Jeff Canfield's Georgia Perimeter College Web Page

Jeff may, depending on enrollment,
teach Physics 1111 Lab on the GPC Decatur Campus in Spring 2010:

CRN

Course Number

Section

Title

Days

Times

Location

24126

Physics 2212L

365

Principles of Physics II Lab

W

7:00pm-9:45pm

SB-1150



• See my Physics 2212 course web page for more details.

Jeff taught Physics 1111 on the GPC Decatur Campus in Summer 2009:

CRN

Course Number

Section

Title

Days

Times

Location

11290

Physics 1111

360

Introductory Physics I

MW

5:00pm-8:00pm

SB-1150

11291

Physics 1111L

365

Introductory Physics I Lab

MW

8:15pm-11:15pm

SB-1150



• See my Physics 1111 course web page for more details.

Jeff Tutors Math, Physics, some Computer Science, and some Chemistry:

• Jeff has a Ph.D. in Physics and has taught Physics at GPC and the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).
• Jeff has taught General Chemistry at the Ohio State University.
• Jeff knows most General Chemistry, some Organic Chemistry, and some Biochemistry.
• Jeff knows Matlab, C, Basic, UNIX, Excel, and MS-Word very well.
• Jeff knows Mathematica, MS-DOS, html, Fortran, Smalltalk, and Cobol fairly well.

Jeff's Fall 2009 GPC Tutoring Hours:

Monday    4pm-9pm    Decatur LTC    Thursday    4pm-9pm    Decatur LTC

GPC Learning and Tutoring Centers (LTC):

Campus		Location		Phone Number		Comments
Clarkston		JCLRC 2nd Floor CL2330		678-891-3590		The Math Lab has Math and Science Tutors.
Decatur		SF 1200		678-891-2575		Some GPC Faculty do their office hours here.
Dunwoody		LRC 3200		770-274-5244		Has many Math,Chemistry,Biology,Physics links.
Newton		Room 2140		770-278-1370

• Each site above has a different mix of tutors, different online handouts and resources, and different links to other sites.
• Check them out to find subject tutors that match your schedule.
• Some locations, days, and times are less busy than others, so keep stopping by until you find a location and time that work best for you.

Online Math Tutoring at GPC

GPC's HP/MESA Lab in CH-3240 on Clarkston Campus

Gwinnett County Public Library offers free access to tutoring via tutor.com:

• Perhaps your local library does too.

GPC's pre-Nursing and Nursing Tutorial Lab in CH-1140 on Clarkston Campus:

• Help for Anatomy, Physiology, and Microbiology.
• This lab has many plastic models of body parts.
• Pearson has online help for various Anatomy and Physiology textbooks.
• memorize.com has many online quizzes and lets you make your own.
• MCAT and other tests practice.

Some Private Tutors

• Try a Google search with the keywords "Atlanta tutoring" to find more.

Helpful Links for many subjects from GPC's Center for Teaching and Learning

General Study Tips:

