COLLEGE PHYSICS

Yuxiang Li ([email protected])
Tel: 88391081-8213
Office: Room 213, Building 3B, Software
Park Campus
Modular Credit: 2.5 MCs
Course Time: 3-4/Tue., 1-2/Thur. for Lect.
1-8 Sat. 1 June and 15 June for Exp.
Assessment: 20% on Homework + Pop Quiz
20% on Experiments
60% on Final examination
Rules of Attendance:
◆ Attending the class on time (at least 5 minutes ahead), and
late for more than 15 minutes are regarded as absent.
◆ Absent from class (including absenteeism) for 1/3 of all
class hours will be disqualified from the examination.
◆ Students who cheat will get 0 for the Homework and
experimental reports.
投票 最多可选1项

1. Have you studied displacement, velocity, acceleration, and motion in

one dimension?
A Yes B No

提交
投票 最多可选1项

2. Have you studied vectors and two-dimensional

motion?

A Yes

B No

提交
投票 最多可选1项

3. Have you studied force (including frictional force),

conservative forces, nonconservative forces, and
Newton’s Law?

A Yes

B No

提交
投票 最多可选1项

4. Have you studied work, power, kinetic energy,

potential energy, work-energy theorem, energy
conservation?

A Yes

B No

提交
 Course Syllabus
1. Introduction to Physics (2 h, Chap. 1-5)
Introduction to Physics, review of classical mechanics
2. Solids and Fluids (8 h, Chapter 9)
Fluids in motion, applications of fluid dynamics, surface tension
3. Vibration and Waves (8 h, Chapter 13)
Simple harmonic motion, wave motion, Interference of waves
4. Sound (6 h, Chapter 14)
Sound waves, Doppler effect, interference of sound wave, quality
of sound, and ear
5. Electric Forces and Electric Fields (8 h, Chapter 15)
Electric charges, Coulomb’s law, the electric field, electric flux
and Gauss’s law
Textbook

1. “College Physics”, 9th Ed. Raymond A. Serway & Chris Vuille,

Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning, 2012.

Other References

1. “College Physics”, 2nd Ed. Paul Peter Urone, Thomson, 2002

2. “University Physics I & II”, 1st Ed. Ronald Lane Reese, Thomson, 2002

3. “Conceptual Physics”, 11th Ed. Paul G. Hewitt, Addison-Wesley, 2010.

Review of Classical Physics
• Quantities
• Vectors
• Mass and weight
• Distance and displacement
• Speed and velocity
• Acceleration
• Force, work and energy
• Kinematic and dynamic motion
 Some Physical Quantities
Vectors - quantity with both magnitude (size) and direction.
Scalars - quantity with magnitude only.

Vectors: Scalars:
• Displacement • Distance
• Velocity • Speed
• Acceleration • Time
• Force • Mass
• Electric field • Work
• Magnetic field • Energy
 Vectors
Vectors are represented with arrows
◼ The length of the arrow ◼ The arrow points in the
represents the magnitude directions of the force, motion,
(how far, how fast, how displacement, etc. It is often
strong, etc, depending on specified by an angle.
the type of vector).

5 m/s
42°
 Mass vs. Weight
Mass:
• Scalar (no direction)
• The quantity of matter in an object
Weight:
• Vector (points toward center of Earth)
• The force upon an object due to gravity
On the moon, your mass would be the same, but the
magnitude of your weight would be less.
 Units
Units are not the same as quantities!

Quantity . . . Unit (symbol)

◼ Mass . . . kilogram (kg)
◼ Displacement & Distance . . . meter (m)
◼ Time . . . second (s)
◼ Velocity & Speed . . . (m/s)
◼ Acceleration . . . (m/s2)
◼ Force . . .Newton (N)
◼ Energy . . . Joule (J)
Basic Units
In the SI system of units, there are seven basic units

