Physics 1A: Foundations (U00380)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 8 ? Acronym : PHY-1-A

This is an introductory-level course, covering the classical physics of kinematics, dynamics, oscillations, forces and fields, and touching on aspects of contemporary physics, including relativity and chaos. The course is designed for those with qualifications in physics and mathematics at SCE-H level or equivalent. It serves both as a preparation for further study in physics-based degree courses, and as a stand-alone course for students of other disciplines, including mathematics, chemistry, computer science and engineering. The course is supported by an IT resource base of multimedia teaching material. The course is appropriately combined with Physics 1B (PHY-1-B).

Entry Requirements

? Pre-requisites : SCE H-grade Physics and Mathematics or equivalent.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Undergraduate (School of Physics), (School of Physics, Schedule Q)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 1st year

? Delivery Period : Semester 1 (Blocks 1-2)

? Contact Teaching Time : 6 hour(s) per week for 11 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
20/09/2006	11:10	12:00	Lecture Theatre 4, Appleton Tower	Central

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Monday	11:10	12:00	Central
Lecture	Wednesday	11:10	12:00	Central
Lecture	Friday	11:10	12:00	Central

1 of the following 4 classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Laboratory	Mo	14:00	17:00	Central
Laboratory	Tu	14:00	17:00	Central
Laboratory	Th	14:00	17:00	Central
Laboratory	Fr	14:00	17:00	Central

? Additional Class Information : Workshop sessions three hours per week, as arranged.

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, it is intended that a student will be able to:

1)understand and employ the concepts of order of magnitude and significant figures in solving numerical problems
2)be able to use and manipulate vectors to describe physical quantities, such as motion in one or two dimensions, torque etc.
3)know and be able to apply the equations describing motion at constant acceleration and motion in a circle at constant speed
4)state the Galilean description of relative motion and be aware of its limitations
5)understand the roles played by force, mass and inertial reference frames in the laws of motion
6)be familiar with a wide variety of the forces encountered in nature
7)apply Newton's Laws to analyse the behaviour of systems experiencing such forces
8)qualitatively understand the ficticious forces experienced in non-inertial reference frames
9)state the definitions of work, kinetic energy and potential energy
10)explain why a potential energy can only be defined for a conservative force
11)use the principle of conservation of energy to solve simple problems
12)understand the concept of the centre of mass, its velocity and momentum for a system of particles
13)state conditions under which linear and angular momentum is conserved
14)analyse different types of collisions using appropriate conservation laws
15)know the analogies between variables describing linear and rotational motion
16)understand the concepts of angular velocity and torque
17)construct the simple harmonic equation of motion for a range of systems and determine the associated frequency
18)be familiar with the mathematical description of sinusoidal waveforms and the variety of phenomena occurring when different waveforms are combined