• Go to class, sit in front if you can, ask questions, and take notes.
• Get to know your Professor. If you go to their office hours, they can seem very different from how they seem in class.
• Outside of class, find a quiet place to study, preferably near some plants and with good ventilation.
• Read the assigned sections and do the homeworks.
  • Homework is meant to help you learn by doing. It gives you practice and should help you prepare for tests.
  • Would you expect to improve if you had someone else do your practicing for you?
• Find someone else to study with:
  • Often different people pick up different things in class or as they read.
  • You can remind each other of upcoming deadlines or things your Professor said in class.
  • You can take notes for each other if one of you needs to miss a class.
  • You can provide each other with moral support and keep each other motivated.
  • You may find concept A easier to grasp while your study partner finds concept B easier to grasp.
  • Explaining things to each other helps solidify what you have already learned.
  • Asking each other questions can point out holes in your understanding.
  • Communication and Teamwork are skills useful in any career.
• Look in your textbook and class notes for examples similar to your homework problems.
• Look in the back of your textbook for answers to certain homework problems.
• Inspect your textbook's table of contents, index, and appendices.
  • The index can help you quickly find a specific topic in your textbook.
• Review the end-of-chapter summaries and special review sections before quizzes and tests.
• Find an online web page for your textbook. Such pages often have interactive content to help you learn.
• Find a student study guide or solutions manual for your textbook. Some of these have detailed solutions to many homework problems.
  • www.cramster.com has solutions to problems from many different textbooks as well as online quizzes.
  • InterAct Math has online resources for many Math textbooks.
• If you get stuck, try searching Google or Wikipedia for the answers.
  • Several good Science Encyclopedias are in Clarkston's Library with call numbers like Ref Q121-Q123.
  • Cliff's Notes has online Math and Science summaries.
  • Sometimes you are too drained to make progress and your persistence will not be rewarded.
  • Take a break or do something else like exercise for a while. This can work surprisingly well.
• memorize.com can help you memorize a variety of Math, Science, Medical, and Technical things.
  • It is interactive, it has matching mode and flashcard mode, and you can edit its contents to suit your own needs.
• Strengthen your learning by identifying your learning style.
  • More about learning styles from GPC's Student Success Backpack.
• Read more study tips from GPC or NCSU.
• Watch some short but helpful videos available at the Decatur LTC.
• Stay healthy, be good to yourself, exercise, eat well, take breaks when you need them, and get the rest you need. These all help you learn better.
  • If stress is getting to you, try GPC's Personal Counseling Services at Dunwoody (and other GPC campuses ?).
• If you need some inspiration, watch some online science shows.
• Be glad your teacher isn't Richard Solomon or Pai Mei.
  • May you have the determination of The Bride if they are.

Some Useful Math Links:

