Physics I for dummies

Introduction

About this book

Conventions used in this book

What you're not to read

Foolish assumptions

How this book is organized

Part 1: Putting Physics Into Motion

Part 2: May The Forces Of Physics Be With You

Part 3: Manifesting The Energy To Work

Part 4: Laying Down the Laws Of Thermodynamics

Part 5: Part Of Tens

Icons used in this book

Where to go from here

Part 1:

Putting Physics Into Motion:

Using physics to understand your world:

What physics is all about

Observing the world

Making predictions

Reaping the rewards

Observing objects in motion

Measuring speed, direction, velocity, and acceleration

Round and round: rotational motion

Springs and pendulums: simple harmonic motion

When push comes to shove: forces

Absorbing the energy around you

That's heavy: pressures in fluids

Feeling hot but not bothered: thermodynamics

Reviewing physics measurement and math fundamentals:

Measuring the world around you and making predictions

Using systems of measurement

From meters to inches and back again:

Converting between units

Eliminating some zeros: using scientific notation

Checking the accuracy and precision of measurements

Knowing which digits are significant

Estimating accuracy

Arming yourself with basic algebra

Tackling a little trig

Interpreting equations as real-world ideas

Exploring the need for speed:

Going the distance with displacement

Understanding displacement and position

Examining axes

Speed specifics: what is speed, anyway?

Reading the speedometer: instantaneous speed

Staying steady: uniform speed

Shifting speeds: nonuniform motion

Busting out the stopwatch: average speed

Speeding up (or down): acceleration

Defining acceleration

Determining the units of acceleration

Looking at positive and negative acceleration

Examining average and instantaneous acceleration

Taking off: putting the acceleration formula into practice

Understanding uniform and nonuniform acceleration

Relating acceleration, time, and displacement

Not-so-distant relations: deriving the formula

Calculating acceleration and distance

Linking velocity, acceleration and displacement

Finding acceleration

Solving for displacement

Finding final velocity

Following directions: motion in two dimensions:

Visualizing vectors

Asking for directions: vector basics

Looking at vector addition from start to finish

Going head-to-head with vector subtraction

Putting vectors on the grid

Adding vectors by adding coordinates

Changing the length: multiplying a vector by a number

Little trig: breaking up vectors into components

Finding vector components

Reassembling a vector from its components

Featuring displacement, velocity, and acceleration in 2-D

Displacement: going the distance in two dimensions

Velocity: speeding in a new direction

Acceleration: getting a new angle on changes in velocity

Accelerating downward: motion under the influence of gravity

Golf-ball-off-the-cliff exercise

How-far-can-you-kick-the-ball exercise

Part 2:

May The Forces Of Physics Be With You:

When push comes to shove: force:

Newton's first law: Resisting with inertia

Resisting change: inertia and mass

Measuring mass

Newton's second law: Relating force, mass and acceleration

Relating the formula to the real world

Naming units of force

Vector addition: gathering net forces

Newton's third law: Looking at equal and opposite forces

Seeing Newton's third law in action

Pulling hard enough to overcome friction

Pulleys: supporting double the force

Analyzing angles and force in Newton's third law

Finding equilibrium

Getting down with gravity, inclined planes, and friction:

Acceleration due to gravity: one of life's little constants

Finding a new angle on gravity with inclined pl

anes -- Finding the force of gravity along a ramp -- Figuring the speed along a ramp -- Getting sticky with friction -- Calculating friction and the normal force -- Conquering the coefficient of friction -- On the move: understanding static and kinetic friction -- A not-so-slippery slope: handling uphill and downhill friction -- Let's get fired up! Sending objects airborne -- Shooting an object straight up -- Projectile motion: firing an object at an angle -- Circling around rotational motion and orbits: -- Centripetal acceleration: changing direction to move in a circle -- Keeping a constant speed with uniform circular motion -- Finding the magnitude of the centripetal acceleration -- Seeking the center: centripetal force -- Looking at the force you need -- Seeing how the mass, velocity, and radius affect centripetal force -- Negotiating flat curves and banked turns -- Getting angular with displacement, velocity, and acceleration -- Measuring angles in radians -- Relating linear and angular motion -- Letting gravity supply centripetal force -- Using Newton's law of universal gravitation -- Deriving the force of gravity on the earth's surface -- Using the law of gravitation to examine circular orbits -- Looping the loop: vertical circular motion -- Go with the flow: looking at pressure in fluids: -- Mass density: getting some inside information -- Calculating density -- Comparing densities with specific gravity -- Applying pressure -- Looking at units of pressure -- Connecting pressure to changes in depth -- Hydraulic machines: passing on pressure with Pascal's principle -- Buoyancy: float your boat with Archimedes's principle -- Fluid dynamics: going with fluids in motion -- Characterizing the type of flow -- Picturing flow with streamlines -- Getting up to speed on flow and pressure -- Equation of continuity: relating pipe size and flow rates -- Bernoulli's equation: relating speed and pressure -- Pipes and pressure: putting it all together --

Part 3:

Manifesting The Energy To Work:

Getting some work out of physics:

