The textbook is NOT a substitute for lecture, and vice-versa. The two should complement each other. I ask you to complete these reading assignments before we cover the material in class, otherwise the lecture will not make much sense. Learning physics requires an active approach- use as many resources as you need to match your learning style. There are many online resources that I consider to be excellent. However, if you try to read, or examine everything out there, you will quickly get overwhelmed. I suggest you stick to the text and lecture materials until you find a particular topic that is confusing you. Then you may find some other viewpoint helpful to get you over the hump.
You should work through the examples in the textbook on your own, before looking at the solutions. Read the problem, close the book, do as much as you can, and then compare your work to the “officialâ€ï¾ﾝ solution. Go back and read the text again if it looks like you were weak on some of the necessary points. Now, close the book again and see if you can repeat the solution on your own- this will help reinforce what you have just learned. Still, you can be confident that you understand the material only after you have worked completely through some problems with the book closed and no outside assistance. Since you will be allowed to have an equation sheet during the exams, you can print out the appropriate sheets linked on the exam review pages and use those when you work problems. Of course, it would show even greater mastery if you did not need the equation sheets at all.
Here are two really useful online resources (and I know there must be others):
The physics classroom – This claims to be targeted towards school physics. Don't be fooled! The explanations and examples are very clear and well done. We may be going a little beyond this material in some areas, but it still is applicable to 80-90% of what we are going to do.
Halliday/Resnick web site - This is the web site associated with our text book. It has some very interesting interactive problems selected from each chapter. If there is a particular type of problem that you are having difficulty with, you can probably find a similar one here. The Interactive Learningware will step you through the solutions a piece at a time.
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Chap. |
Readings from text |
Good Examples |
Further help, or info. |
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2 |
2.3-2.8. Note: 2.7 and 2.8 are slightly different ways to arrive at the same result. Pay attention to definitions; note how to connect graphs with equations. How are the following ideas related to each other: average/instantaneous; position/displacement; speed/velocity. Constant acceleration is a very useful special case. Can you describe (verbally) what the motion of an object looks like when it has a constant acceleration? Can you draw and explain graphs of position, velocity, and acceleration? What do the equations that go with these graphs look like? |
In text: 2.1, 2.2, 2.6, 2.7. H/R Interactive Learningware - Go to Chapter 2 and try some of the problems. They cover the materials we are working on in this chapter and will walk you through the solutions if you are having difficulty. |
Google “physics straight line motionâ€ï¾ﾝ kinematics tutorials from The physics classroom. |
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3 |
3.2-3.6: These sections cover the properties of vectors and how to add them. We will be discussing this in the context of Chapter 4 – using 2 and 3-d position as our example. |
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Really good discussion of vectors: Vector Tutorial
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4 |
4.2-4.4: These are repeats of what was done in 1-dimension in Chap. 2. 4.5-4.6: The real meat of this chapter. Most of the problems will be about these sections. You'll notice that projectile motion is mostly about free-fall (with only a few small twists added). If you understood free-fall from Chap. 2, you'll do ok here. If you didn't quite understand free-fall, well, this is your second shot at it. |
In text: sample problems 4.6-4.8. Question 8. |
A bunch of projectile motion demos here. |
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5 |
5.6-5.9: The most important sections in this chapter. F=ma (2nd Law) + the reaction force law (3rd) are among the most important ideas in Physics. Work through all the examples. You must become adept at constructing and understanding free body diagrams. |
All the examples are useful. |
A collection of clicker questions for this chapter have been put into LonCapa for your enjoyment. Try picking random problems from the back of the chapter and drawing free body diagrams for them. |
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6 |
6.2-6.3: Definition and discussion of static and kinetic friction.
6.5: Uniform Circular Motion. |
In text: sample problems 6.2-6.3. 6.3 is a standard problem for measuring the coefficient of static friction. Sample problems 6.6-6.10: Some of these even incorporate friction. |
Again, free body diagrams are the most important skill you need to master in order to do these problems. Chapter 6 is just an extension of chapter 5.
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7 |
7.3: Definition of Kinetic Energy 7.4-7.5: Introduce Work and develop the Work-Kinetic Energy Theorem. Go back to Chapter 3.8 to read about the dot-product. 7.6: Work done by gravity. 7.7: Work done by a spring. Note the difference between the work done by a spring and the work done by an external (applied) force. 7,8: General force (non-constant) 7,9: Power.
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Look at examples 7-4 to 7-6. Sample probs. 7-7,7-8 |
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8 |
8.2: Work and PE. Just like we did with KE. 8.3: Path Independence of Conservative Forces. Familiarize yourself with the arguments used here. 8.4: Determine PE Values. How to calculate the PE stored by an internal force. Two examples are gravity, and the spring. 8.5: Conservation of Mechanical Energy. 8.6: Reading a PE curve. A useful skill. Shows the relationship between force and PE. 8.7-8.8: External Work and Conservation of Energy (all forms). All energy problems can be done with the formula Work_external = Delta (E). With no external forces, we get the standard E(final) = E(initial). |
Look at sample probs. 8-3, and 8-4.
Sample probs. 8-7 and 8-8.
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9 |
9.2: Definition of Center of Mass. This is important, but not much interesting physics here. 9.3: Newton's 2nd Law for a System of Particles. This will show us how all “realâ€ï¾ﾝ objects must behave- it's just what we thought. 9.4-9.7: Linear Momentum and Collisions. This is just as important as energy! 9.8-9.11: Details of different types of collisions. Apply momentum and energy conservation and see where it leads. 9.12: Rockets. These are fun, but not a major topic. |
Work through all the sample problems in this chapter. You can not do enough collision problems. |
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10 |
10.2: Rotational Variables. Repeat everything you did with linear motion; 10.3: Angular quantities as vectors. They're similar, but they are slightly different from real vectors. 10.4: Constant angular acceleration. Repeat everything you learned about linear motion. 10.5: Angular and linear quantities. You can relare the two using the properties of a circle. 10.6: Kinetic Energy. This is important. 10.7: Rotational Inertia. A substitute for mass. See if you can prove the parallel axis theorem. 10.8-10.10: Torque and Newton's 2nd Law, Work and Energy. The real meat of this chapter. Try to see how this is similar to linear motion. |
Work through all the sample problems in this chapter. |
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11 |
Rolling and angular momentum. 11.2-11.3: Combine rotations with linear motion to describe rolling. 11.4: Friction and rolling. 11.6: Torque again. 11.7-11.12: Definition of angular momentum and many examples. |
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12 |
Statics. 12.2-12.3: Definition of equilibrium. 12.4. Center of gravity. 12.5: Example of static equilibrium. Most of the capa problems will come from this section. |
Study examples 12-1 to 12-4. |
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13 |
Gravity. 13.2-13.5: Details of the force. 13.6: Potential energy. 13.7-13.8: Kepler's Law and orbits |
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