Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA
Students have a weekly online reading assignment (hosted by SurveyMonkey.com), where they answer questions based on reading their textbook, material covered in previous lectures, opinion questions, and/or asking (anonymous) questions or making (anonymous) comments. Full credit is given for completing the online reading assignment before next week's lecture, regardless if whether their answers are correct/incorrect. Selected results/questions/comments are addressed by the instructor at the start of the following lecture.
The following questions were asked on reading textbook chapters and previewing presentations on electric forces and fields.
Selected/edited responses are given below.
Describe something you found interesting from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally interesting for you.
"The two-step method is something I originally thought unncecessary, but it now makes sense to me. I originally did not think of 'force-at-distance' as a problem, but looking at it, it does seem somewhat self-contradictory. The field exerting a force though, makes sense."Describe something you found confusing from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally confusing for you.
Relating Star Wars to electric fields. I'm interested in how the lecture will go during class. I'm a Star Wars fan."
"How Luke Skywalker didn't use the 'force' to grab the lightsaber, but the 'field' which means that he created a source charge that was opposite of the test charge."
"I love the picture of Darth Vader strangling the guy; he is using the 'force,' but not in the same context as we are talking about."
"It's all interesting, as it's something I don't really know at all."
"I am a little confused on all the variables. I think that I got most of them but am a little confused still on what they mean for sure. Could use some in-class discussion on this one."Explain the conceptual difference between the electric force, F, and the electric field, E.
"Electric fields and forces in the book--I just ended up reading in circles. I won't understand it until I see it worked out and explained."
"I would benefit going over the two-step model for the electrical forces."
"I need some help with Coulumb's Law, I got a little lost in the explanation of using it."
"I didn't get too confused on these concepts."
"An electric field can exert an electric force, but not the other way around."Ask the instructor an anonymous question, or make a comment. Selected questions/comments may be discussed in class.
"The electric field is the force per unit of charge in an object, and the electric force is the actual magnitude of the force."
"E is the field that is around. And F is what the field is applying force to."
"What should we focus on for the midterm?" (Survive Quiz 3 first, then worry about the midterm. The study guides for both Quiz 3 and for Midterm 1 will be posted online soon.)
Can you describe what constitutes a point charge? Why is it that the electron can be thought of as a point charge? It says that there is no known internal structure, but an electron does have a mass, so wouldn't there be some form of structure supporting its mass?" (A point charge is anything that has charge with a size so small that it's shape doesn't matter. Protons can be pretty well approximated as positive point charges, unless you push two protons so close that they begin to undergo fusion; while electrons are truly point-like negative charges (as far as we know), as two electrons never really seem to come into contact with each other, no matter how hard you try to push them together.)
"I wish we could use the force like they do in Star Wars. May the force be with you." (No, not the "force"--the "field." May the "field" be with you.)
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