Name Symbol for quantity SI base unit

Length l Meter, m

Time t Second, s
Mass m Kilogram, kg

Electrical current I Ampere, A

Thermodynamic temperature T kelvin, K

Amount of substance n mole, mol

Luminous intensity Iv candela, cd

 SI Prefixes
Little Guys Big Guys
3
pico p 10-12 kilo k 10
-9 6
nano n 10 mega M 10
-6 9
micro µ 10 giga G 10
-3 12
milli m 10 tera T 10
-2
centi c 10
 Kinematics
◼ Kinematics – branch of physics; study of motion
without regard of the cause.
◼ Position ( ) – where you are located.
◼ Distance (d ) – how far you have traveled,
regardless of direction.
◼ Displacement ( ) – where you are in relation to
where you started.
 Distance vs. Displacement
◼ You drive the path, and your odometer goes up by 8 miles
(your distance).
◼ Your displacement is the shorter directed from start to stop
(green arrow).
◼ What if you drove in a circle?
start

stop
 Speed, Velocity, & Acceleration
◼ Speed (v) – how fast you go.
◼ Speed is the magnitude of velocity.

◼ Velocity ( v ) – how fast and which way:
the rate at which position changes.
◼ Acceleration ( ) – how fast you speed up, slow down,
or change direction:
the rate at which velocity changes.
 Speed vs. Velocity
◼ During your 14 km trip, which took 10 min, your speedometer
displays your instantaneous speed, which varies throughout
the trip.
◼ Your average speed is 84 km/h (total distance covered by
time interval).
◼ Your average velocity is 60 km/h in a SE
direction.
◼ At any point in time, your velocity 
vector points tangent to your path. v

◼ The faster you go, the longer your

velocity vector.
 Acceleration
◆ Acceleration – how quickly velocity changes in speed and/or
in direction.

t (s) v (m/s) t (s) v (m/s)

0 55 0 34
1 57 1 31
2 59 2 28
3 61 3 25

m/s
a = +2 m/ s2 a = -3 s = -3 m/s2
 Acceleration due to Gravity
◆ Near the surface of the Earth,
all objects accelerate at the
This acceleration vector is
same rate (ignoring air
the same on the way up, at
resistance). the top, and on the way down!

a = -g = -9.8 m/s2
9.8 m/s2

Interpretation: Velocity decreases by 9.8 m/s each second, meaning

velocity is becoming less positive or more negative. Less positive
means slowing down while going up. More negative means speeding
up while going down.
Kinematics Formula Summary
For 1-D motion with constant acceleration:

• vf = vi + a t
1
• x = vi t + 2 a t 2
½

• vf2 – vi2 = 2 a x
 Sample Problems
1. You’re riding a unicorn at 25 m/s and come to a uniform stop
at a red light 20 m away. What’s your acceleration?
a = −15.6 m/s 2
2. A brick is dropped from 100 m up. Find its impact velocity
and air time.
v = 44.3 m/s
3. An arrow is shot straight up from a pit 12 mt =below
4.5 s ground at
38 m/s.
1) Find its max height above ground. h = 61.7 m
2) At what times is it at ground level? t = 0.33 or 7.43 s
 Multi-step Problems
1. How fast should you throw a kumquat straight down
from 40 m up so that its impact speed would be the
same as a mango’s dropped from 60 m?
Answer: 19.8 m/s

2. A dune buggy accelerates uniformly at

1.5 m/s2 from rest to 22 m/s. Then the brakes are
applied and it stops 2.5 s later. Find the total distance
traveled.
Answer: 188.83 m
 Dynamics: Newton’s law
1. Newton’s first law of motion: inertial law
If the net force , the object continues in its original
state of motion. That is, an object at rest remains at rest, and
an object moving with some velocity continues with that same
velocity, unless acted on by a net external force.

 
Formula: v = constant vector (  F = 0 )
"keep on doing what they're doing"
It states that there is a cause (net external force) for any
change in velocity.
 Applications
* Blood rushes from your head to your feet while quickly
stopping when riding on a descending elevator.
* The head of a hammer can be tightened onto the wooden
handle by banging the bottom of the handle against a hard
surface.
* Headrests are placed in cars to prevent whiplash injuries
during rear-end collisions.
* While riding a skateboard (or wagon or bicycle), you fly
forward off the board when hitting a curb or rock or other object
which abruptly halts the motion of the skateboard.
 Check Your Understanding

1. Imagine a place in the cosmos far from all gravitational and

frictional influences. Suppose that you visit that place (just
suppose) and throw a rock. The rock will:
a. gradually stop.
b. continue in motion in the same direction at constant
speed.

