Physics 211, "University Physics I", Section 08, Spring 2026

This material can be found online at URL

http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/phys211/phys211.html

Outline for the course, class schedule, etc.

If you want to read through my lectures from the old, lecture-based version of this course, then visit

• my old lecture-based University Physics I web site.
• my old lecture-based University Physics II web site.

You may also find it useful to look at my notes from an intensive version of University Physics I, which meets 4 days a week.

• my University Physics I for physics majors web site

Workshops

• Week 1, Day A: Introduction, measurements, ring experiment [Equipment: yes, click to see ]
• Week 1, Day B: Kinematic quantities, uncertainties and graphing [Equipment: yes, click to see ]
• Week 1, Day C: 1-D kinematics under constant acceleration
• No class today
• Week 2, Day B: 1-D kinematics, continued
• Week 2, Day C: Vectors
• Week 3, Day A: 2-D Kinematics in simple situations [Equipment: yes, click to see ]
• Week 3, Day B: Projectile motion [Equipment: yes, click to see ]
• Week 3, Day C: Uniform circular motion
• Week 4, Day A: Forces
• Week 4, Day B: Forces on ramps, and Atwood's Machine [Equipment: yes, click to see ]
• Week 4, Day C: Newton's Third Law and Friction [Equipment: yes, click to see ]
• Week 5, Day A: UCM and centripetal force [Equipment: yes, click to see ]
• Week 5, Day B: Variable forces: springs [Equipment: yes, click to see ]
• Week 5, Day C: Variable forces: gravity
• Week 6, Day A: Work and kinetic energy
• Week 6, Day B: Work in complicated situations
• Week 6, Day C: Potential energy and conservation of energy
• Week 7, Day A: Forces and potential energy
• Tue: 6:30 - 8:00 PM, Test 1
• Week 7, Day B: Impulse and momentum [Equipment: yes, click to see ]
• Week 7, Day C: Momentum and collisions [Equipment: yes, click to see ]
• Week 8, Day A: Center of mass
• Week 8, Day B: Ballistic Pendulum experiment [Equipment: yes, click to see ]
• Week 8, Day C: Introduction to angular quantities [Equipment: yes, click to see ]
• Week 9, Day A: Angular kinematics
• Week 9, Day B: Experiment with angular quantities
• Week 9, Day C: Rotational KE, moment of inertia
• Week 10, Day A: More moments of inertia, and torque
• Week 10, Day B: Rolling motion [Equipment: yes, click to see ]
• Week 10, Day C: Torque with vectors (and the vector cross product)
• Week 11, Day A: Work in rotational motion
• Week 11, Day B: Angular momentum
• Week 11, Day C: Conservation of angular momentum [Equipment: yes, click to see ]
• Week 12, Day A: The gyroscope and other angular momentum in action [Equipment: yes, click to see ]
• Week 12, Day B: Static equilibrium
• Week 12, Day C: Review of differential equations and a swinging meterstick
• Week 13, Day A: Review of material before Test 2
• Tue: 6:30 - 8:00 PM, Test 2
• Week 13, Day B: Simple harmonic motion [Equipment: yes, click to see ]
• Week 13, Day C: The pendulum [Equipment: yes, click to see ]
• Week 14, Day A: Waves and wave motion
• Week 14, Day B: Adding waves together: interference and beats
• Week 14, Day C: Standing waves on a string demo, LIGO [Equipment: yes, click to see ]
• Week 15, Day A: Review Day
• Final exam: Fri, May 1, 4:15 - 6:45 PM, GOS-3345

Homework sets.

In order to use the on-line homework system, you need to know your login name and your initial password. Your "login name" should be the same as your last name, but spelled in lower case only; so Joe Smith should type smith. Your initial password should be the final 4 digits of your 9-digit RIT student ID number, so if your ID number is 123456789, the initial password would be 6789. Be sure to include any zeroes: if the final digits of your ID are "0035", then your password is 0035. You can change your password from the default after you log in for the first time.

