy, nukes, space, and global warming. The new
Fall 2008
edition of the text has 13 chapters including multiple choice and essay
questions, and is the required text for this course. Note that there is
a new edition for Fall 2008 that contains a chapter on Climate Change.
If you are taking the course, do not buy the Spring 2008 edition, but wait
until the new edition is available (in July). It will be about $15 cheaper
to buy it online; I'll give a link here when it is available. The cost
of the textbook should be about $52, including shipping. |
|
Are you a LOST fan? If so, you might be interested in my explanation of how Ben moved the island,
published in Popular Mechanics online.
Below is the webpage from the Spring 2008 class. In August, this will be replaced with a new webpage for the Fall 2008 class. If you are taking the course this coming fall, you can scan through this page to get an idea of what is required.
------old page for Spring 2008------
I have posted the final grades. I hope you did better than you expected. Thanks for taking my couse, and have a great summer!
I have just posted updated grades. These count the sum of midterms 1 and 2 for 80% of the grade. Please check all entries; if you find errors, notify your GSI right away. (Not me; it is your GSI who maintains the records.) Note that the final exam counts for as much as the first two midterms combined -- so study hard and do a good job!
April 15. Our class has just received the highest possible honor. In a student vote conducted by the Daily Cal, it was named "Best Class at Berkeley"!
My new book, the popular (I hope) version of Physics for Future Presidents, is about to be published by Norton Publishers. Although based on this course, it is written in a different style,to be read rather than to be studied. It contains about half of the material we cover in this class, with emphasis on the topics I think the current candidates really need to know most: terrorism, energy, nukes, space, and climate change. Find out more about it at the PffP Norton Website. You can even pre-order it from Amazon (for delivery about June 15). Note: Amazon seems to have the textbook confused with this new one. The new one is cheaper.
Aprl 12. I have posted the Seating list for Midterm 2.
April 7. About Midterm 2: it is scheduled for Thursday April 17. That's soon. Come to the Midterm 2 Review Session on Sunday April 13, 1-4pm, 155 Dwinelle. Note: Midterm 2 will include material from the Climate Change Chapter -- but not from the Quantum Physics chapter. If you look at old midterms, you'll see quantum questions (e.g. about lasers, xerox machines, quantum fingerprinting, etc.). For this semester, such questions will have to wait for the final exam.
2 April. I have written a draft of the new chapter 10 on Climate Change. (In the next edition of the printed text, the old Chapter 10 will be 11, and the old 12 will be 13.) I recommend the pdf version; I also post a html version that might work better with some browsers.
14 March. I have posted two of the best essays from the first midterm exam. Congratulations to Alyssa Pskowski and Bethany Riordan!
13 March. I have updated the midterm grade list (see the 12 March entry below) to include the grades from Jan's students, who had not made it on the previous list because of an oversight. If you still can't find your secret name, contact your GSI.
12 March. I've posted the midterm grades. Warning: the grades assign 80% to the exams; since there has been only one, that basically assumes that you will score the same on the second midterm and final (and that is rarely true). So the grades are only preliminary. Check for errors, in the midterm score, HW, and quizzes. A score of -99 means excused; a score of -98 means the grade has not yet been entered. For 75 students who did not submit their secret names to their GSIs (even if they did to me), their grades are not yet posted, and if they want to know them, they will have to email their GSI. Finally, for students who did poorly on the final exam, I still give a C- if you have taken most of the quizzes and emailed in your HWs. The only way to get an F is to fail to participate. Many students have chosen this path, unfortunately, so there is a record number of Fs this semester. A D means you have missed too many quizzes or HWs, but not quite enough to earn an F. Students with Ds and Fs can still pass, but only if they do all of the remaining HWs and take all of the remaining quizzes (unless excused by their GSI). The grades are posted here.
Find your seat for the midterm on the midterm seating chart. If you have been assigned an aisle seat but would like a regular seat, see me before the exam.
26 Feb. Exam this Thursday, Feb 28. You do not need to bring a bluebook, scantron sheet, or calculator: just you and a pen. We will hand out the exam, including a place to write your essay. If you would like to practce writing an essay on one page, you can download it: essay sheet.
Review session for the first midterm: Feb 24. 1-4pm 155 Dwinelle
I have posted office hours for all the GSIs. For general questions you are welcome to visit any one, so get to know them all!
