Thermo, Fluids, Waves & Optics
Thermodynamics, Fluids, Wave Motion, and Optics This calculus-based lecture and laboratory course covers concepts from classical physics that are not included in PHYS 0109 and PHYS 0110, and that serve as a bridge between those two courses. Topics include thermal properties of matter, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, wave motion, sound, and geometrical and physical optics. This course is strongly recommended for all students otherwise required to take PHYS 0109 and PHYS 0110 as part of a major or a premedical program, and is required for physics majors.
I really enjoyed taking this class. The course offered a nice variety of topics, which kept things interesting, but moved at a pace that was not overwhelming. Professor Durst was really incredible and made lectures interesting and interactive. He was very generous with grades (grace period on most assignments, drop lowest homework and midterm grades, etc.) and his exams and homework assignments were very fair. He really went out of his way to set us up for success which allowed us to focus more on engaging with the course material, making for a very enjoyable experience overall.
I really enjoyed taking this class. The course offered a nice variety of topics, which kept things interesting, but moved at a pace that was not overwhelming. Professor Durst was really incredible and made lectures interesting and interactive. He was very generous with grades (grace period on most assignments, drop lowest homework an …Read more
Although the material of this class is dense and difficult, Professor Goodsell took the intimidation away from the subject. Her teaching style is very direct and she uses as many real life examples as possible to help assist learning. She was also very accommodating in office hours and she genuinely wanted students to succeed. I took this class for a pre-med requirement and I am very happy I was able to take it with Professor Goodsell.
Although the material of this class is dense and difficult, Professor Goodsell took the intimidation away from the subject. Her teaching style is very direct and she uses as many real life examples as possible to help assist learning. She was also very accommodating in office hours and she genuinely wanted students to succeed. I took …Read more
This course had been great. It is WAY easier than other physics courses and really a no-brainer if you pay attention in lectures and study a little bit before exams. Also prof. Durst is a wonderful guy and clearly very passionate about his work.
I really loved professor goodsell. She was lovely and enthusiastic. The workload was manageable and she was very accessible in office hours. Exams were doable and she was also great with accommodations.
Professor Durst was nice. The lab format and material is fun. The grading policy isn't great; 33% midterm and 33% final. The average on our first midterm was a 60%. Its hard to get an A in this course
This is the most relaxed of the three intro physics courses and has a relatively light workload. Prof. Goodsell is pretty easy on grading although there is quite a lot of homework. Labs are pretty easy and generally you can be out of lab early.
There were homework problem sets every week. There are also labs each week which are pretty interesting. The exams are not too difficult if you study for them. Sometimes there are demos that are related to the lectures during class time.