Fall 2001
3, Mon: Introduction.
4-5, T-Th, Motion Lab
5, Wed: Read Ch 1.1-1.6, Introduction: Measurement and Symmetry.
7, Fri: Read Ch. 1.7-2.4, Kinematics: velocity.
10, Mon: Read Sections 2.5-2.9, Kinematics: vectors, velocity.
12, Wed: Read Sections 3.1-3.5, Kinematics: acceleration, introduction
14, Fri: Read Sections 3.6-3.8, Kinematics: acceleration, freely falling objects
17, Mon: Read Sections 3.9-3.10, Kinematics: acceleration, projectile motion.
18-19, T-W, Pendulum Lab
19, Wed: Read Sections 4.1-4.4, Newton’s Three Laws: momentum, introduction
21, Fri: Read Sections 4.5-4.6, Newton’s Three Laws: free body diagrams
24, Mon: Read Sections 4.7-4.8, Newton’s Three Laws: coupled motion, friction
26, Wed: Read Sections 4.9, Newton’s Three Laws: equilibrium, statics
28 Fri: Read Sections 5.1-5.2, Centripetal force & gravity: circular motion
1, Mon: Read Sections 5.3-5.5, Centripetal force & gravity: gravity
2,3, T-W, Force and Acceleration Lab
3, Wed: Read Sections 5.6-5.8, Centripetal force & gravity: orbits
5, Fri:
Exam 1, Chapters 1-4
8, Mon: Read Sections 6.1, Energy: work
Oct. 10, Wed: Read Sections 6.2-6.4, Energy: conservation of kinetic plus potential energy
Reading Question: A rock at the bottom of a well has a negative amount of gravitational potential energy with respect to the ground level. What does that mean? Can a body have negative kinetic energy? If the rock is launched upward with a small kinetic energy such that the sum KE + PE is negative, what happens? And if KE + PE is positive?
Oct. 12, Fri: Read Sections 6.5-6.7, Energy: applications and power
Reading Question: A car is driving at constant velocity up a hill with constant slope. How much stored chemical energy from the gasoline is converted to gravitational potential energy as the car moves a vertical distance h? What is the power required from the engine if it rises by vertical distance h in time t? Explain why a car with a maximum engine power has a maximum speed it can drive up the hill.
Oct. 22, Mon: Read Sections 7.1-7.4, Conservation of momentum
Reading Question: What would happen to two astronauts if, while floating stationary with respect to one another, one threw a baseball to the other? Explain how conservation of momentum is satisfied both after the ball is thrown, and after it is caught.
Oct. 24, Wed: Read Sections 7.5-7.6, Momentum and collisions
Reading Question: Explain the difference between elastic and inelastic collisions. What happens to the initial kinetic energy during an inelastic collision?
Oct. 26, Fri: Read Sections 8.1-8.4, Rotation: angular position, velocity, and acceleration
Reading Question: What is the angular velocity of the earth in rad/s? Haverford is very nearly 40 degrees north latitude, so our distance from the earth’s rotation axis is
r = Rearth * cos(40) = 4.88 x 106 m. What is our angular velocity here in Philadelphia, and what is our tangential velocity? What is our angular acceleration? And our centripetal acceleration? (Only consider the rotation of the earth, not the earth’s orbital motion, or the sun’s orbit in the galaxy.) Explain each answer briefly.
Oct. 29, Mon: Read Sections 8.5-8.7, Rotation: torque and equilibrium
Reading Question: Use the notion of rotational equilibrium and center of gravity to explain why construction workers must be very careful not to topple a crane like the one currently being used to construct the INSC by lifting too large a load. If the crane did start to tip, what point would it rotate around? What is the condition on the center of gravity of the crane plus load in order to keep it from toppling?
Oct. 31, Wed: Read Sections 8.8-8.9, Rotation: rotational inertia and rotational energy
Reading Question: Two solid pulleys (cylinders) with radius R and 2R are free to turn about a horizontal axis. Identical forces (F) pull on strings that are wrapped around each of the cylinders. Which pulley experiences a larger torque? Which has a larger angular acceleration? Explain.
