2. Course Introduction

Physics is the fundamental nature of the universe. In this first semester of physics, the student has the opportunity to refine his or her notion of motion as we inquire into the nature of speed, acceleration, force, mass, inertia, spin, and energy. The points of the course are to understand the physics underlying natural phenomena, to mathematically model those phenomena, and to solve quantitative problems.

In the first semester of physics, we learn that every motion is described by Newton’s motion equation: when you put a force on a mass, it will accelerate. Upon completion of the first semester course, students are able to quantitatively describe the motions, forces, and energies involved in such things as vehicles, machinery, animals, and planets and understand that Newton’s motion equation is all that is needed to model each of these examples-and all others, too. The student will also be able to describe the flow of energy in the Sun, Earth, animal, home, factory, and civilization and understand that the flow of energy is the basis of every process in the universe.

In the second semester we learn that electricity and magnetism are two of the five forces found to exist in nature. The electric force binds atoms and molecules, keeps you from falling through the floor, and is the force behind springs and rubber bands. Static electricity is used in xerox machines, provides the cling of plastic food-wrap, and removes precipitants in smoke stacks. We study the equations behind electric and magnetic phenomena and machinery, including circuits, rainbows, sunsets, mirages, radio devices, infra-red light, x-ray light, radar, mirrors, lenses, lightning, eels, neurons, and the cause of the colors seen in the blue sky, tomatoes, and rubies. Students will be able to describe these things quantitatively, and students will understand that light is an electromagnetic phenomenon. We will see that these equations were found by James Maxwell in the year 1865. Nobody in the year 1865 could imagine the endless uses of these equations. They are a fundamental truth of nature and will be useful to all humans for the rest of time.

2.1. Course philosophy: We do whatever is needed to learn

This course is intended to provide a foundation for logical reasoning, for future science courses, and for use in daily life. In today’s technological world, citizens should be scientifically literate because each of us uses a machine every few minutes. The fully informed citizen is equally versed in politics, art, sports, history, and science. The daily news mentions nanotechnology, genetic engineering, cloning, fusion energy, Black Holes, nuclear energy, superstrings, and global warming. Scientifically literate citizens understand the basis and goals of these things as well as they understand the intricacies of a political campaign, social relations, and sports tactics. With each thing we learn and with each ability we acquire, we become a more full person and are able to better contribute to the mutual efforts that are our human civilization.

Science consists of facts and understandings obtained from repeatable measurements. Billions of measurements have been made involving millions of natural phenomena, but we can now explain them all in terms of a handful of fundamental principles, including evolution, the conservation of energy, and the half-dozen equations of Newton, Maxwell, and Schroedinger. This is intellectually rewarding. (Physics forms the core of nature; we are surrounded by endless examples of physics and will study hundreds of them this semester.) In addition, if a phenomenon can be repeatably observed and measured then that aspect of nature can often be harnessed to make a useful machine or medicine. Scientists are often motivated by their desire to understand nature and by their desire to make everyday life better for all of us. The discoverers of electricity and antibiotics and the inventors of steam engines, telephones, and computers changed our lives while emperors cause only temporary shifts in maps and do not change our lives.

The LSMSA faculty strives to promote wonder in students by demonstrating our own passion for learning; we hope “not simply to fill empty vessels but to light fires.” We want to help students find 11that field of study which grabs their passion and fires them up for a lifetime of study, work, and contribution. We want students to pursue the limits of their interests and abilities and contribute fully to the mutual efforts that are our society-to help make the world a better place for all of us.

2.2. Acknowledgments

Some of the examples within are problems from the physics textbooks by Hewitt, Zitewitz, Tipler, Sears and Young, Jones and Childrers, and Haliday, Resnick, and Walker . Everyday physics is discussed in The Flying Circus of Physics (FC) by Jearl Walker and Color and Light in Nature (Lynch) by David K. Lynch and William Lingston.

First-year physics students see the letter ‘v’ and then internally pronounces ‘vee’, while a second-year student internally pronounces the same letter as “velocity” or “the rate of change of position.” It takes a few months for each new symbol to become mental shorthand for a physical concept rather than just being a letter of the alphabet. For this reason, I’ll take the advice of Serway and Faughn and help the new student properly pronounce new equations. During class, the physics teacher must be sure to pronounce ‘v’ as “velocity” rather than as “vee.”