Error in chapter 1, caught by student Claire Dorman, on page 1-7. It says that a typical fuel tank holds 100 pounds of gasoline, and since batteries weigh 80 times more for a similar amount of energy, you would need 800 pounds, or 200 if your car only needs to go 75 miles before recharging. Obviously that should be 8000 pounds of batteries. Why didn't I catch that? I think because I was visualizing lithium=ion computer batteries, which are much more compact than are the lead-acid batteries, but lithium-ion batteries are much more expensive. Thanks, Claire!
Wondering what we expect for the Tuesday HW? Last semester I asked our GSIs to pick out sample homeworks that illustrate what we are looking for. Take a look at the Homework Example page.
I have posted the GSI names for each discussion section below. Please send your Tuesday HW and your request for excused absences to you own GSI. Please use the formats for these that are described below.
I've posted two plots I showed in the lecture on Thursday Jan 24. These are the Greenhouse emissions of countries, showing that the rapid growth of carbon dioxide from the developing world, and Greenhouse Intensity, showing the large emissions to GDP in China and India.
Jan 22. In class today I gave some incorrect numbers (verbally) for US oil use. Here are the correct numbers: the US uses about 21 million barrels of oil each day, adding up to about 7 billion barrels per year. Total US oil reserves are about 21 billion barrels, so if we don't import, we run out rapidly. See the chart in the item below for total fossil fuel reserves.
Jan 22, 2008. Guess which country in the world has the greatest reserves? Saudi Arabia? Iran? Russia? China? USA? I have posted a plot of Fossil Fuel Reserves. This is a plot I show in the first week of class, but is not in the text.
There is a new version of the required textbook, the "Spring 2008 edition." It is most easily obtained by ordering it online here, with free shipping. It is $49.50 (cheap!). At the bookstore is it about $10 more expensive. The changes (over the Fall 2007 edition) are these: many typos (printers fault, not mine) have been fixed. Two pages have been added to Chapter 1 on the cost of energy. Problems at the end of the chapter have been numbered. The changes are small enough that you can probably get by with a used Fall 2007 edition, but I tried to keep the price low enough that you would be able to afford the new version, and cherish it as a keepsake.
The 2008 class schedule for lectures, homeworks, and reading is now posted.
Important Note: Three assignments Due the
First Week:
First assignment is
due on the first Thurday by 9:30 am (before lecture)!
Read Chapter
1 on Energy. There may be a pop quiz.)
Chapter 1 is available online (see column on left) if you haven't gotten your
copy of the text yet.
Second
assignment: read this syllabus to see if there is anything else
applicable to you.
Third
assignement: your "bio" is due on the first
Friday by 11 pm!
If you don't do these on time, you may be dropped from the course.
(We have a long waiting list.)
If you are on the waiting list, do the assignments as if you
are in the course. Last semester EVERY student on the waitlist got into the course, eventually.
You are required to attend lectures. If you have to miss one or more, send in an excuse (before the lecture!) or your
grade
may
suffer. See
below.
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.)
The Spring 2007 KGO ABC7 story about our class can be viewed online. Be sure
to watch the video too. The link is: Top
Universities Offer Free Lectures Online. You can also read the older SF
Chronicle newspaper
story about our course.
Please note that if you take 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.
I check attendance (and reading) by giving surprise quizzes. For these, you
should bring with you a few copies of quiz strips, printed out from the quiz strip page. The extras
will be useful to sell to other students who have forgotten theirs;) Absence
will be excused if email is sent to your GSI (copy 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
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.
If you have more than 2 unexcused absences, I will lower your grade by 1
grade or more. (Your A+ will become a B+. If you are earning a C you will get
an F, since I don't like to give Ds.)
Lecture
absence excuses. To be excused, send a carefully-formatted
email to your GSI 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. So, for example, the subject might look
something like this:
Last Name, First Name, 10
April
The text of your email excuse should be your reason for missing lecture. It
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 to your GSI with an explanation
for the lateness.
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.
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.
(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
HW due First Week for all students:
Reading Chapter 1,
read this syllabus, and email your bio (see below) to Muller
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 -- even if you are on the
waiting list.
HW 1 due Thursday January 24 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.
