{"id":495,"date":"2025-08-20T13:08:02","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T13:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/dean-of-first-year-students\/?page_id=495"},"modified":"2025-08-20T13:08:03","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T13:08:03","slug":"physics-at-vassar","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/dean-of-first-year-students\/advising\/resources-for-advisors\/physics-at-vassar\/","title":{"rendered":"Physics at Vassar"},"content":{"rendered":"<!-- Inserted by Dropdownizer plugin. Forces video embeds contained in dropdowns to have a size --><style>.dropdownizer__dropdown iframe { width: 100% !important; height: 100% !important; }<\/style>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Advanced Placement in Physics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Advanced placement in physics is possible for students who have done advanced work in high school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many incoming students may have taken AP, IB, or A-Levels exams already. However, we require that all students interested in advanced placement into PHYS 114 (Introductory Electricity and Magnetism) or PHYS 200 (Modern Physics-Sophomore Level) take Vassar\u2019s (paper-based) Physics Placement Exam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Students are also required to bring documentation of AP exam scores, or IB grades, and their student ID to the exam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Date and time: <\/strong>Thursday, 28 August 2025, 10:00 AM-12:00 PM (lasting 1 hour)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Location: <\/strong>Sanders Physics room 201<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For any advanced placement questions, please message Juan Merlo <a href=\"mailto:(jmerloramirez@vassar.edu\">(jmerloramirez@vassar.edu)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Introductory Physics Courses<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">PHYS 111 - Introduction to Physics I\/Lab<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Semester Offered:<\/strong> Fall<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An introduction to the basic concepts of physics with emphasis on mechanics. Not calculus-based. Recommended for Pre-Health students and life science majors. The Department. Two 75-minute periods and one 3-hour laboratory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">PHYS 112 - Introduction to Physics II\/Lab<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Semester Offered: <\/strong>Spring<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fundamentals of electricity, magnetism, and optics. Not calculus-based. Pre-Health students and life science majors. The Department. Two 75-minute periods and one 3-hour laboratory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Prerequisite(s):<\/strong> PHYS 111 or PHYS 113 or Placement exam results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">PHYS 113 - Fundamentals of Physics I\/Lab<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Semester Offered:<\/strong> Fall<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An introduction to the basic concepts of physics with emphasis on mechanics. Calculus-based. Recommended for potential majors in physics and other physical sciences. The Department. Two 75-minute periods and one 3-hour laboratory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">PHYS 114 - Fundamentals of Physics II\/Lab<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Semester Offered:<\/strong> Spring (and 1 section in the fall for advanced first-year students)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fundamentals of electricity, magnetism, and optics. Calculus-based. Recommended for potential majors in physics and other physical sciences. The Department. Two 75-minute periods and one 3-hour laboratory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Prerequisite(s): <\/strong>PHYS 111 or PHYS 113 or Placement exam results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">PHYS 200 - Modern Physics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Semester Offered: <\/strong>Fall<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An introduction to the two subjects at the core of contemporary physics: Einstein\u2019s theory of special relativity, and quantum mechanics. Topics include paradoxes in special relativity; the Lorentz transformation; four-vectors and invariants; relativistic dynamics; the wave-particle duality; the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, and simple cases of the Schrodinger wave equation. The Department. Two 75-minute periods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Prerequisite(s): <\/strong>PHYS 114 or Placement exam results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Introductory<\/strong><strong> <\/strong><strong>Physics<\/strong><strong> <\/strong><strong>Course<\/strong><strong> <\/strong><strong>Sequence<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>PHYS 111\/112 <\/strong>are <strong>non-calculus<\/strong>-based introductions to physics that will be ideal for students on Vassar\u2019s pre-health track. It will cover more topics than <strong>PHYS 113\/114<\/strong>, including fluids and thermodynamics, but will not spend as much time on mathematics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Who is recommended for <strong>PHYS 111\/112<\/strong>? - Pre-health students, science majors who do not anticipate taking any advanced physics courses like the 200 or 300 level physics or physical chemistry courses, or students who want a physics course with a laboratory but do not want to have to worry about how long it\u2019s been since they\u2019ve taken calculus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Who is recommended for <strong>PHYS 113\/114<\/strong>? - Physics majors, Astronomy majors, Chemistry majors, Math\/Stats majors, students considering the Dartmouth engineering program, or any student considering taking 200 or 300 level physics or physical chemistry courses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Please note that either PHYS 111 or PHYS 113 serve as prerequisites for either PHYS 112 or PHYS 114, so students can move between the sequences if they wish.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Advanced Placement in Physics Advanced placement in physics is possible for students who have done advanced work in high school. Many incoming students may have taken AP, IB, or A-Levels exams already. However, we require that all students interested in advanced placement into PHYS 114 (Introductory Electricity and Magnetism) or PHYS 200 (Modern Physics-Sophomore Level) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":181,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-495","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/dean-of-first-year-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/dean-of-first-year-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/dean-of-first-year-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/dean-of-first-year-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/dean-of-first-year-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/dean-of-first-year-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":496,"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/dean-of-first-year-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/495\/revisions\/496"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/dean-of-first-year-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/offices.vassar.edu\/dean-of-first-year-students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}