Physics

You are here

Home » Studies » Bachelor's degrees » Bachelor Degree in Informatics Engineering » Curriculum » Syllabus » Physics
Credits
7.5
Types
Compulsory
Requirements
This subject has not requirements, but it has got previous capacities
Department
FIS
Web
http://fisica.upc.edu/ca/fisica-1/SF11-FIB/docencia/fisica-1
The main objective of the course is to examine the issues of General Physics with a higher incidence on Computer Science. Specifically, the program contains an introduction to electromagnetism, circuit theory, electromagnetic waves and to the fundamentals of digital circuits. In the lab the student becomes familiar with the methodology of measurement and with basic instruments of a hardware laboratory.

Teachers

Person in charge

  • Elvira Guardia Manuel ( )

Others

  • Albert Garcia Benadi ( )
  • Arnau Jurado Romero ( )
  • David March Pons ( )
  • Edgar Alvarez Galera ( )
  • Ferran Mazzanti Castrillejo ( )
  • Gemma Sese Castel ( )
  • Gerard Pascual López ( )
  • Grigori Astrakharchik ( )
  • Jackson David Tellez Alvarez ( )
  • Jaume Ojer Ferrer ( )
  • Joaquim Casulleras Ambros ( )
  • Joaquim Trullas Simo ( )
  • Jordi Boronat Medico ( )
  • Jordi Martí Rabassa ( )
  • Jordi Pera i Ferreruela ( )
  • Lluis Ametller Congost ( )
  • Manel Canales Gabriel ( )
  • Michele Starnini ( )
  • Romualdo Pastor Satorras ( )
  • Rosendo Rey Oriol ( )

Weekly hours

Theory
2
Problems
2
Laboratory
1
Guided learning
0.5
Autonomous learning
7

Competences

Technical Competences

Common technical competencies

  • CT1 - To demonstrate knowledge and comprehension of essential facts, concepts, principles and theories related to informatics and their disciplines of reference.
    • CT1.2B - To interpret, select and value concepts, theories, uses and technological developments related to computer science and its application derived from the needed fundamentals of mathematics, statistics and physics. Capacity to understand and dominate the physical and technological fundamentals of computer science: electromagnetism, waves, circuit theory, electronics and photonics and its application to solve engineering problems.
  • CT8 - To plan, conceive, deploy and manage computer projects, services and systems in every field, to lead the start-up, the continuous improvement and to value the economical and social impact.
    • CT8.4 - To elaborate the list of technical conditions for a computers installation fulfilling all the current standards and normative.

Transversal Competences

Effective oral and written communication

  • G4 [Avaluable] - To communicate with other people knowledge, procedures, results and ideas orally and in a written way. To participate in discussions about topics related to the activity of a technical informatics engineer.
    • G4.1 - To plan the oral communication, respond properly to the formulated questions and redact texts of a basic level with orthographic and grammatical correction. To structure correctly the contents of a technical report. To select relevant materials to prepare a topic and synthesize the contents. To respond properly when asked.