Nov. 2, Fri: Read Sections 8.10-8.11, Rotation: conservation of angular momentum
Reading Question: Figure skaters control the speed of their spins by either outstretching or pulling in their arms. While taking physics, a figure skater notes that he could make larger changes in his rotation rate during a spin if he held weights in his hands. Use the concept of rotational inertia and conservation of angular momentum to explain why this is the case. What would happen to his angular speed if he lets go of the weights during a spin?
Nov. 5, Mon: Read Sections 12.1-12.3, Thermal properties of matter: Temperature and thermal expansion.
Reading Question: Describe roughly what is happening at a molecular level during thermal expansion. What causes the object to expand? Why are equations12.3 and 12.4 called “useful relationships,” and not considered to be fundamental laws?
Nov. 7, Wed: Read Sections 12.4-12.7, Gas laws, phase diagrams, and kinetic theory
Reading Qustion: Remember the days when there was snow everywhere, but the stuff just would not pack into snowballs no matter how hard you tried? You may have just concluded that it was “bad snow”, but that is not the case. What was actually the problem? Explain what feature in the phase diagram in Fig. 12.14 is responsible for allowing you to pack snow into snowballs.
Nov. 9, Fri: Exam 2
Nov. 12, Mon: Read Sections 13.1-13.4, Thermal Energy
Reading Question: Describe the difference between heat and temperature. Using these definitions, explain the meaning of Eq 13.1.
Nov. 14, Wed: Read Sections 13.5-13.10, Change of State and Heat Transfer
Reading Question: Describe the three main mechanisms of heat transfer. In each case, what fundamental physical process is allowing the heat to be exchanged?
Nov. 16, Fri: Read Sections 14.1-14.4, Thermodynamics: Conservation of Energy, isothermal, and adiabatic processes
Reading Question: Write out the first law of thermodynamics. Describe the difference between isothermal change of an ideal gas and adiabatic change. Draw adiabatic and isothermal curves on a Pressure-Volume diagram.
Nov. 19, Mon: Read Sections 14.5-14.6, Thermodynamics: Engines and Refrigerators
Reading Question: Explain how the Carnot cycle converts heat into work. Describe the temperature, internal energy, heat flow, and work done during each segment of the cycle.
Nov. 21, Wed: No Class
Nov. 26, Mon: Read “Second Law”-14.7, Thermodynamics: Entropy
Reading Question: Describe how entropy is related to reversible processes, to heat flow, and to disorder.
Nov. 28, Wed: No Reading Assignment, Entropy and a review of thermodynamics
Nov. 30, Fri: Read Sections 9.4 – 9.6, Fluid Statics
Reading Question: How is it that a ship made of steel can float even though steel is much more dense than water? What is the condition that determines how deep a ship rests in the water? What force is balancing the force of gravity on the ship?
Dec. 3, Mon: Read Sections 9.7-9.10, Fluid Dynamics
Reading Question: Write out Bernoulli’s equation. What conservation law is embodied in it? At a stagnation point, (where the velocity is zero) what fluid statics principle does Bernoulli’s equation simplify to?
Dec. 5 Wed: Read Sections 26.1-26.2, The special theory of relativity: introduction and the two postulates
Reading Question: Briefly explain Michelson’s experiment and what he was trying to detect. What did he find? Write out the two postulates of special relativity.
Dec. 7 Fri: Read Sections 26.3-26.4, The special theory of relativity: simultaneity, and time dilation
Reading Question: What is Hecht’s definition of simultaneous events that are spatially separated? Why can we not just conclude that the two explosions really were simultaneous even thought they do not appear that way to Rosie? What is the conclusion of the thought experiment involving Stan and Rosie?
Dec. 10 Mon: Read Sections 26.5-26.6, The special theory of relativity: length contraction and time travel
Reading Question: Explain what the twin effect is, and what experiment was done to observe it.
Dec. 12 Wed: No Reading. Relativitistic Energy and Begin Review
Dec. 14 Fri: No Reading. Review