Physics is a natural science that deals with the structure of matter and the interactions between the fundamental constituents of the observable universe. Physicists ask the fundamental questions: How did the universe begin? How and of what is it made? How does it change? What rules govern its behavior? Most of the phenomena in the world around you are, at the fundamental level, based on physics. Many of the everyday technological inventions that we now take for granted resulted from discoveries in physics. A good understanding of principles in physics will help you analyze complex problems and reason logically.
University Physics I is an advanced physics course for engineering students in their second semester of freshman year, or their first semester of sophomore year, and it covers Newtonian mechanics and the special theory of relativity.
Newtonian mechanics is based on Newton’s laws of motion, and several other basic assumptions. Until the end of the 19th century, it was believed that the motion of matter could be completely understood by Newtonian mechanics. However, the formulation by Maxwell of a unified theory of electromagnetism changed everything. Maxwell’s theory was extraordinarily successful, but at a fundamental level it seemed to be inconsistent with the Newtonian ideas of space and time. Albert Einstein combined the experimental results and physical arguments of others with his own unique insights, and formulated the new principles in terms of which space, time, matter and energy were to be understood. These principles and their consequences constitute the special theory of relativity, or special relativity.
Chapter 1:Kinematics
Session 1: Position, Velocity and Acceleration
Session 2: Problem Solving Session 1
Session 3: Circular Motion
Session 4: Galilean Transformations
Quiz 1
Chapter 2: Newton's Laws of Motion
Session 5: Mass and Force
Session 6: Newton's Laws of Motion
Session 7: Problem Solving Session 2
Session 8: Inertial Forces
Quiz 2
Chapter 3: The Impulse-Momentum Theorem
Session 9: The Impulse-Momentum Theorem for a Single Particle
Session 10: The Impulse-Momentum Theorem for Many-Particle Systems
Session 11: The Center of Mass
Quiz 3
Chapter 4: The CWE Theorem
Session 12: Work
Session 13: The CWE Theorem
Session 14: Problem Solving Session 3
Session 15: The CWE Theorem in the CM Frame
Quiz 4
Chapter 5: Angular Momentum
Session 16: The Equation of Motion for Angular Momentum
Session 17: Problem Solving Session 4
Session 18: Angular Momentum about the CM
Quiz 5
Chapter 6: Dynamics of Rigid Bodies
Session 19: Rotating about a Fixed Axis
Session 20: Calculation of Moments of Inertia
Session 21: The CWE Theorem for Rigid Bodies
Session 22: Rotation about a Moving Axis
Session 23: Problem Solving Session 5
Session 24: Procession
Quiz 6
Chapter 7: The Special Theory of Relativity
Session 25: Einstein's Postulates
Session 26: Time Dilation and Length Contraction
Session 27: Lorentz Transformation
Session 28: Problem Solving Session 6
Session 29: Relativistic Mass and Momentum
Session 30: Relativistic Force, Work and Energy
Quiz 7