Course Title Introductory Physics
Author (Authors) Prof. Alexander Shengelaya
Lecturer (Lecturers) Alexander Shengelaya, TSU Prof. of Physics (Condensed Matter
Physics)
Alexander Tevzadze, TSU Assoc. Prof. of Physics (Astrophysics)
Code of the Course
TSU Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences
Status of the Course Bachelor Program “Physics” at the Department of Physics
Mandatory Course, I semester of study
Course will introduce students to major concepts of classical physics. The goal of
the course is to introduce students to a study of the physical world, to develop
Goal of the course their knowledge and understanding of some of the basic laws and principles of
physics and to develop problem-solving skills.
5 ECTS Credits
ECTS Credits and their 60 contact hours per semester (2 hours of lecture per week (in total 30
distribution by student hours) and 2 hours per week of practicum (in total 30 hours)
occupation 65 independent hours from which:
10 hours for the preparation and pass of mid-term exam
10 hours for the preparation and pass of final exam
Pre-conditions of the Student must be a TSU student
course
At the end of the course students should develop a good functional understanding
of physics. They should be able to describe and explain physics concepts. Apply
Main Results of the course physics concepts when solving problems and examining physical phenomena.
– learning outcomes Translate between multiple-representations of the same concept (for example:
between words, equations, graphs, and diagrams). Students will be prepared to
learn following courses in physics.
Content of the Course See Supplement
Methods of Main methods of teaching and studies are:
Teaching/Study lectures and practicum, interactive discussions, written tasks, solving problems
independently, home tasks, team work, deductive and analytical methods.
Attendance and interactive involvement on lectures 10 points
Practicum 30 points
Out of which:
1st written task 10 points
Evaluation Criteria 2nd written task 10 points
Activity at practicum 10 points
Colloquium I (written) 10 points
Colloquium II (written) 10 points
Final Exam (written) 40 points
Final Evaluation 100 points
Criteria:
Attendance and interactive involvement on lectures
9-10 points: Attendance and involvement at more than 12 lectures
7-8 points: Attendance and involvement at 8-11 lectures
5-6 points: Attendance and involvement at 5-7 lectures
3-4 points: Attendance and involvement at 3-4 lectures
1-2 point: Attendance and involvement at 1-2 lectures
0 points: no attendance
written task:
9-10 points: the task is solved correctly. There is a good knowledge of the
appropriate methods and / or programming environment.
1
7-8 points: the task is solved correctly. Minor errors are allowed.
5-6 points: a significant portion of the task is fulfilled, 1-2 essential mistakes are
made.
3-4 points: less than half of the task is solved, some methods are not used
perfectly.
1-2 point: a small portion of the task is solved, the core material is not studied
well.
0 points: no part of the task cannot be fulfilled due to the absence of the relevant
material.
Activity at practicum
9-10 points: Activity at more than 12 lectures
7-8 points: Activity at 8-11 lectures
5-6 points: Activity 5-7 lectures
3-4 points: Activity at 3-4 lectures
1-2 point: Activity at 1-2 lectures
0 – no activity
Colloquium
9-10 points: the answer is complete; The issue is accurate and exhaustive;
Terminology is protected. The student is thoroughly familiar with the material
provided by the program, deeply and thoroughly studied compulsory as well
as additional literature.
7-8 points: the answer is complete; Terminologically arranged; The issue is
exhausted; There is no substantial error; The student is well aware of the
material provided by the program; Has studied core literature.
5-6 points: the answer is incomplete; Issue is satisfactory; The terminology is
imperfect; The student studied the material provided by the program, but there
are minor mistakes.
3-4 points: the answer is incomplete; Terminology is wrong; The subject matter
of the issue is set out in part; The student lacks study of sufficient literature;
There are some essential mistakes.
1-2 point: the answer is short; Terminology is not used or is not appropriate; The
answer is substantially wrong. Only separate fragments of the material
relevant to the issue are set out.
0 Points: No answer or does not match the desired task.
Final Exam
35-40 points: the answer is complete; The issue is accurate and exhaustive;
Terminology is protected. The student is thoroughly familiar with the material
provided by the program, deeply and thoroughly studied compulsory as well
as additional literature.