I’ll also take Paul Hewitt’s advice of using “Check your neighbor” questions (shown below as Daily Work, “CQ,” or “conceptual question”), but have each student write his or her own answer on a sheet of paper that will be turned in at the end of the day. The sheet will contain answers to the day’s questions. The sheets will also serve as Charles Schwartz’s “minute papers” in that they allow the teacher to gauge the clarity of the day’s lecture. If few students answer correctly then the teacher knows to discuss that topic in another way during the next class meeting. The teacher will then not have to wait until test day to measure the understanding of the students. Asking students to simply put numbers into each newly encountered equation might help them become familiar with its basic meaning.

Each chapter of this book begins with a lengthy discussion, followed by a short listing of the order of classroom topics, and then definitions that are meant for your review when preparing for tests.

syllabus, office hours, course grading scheme

study technique to get A grades: class notes record everything said or written, rewrite notes that night, take notes while reading the textbook, accumulate a list of physical quantities, definition, relations

You’ll work problems in class each day and turn them in at the end of the day. While doing those in- class problems, compare your answers to those of your neighbor and discuss any differences.

Assignment: Study the Greek alphabet, see http://greek-language.com/Alphabet.html. See first 20 minutes of the video 0pday-1-2-combined.m2t

The goals of the physics course are for you to understand physical concepts such as velocity, acceleration, mass, force, energy, and momentum and such, to understand their mathematical relations, and to be able to solve the standard problems such as those given in the text. The textbooks create uniform topics for the one-year courses in calculus- or trig-based physics. Physics courses will then contains the same material even though they are occurring in a few thousand colleges throughout the nation and planet. In many LA colleges, you get college credit for the physics course you are now taking. Otherwise, take the AP exam or test out of the course.

My experience with Math and Science School students has found that you are bright, talented, tolerant, motivated, self-disciplined, polite, and respectful towards others. You enjoy learning, and will be successful both in life and in whatever career you choose for yourself. You are happy to finally be surrounded by other students who like to learn, you like to live with your friends right down the hall, and you are forming lifelong friendships. Our students are wonderful people. LSMSA is a boarding school that is an educational utopia of a few hundred warm friends who are intellectually curious and share a joy in learning. We have the dream students.

As with every thing a person learns to do-from walking, throwing, and bicycling to multiplying and saxaphoning-a few hundred hours of effort through a few months are needed to produce sufficient neuronal connections to get us started. In this course, too, a person has to invest about that amount of time to acquire the ability to model phenomena with equations and to logically reason through such situations as occurs in the trajectory of a space ship on its way to Saturn. While enrolled in college courses, math and science students study 60 hours per week. After a few years and a few thousand hours of effort in a particular activity, a person is becoming an expert. Through the upcoming years, you will become an expert in your chosen field.

You will learn the maximum amount if you read the chapter before coming to class, take notes from the textbook, take class notes in which you write down everything that the instructor says, rewrite your notes, and review before the test. If your test score is lower than you prefer then double the number of hours per day that you study for the course. If your next score is still lower than you prefer then you should once again double the number of hours per day that you study for the course. After doubling one hour to two, then four, and then eight you will be happy with your test grades. You may have earned ‘A’ grades at your previous school by studying just one hour per week, but will likely have to study 20 hours per week here at our school and even more in grad school. Manage your time, see http://www.lsmsa.edu/content.cfm?id=337 and take the counselor’s study and note-taking advice so that you do not have to learn the hard way, see http://www.lsmsa.edu/content.cfm?id=338.

Your understanding of physics depends on little else besides the number of problems that you think about and try to solve. Follow the suggested problem solving procedure, as described below. Keep up with assignments by managing your time. Test preparation accumulates each day. Make notes to yourself as if you are explaining to a person (yourself) who is studying the night before a test. The comments and reminders that you place in your notes help you prepare for tests and help when you review the material during future courses. In the first few pages of your notebook, accumulate a list of physical quantities and equations. The list that you accumulate will be due on test days.

Each day in your notebook, write down the chapter and date and then everything that is written on the board. In your notes, try to explain to yourself the physical reasoning discussed in the lectures. It works wonders if, at the end of the day, you rewrite your notes.