• Homework 0: Introduction to WebWork due Friday, Jan 16, at 11 PM.
      This assignment does not count towards your grade; it is intended to uncover any errors in the system and give us time to fix them.
      Answers to homework 0
• Homework 1: Graphs and kinematics due Wednesday, Jan 21, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 1
• Homework 2: 1-D kinematic under constant acceleration due Friday, Jan 23, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 2
• Homework 3: Vectors due Monday, Jan 26, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 3
• Homework 4: Projectile motion (easy) due Fri, Jan 30, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 4
• Homework 5: Projectile motion (not so easy) due Mon, Feb 2, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 5
• Homework 6: UCM due Wednesday, Feb 4, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 6
• Homework 7: Forces: I due Friday, Feb 6, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 7
• Homework 8: Atwood strikes again due Monday, Feb 9, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 8
• Homework 9: Sliding with friction due Wed, Feb 11, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 9
• Homework 10: UCM and friction due Friday, Feb 13, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 10
• Homework 11: Gravity, friction, springs due Monday, Feb 16, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 11
• Homework 12: Work and the dot product due Wed, Feb 18, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 12
• Homework 13: Work done by variable forces due Fri, Feb 20, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 13
• Homework 14: Conservation of energy, potential energy due Mon, Feb 23, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 14
• Homework 15: Impulse and momentum due Mon, Mar 2, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 15
• Homework 16: Collisions due Wed, Mar 4, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 16
• Homework 17: Center of Mass due Fri, Mar 6, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 17
• Homework 18: Rotational Kinematics due Fri, Mar 20, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 18
• Homework 19: Moment of inertia, Rotational KE due Wed, Mar 25, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 19
• Homework 20: Moment of inertia, Torque due Mon, Mar 30, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 20
• Homework 21: Torque and the cross product due Wed, Apr 1, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 21
• Homework 22: Work in rotational motion due Fri, Apr 3, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 22
• Homework 23: Angular momentum due Mon, Apr 6, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 23
• Homework 24: More angular momentum due Wed, Apr 8, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 24
• Homework 25: Conservation of angular momentum due Fri, Apr 10, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 25
• Homework 26: Static equilibrium due Mon, Apr 13, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 26
• Homework 27: Building up to SHM due Mon, Apr 20, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 27
• Homework 28: SHM due Wed, Apr 22, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 28
• Homework 29: Pendula due Fri, Apr 24, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 29
• Homework 30: Waves due Mon, Apr 27, at 11 PM.
      Answers to homework 30

Extra Credit Projects (each student may hand in up to 2 extra credit projects during the semester). Please submit your work by 5 PM on Wednesday, May 5.

1. Human Reaction Times
2. Indoor Exercise
3. The Paris Gun
4. Measure the Earth's Radius
5. Coefficient of Static Friction
6. Find the equilibria
7. Bouncing balls
8. A Solar Sail
9. The Office Chair Radar Gun
10. Moment of Inertia of the Human Body
11. Verify Conservation of Angular Momentum
12. The Pendulum
13. Record a Wave
14. Measure the Speed of Sound in Air

For more information

Looking for help? RIT's Academic Success Center offers tutoring sessions. You can even sign up for physics help via Slack.

• I have written down some very simple rules for dealing with uncertainties in measurements.
  • My tutorial on uncertainties adopts the "simple" version of error propagation
  • Ultra-condensed description of propagation of errors again using the "simple" version of error propagation
  • Prof. Lindberg's guide to Uncertainties and Error Propagation
• Know it all? Try solving some of the Duke Physics Challenges
• Solar sails can propel a spacecraft through the solar system without any fuel. How? It's just conservation of momentum .... If you want to get into the messy details of sending spacecraft to another planet, check out
  • Solar Sails: A Novel Approach To Interplanetary Travel is an electronic book in the Wallace Library
  • NASA's Basics of Space Flight
  • The Rocket and Space Technology version of Basics of Space Flight
  • Orbiter -- a space flight simulator a free program which runs under Windows
• The Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics site tries (futilely, no doubt) to point out how Hollywood ignores Mr. Newton.
• A good place to look for information on the solar system is NASA's "About the Planets" site
• Information about the Earth's oceans can be found at the Argo Project's web page.

This page maintained by Michael Richmond. Last modified Jan 28, 2021

Copyright © Michael Richmond. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.