Honors Physics : Lecture 1, Pg 1 Physics I: Lecture 1 “Mechanics for Physicists and Engineers” Agenda for Today Advice Scope of this course Measurement and Units Fundamental units Systems of units Converting between systems of units Dimensional Analysis

Honors Physics : Lecture 1, Pg 2 Course Info & Advice çBe prepared and be organized l Course has several components: çLecture (me talking, demos and Active learning). çDiscussion sections (group problem solving). çLabs (group exploration of physical phenomena).

Honors Physics : Lecture 1, Pg 3 Lecture Organization l Three main components: çLecturer discusses class material çThese notes are intentionally incomplete, and should be complete during lecture or by using text, library, and webpages »Follows lecture notes very closely »Not much work, just incentive to attend class, go over examples and problems. çLecturer does as many demos as possible »If you see it you gotta believe it ! çStudents work in groups on conceptual “Active Learning” problems. »Usually twice per lecture

Honors Physics : Lecture 1, Pg 4 Scope of Physics l Classical Mechanics l Heat & Thermodynamics l Wave Behavior l Electromagnetism l Nuclear

Honors Physics : Lecture 1, Pg 5 l How we measure things! fundamental units: l All things can be expressed in terms of the fundamental units: çLength L çMass M çTime T l For example: çSpeed has units of L / T (i.e. miles per hour). çForce has units of ML / T 2 etc... (as you will learn). Units See text : 2.1

Honors Physics : Lecture 1, Pg 6 Units... l Rational Units: çmks: L = meters (m), M = kilograms (kg), T = seconds (s) çcgs: L = centimeters (cm), M = grams (gm), T = seconds (s) l Irrational Units: çFeet, pounds, slugs... çpretty much anything 'non metric'. l We will use mostly rational units, but you may run across some problems using irrational units. You should know how to convert back & forth.

Honors Physics : Lecture 1, Pg 7 Length: DistanceLength (m) To Andromeda Galaxy 2 x To nearest star 4 x Earth to Sun1.5 x Radius of Earth6.4 x 10 6 Football Field1.0 x 10 2 Tall person 2 x 10 0 Thickness of paper 1 x Wavelength of blue light 4 x Diameter of hydrogen atom 1 x Diameter of proton 1 x

Honors Physics : Lecture 1, Pg 8 Time: IntervalTime (s) Age of Universe 5 x Age of Grand Canyon 3 x My age1.1 x 10 9 One year3.2 x 10 7 One hour3.6 x 10 3 Light travel from Earth to Moon1.3 x 10 0 One cycle of guitar A string 2 x One cycle of FM radio wave 6 x Lifetime of neutral pi meson 1 x Lifetime of top quark 1 x

Honors Physics : Lecture 1, Pg 9 Mass: ObjectMass (kg) Milky Way galaxy 2 x Sun 2 x Earth 6 x Boeing x 10 6 Car 1 x 10 3 Student7.5 x 10 1 Dust particle 1 x Copper atom 1 x Proton 2 x Electron 9 x

Honors Physics : Lecture 1, Pg 10 Converting between different systems of units l Useful Conversion factors: ç1m = 3.28 ft ç1kg= slug ç1 inch= 2.54 cm ç1 mile= 5280 ft l Example: convert miles per hour to meters per second: See text : 2.1

Honors Physics : Lecture 1, Pg 11 Significant Figures l When multiplying or dividing, the answer should have the same number of significant figures as the least accurate of the quantities in the calculation. l When adding or subtracting, the number of digits to the right of the decimal point should equal that of the term in the sum or difference that has the smallest number of digits to the right of the decimal point. l Examples: ç sig figs ç sig figs ç21 sig fig ç.031 * 3.030= SIG FIGS 2 * 0.031=.06 1 Sig fig ç = 3.06 Hundredths = 2 Ones See text : 2.2