1. Form problem solving groups but be sure to work and understand each problem yourself. Group members can help each other learn by questioning each other and by explaining to each other. Prepare before hand so that you can contribute.
2. We learn physics mostly by doing (90%) and much less by watching the teacher (10%). About 90% of what you learn in this course, you’ll learn while struggling for a couple hundred hours to solve homework problems. The remaining 10% of your understanding is obtained from listening to the teacher and watching him or her solve problems. The student has to exert mental effort to make sense of the material. While exerting effort, the necessary new neuronal connections are being made and forming knowledge and understanding. As it is said, you become neither strong nor knowledgeable by watching other people work. Golden words do not exist that a teacher can say to instantly impart understanding within you. About all that the teacher can do is to direct your efforts. Your understanding depends on little else besides the number of problems that you think about and try to solve. Mistakes are a natural part of the learning process. Don’t be too concerned about mistakes because we learn by making them: we profit from them. When an expert in one field tries to solve problems in another field, the expert makes the same sort of errors as does the novice. Every problem is solved after some fumbling in the dark. It is known that we learn best when surprised.
3. Follow the suggested problem solving procedure shown below.
4. Keep up with assignments by managing your time. Daily study is much more effective than intensive stretches done only on the night before an examination. Do not try to wait until the last moment and then cram for an exam. To help you plan your study time, previous students have reported that it typically takes 10 minutes to solve each problem. Many problems are done in two minutes but some take 30 minutes. The general rule of thumb is for students to spend two hours of time outside class for each hour spent inside class. As you progress through college, the time required to solve each problem grows to one hour and then to several hours. Science students in college study 40-80 hours per week.

2.3. Problem-solving procedure and study technique for physics

Every beginning student of physics tries at first to solve problems by reading the question, grabbing a pencil, and writing \(3 \cos(24) + 7 \sin(15)\). But this approach rarely works as it requires you to solve the entire problem in your head. This causes unnecessary confusion and frustration. Through future years of study, problems get increasingly long: Each of this year’s problems take 10 minutes to solve, next year’s take one hour, and the problems of the years after that take 10 to 100 hours to solve. We can’t solely plan within our heads the blueprints for a building. We all learn the hard way that we are more successful at solving problems if we follow an organized, step by step approach.

1. Draw a picture to explain the problem and indicate the axes and their origins in the sketch (unless the problem involves nothing more than plugging numbers into an equation). This helps keep arithmetic signs consistent throughout the solution. Indicate the meaning of the symbols in the sketch. For example, when h = building height, show \(h\) next to the drawn rectangle.
2. List given and unknown quantities, and including units. For example, \(F = -3 N, m = 3 kg, a = ?\).
3. Describe your physical reasoning in a written sentence. When you review your solution in the future, you’ll be grateful that you had. For example, “the force of ground friction slows the box.”
4. Write equations relating the known and unknown quantities. For example, \(F = ma\).
5. Algebraically solve equations for unknowns before plugging in numerical values. For example, a=F/m
6. Plug the numbers into your final algebraic equation and then box your final answer. For example, \(a = \frac{F}{m} = -3 \frac{N}{3} \, kg = -1 \, \frac{m}{s^2}\).
7. Make sure your answer is reasonable and that it has the correct dimensions.

You should consider your homework solutions to be notes that you have written to yourself to be read the night before the test. Use sentences to explain to yourself the physics behind the numerical solution. Homework solutions that consist of nothing but numbers will be of no use to you when studying the night before a test. When you study the night before a test, read the homework problem, try to write the physics equation that describes that situation, compare your equation to the first line of your homework solution, and then stop. Don’t spend any test preparation time doing arithmetic or algebra because you know that you’ll do those things just fine on the test. Instead, spend your test preparation time just setting up the solutions to a great number of homework problems.

Here are some online study guides for success in college. http://www.ucc.vt.edu/stdysk/stdyhlp.html http://www.ee.calpoly.edu/%7Ejbreiten/htbas.html http://webhost.bridgew.edu/jhayesboh/NOT13TH/not13th.htm

Here are some tips for studying physics. http://wc.pima.edu/~carem/PHYSICSS.html

The website http://studentaffairs.case.edu/education/resources/external.html recommends http://www.oberlin.edu/physics/dstyer/StudyTips.html.

There are many online collections of problems and their solutions, for example, http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~probs/probm.html.

You might use the online accompaniments to the standard physics textbooks. http://sciphys.homestead.com/index2.html

Newtonian Physics by Benjamin Crowell is available online. http://www.faqs.org/docs/Newtonian/

Benjamin Crowell has online textbooks of physics and astronomy. http://www.lightandmatter.com/

Here is a glossary of physics terms http://www.lightandmatter.com/area1glossary.shtml

Louis A. Blomfield has an online collection of everyday examples of physics taken from his book How Everything Works: Making Physics out of the Ordinary. http://rabi.phys.virginia.edu/HTW/complete.html

The Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Georgia, Athens has an online collection of answers to Ask the Physicist! questions from the public. http://askthephysicist.com

The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee has an online table of physical constants, http://www.sewanee.edu/physics/QUANTUM_MECHANICS/PHYSICAL-CONSTANTSCOLOR.html

and they recommend the on-line book Physics Formulary by J. C. A. Wevers. http://www.xs4all.nl/~johanw/physics.pdf