Objectives

  1. Students should be able to apply Kirchhoff's laws to the calculation of intensity and voltage in a direct current circuit in one or more grids.
    Related competences: CT8.4, G4.1, CT1.2B,
  2. Students should be able to calculate the Thévenin-equivalent voltage between two points in a given direct current circuit.
    Related competences: CT8.4, G4.1, CT1.2B,
  3. Students should be able to calculate the power in any component in a direct current circuit.
    Related competences: CT8.4, G4.1, CT1.2B,
  4. Students should be able to identify the amplitude, frequency, phase and effective value of a sine wave.
    Related competences: CT8.4, G4.1, CT1.2B,
  5. Students should be able to determine the response of the different passive elements affected by the action of periodic signals.
    Related competences: CT8.4, G4.1, CT1.2B,
  6. Students should be able to apply the phasor concept and determine the steady state response of an alternating current circuit
    Related competences: CT8.4, G4.1, CT1.2B,
  7. Students should be able to calculate the power of different elements in an alternating current circuit and to correct the power factor for a given circuit.
    Related competences: CT8.4, G4.1, CT1.2B,
  8. Students should be able to calculate the effect of different types of filters on signals composed of superimposed frequencies.
    Related competences: CT8.4, G4.1, CT1.2B,
  9. Students should be able to define waves and classify them according to different criteria.
    Related competences: CT8.4, G4.1, CT1.2B,
  10. Students should be able to determine the function of a one-dimensional harmonic wave and a harmonic electromagnetic plane wave.
    Related competences: G4.1, CT1.2B,
  11. Students should be able to describe the basic characteristics of the electromagnetic spectrum.
    Related competences: CT8.4, G4.1, CT1.2B,
  12. Students should be able to calculate the intensity of the energy carried by a beam of light and the energy of its photons.
    Related competences: CT8.4, G4.1, CT1.2B,
  13. Students should be able to determine the interference patterns for two coherent waves.
    Related competences: G4.1, CT1.2B,
  14. Students should be able to determine the directions of light beams reflected and refracted in a changing environment.
    Related competences: G4.1, CT1.2B,
  15. Students should be able to describe the fundamentals of conduction theory, particularly for semiconductors.
    Related competences: G4.1, CT1.2B,
  16. Students should be able to determine the intensities and voltages of simple circuits containing diodes.
    Related competences: CT8.4, G4.1, CT1.2B,
  17. Students should be able to describe basic current rectifiers.
    Related competences: CT8.4, G4.1, CT1.2B,
  18. Students should be able to determine the intensities and voltages of simple circuits containing transistors.
    Related competences: CT8.4, G4.1, CT1.2B,
  19. Students should be able to describe how digital information is represented and manipulated in electronic circuits.
    Related competences: CT8.4, G4.1, CT1.2B,
  20. Students should be able to determine the logic gates that implement given basic circuits.
    Related competences: CT8.4, G4.1, CT1.2B,
  21. Students should be able to properly and safely use the laboratory's electrical equipment.
    Related competences: CT8.4, CT1.2B,
  22. Students should be able to properly and safely use the laboratory's basic electronic equipment: multimeter, oscilloscope, voltage sources, function generators.
    Related competences: CT8.4, CT1.2B,

Contents

  1. Direct Current
    1.1 Electrical load. 1.2 Electrical current. 1.3 Voltage. 1.4 Power. 1.5 Resistance. Ohm's law. Joule effect. 1.6 Voltage sources. 1.7 Kirchhoff's laws. 1.8 Series and parallel resistors. 1.9 Measurement devices. 1.10 Thévenin's theorem. 1.11 Capacitors.
  2. Alternating Current (AC)
    2.1 Transients: RC and RL circuits. 2.2 RLC circuits: steady state response. 2.3 Complex numbers. 2.4 Impedance. Ohm's law. 2.5 Alternating current circuits. 2.6 Power. 2.7 Signal superposition. Bandwidth. 2.8 Resonance. 2.9 Filters.
  3. Electronics and logic gates
    3.1 Electronic structure of atoms. 3.2 Conduction theory: metals, insulators, semiconductors. 3.3 The p-n junction diode: current rectifier and logic gates. 3.4 Light-emitting diodes (LED). 3.5 Zener diode: voltage regulators. 3.6 Enhancement MOSFET. Logic gates. 3.7 CMOS inversor. 3.8 Power and delay in digital circuits. 3.9 CMOS logic.
  4. Waves
    4.1 Wave types. Wave functions. 4.2 Harmonic waves. 4.3 Electromagnetic waves Energy density. Intensity. 4.4 Electromagnetic spectrum. 4.5 Polarisation. Liquid crystal displays. 4.6 Reflection and refraction. Optical fibres. 4.7 Interference. 4.8 Lasers.

Activities

Activity Evaluation act


SUBJECT 1

Topic 1 development
Objectives: 1 3 2
Contents:
Theory
6h
Problems
7h
Laboratory
3h
Guided learning
2h
Autonomous learning
22.5h

SUBJECT 2

Topic 2 development
Objectives: 15 16 17 18 19 20
Contents:
Theory
6h
Problems
8h
Laboratory
2.5h
Guided learning
2h
Autonomous learning
23h

P1

Theory/problem-solving test to assess topics 1 and 2.
Objectives: 1 3 2 4 5 6 7 8
Week: 8 (Outside class hours)
Type: theory exam
Theory
2h
Problems
0h
Laboratory
0h
Guided learning
0h
Autonomous learning
3.5h

SUBJECT 3

Topic 3 development
Objectives: 4 5 6 7 8
Contents:
Theory
6h
Problems
8h
Laboratory
2.5h
Guided learning
2h
Autonomous learning
23h

SUBJECT 4

Topic 4 development
Objectives: 9 10 11 12 13 14
Contents:
Theory
5h
Problems
7h
Laboratory
2.5h
Guided learning
1.5h
Autonomous learning
22h