Looking for work

Working on measurement systems

Pushing your weight: applying force in the direction of movement

Using a tow rope: applying at an angle

Negative work: applying force opposite the direction of motion

Making a move: kinetic energy

Work-energy theorem: turning work into kinetic energy

Using the kinetic energy equation

Calculating changes in kinetic energy by using net force

Energy in the bank: potential energy

To new heights: gaining potential energy by working against gravity

Achieving your potential: converting potential energy into kinetic energy

Choose your path: conservative versus nonconservative forces

Keeping the energy up: the conservation of mechanical energy

Shifting between kinetic and potential energy

Mechanical-energy balance: finding velocity and height

Powering up: the rate of doing work

Using common units of power

Doing alternate calculations of power

Putting objects in motion: momentum and impulse:

Looking at the impact of impulse

Gathering momentum

Impulse-monentum theorem: relating impulse and momentum

Shooting pool: finding force from impulse and momentum

Singing in the rain: an impulsive activity

When objects go bonk: conserving momentum

Deriving the conservation formula

Finding velocity with the conservation of momentum

Finding firing velocity with the conservation of momentum

When worlds (or cars) collide: elastic and ineleastic collisions

Determining whether a collision is elastic

Colliding elastically along a line

Colliding elastically in two dimensions

Winding up with angular kinetics:

Going from linear to rotational motion

Understanding tangential motion

Finding tangential velocity

Finding tangential acceleration

Finding centripetal acceleration

Applying vectors to rotation

Calculating angular velocity

Figuring angular acceleration

Doing the twist: torque

Mapping out the torque equation

Understanding lever arms

Figuring out the torque generated

Recognizing the torque is a vector

Spinning at constant velocity: rotational equilibrium

Determining how much weight Hercules can lift

Handling a flag: a rotational equilibrium problem

Ladder safety: introducing friction into rotational equilibrium

Round and round with rotational dynamics:

Rolling up Newton's second law into angular motion

Switching force to torque

Converting tangential acceleration to angular acceleration

Factoring in the moment of inertia

Moments of inertia: looking into mass distribution

DVD players and torque: a spinning-disk inertia example

Angular acceleration and torque: a pulley inertia example

Wrapping your head around rotational work and kinetic energy

Putting a new spin on work

Moving along with rotational kinetic energy

Let's roll! Finding rotational kinetic energy on a ramp

Can't stop this: angular momentum

Conserving angular momentum

Satellite orbits: a conservation-of-angular momentum example

Springs'n'things: simple harmonic motion:

Bouncing back with Hooke's law

Stretching and compressing springs

Pushing or pulling back: the spring's restoring force

Getting around to simple harmonic motion

Around equilibrium: examining horizontal and vertical springs

Catching the wave: a sine of simple harmonic motion

Finding the angular frequency of a mass on a spring

Factoring energy into simple harmonic motion

Swinging with pendulums

Part 5:

Laying Down The Laws Of Thermodynamics:

Turning up the heat with thermodynamics:

Measuring temperature

Fahrenheit and Celsius: working in degrees

Zeroing in on the Kelvin scale

Heat is on: thermal expansion

Linear expansion: getting longer

Volume expansion: taking up more space

Heat: going with the flow (of thermal

energy)

Getting specific with temperature changes

Just a new phase: adding heat without changing temperature

Here, take my coat: how heat is transferred:

Convection: letting the heat flow

Hot fluid rises: putting fluid in motion with natural convection

Controlling the flow with forced convection

Too hot to handle: getting in touch with conduction

Finding the conduction equation

Considering conductors and insulators

Radiation: riding the (electromagnetic) wave

Mutual radiation: giving and receiving heat

Blackbodies: absorbing and reflecting radiation

In the best of all possible worlds: the idea gas law:

Digging into molecules and moles with Avogadro's number

Relating pressure, volume, and temperature with the ideal gas law

Forging the ideal gas law

Working with standard temperature and pressure

Breathing problem: checking your oxygen

Boyle's and Charles's laws: alternative expressions of the ideal gas law

Tracking ideal gas molecules with the kinetic energy formula

Predicting air molecule speed

Calculating kinetic energy in an ideal gas

Heat and work: the laws of thermodynamics:

Thermal equilibrium: getting temperature with the Zeroth law Conserving energy: the first law of thermodynamics

Calculating with conservation of energy

Staying constant: isobaric isochoric, isothermal, and adiabatic processes

Flowing from hot to cold: the second law of thermodynamics

Heat engines: putting heat to work

Limiting efficiency: Carnot says you can't have it all

Going against the flow with heat pumps

Going cold: the third (and absolute last) law of thermodynamics

Part 5:

Part Of Tens:

Ten physics heroes:

Galileo Galilei

Robert Hooke

Sir Isaac Newton

Benjamin Franklin

Charles-Augustin de Coulomb

Amedeo Avogadro

Nicolas Leonard Sadi Carnot

James Prescott Joule

William Thomson (Lord Kelvin)

Albert Einstein

Ten wild physics theories:

You can measure a smallest distance

There may be a smallest time

Heisenberg says you can't be certain

Black holes don't let light out

Gravity curves space

Matter and antimatter destroy each other

Supernovas are the most powerful explosions

Universe starts with the big bang and ends with the gnab big

Microwave ovens are hot physics

Is the universe made to measure?

Glossary

Index.