PHYS 201 STUDY GUIDE FOR SECTION I
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. Doing the
home work on WileyPlus.
Ch 1 Measurement (History)
Be
able to:
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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. |
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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). Review example 1-8. |
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•Be familiar with the scientific method . Be able to define: hypothesis, models, law, theory etc.
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Vectors: Be able
to:
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 |
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Ch.
2 Kinematics in 1-D
Be
able to:
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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 free
fall in air and vacuum,
Galileo's famous experiment. Free fall
in Chinese
Ch. 3 Kinematics in 2-D (and even 3-D)
Review
Vector Addition in Ch.1 : Be able to:
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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
component method with the help of Pythagorean Theorem and some
trigonometry.
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•express displacement, velocity and
acceleration in two 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 should be in your lecture
notes. Visit this
website as well as
this one. |
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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 |