Course News
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Course News |
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A frequently asked question: "Which physics course should I take?"
Most students in Physics 180 are current or prospective biology, chemistry,
MB&B majors taking the course to satisfy prerequisites for courses
such as Neurobiology, to satisfy major requirements (note that Physics
150/151 is not acceptable for the MB&B major), and as part of premedical
requirements and preparation for the MCATs.
Others include engineering majors and social science and humanities majors who have a special interest in physics. Some students, who are thinking about majoring in physics or applied physics, should take Physics 180 if their preparation is not strong enough to start with Physics 200. Physics 200 is oriented more towards prospective physics majors and towards students who are interested in a more mathematical approach to the topics of classical physics. Another difference is that 180-181 covers the same topics in two semesters that the sequence 200, 201 and 300 covers in three. Naturally, 180-181 is more "superficial" but this allows a wider range of subjects to be included.
Typical preparation consists of a good high school physics course and prior knowledge of calculus on the level of Math 115, though the backgrounds of students in the class range from no prior physics and Math 115 taken concurrently to a strong A.P. physics course and Math 120 taken in a previous semester. If you've not had Math 115, you should be taking it concurrently.
About 80% of the students in Physics 180 take Physics 165/166, the 2 semester lab course designed to accompany this course. If you're a prospective physics major, you will take Physics 300 after Physics 180 and then you should also take Physics 205/206 lab instead of Physics 165/166. One scheduling difference between the 2 lab sequences is that P205 is offered both spring and fall (and P206 too) whereas P165 is only offered in the fall and P166 only in the spring.