Answer: According to Newton's first law, the rock will

continue in motion in the same direction at constant speed.
 2. A 2-kg object is moving horizontally with a speed of 4 m/s.
How much net force is required to keep the object moving at this
speed and in this direction?

Answer: 0 N. An object in motion will maintain its state of

motion. The presence of an unbalanced force changes the
velocity of the object.
3. Supposing you were in space in a weightless environment,
would it require a force to set an object in motion?

Answer: Absolutely yes! Even in space objects have mass.

And if they have mass, they have inertia. That is, an object in
space resists changes in its state of motion. A force must be
applied to set a stationary object in motion. Newton's laws rule -
everywhere!
 2. Newton's Second Law of Motion
The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the
magnitude of the net external force acting on it, inversely
proportional to its mass, and in the same direction as the net

external force.  F
a=
m
It is a cause and effect relationship among three quantities.

 
A more familiar form F = m a

The net force is equated to the product of the mass times

the acceleration.
In rectangular coordinate system:
Fx = max ，Fy = may ，Fz = maz

The net force is the vector sum of all the individual forces
    n 
F = F1 + F2 +  + Fi =  Fi
i=1
PROBLEM:
An airboat with mass 3.50×102 kg, including the passenger, has
an engine that produces a net horizontal force of 7.70×102 N,
after accounting for forces of resistance.
(a) Find the acceleration of the airboat.
(b) Starting from rest, how long does it take the airboat to reach
a speed of 12.0 m/s?
(c) After reaching that speed, the pilot turns off the engine and
drifts to a stop over a distance of 50.0 m. Find the resistance
force, assuming it’s constant.

(a) a = 2.20 m/s2 (b) t = 5.45 s (c) -504 N

 3. Newton's Third Law of Motion

Whenever one object exerts a force on a second object, the

first object experiences a force that is equal in magnitude and
opposite in direction to the one it exerts.
 
F12 = − F21

In every interaction, there is a pair of forces acting on the

two interacting objects.

Forces always come in pairs - equal and opposite action-

reaction force pairs.
 Dynamics: Work and Energy
1. Work: The work done on an object by a constant
force ( ) is defined to be the dot product of the force
and the displacement.

According

◆ Work is a scalar
◆The SI units of work are Joules (J)(1 J = 1 Nm)
Note：

(1) If
Holding a heavy box, or pushing against a wall

(2) When and are in the same direction, thus

(3) When and are in the opposite direction, thus

2. Kinetic energy: The kinetic energy (KE ) of an object with
mass m that is moving with velocity v is

Note:
* Kinetic energy is a scalar.
* The unit of KE is the same as for the work (i.e. Joules, J).

Relation between KE and Wnet:

The work done on an object equals the change in kinetic
energy:
3. Potential Energy: PE
Potential energy is associated with the position of an object
within some system.
System: A collection of objects or particles interacting via
forces.
a) Gravitational potential energy of a system consisting of Earth
and an object of mass m near Earth’s surface is given by

Reference levels for gravitational potential energy: a location at

which to set that gravitational potential energy equals to zero
b) Elastic potential energy: Energy stored in a spring

Hooke’s law: The force exerted by the spring must be

proportional to the displacement x,

F is often called restoring force.

The energy stored in a stretched or compressed

spring or other elastic material is called elastic
potential energy given by

Reference levels for elastic potential energy: the equilibrium

position of a spring, at which elastic potential energy equals to
zero.
Conservative forces:
gravitational force, elastic force, and electrostatic force.

Definition: Work done by conservative forces on an object

depends only on the initial and final positions of the object and
is independent of the path connecting the two positions.

Potential energy corresponding to each conservative force:

gravitational potential energy, elastic potential energy, and
electrical potential energy.
 In general, the work Wc done on a moving object by a
conservative force is equal to the initial value of the potential
energy minus the final value.

Conservation of mechanical energy: In any isolated system of

objects that interact only through conservative forces, the total
mechanical energy of the system remains constant.
Nonconservative forces: Frictional force

Work done by nonconservative forces on an object depends

on not only the initial and final positions of the object but also
on the path connecting the two positions.

If there is a nonconservative force is present in the system, the

final mechanical energy does not equal the initial mechanical
energy, the change
Homework:

1. Read Chapter 2 to Chapter 5 on your textbook and preview

Section 9.2, Section 9.4, Section 9.5, and Section 9.6 in
Chapter 9.