Dr. Vu-Quoc: EGM 2511 Statics, Fall 2005

Updated on: Thu, 13 Oct 2005, 14:31:13 EDT
Created on: Thu, 30 Jun 2005, 13:38:42 EDT
EGM 2511 Statics, Fall 2005, Dr. L. Vu-Quoc

Instructor : Dr. L. Vu-Quoc, 135 NEB, Tel: 392-6227, E-mail: vu-quoc AT ufl.edu
Class meetings:
Section 1594 meets in 270 Weil, period 8 (3:00 pm - 3:50 pm)
Section 1593 meets in 211 MAE-B, period 9 (4:05 pm - 4:55 pm)
Office hours: MWF, period 7 (1:55 pm - 2:45 pm)

TA's:
Sharan Asundi, asundi AT ufl.edu
Roger (Guoqiang) Hu, gqhu AT ufl.edu
Daniel Jones, jonesda AT ufl.edu
Yi-Chung Lin, akila AT ufl.edu
Sharath Chandra Prodduturi, psc1983 AT ufl.edu
Joe Sutherland, jks24 AT ufl.edu
RECITATION SESSION: Thu, 13 Oct 2005
100 NEB, Tuesdays, 5:10pm - 7:05pm, starting from Tue, 25 OCT 2005.
Office: 107 NEB
Office hours: Updated on Thu, 13 Oct 2005
Mon (3 hrs): 9:35am - 10:35am (Joe), 10:40am - 11:40am (Yi-Chung), 11:45am - 12:45am (Sharan)
Tue (8 hrs, 9 TA hrs): 8:30m - 9:30am (Roger), 9:35am - 10:35am (Roger, Sharath), 10:40am - 11:40am (Sharath), 11:45am - 12:45pm (Sharan), 1:55pm - 4:00pm (Joe) 4:05pm - 5:05pm (Sharath)
Wed (3 hrs): 8:30m - 9:30am (Sharan), 9:35am - 10:35am (Joe), 10:40pm - 11:40pm (Sharath),
Thu (7 hrs, 8 TA hrs): 8:30m - 9:30am (Sharan), 9:35am - 10:35am (Sharath), 10:40am - 11:40am (Yi-Chung), 11:45am - 12:45pm (Sharan, Yi-Chung), 12:50pm - 4:00pm (Roger)
Fri (3 hrs): 9:35am - 10:35am (Joe), 10:40am - 12:45am (Yi-Chung)

IMPORTANT ANNOUCEMENTS:

MIT's course Mechanics & Materials I, MIT OpenCourseWare. Wed, 05 Oct 2005.

On the meter (SI unit of length). Wed, 05 Oct 2005.

Generating Electricity While Walking with Loads. Mon, 12 Sep 2005.

Quotation: "It is too bad that it has to be mathematics, and that mathematics is hard for some people. It is reputed---I do not know if it is true---when one of the kings was trying to learn geometry from Euclid he complained that it was difficult. And Euclid said, 'there is no royal road to geometry'. And there is NO royal road (to Statics as well). Physicists cannot make a conversion to any other language. If you want to learn about nature, to appreciate nature, it is necessary to understand the language that she speaks in. She offers her information only in one form; we are not so unhumble as to demand that she change before we pay any attention." Richard P. Feynman, The Character of Physical Law, p.52.

Quotation: ``If the student had no opportunity in school to familiarize himself with the varying emotions of the struggle for the solution, his(/her) mathematical (Statics) education failed at the most vital point.'' ``Mathematics (Statics), you see, is not a spectator sport.'' George Polya, How to solve it.

Quotation: "When I compare our high schools to what I see when I'm traveling abroad, I am terrified for our work force of tomorrow. In math and science, our fourth graders are among the top students in the world. By eighth grade, they're in the middle of the pack. By 12th grade, U.S. students are scoring near the bottom of all industrialized nations. . . . The percentage of a population with a college degree is important, but so are sheer numbers. In 2001, India graduated almost a million more students from college than the United States did. China graduates twice as many students with bachelor's degrees as the U.S., and they have six times as many graduates majoring in engineering. In the international competition to have the biggest and best supply of knowledge workers, America is falling behind." Bill Gates in The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman, Nov 2004. Bestsellers (top 100) on bestbookbuys.com.
Wired, May 05: ...what advice should we give to our kids?
Thomas Friedman: When I was growing up, my parents told me, "Finish your dinner. People in China and India are starving." I tell my daughters, "Finish your homework. People in India and China are starving for your job."
NY Times book review, 1 May 05: "Bill Gates explains the meaning of this transformation best. Thirty years ago, he tells Friedman, if you had to choose between being born a genius in Mumbai or Shanghai and an average person in Poughkeepsie, you would have chosen Poughkeepsie because your chances of living a prosperous and fulfilled life were much greater there. ''Now,'' Gates says, ''I would rather be a genius born in China than an average guy born in Poughkeepsie.''"

M.B.A. Students Bypassing Wall Street for a Summer in India, New York Times, 10 Aug 05

Exam dates and time: See Contents and schedule.

Academic Honesty: All students admitted to the University of Florida have signed a statement of academic honesty committing themselves to be honest in all academic work and understanding that failure to comply with this commitment will result in disciplinary action. This statement is a reminder to uphold your obligation as a student at the University of Florida and to be honest in all work submitted and exams taken in this class and all others.

ASME ethics web page: Code of ethics, etc.

Accommodations for Disabilities: Students with disabilities who are requesting classroom accommodation must first register with the Dean of Students Office. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the Instructor when requesting accommodations.

NOTE: Please reload often all web pages to your browser, since I am continously adding new materials to these web pages.

Additional remarks on lectures:

On the Matter of the Meter, Daniel Kleppner, Physics Today, March 2001. History, accuracy, new definitions and new challenges.
Wed, 05 Oct 2005.
Generating Electricity While Walking with Loads, Lawrence C. Rome, Louis Flynn, Evan M. Goldman, Taeseung D. Yoo, Science, Vol 309, Issue 5741, 1725-1728 , 9 September 2005. Relevance: (Statics) SI system / US system conversion, weight/load/force, springs and spring forces, simple machines (spring-mass systems), work/energy (toward the end of the course), motivation for the Dynamics course; (Hurricane Katrina) efficient power-generator disaster-relief workers in remote areas. Mon, 12 Sep 2005.

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Home page: Loc Vu-Quoc
E-mail: vu-quoc AT ufl.edu
MAE Department