HW 2 due Friday January 25 is to send me
information via email. If you do this correctly (right header, etc.) then you
will be granted one quiz point. Submit it incorrectly and you will get 0 quiz
points. Fail to do it and you may be dropped in favor of a waitlisted student.
Here is the required format. I apologize for the formality of this, but we have
over 500 students, and unless it is done correctly, my computer can't sort them
without my intervention.
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.
1. full name (first, middle initial, last)
2. SID:
3. nickname (How should I address you? Maybe just your first name.):
4. secret name, for posted grades (12 character limit):
5 . email address:
6 . telephone (where do I call if you are late for the final exam?):
7 . year (Freshman? Senior?):
8 . major (or a guess for future major):
9. which are you enrolled in: Physics or 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. Team membership, if any. (What position? What event?) Do you work (earn money), or plan to work?
14.. Tell me about yourself. What do you do when not studying? Participate
in sports? Work? Play a musical instrument? Write? Compose? Sing? Dance?
Watch movies, sports? Politics? Activism? Read? (Fiction? Nonfiction?) Fix
cars? Cook? 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, Student ID,
PffP bio) to: ramuller@berkeley.edu.
Weekly Homework
(starting Tuesday 29 January 2008)
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. It should be a serious
article. Good sources are
-The
New York Times (which has a science section every Tuesday)
available
online at www.nytimes.com
-Science
News (a brief but excellent newsletter available
in the library and on newstands)
-Popular
Science, Scientific American, Discover,
New Scientist,
or some similar magazine
-www.Economist.com
(the best weekly newsmagazine!)
-San
Francisco Chronicle (online at SFGate.com)
-Do NOT
use ScienceDaily.com unless you are cautious.
Its articles tend to be superficial and misleading, and that
could lead to a lower score for you.
-NEVER
use the Yahoo science page. It is too frequently low quality.
By Tuesday evening (11 pm)
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 or pdf file). The "subject" of
your email should be in the following format:
Last name, First name, HW, day
month (that HW is due)
for example:
Bush, George, HW, 16 January
Remember to email it to your GSI, not to Muller! (Again I apologize for this formality, but teaching 500 students without error isn't easy.)
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.
For each homework submission
email, do the following (or you will lose points)
1) State your name, SID, and secret name
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. Email your excuses to your GSI, not
to Muller.
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 Feb 28, 2008, 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 17. 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 Monday May 19.
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 + discussion section participation: 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.
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.
You may call me at my cell phone
(510) 735-6877, before 10 PM, if possible. For an emergency, call any time.
My personal and research web site
is www.muller.lbl.gov.
GSI
information.
Joel
Mefford. Head GSI.
email: joel.andrew.mefford@gmail.com
phone (before 10
pm): (510) 292-8017
office hour:
Paul
Bruno
email:
paulbruno@gmail.com
phone (before 10
pm):(510) 282-3122
office hour:
email: jankorsbakken.pffp@gmail.com
office hour:
email: janet.gsi@gmail.com
office hours:
email:
office hour:
email: amberlancaster@berkeley.edu
phone (before 10 pm): (314) 397-2020
office hour: Monday 4-5 in 473 Birge.
email: patrick.robin.lee@gmail.com
phone:(559) 284-4019
office hour: Tuesday 12-1 in 473 Birge.
Andrew
Myers
email:
atmyers@berkeley.edu
phone (before 10
pm): (919) 302-9513
office hour:
phone (before 10
pm):510)664-2939
office hour:
Discussion Sections: Below is a list for the Spring 2008 semester. The initial GSI assignements are
shown in the table below.
|
101 |
M 1-2 |
2 Evans |
|
|
102 |
Tu 12-1 |
B56 Hildebrand |
|
|
103 |
W8-9 |
385 LeConte |
|
|
104 |
Th 11-12 |
75 Evans |
|
|
105 |
F 1-2 |
85 Evans |
|
|
106 |
M 12-1 |
85 Evans |
|
|
107 |
Tu 1-2 |
3 Evans |
|
|
108 |
W 2-3 |
85 Evans |
|
|
109 |
M 11-12 |
85 Evans |
|
|
110 |
Tu 8-9 |
4 Evans |
|
|
111 |
M 1-2 |
385 LeConte |
|
|
112 |
Tu 12-1 |
4 Evans |
|
|
113 |
W 1-2 |
385 LeConte |
|
|
114 |
Th 11-12 |
4 Evans |
|
|
115 |
M 12-1 |
2 Evans |
|
|
116 |
M 11-12 |
B51 Hildebrand |
Not
sure if you should take PffP?
