Physics 1010 Fall 2012, Physics of Everyday Life

Overall Course Goals:

1. To see how much of everyday life is governed by physics principles.

2. To understand that the universe is predictable rather than incomprehensible.

3. To appreciate how scientific understanding (particularly physics) is based on careful experiments.

4. To learn to think logically in order to solve problems.

  1010 Detailed learning goals.
First 3 weeks -- though we will add to this over time!

• Be able to use metric and English units of measure for velocity, acceleration, time, force, and energy.
• Be able to define speed, velocity, and acceleration, and, given a graph or detailed description of a car’s position versus time, describe its motion identifying its speed, velocity, and acceleration. Given a description of a car or other object’s motion, be able to make a graph of these quantities versus time and explain how they are related.
• Be able to apply x =vt + 0.5 at2 and v = v0 +at to the motion of an object that is moving with constant acceleration. Be able to calculate unknown quantities of the motion using these equations.In this sense, use physics to predict the future!
• Be able to calculate the mass m of an object of given its weight, and vice-versa. (W = mg).
• Use the idea that the force on an object is related to its motion by force equals mass times acceleration (F = ma). For example, be able to use this to predict motions for various real world situations, including: a) recognizing that if there is no F, there must be no a, so v is unchanged; b) find a for known F and m; c) find F to produce desired a or desired stopping time or distance of vehicles.
• Relate forces on objects to the distances they travel and speeds they attain using the above ideas, and use to predict motions. Using Newton’s III law, predict how two objects will react in a collision given the motion before the collision, for collisions between various objects such as cars and people.
• Predict the force and work needed to push carts up ramps of given angle (including lifting straight up). .
• Predict the amount of energy gained in coasting down ramps of any steepness, and corresponding speed of the object at the bottom
• Use conservation of energy to predict how high an object will go if thrown up with particular speed, or with a particular amount of work, or a particular force over a distance while being thrown.
• Predict the amount of thermal energy/heat produced in stopping a moving or dropped object.

the following items are applications of the above ideas about how objects move.

• spring scales- be able to explain how scales work.  Be able to design and calibrate a scales.
• Predict the time dependence of the motion of an object on a spring, and explain how this is related to the operation of balance wheels.
• Calculate the distance from GPS satellites using the timing of pulses received from them.