Maurice Barnhill of the University of Delaware has a table of the units of common physical quantities. http://www.udel.edu/mvb/units.html

An interactive periodic table is online at http://www.webelements.com/ or http://www.chemicool.com/

Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has A Dictionary of Units of Measurement. http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/index.html

The College Of Chemistry at UC-Berkeley has conversion factors. http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/links/weights/equivalences.html

MIT OpenCourseWare includes a video physics course by Walter Lewin. http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Physics/8-01Physics-IFall1999/CourseHome/index.htm

2.4. Video clips and computer simulations bring the equations to life

See https://sites.google.com/a/lsmsa.edu/robert-dalling/ for a collection of 2,000 links to websites that explain every topic in the introductory physics course. The links provide classroom tools involving science in history, society, and art, see http://www.bugman123.com/Physics/index.html. There are links to examples of everyday physics-for example, the flow of energy in living creatures, human beings, the planet, homes, and factories and such.

By spending a few minutes with a computer simulation, a student may build as much physical intuition as results from solving several numerical problems. The static photographs shown in textbooks can not compare to these simulations. For example, two-d collisions come to life in Drew Dolgert’s applet, see http://galileoandeinstein.physics.virginia.edu/more_stuff/Applets/Collision /jarapplet.html. In this simulation of Newton’s Cradle, see http://www.strille.net/works/ newtons_cradle.swf, push the second sphere rightward to give four of five spheres a sideways toss and then watch the evolution of the momentum exchanges. Follow this example of velocity exchange with David N. Blauch’s visual development of Maxwell’s velocity distribution, see http://www.chm.davidson.edu/vce/KineticMolecularTheory/Maxwell.html, and with Noriyoshi Kato’s Motion of Ideal Gas Molecules in a Cylinder, see http://www2.biglobe.ne.jp/~norimari/science/ JavaApp/e-gas.html. Selman Hershfield brings the lens equation to life at http://www.phys.ufl.edu /~phy3054/light/lens/applets/convlens/Welcome.html. Paul Falstad animates 3D wave interference, see http://www.falstad.com/ripple (press the down arrow twice and then click 3D-View).

A teacher’s verbal description of a phenomenon may have less educational value than does a student’s interaction with a simulation or viewing of an animation. Some examples include Rutgers University’s demonstration of centripetal force, see http://paer.rutgers.edu/PT3/experiment.php?to picid=5&exptid=56, E. Manousakis’ animation of Kepler’s Equal Area Law, see http://www.physics.f su.edu/courses/fall98/ast1002/section4/kepler/10_13_27.mov, and David Kirkby’s Simulation of Sound Traveling Through Air, see http://positron.ps.uci.edu/~dkirkby/music/html/demos/PlaneWave /SoundWave.html. Alex Krizhevsky shows the dynamic superposition of two sine waves, see http://thespoon7.tripod.com/wave.htm.

Some links involve video of real life physics. For example, inertia is demonstrated in the space shuttle, see http://www.nas.nasa.gov/About/Education/SpaceSettlement/Video/thrust.mpg, or the student might analyze the trajectory of a leaping dolphin, see http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/mammals/Lagenorhynchus_obscurus/Lagenorhynchus_ob_06b.ht ml?movietype=rpMed. The Phet simulation compares trajectories with and without air resistance, see http://phet.colorado.edu/sims/projectile-motion/projectile-motion.swf.

Not every school can afford the equipment needed for classroom demonstrations, so the collection includes links to video clips of demonstrations conducted at various universities. Wake Forest University has a video of a Van DeGraaff generator at http://www.wfu.edu/physics/demolabs /demos/avimov/e_and_m/vdg/VandeGraff.MPG and a Telsa Coil at http://www.wfu.edu/physics /demolabs/demos/5/5n/5n2050.ram. If we had time, each of us teachers would build and demonstrate a bed of nails. We can instead show Mahanakorn’s video, see http://www.mut.ac.th/~physics/Physics Magic/nails.htm.

The listed simulations also encourage the student to pursue further study. A simulation of an advanced topic illustrates that the professional scientist or engineer uses nothing besides the equations contained in the introductory textbook. The only difference is that a computer is used to do more calculations than a person can do, see http://vis.lbl.gov/Vignettes and http://ircamera.as.arizona .edu/NatSci102/movies/twogalaxymerger%5b1%5d.mpg. See Video clips, animations, and computer simulations that bring to life the equations of physics at http://physicsed.buffalostate.edu/pubs/WebSights/2007-8/05-2008/DallingLinks.htm