You will
learn important things. 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.
Afraid
of math? Don't avoid this class because you are afraid of math. Some
math is required (see math) but I have never had a student
complain that the math was too difficult.
Hate
physics? So do about 30% of the students who enter this course. They swore
they would never take physics again, usually after a bad experience in
high school. This course is different, rigorous, but designed for the liberal
arts student (also pre-law, pre-everythingelse).
Never
had any physics before? Don't worry. The same is true for about
35% of the students who take this class. You will not be at a disadvantage (or
at least only a minor one). Very little of the material we cover is taught in
the typical high school courses. Even less is taught in AP physics.
Watch a
sample lecture. If you're still not sure, watch the beginning of my
first lecture from fall 2006.
We
are using a revised edition of the text for this spring
semester.
It can be purchased online from Thomson
Publishers with free shipping:
Physics for future Presidents
Spring 2008 Edition
You'll also be able to get it (at a higher price) at the campus bookstore or on
Amazon.
(for those who took the course that semester)
Grades for Fall 2007 have been posted. I hope you did better than you expected. Have a great holiday and break! And keep on reading those newspaper articles, and learning more physics, for the rest of your life!
Dec 10. The final exam will be in the RSF at 8:00 am on Saturday Dec 15, in the "blue gym." You will choose one essay question from three choices; the essay questions will be based on Chapters 1-10, but not Chapters 11 or 12. 40 multiple choice questions will be based on all chapters, 1-12.
Dec 9. Grades are now up-to-date as of Dec 9. Grade Sheet for Dec 9.
Dec. 8. I've posted the grade sheet with all the quiz, homework, and midterm grades. Please check. A score of -99 means you were excused; a score of -98 means your GSI has not yet entered a grade. (I'll update this on Dec 9 with more grades.) If there is an error, email your GSI immediately. We cannot accept changes requested to after Dec 13. The error for Josh's grades has now been corrected. Here they are: Grade Sheet for Dec 8.
I've posted the Midterm 2 Seat Assignments.
Muller teaches physics to Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Rudy Giuliani, and other candidates.
Nov 7. Midterm exam coming up Thursday Nov. 15. It will test the material in chapters 6-10. The midterm review will be this coming Sunday, Nov 11, from 12 noon to 2 pm, in 2050 VLSB (Valley Life Sciences Building).
Oct 31. I've posted the midterm grades. Please check and see that all your grades were entered properly. A score of -99 means you were excused; a score of -98 means your GSI has not yet entered the grade. Please report any errors by email to your GSI in the next week, that is, by Nov 8. For this grade, the first midterm counted for 80%. For your final grade, it will count for only 20% (with midterm 2 as 20% and the final as 40%), so you have lots of opportunity to raise (or lower) your grade. The grades are posted here.
A soldier in Iraq listened to my physics lectures while manning a .50-caliber machine-gun and watching over a goat herder's field where insurgents were suspected of passing through a week earlier. Read the whole story.
2 October. I have posted the Midterm 1 Seat Assignments. If you have a problem with the seat, let me or a GIS know, and we will try to change it. Do not trade seats or make other informal changes.
28 Sept. There will be a review session this Sunday afternoon 30 Sept from 2-4 pm. It will not be on Tuesday, as we had originally hoped, because we were unable to get a room. It will be held in 2050 VLSB (Valley Life Sciences Building).
28 Sept. Some of the textbooks have a corrupted Chapter 11. Please check your own; I will take a survey in class to see how many people have a problem. Look at page 11-4. Does the first equation look right, or does it have two boxes under the square-root sign? I have posted Chapter 11 on the web site, so you can download a copy without the errors. It is available in two formats: html (for web browsers) and pdf (better for printing).
Sept 18. Download a practice essay sheet. These are similar to the ones that will appear on your midterm exam. You must write on the lines, and not in the margins or between the lines. (That's to prevent you from writing too much!) I suggest that for your