1 / 17

Introduction to Physics: Theories, Laws, and Problem Solving Techniques

This chapter provides an introduction to the study of physics, discussing the importance of studying physics, the relationship between mathematics and physics, scientific theories and laws, scientific notation and significant figures, units and dimensional analysis, problem-solving techniques, approximations, and graphs.

wlang
Download Presentation

Introduction to Physics: Theories, Laws, and Problem Solving Techniques

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Chapter 1: Introduction • Why Study Physics? 3, 4 • Mathematics and Physics Speak 5, 6 • Theories and Laws • Scientific Notation and Significant Figures 16+ • Units • Dimensional Analysis • Problem Solving Techniques 29 • Approximations 30 • Graphs 32-33 • HK: CQ: 1, 8. P: 1, 3, 5, 13, 25, 39, 49.

  2. Scientific Theory A model for explaining phenomena that is simple yet predicts a broad range. Criterion: Testable Accurate (not perfect) 2

  3. Law A scientific law is a statementdescribing natural behavior which has a history of scientificreplication. Law = describing Theory = explaining Describing is easier than explaining! Laws usually come first. E.g. Boyle’s Law (1662), Bernoulli’s Kinetic Theory of gases (1740). 3

  4. SI Base Units meter (m) kilogram (kg) second (s, sec) ampere (A) kelvin (K) mole (mol) candela (cd) 4

  5. Prefixes for SI Units • convenient shorthand for powers of 10 • examples: • m = 10-3 e.g. millimeter • c = 10-2 e.g. centimeter • k = 103 e.g. kilometer

  6. Other Common Units foot: 3.28ft = 1m mile: 1mi = 1609m hour: 1h = 3600s / 6

  7. Significant Figures (s.f.) • trailing 0’s count, e.g. 1.560 • leading 0’s not counted, e.g. 0.01 • more s.f. implies more precision

  8. Calculating with Significant Figures

  9. Unit Analysis calculation and comparison of units Given: v = at [v] = m/s [t] = s [v] = [a][t] m/s = [a]s [a] = m/s/s 9

  10. Dimensional Analysis units replaced by “dimensions” e.g. meter = L, seconds = T unit-independent e.g. [velocity] = L/T 10

  11. Converting Units

  12. Problem Solving write key data as you read mark unknowns with “?” double check each value use SI values, e.g. 5cm  0.05m sketch physical situation write equations solve, consider, read question again 12

  13. Summary Unit and Dimensional Analysis Metric Prefixes -9 to +9 Unit Conversions Problem Solving 13

  14. Significant Figures (s.f.) estimate of measurement precision trailing 0’s count (3.00) leading 0’s not counted (0.004) 16

  15. Common Prefixes 0 17

More Related