• MyMathLab Login Page
• InterAct Math (online resources for many Math textbooks)
• Links from GPC's Center for Teaching and Learning
• Links from GPC's Student Success Backpack
• Compass Test Practice
• Cliff's Notes for Math online
• GPC Math Tutoring Center Links:
  • Clarkston's Math Lab
  • Decatur's Math Handouts (some Compass practice sets)
  • Decatur's Online Math Resources
  • Dunwoody's Math Lab (some Compass practice sets)
  • Newton's Online Math Resources
• Online Math Tutoring at GPC
• GPC's HP/MESA Lab in CH-3240 on Clarkston Campus
• Links for Online Math Quizzes:
  • U Missouri-Columbia
  • Morrison Media LLC
  • Kathryn Schulte and picrust.com
  • Jefferson Lab
  • www.mathisfun.com
  • memorize.com has some and lets you make your own.
  • Do a Google search with the keywords "online college math tests" to find more.
• Math Skills Needed for the MCAT
• MCAT Test Practice
• Links About Calculators:
  • General TI Graphing Calculator Information
  • TI Calculator Tutorials
  • TI-83/84 Plus Calculator Movies
  • TI Guidebooks
  • TI-83 Plus Calculator Guidebook
    • Downloaded 9/24/08 from this web site.
    • It is a big file, so it can be slow to display.
    • p.564 shows how to graph piecewise functions.
  • TI-84 Plus Calculator Guidebook
    • Downloaded 9/24/08 from this web site.
    • It is a big file, so it can be slow to display.
    • p.481 shows how to graph piecewise functions.
  • Freeware for TI Calculators
  • Free Downloadable Software for TI-83/84 Plus Calculators
  • TI Connect Software can be downloaded for the PC or Mac
• Links About Special Math Topics:
  • Basic Algebra
  • Equation of a Line (click here for more practice)
  • Exponents
  • Logarithms
  • Quadratic Equation (click here for more practice)
  • Volumes of Objects
  • Trigonometry
  • Hyperbolic Functions
  • Logarithmic Identities
  • Differentiation (click here for more practice)
  • Integration
  • Taylor Series Expansion of Functions
  • Power Series
  • Sums of Series
  • Pascal's Triangle gives the Binomial Expansion Coefficients
• Mathematica Quick Start
  • Mathematica 6 is available in Clarkston's Computer and Math Labs (CL2350 and CL2330 on JCLRC's 2nd Floor).
  • Mathematica Free Trials are available.
  • Mathematica Student Licenses can be purchased online.
• MathWorld, an online math resource from the makers of Mathematica
• Matlab Central has many free program files for use in Matlab
  • Matlab R2007a is available in Clarkston's Computer Lab (CL2350 on JCLRC's 2nd Floor).
  • Matlab Student Licenses can be purchased online.
• How to solve 5x+6y=30 and 3x+7y=12 to get x=138/17=8.1176 and y=-30/17=-1.7647:
  • This kind of problem can be done by hand if there is a small number of equations and unknowns.
  • For larger systems of equations with more than two equations and more than two unknowns, Linear Algebra or matrix methods like below are useful.
  • In Mathematica, an easy way to solve the above problem is to type the following:
    • Solve[{5 x + 6 y == 30, 3 x + 7 y == 12},{x,y}]
    • N[%]
  • In Mathematica, a harder way to solve the same problem is to make its coefficients into a matrix m and a vector b by typing the following:
    • m={{5,6},{3,7}}
    • b={30,12}
    • v=LinearSolve[m,b]
    • N[v]
    • v's first element will be x and v's second element will be y.
  • In Matlab, the same problem can be solved by typing the following:
    • m=[5 6; 3 7]; b=[30;12]; v=m\b
    • v's first element will be x and v's second element will be y.
  • TI-83/84 calculators can solve this kind of problem too, as shown here.
  • DC electrical circuits can be solved using the methods above.
• Other Neat Math Stuff:
  • Turning a sphere inside out (video)
  • Solving the Rubik's Cube
  • Probabilities of Poker hands
  • Nice Guys Finish First, a video about Game Theory, cooperation, and morality
  • Nick's Math Puzzles
• Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics

Some Useful Physics Links:

