Introduction Welcome to Phys 211!

2 6/14/04 Lecturer Nick Conklin Phone: Office: 212 Osmond Hours: M & Th: 2:15-3:15pm (or by appointment)

3 6/14/04 Teaching Assistants M. Singh (recitation section 1) J. Qualls (recitation section 2) V. Taveras (lab) S.-C. Yoon (lab) They will give you their office hours and contact info

4 6/14/04 Course Website:  Syllabus  Schedule  Lecture notes and labs  Discussion forum  Grades

5 6/14/04 Text Fundamentals of Physics; Halliday, Resnik and Walker (5th or 6th edition).  We will cover Chapters 1-14 and Lab manual  May purchase at bookstore or downloaded from

6 6/14/04 Lectures Twice a week  M Th 12:45-2:00 (119 Osmond) Will introduce concepts and ideas My notes will be available on the course website prior to class. I recommend you print them in advance and “flush them out” in class Still need to read the book!

7 6/14/04 Recitation Meets twice a week (check your schedule for time and place) You must register for a recitation section You may only attend the section for which you are registered Will build problem solving skills

8 6/14/04 Lab Wed 12:45-03:35 (312 Osmond) Bring a copy of the lab with you (either from the course website, or a lab manual purchased from the bookstore) It helps to read through the lab before class Physics is an experimental science!

9 6/14/04 Homework We will be using a web based homework system called WebAssign You will need to purchase access (either on-line or in the bookstore) First assignment due: Wed, June 5pm

10 6/14/04 Exams 2 midterms and a final  Midterm 1: Tues, July 6  Midterm 2: Tues, July 27  Final: University Assigned These will be graded by hand, so you will receive partial credit for your work

11 6/14/04 Grading Your grade will be assigned based on the following components: Final Exam30 % Midterm 120% Midterm 220 % Homework10% Lab7% Pre/post lab8% Recitation5%

12 6/14/04 Grade Cutoffs A<=100% A-< 93% B+< 90% B< 87% B-< 83% C+< 80% C< 77% D< 70% F< 60% These boundaries may be lowered if necessary, but they will never be raised

13 6/14/04 Absences If you must miss a lab or other activity due to illness, emergency, or an approved PSU activity, follow the policy on the course web site under ‘Excuses’ Contact your TA promptly

14 6/14/04 Caution We will be going very fast. If you have trouble, get help right away from:  Myself  Your TA  The course website

15 6/14/04 So why should you study physics? Describes how the world works Problem solving skills Physics is phun!

16 6/14/04 This week: Tues: Recitation  Look at problems 1.5, 1.10, 1.11, 1.18, 1.25 Wed: Lab Th: Lecture Fri: Recitation  Look at problems 2.5, 2.10, 2.13, 2.23

Chapter 1 Measurement

18 6/14/04 International System (SI) Units Base Units: Length  Meter (m) Time  Second (s) Mass  Kilogram (kg)  NOTE: pounds are not a unit of mass

19 6/14/04 SI Units (cont.) Derived Units Velocity: m/s Accleration: m/s 2 Force: kg m/s 2 [N] Momentum: kg m/s Energy: kg m 2 /s 2 [J] Etc…

20 6/14/04 Units (cont.) Useful way of checking your answer Common thing to screw up (ask NASA)! If you have no idea how to solve a problem, try dimensional analysis!

21 6/14/04 Changing Units 2.0 min = ? sec 5.0 km/hr = ? m/s

22 6/14/04 Common Unit Conversions 1 m =1.09 yd 1 in = 2.54 cm 1 mi = 1.61 km 1 light-yr = 9.45*10 15 m 1 day = 86,400 s 1 yr = 3.16*10 7 s

23 6/14/04 Scientific Notation Should be review, but…  10 2 = 100  = 0.01 So then  x 10 3 = 1234

24 6/14/04 Common Prefixes mega (M) = 10 6 killo (k) = 10 3 centi (c) = milli (m) = MB = 1,000,000 Bytes 1 km = 1000 m 100 cm = 1 m 1000 mm = 1 m

25 6/14/04 Topics not covered in HRW (but should be) Difference between accuracy and precision:  Accuracy: closeness to true value  = 3.14  Precision: number of digits to which answer is specified  = … One does not imply the other!

26 6/14/04 Accuracy and Precision (cont) Can be very precise and very inaccurate  Hubble mirror Manufactured to very high precision, but quite wrong Photo from: Before and after the installation of corrective optics

27 6/14/04 Significant Figures Shouldn’t give a misleadingly precise answer  Only report answer to precision of least precisely known quantity Example: / 3.0 = 1.7, not Won’t be enforced in this class, but you’ll probably encounter it later

Chapter 2 Straight Line Motion

29 6/14/04 Kinematics Webster’s: A branch of dynamics that deals with aspects of motion apart from considerations of mass and force This chapter only deals with 1-D motion Treat every object like a particle

30 6/14/04 Position An object’s location is measured with respect to an origin Must define a positive and negative direction Position is a function of time: x(t) x = 0 x 1 = 5

31 6/14/04 Displacement  x = x(t 2 ) – x(t 1 ) = x 2 – x 1 Displacement is a vector  Direction and magnitude 0 x 1 = 5x 2 = -3 A change in position is called a displacement

32 6/14/04 Average Velocity Rate of change in position over time  t Velocity is also a vector Speed is a scalar (magnitude only)

33 6/14/04 Example: A flea is sitting on your ruler. You see it run from the 15 cm mark to the 10 cm mark in 2.5 seconds. What is it’s displacement and velocity?  x = -5.0 cm = m v avg = 2.0 cm/s = m/s