Physics 311, "University Physics I", Winter 2001

This material can be found online at URL

http://spiff.rit.edu/classes/phys311/phys311.html

Outline for the course, class schedule, etc.

Syllabus, including reading assignments and test dates.

Lectures (some material may change during the course of the quarter)

1. Introduction to Physics 311
2. Review of Mathematics
3. Vectors and Vector Arithmetic
   • Distance between two locations on Earth
   • Focus on the Dot Product
4. Units and Order of Magnitude Calculations
5. Displacement and Velocity
6. Acceleration
7. Freefall, airbags, and going to the moon
8. Motion in two dimensions
9. Projectile motion
   • Do you think Jackie Chan would have made this jump without physics to tell him how fast to run off the building? You can read more about the stunt.
10. Uniform circular motion and relative motion
11. Force: Newton's First and Second Laws
12. Freebody diagrams and Newton's Third Law
    • Atwood machine worksheet, pt 1
    • Atwood machine worksheet, pt 2
13. Friction
14. More friction and Terminal velocity
    • What does this have to do with injuries to cats which fall from high-rise apartments? See High-rise syndrome in cats, by Wayne O. Whitney and Cheryl J. Mehlhaff, in Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, vol 191, number 11, p. 1399 (1987).
    • Do high-tech swimsuits really reduce drag?
      • A closeup of Speedo's "Fastskin" fabric showing the "riblets" which supposedly decrease the drag coefficient.
      • The basic idea
      • Tests by Dr. Huub Toussaint at Vrije Universiteit show no significant increase in performance.
      • Tests by Dr. Joel Stager at Indiana University suggest that suits haven't caused the winning times to decrease faster than they would have without the suits.
15. Centripetal Force
16. Banked Turns
17. A Closer Look at Gravity
18. Midterm Review

    Test 1

19. Focus on the Dot Product
20. Kinetic Energy and Work
    Practice for work done by a constant force
    • Easy
    • Not so easy
    • Hard Maybe it would help to look at some tips for dealing with variable angles or forces.
    • Harder
21. Work done by a Varying Force, and Springs
22. You are responsible for learning about Power on your own.
23. Potential Energy and the Conservation of Energy
    • Consider the possibility of a "water battery". Will it work?
24. Conservative and Non-conservative forces
25. Equilibria and Potential Energy

    Test 2

26. Center of Mass
27. Linear Momentum
28. Force, Momentum and Impulse
29. Collisions: Elastic and Inelastic
30. Collisions in Two Dimensions

31. Rockets and Momentum
32. Escape Velocity
33. A Tale of Two Rockets
    • Evolution of the Saturn rockets
    • Picture of the F1 engine
    • Calculating the final speed of a Saturn V rocket
    • A history of the Soviet N-1 rocket , the ill-fated competitor of the Saturn.
    • The Deep Space 1 mission used an ion engine.
    • FAQ about ion engines
    • Everything you wanted to know about rocket propellents, but were afraid to ask.
    • The Basics of Space Flight from JPL (who ought to know).
    • The Encyclopedia Astronautica is chock full of information on rockets of all kinds.

34. Torque
    • Why do the rear ends of the cars involved in this car crash rise up off the ground? And why do the cars rotate counterclockwise? Torque provides the answers.
35. Static Equilibrium

Homework sets. You must use the Webwork system to generate problem sets and provide answers.

1. Units, trigonometry, vectors due Monday, Dec 10, at 8:00 AM.
   Answers to homework 1
2. Motion in one dimension due Monday, Dec 17, at 8:00 AM.
   Answers to homework 2
3. Motion in two dimensions: due Friday, Dec 21, at 8:00 AM.
   Answers to homework 3
4. Forces due Monday, Jan 14, at 8:00 AM.
   Answers to homework 4
5. More Complicated Forces due Monday, Jan 21, at 8:00 AM.
   Answers to homework 5
6. Work and Energy due Monday, Jan 28, at 8:00 AM.
   Answers to homework 6
7. Conservation of Energy and Potential Energy due Monday, Feb 4, at 8:00 AM.
   Answers to homework 7
8. Center of Mass and Momentum due Monday, Feb 11, at 8:00 AM.
   Answers to homework 8
9. Collisions due Monday, Feb 18, at 8:00 AM.
   Answers to homework 9
10. Rockets, Torque and Equilibrium due Monday, Feb 25, at 8:00 AM.
    Answers to homework 10

Extra Credit Projects (each student may hand in up to 2 extra credit projects during the quarter)

1. Human Reaction Times. Due Friday, Dec 14, at 5 PM.
2. Measure the Earth's Radius. Due Friday, Jan 11, at 5 PM.
   You may also want to read Sample Problem 1-4, on page 7 of your text.
3. Coefficient of Static Friction. Due Friday, Jan 18, at 5 PM.
4. The Office Chair Radar Gun. Due Friday, Feb 22, at 5 PM.

Quizzes

1. Quiz 1: Vectors and scalars
2. Quiz 2: Units of measurement
3. Quiz 3: Acceleration
4. Quiz 4: Motion in 3 dimensions
5. Quiz 5: Motion in Free-fall
6. ??
7. Quiz 7: Friction
8. Quiz 8: Centripetal Force
9. Quiz 9: Work
10. Quiz 10: Conservative forces
11. Quiz 11: Momentum
12. Quiz 12: Collisions
13. Quiz 13: Torque

Exams

1. Practice for Test 2
   • Answers to practice questions for Test 2
2. Test 2: Feb 4, 2002
   • Test 2, with answers
3. Practice problems for the Final Exam
   • Just the numerical answers to practice questions for Final Exam
   • Full solutions to practice questions for Final Exam

Fun with Physics

• Britney Spears explains semiconductor physics
• 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 ....
• The Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics site tries (futilely, no doubt) to point out how Hollywood ignores Mr. Newton.

This page maintained by Michael Richmond. Last modified Aug 26, 2003.

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