P2

Theory/problem-solving test to assess topics 3 and 4.
Objectives: 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Week: 14 (Outside class hours)
Type: theory exam
Theory
2h
Problems
0h
Laboratory
0h
Guided learning
0h
Autonomous learning
3.5h

F

Final theory/problem-solving test for students who failed continuous assessment or who wish to improve their mark (students should apply to sit the test 10 days previously). All four topics and their associated content will be assessed.
Objectives: 1 3 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Week: 15 (Outside class hours)
Type: theory exam
Theory
3h
Problems
0h
Laboratory
0h
Guided learning
0h
Autonomous learning
0h

L1

Assessment of laboratory Practice 1 by means of a pre-delivery exercise at the beginning of the session and a report at the end.
Objectives: 21 22
Week: 2
Type: lab exam
Theory
0h
Problems
0h
Laboratory
0.5h
Guided learning
0h
Autonomous learning
1h

L2

Assessment of laboratory Practice 2 by means of a pre-delivery exercise at the beginning of the session and a report at the end.
Objectives: 1 3 2 21 22
Week: 4
Type: lab exam
Theory
0h
Problems
0h
Laboratory
0.5h
Guided learning
0h
Autonomous learning
1h

L3

Assessment of laboratory Practice 3 by means of a pre-delivery exercise at the beginning of the session and a report at the end.
Objectives: 16 17 18 19 21 22
Week: 6
Type: lab exam
Theory
0h
Problems
0h
Laboratory
0.5h
Guided learning
0h
Autonomous learning
1h

L4

Assessment of laboratory Practice 4 by means of a pre-delivery exercise at the beginning of the session and a report at the end.
Objectives: 4 5 6 7 8 21 22
Week: 9
Type: lab exam
Theory
0h
Problems
0h
Laboratory
0.5h
Guided learning
0h
Autonomous learning
1h

L5

Assessment of laboratory Practice 5 by means of a pre-delivery exercise at the beginning of the session and a report at the end.
Objectives: 9 10 11 12 13 14 21 22
Week: 11
Type: lab exam
Theory
0h
Problems
0h
Laboratory
0.5h
Guided learning
0h
Autonomous learning
1h

ExLab

Laboratory exam where the student will make an individual oral presentation describing the objectives, implementation and results of one of the practices. This presentation will be followed by questions related to the subject presented. The student will also deliver a handwritten summary of the chosen practice. The learning objectives for the topic to which the practice refers will be assessed, as well as the transverse competence "Effective oral and written communication".
Objectives: 1 3 2 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
Week: 13
Type: lab exam
Theory
0h
Problems
0h
Laboratory
2h
Guided learning
0h
Autonomous learning
2.5h

Teaching methodology

Theoretical concepts will be covered in either theory classes followed up with problem-solving sessions or theory/problem-solving classes (at the lecturer's discretion).

Practical exercises will be completed in the laboratory sessions, preferably in pairs.

At the end of each topic there will be an additional face-to-face session of two-hours to support learning (Directed Activity).

Evaluation methodology

The technical competency mark will be based on two marks:
- A theory mark (90%).
- A laboratory or practical mark (10%).

There will be two partial tests, P1 and P2, corresponding respectively to topics 1 and 2 the first one and to topics 3 and 4 the second one, covering the four topics in which the course is structured.

Additionally, there will be six evaluable activities to be carried at the Physics Laboratory, which will include five evaluable practices and a final Lab exam, consisting of an oral presentation of one of the practices performed,
followed by a brief question session.

The grade of the course by continuous assessment will be computed by means of the expression:

NotaCursAC = 0.90 * (P1 + P2) / 2 + 0.10 * L

P1 and P2 being the marks of the partial exams and L the global note of the laboratory.
The latter will be obtained according to:

L = 0.75 * (average of practice notes) + 0.25 * ExLab

In case the student needs or wants to improve his / her mark, an optional final exam (EF) will be carried out.
In this case, the resulting grade of the course will be

NotaCursFinal = 0.90 * max (EF, (P1 + P2) / 2) + 0.10 * L


The grade of the competence on oral and written expression (CEOE) can be: A (excellence), B (optimal), C (sufficient), D (not passed).
The oral part will be evaluated on the basis of the Laboratory exam. The written part will be evaluated from a handwritten summary of the practice selected for its exposition.

The oral and written parts will have equal weigths on the final grade.

Bibliography

Basic:

Complementary:

Previous capacities

Students are expected to have taken physics at upper secondary level and have basic notions of mathematical analysis. As far as skills are concerned, they should know how to learn, solve problems, search for information, make abstractions and use mathematical language.