• Mastering Physics (used in some GPC classes)
• Links from GPC's Center for Teaching and Learning
• Links from GPC's Student Success Backpack
• Cliff's Notes for Physics Online
• Links about TI calculators
• Lab-Related Links:
  • Scientific Notation
  • Significant Figures
  • Random vs. Systematic Errors
  • Error Analysis for X+Y, X-Y, X*Y, X/Y, etc.
  • Error Analysis Main Equations and full document
  • Dimensional Analysis (factor label or unit factor method)
  • Customizable Graph Paper such as Linear, Polar, or Triangular
  • Densities of Metals
  • Densities of Metals, Wood, Water, Liquids like Alcohol, etc.
  • Linear Thermal Expansion Coefficients (α) for different materials
  • The standard value for g and how g varies around the world
  • R for general θ in Projectile Motion Lab (see Equation 5 on p.3 in particular)
    • Projectile Motion Computer Demo
  • Friction Coefficients and more Friction Coefficients
• Web Pages for Touger's Physics Textbook:
  • Electronic Version at 40% off? Free 7-Day Trial?
  • Chapters 2-4 Online
  • Student Companion Site
  • Web Examples (free online - good for practice & review)
  • Web Links (free online - good for practice & review)
  • Detailed Answers to Many Odd-Numbered Problems (free online - good for practice & review)
  • Supplements you can buy
• Web Sites for other Introductory Physics Textbooks:
  • Cutnell & Johnson's 7th Edition (lots of free interactive online content such as MCAT prep questions)
  • Halliday, Resnick, & Walker's 8th Edition
  • Giancoli's 5th Edition (lots of free interactive online content such as MCAT prep questions)
• Sample MCAT Physics and Chemistry Questions
• MCAT Test Practice
• memorize.com has many interactive quizzes, and tools for making your own.
• Other Neat Physics Stuff:
  • Introductory Physics Demos (includes online quizzes)
  • Introductory Physics Demos
  • More Advanced Physics Demos
  • Roller Coaster Demo
  • Walter Fendt's Physics Applets
  • Michael Fowler's Physics Flashlets and Applets
  • Fermilabyrinth
  • The Physics of Simple Machines
  • Physics Galore from Physics Central
  • Bob, the winner from "Survivor: Gabon", teaches Physics
  • Mars Rovers (still going?) "Month in Review" reports are nice
    • These rovers landed on Mars in January 2004 to begin missions designed to last for three months.
  • Phoenix Mars Lander
  • More About Phoenix Mars Lander
  • UIUC Physics Van performs fun shows like in this video
  • Videos of Wake Forest Physics Demonstrations
  • Videos of U of Minnesota Physics and Mechanics Demonstrations
• Acoustics:
  • Musical Acoustics (includes frequencies for different instruments)
  • How Different Waveforms Sound (interactive online demo - just press "play")
  • The Human Voice
• Bernoulli's Equation and Hurricane Safety:
  • Why high winds can lift the roofs off houses.
  • More phenomena caused by Bernoulli's Equation.
• Example of Mechanical Resonance (Tacoma Narrows Bridge):
  • Overview of Bridge Failure
  • Short Video (about 1 min)
  • Long Video (about 4 min)
  • Is it really an example of resonance?
  • Other examples of resonance in bridges:
    • Millenium Bridge in London wobbled as pedestrians walked across it.
    • Anger's Bridge collapsed as soldiers marched across it in lockstep.
  • Tesla's Earthquake Machine was featured in Episode 60 of Mythbusters on August 30, 2006.
    • Mythbusters Episode Guides on Discovery Channel's site and Wikipedia.
  • Tuned mass dampers can weaken mechanical resonances.
• American Physical Society and Physics Central
• The Chemical Register has some career-oriented links for Physics.

Some Useful Computer Science Links:

• Links from GPC's Center for Teaching and Learning
• Links from GPC's Student Success Backpack
• memorize.com has many online quizzes and lets you make your own.
• Mathematica Quick Start
• MathWorld, an online math resource from the makers of Mathematica
• Matlab Central has many free program files for use in Matlab
• Numerical Recipes (according to Wikipedia)
• Numerical Recipes
• O'Reilly publishes many handy CS books
• Association for Computing Machinery

Some Useful Chemistry Links:

