PHYS 211 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 and do your WileyPlus  homework.

Ch 1 Measurement (History)

Be able to:

bullet • Define what physics is and list its major branches
bullet • Explain why the shift was made from units based in anatomy to earth based and finally to atomic based units and standards.
bullet •State how the standards for the meter, kilogram, and second are defined at the moment. Visit NIST
bullet 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

bullet •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.

bullet •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)
bullet •Give the original definitions of a foot, yard, inch, cubit, etc.
bullet •You should be familiar with scientific notation and significant figures
bullet •List the fundamental quantities of physics and give their appropriate units in   SI (MKS and CGS as well British systems). 
bullet •Be familiar with the scientific method . Be able to define: hypothesis, models, law, theory etc.

Ch. 2 Kinematics in 1-D

Be able to:

bullet •Distinguish between kinematics and dynamics
bullet •State what the major accomplishments of Galileo and Newton relevant to mechanics are.
bullet •Define in words and mathematically the terms:

        average and instantaneous velocity; average and instantaneous speed.

        average and instantaneous acceleration .

bullet •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. 
bullet •Free fall is a good example of uniformly motion with a = -g = -9.8 m/s2

            See the video on Galileo's famous experiment.

    

Ch.3 Vectors and Ch 4.Kinematics in 2-D (and even 3-D)

Vectors: Be able to:

bullet •Distinguish between vectors and scalars. e.g. speed vs velocity; distance vs displacement
bullet •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          

bullet •express displacement, velocity and acceleration in two and three dimensions using unit vectors. See the equation in table 3-1
bullet •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.
bullet 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?
bullet 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
bullet Here are the equations for projectile motion and uniformly accelerated motion in D1 and 2D
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