Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Physics 211: Lecture 1 "Mechanics For Physicists and Engineers"
Physics 211: Lecture 1 "Mechanics For Physicists and Engineers"
The first few weeks of the course should be review, hence the pace is
fast. It is important for you to keep up!
Then, watch out….
Classical Mechanics:
Vibrations (5 lectures)
» added to final
Length L
Mass M
Time T
For example:
Speed has units of L / T (e.g. miles per hour).
Force has units of ML / T2 etc... (as you will learn).
British Units:
Inches, feet, miles, pounds, slugs...
We will use mostly SI units, but you may run across some
problems using British units. You should know how to convert
back & forth.
mi mi ft 1 m 1 hr m
1 1 5280 0.447
hr hr mi 3.28 ft 3600 s s
Example:
Doing a problem you get the answer distance
d = vt 2 (velocity x time2)
d d
(a) P = 2 (dg) 2 (b) P 2 (c) P 2
g g
2
L L4
(a) L 2 4 T Not Right !!
T T
d d
(a) P 2 dg (b)
2
P 2 (c) P 2
g g
L
(b) T2 T
L Not Right !!
T2
d d
(a) P 2 dg (b)
2
P 2 (c) P 2
g g
L
(c) T2 T This has the correct units!!
L
T2 This could be the answer!!
d d
(a) P 2 dg (b)
2
P 2 (c) P 2
g g
Displacement in a time t = t2 - t1 is
x = x(t2) - x(t1) = x2 - x1
x
x2 some particle’s trajectory
x in 1-D
x1
t1 t2 t
t
Physics 211: Lecture 1, Pg 18
1-D kinematics
x( t 2 ) x( t1 ) x
v av
t 2 t1 t
x
x2 trajectory
x
Vav = slope of line connecting x1 and x2.
x1
t1 t2 t
t
dx( t )
v( t )
dt
t1 t2 t
t
v ( t 2 ) v ( t1 ) v
aav
t 2 t1 t
And instantaneous acceleration a is defined as:
dv ( t ) d 2 x( t )
a( t )
dt dt 2
dx( t )
using v( t )
dt
x
x x( t )
dx t
v v
dt
dv d 2x
a
dt dt 2
t
a
We saw that v = dx / dt
In “calculus” language we would write dx = v dt, which we
can integrate to obtain:
t2
x (t 2 ) x (t1 ) v (t )dt
t1
Graphically, this is adding up lots of small rectangles:
v(t) + +...+
= displacement
dx
Similarly, since v we can integrate again to get:
dt
1
x v dt ( at v 0 )dt at 2 v 0 t x0
2
1
x x0 v 0 t at 2
2 t
v
v v 0 at
a const
t
a
(b) v 0, but a = 0. y
(c) v = 0, but a 0.
v v0
Solving for t: t
a
2
v v0 1 v v0
Plugging in for t: x x0 v 0 a
a 2 a
2
v 2 v 0 2 a( x x0 )
1
x x0 v 0 t at 2
2
v v 0 at
a const
v 2 v 02 2a(x x0 )
1
v av (v 0 v)
2
This is just
For constant acceleration: Washers
1
x x0 v 0 t at 2
2
for constant
v v 0 at
a const
acceleration! v 2 v 02 2a(x x0 )
1
v av (v 0 v)
2
1 2
x x0 v0t at
2
1 2 2
xn x0 v0 nt1 an t1
2
Physics 211: Lecture 1, Pg 31
Problem 1
vo
ab x = 0, t = 0
v0
ab x = 0, t = 0
v=0
x = xf , t = tf
Above, we derived: v = v0 + at
tf = v0 /ab
v 2 v 02 2a(x x0 )
2
v 0 2( ab )xf
2
v
xf 0
2 ab