• Mastering Chemistry (used in some GPC classes)
• Links from GPC's Center for Teaching and Learning
• Links from GPC's Student Success Backpack
• Cliff's Notes for Chemistry Online
• Online Periodic Tables:
  • Los Alamos National Laboratory's Version
  • Radiochemistry Society's Version
  • American Chemical Society's Version
  • CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics' Version
  • Dayah's Version
• Some Helpful Mathematics:
  • Scientific Notation
  • Significant Figures
  • Random vs. Systematic Errors
  • Error Analysis for X+Y, X-Y, X*Y, X/Y, etc.
  • Error Analysis Main Equations and full document
  • Dimensional Analysis (factor label or unit factor method)
  • Links about TI calculators
• Some Useful Reference Books:
  • CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics
  • Merck Index
  • Physician's Desk Reference
  • Stryer's "Biochemistry" 5th Edition:
    • Many end-of-chapter summaries, problems, and answers are online.
    • You can electronically search and read this book's relevant sections online.
  • Alberts' "Molecular Biology of the Cell" 4th Edition:
    • You can electronically search and read this book's relevant sections online.
  • Several good Science Encyclopedias are in Clarkston's Library with call numbers like Ref Q121-Q123.
• GPC's pre-Nursing and Nursing Tutorial Lab in CH-1140 on Clarkston Campus:
  • Help for Anatomy, Physiology, and Microbiology.
  • This lab has many plastic models of body parts.
  • Pearson has online help for various Anatomy and Physiology textbooks.
  • memorize.com has many online quizzes and lets you make your own.
• General Chemistry Help:
  • General Chemistry Online (lots of interactive content)
  • IUPAC naming conventions
  • NIST Chemical Formula Search
  • Chemistry Games (know the elements, balance reactions, etc.)
  • Online Chemistry Quizzes
  • memorize.com has many interactive quizzes (like balancing reactions), and tools for making your own.
  • Sample MCAT Chemistry and Physics Questions
  • MCAT Test Practice
  • Oxidation Numbers (click here for more practice)
  • Atomic or Electron Shielding Constants
  • Pictures of Orbitals in Elements
    • More pictures are here if you click on the "Orbitals" tab.
  • Enthalpy of Formation (more values are here)
  • Heat of Vaporization
  • pH of Acid-Base solutions (more help is here)
  • NIST Chemistry WebBook
• Organic Chemistry Help:
  • IUPAC naming conventions
  • NIST Chemical Formula Search
  • NIST Chemistry WebBook
  • Chem Helper (has practice tests, tutorials, and a message board)
  • AceOrganicChem.com
  • Amino Acids found in Proteins
  • Genetic Code
  • Carbohydrates (includes monosaccharides and disaccharides)
  • NMR and IR Spectra
  • NMR and IR Spectra from UCLA
  • NMR and IR Spectra from UCBoulder
  • Organic Chemistry Reactions (nice summaries and quizzes)
  • Organic Chemistry Reactions by Name
  • Ohio State University Organic Chemistry Resources:
    • Electronic Flashcards (good for memorizing reactions)
  • memorizable.com has many interactive quizzes, and tools for making your own.
  • MCAT Test Practice
  • Smith's "Organic Chemistry" 2nd Edition:
    • Online quizzes (with answers) for each chapter (for example, Chapter 1)
    • Supplements you can buy
• American Chemical Society
• The Chemical Register has many career-oriented links for Chemistry.

Online Math, Science, and Inspirational Videos:

• PBS has many online science shows such as "Nova", "NerdTV", "WIRED Science", and "Nature".
• "Nova" has some shows about Physics and Math.
• Nova's "Science Now" and Scientific American "Frontiers" are good shows.
• The BBC has many online science radio shows.
• The Discovery Channel has some online videos. Their show called "Mythbusters" often involves Physics.
• Google has some full episodes of Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" show.
• "Bill Nye The Science Guy" and Nickelodeon's "Mr. Wizard's World" were both good science shows.
• YouTube has Congressman Roscoe Bartlett's "Peak Oil" presentation chopped into 7 parts.
  • There are more presentations like it. C-SPAN often has such presentations.
• Al Gore and Bono's "Unified Earth Theory" talk from the 2008 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland is on YouTube.
• President Obama speaking at a solar energy facility (Oct 27, 2009).
• President Obama's Message for America's Students (Sep 8, 2009).
• Erin Gruwell's 2009 Bay Path College Commencement Speech (press the red "f" button to view it).
• Dean Kamen's 2009 University of Arizona Commencement Speech (press the red "f" button to view it).
• Robin Chase's 2009 SUNY-Oswego Commencement Speech (press the red "f" button to view it).
  • Click here for the transcript.
• Juan Williams' 2009 speech about voting rights (press the red "f" button to view it).
• TED: Ideas Worth Spreading has many interesting (and sometimes controversial) science and technology talks.
• Lorenzo's Oil was a good movie based on a true story about a lay-person who reads many articles on his own and prods the right scientists in order to develop a cure for his son's rare neurological disease.
• More Math and Physics videos.

Some Links About Jeff:

• UIUC Web Site
• Ohio State Web Site

Miscellaneous Links:

• GPC Home Page

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