25-34 points: the answer is complete; Terminologically arranged; The issue is
exhausted; There is no substantial error; The student is well aware of the
material provided by the program; Has studied core literature.
18-24 points: the answer is not quite complete; Issue is satisfactory; The
terminology is imperfect; The student studied the material provided by the
program, but there are minor mistakes.
11-17 points: the answer is incomplete; Terminology is wrong; The subject matter
of the issue is set out in part; The student lacks study of sufficient literature;
There are some essential mistakes.
4-10 points: the answer is short; Terminology is not used or is not appropriate;
The answer is substantially wrong. Only separate fragments of the material
relevant to the issue are set out.
0-3 points: very pure answer or does not match the desired task.
The assessment system provides the following assessments:
Positive:
(A) Excellent - 91-100 points;
(B) Very good - 81-90 points;
(C) Good - 71-80 points;
(D) Satisfactory - 61-70 points;
2
(E) Sufficient - 51-60 points.
Negative:
(FX) did not pass - 41-50 points, which means that the student needs more
work to pass and is allowed to pass the exam once more with independent
work;
(F) - 40 point and less, which means that the work carried out by the student
is not enough and he/she has to learn the subject from the beginning.
The student has the right to go for an additional exam in the same semester if
he/she received an FX (41-50 - fails) assessment; Additional exam should be
appointed at least 5 days after the final exam results.
The student is entitled to pass the final exam, if he/she has at least 21 points from
the intermediate assessment.
The final exam will be passed only if the student gets at least 20 points out of the
maximum 40 points.
Main Literature 1. Textbook of Elementary Physics #1 by G. S. Landsberg, A. Troitsky.
University Press of the Pacific, 2000.
2. Charles Kittel, Walter D. Knight, Malvin A. Ruderman, Mechanics,
Berkeley Physics Course, Volume 1, Second Edition, McGraw-Hili, Inc.,
1973
Supplementary Literature 3. I. E. lrodov, Problems in General Physics, Mir Publishers Moscow, 1988.
3
Supplement
Content of the Course
# Topics Study material
Lectures
1 Introductory lecture. What is Physics? Experimental and Theoretical Lecture notes; [1]; [2]; [3]
physics. Physics and other sciences. Methods in Physics. Units and
dimensions. Dimensional analysis. Space and time.
2 Study of motion, kinematics. Coordinates, velocity and acceleration. Lecture notes; [1]; [2]; [3]
Motion with constant acceleration. Freefall.
3 Vectors and motion in 2 and 3 dimensions. Inertial reference frames. Lecture notes; [1]; [2]; [3]
Galilei transformations.
4 Rotational motion. Angular velocity and acceleration. Lecture notes; [1]; [2]; [3]
5 Inertia and force. Newton laws and their applications. Lecture notes; [1]; [2]; [3]
6 Momentum. Momentum conservation. Elastic and inelastic collisions Lecture notes; [1]; [2]; [3]
in one dimension.
7 Kinetic and potential energies. Energy conservation. Work and power. Lecture notes; [1]; [2]; [3]
8 Newton's law of universal gravitation. Orbital motion. Lecture notes; [1]; [2]; [3]
9 Structure of the matter. Molecules, atoms and elementary particles. Lecture notes; [1]; [2]; [3]
10 Ideal gas. Density, pressure and temperature. Ideal gas law. Lecture notes; [1]; [2]; [3]
11 Kinetic theory of gases. Temperature and kinetic energy. States of the Lecture notes; [1]; [2]; [3]
matter. Phase transitions and phase diagrams.
12 Hydrostatics. Pressure in liquids. Pascal law. Archimedes law. Lecture notes; [1]; [2]; [3]
Dinamics of liquids. Bernoully equation.
13 Electric charge. Coulomb law. Electric field of the point charges. Lecture notes; [1]; [2]; [3]
Electric potential.
14 Electric current. Resistivity. Ohm’s law. Temperature dependence of Lecture notes; [1]; [2]; [3]
resistivity in metals. Phenomenon of superconductivity.
15 Quantum world behind the classical physics. Lecture notes; [1]; [2]; [3]
On all tasks and its sub-tasks the detailed study of problems is performed on practicum studies –
practicum hours work is in complete correspondense with lecture hours studies.