The course and, consequently, the tests emphasize problem solving. In order to solve problems one needs to master the underlying concepts and principles. This guide points out some of the basic terms and concepts. In addition, please review sample problems in you notes and the book and do your WileyPlus homework.
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• Define what physics is
and list its major branches |
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• Explain why the shift
was made from units based in anatomy to earth based and finally to atomic based units and
standards. |
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•State how the standards
for the meter, kilogram, and second are defined at the moment. Visit
NIST |
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• Convert back and forth between the following: CGS, MKS, and FPS |
(e.g your height and weight from FPS to MKS. Miles/hr to Km/hr and to m/s)
Here is a good source for conversion factors. You just fill in the blank and it will do it for you.
It will help check your answers. Try it. Give it 60 mph it will tell you that it is 26.8
m/s
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•Explain how Eratosthenes estimated the Earth's Circumference. View Carl Sagan's Video |
You should be able to repeat his calculation.
Given the radius, you should able to calculate the circumference of a circle.
Given the radius, you should be able to calculate the volume of a sphere
Given the mass and radius of a sphere, you should be able to calculate its density.
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•A physicist who is 1.7 m
tall sees a sunset while lying down and then he sees a second one after 10 seconds
standing up. Using this information he is able to estimate that the earth has about a 6400
km radius. Show how this is possible ( Review you notes and redo the calculation)
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•Give the original
definitions of a foot, yard, inch, cubit, etc. |
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•You should be familiar with scientific notation and significant figures |
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•List the fundamental quantities of physics and give their appropriate units in SI (MKS and CGS as well British systems). |
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•Be familiar with the scientific method
. Be able to define: hypothesis, models, law, theory etc. |
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•Distinguish between kinematics and dynamics |
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•State what the major
accomplishments of Galileo and Newton relevant to mechanics are. |
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•Define in words and mathematically the terms: |
average and instantaneous velocity; average and instantaneous speed.
average and instantaneous acceleration .
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•Use the equations of uniformly accelerated motion to solve 1-D kinematics problems. Review the of worked out examples in ch 2 and your notes. |
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•Free fall is a good example of uniformly motion with a = -g = -9.8 m/s2 |
See the video on Galileo's famous experiment.
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•Distinguish between vectors and
scalars. e.g. speed vs velocity; distance vs displacement |
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•Be able to add and/or subtract vectors using: |
The parallelogram method and the Pythagorean theorem or the cosine law
The component method with the help of Pythagorean theorem and some trigonometry.
The component method of adding vectors is the standard and most general way and easy to master with some practice. The vector addition part of this presentation may be helpful. Review the examples in Ch.4
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•express displacement, velocity and acceleration in two and three dimensions using unit vectors. See the equation in table 3-1 |
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•Solve problems related to projectile motion in vacuum. Here is a java applet that lets you input initial velocity with an angle and launch a projectile. You can then check you calculation of the range, maximum height, and flight time. Formulas for projectile motion are given in table 3-2. There will be more in you lecture notes. The problem solving tip on page 58 should help. Visit this website as well as this one. |
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Be able to calculate speed, velocity and acceleration for circular motion. Why does an abject such as a planet orbit the sun at uniform speed has acceleration. What is the earth's speed and centripetal acceleration as it revolves around the sun? |
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Be familiar with using equations for uniform acceleration in 2-D a special case of which is projectile motion. Which uses this set of equations |
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Here are the equations for projectile motion and uniformly accelerated motion in D1 and 2D |
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