Fall 2012

PH 103; Week 1
Note 1: Must study corresponding chapters of the Text Book; Fundamentals of Physics by Jearl Walker to understand lectures and be able answer question and problems at the end of each chapter. An absolute minimum requirement for passing this course is thorough understanding of all check points and sample problems given in each chapter. a) MIT Physics 801 Video Lectures, MIT OpenCourseWare | Physics | 8.01 Physics I:
Classical Mechanics .. ; Videos of these lectures can also be accessed through AU Intranet

b) Yale Physics 200: Fundamentals of Physics Video Lectures; view class sessions >> c) UC Berkeley Physics 10:- Physics for Future Presidents: UC Berkeley Webcasts | Video and Podcasts: Physics 10 d) Videos of AIP Encyclopedia of Physics Demonstrations that is available on AU Intranet What should students understand at the end of this course? 1. Towards the end of this course students should: i. Have a clear idea of physics principles related to mechanics, waves and oscillations,
fluids and heat & thermodynamics Be able to appreciate the role of these principles in daily life iii. Have solid grounding in these areas of physics for their engineering courses 2. Develop analytical and mathematical approach to problem solving ii.

Marks Distribution Homework: 5%, Quizzes: 10%, Lab/Projects: 20%, Mid Term 20%, Final Exam: 45% Note 3: Final exam will cover the entire course including material covered in Quizzes and Midterm Exam, but with lesser weight. Final exams could also contain some simple questions from MIT lectures, Encyclopedia of Physics Demonstrations and Simulation clips. What is Physics? Physics is the study of certain aspects of nature from the very smallest to the very largest scale and to use our present knowledge to be able to predict their past and future.

Physical Quantities and their Measurement

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Physical Quantity: Any physical property of an object that can be measured or quantified is known as physical quantity. Question 1.1: What are the smallest and largest objects that you have come across in your life? What is their size in terms of meters, centimeters or millimeters? What factors might limit their size, or our ability to observe their size? Question 1.2: What are some of the physical quantities associated with you, the Earth and the sunrise? Length, Mass, Time, Velocity, Acceleration, Force, Momentum, Energy, Charge, Temperature, pressure, density and light intensity are examples of physical quantities,. Of these Length ( L ), Mass ( M ) and Time (T ) are Basic Physical Quantities as most of the rest can be expressed in terms of these three quantities. Later on we will also encounter some other basic physical quantities such as charge, mole and temperature. By length we also mean width, breadth, height and distance between two pints, two objects or two places. We will denote it by L. Mass, however, needs to be distinguished from weight. Mass is the quantity of matter in an object, or its inertia to change location, where as weight is the earths gravitational force acting on it. When we take an object in space its mass remains the same no matter where we take it, but its weight changes from place to place. We can tell the difference between the masses of two objects; say a ping pong and a lead ball of the same size by weighing them, or through a simple, but perhaps not very comfortable, experiment: We hardly feel anything in our feet kicking the ping pong ball but kicking a lead ball of the same size can be uncomfortable. The former, because of its lesser mass or inertia, offers less resistance to being displaced while the letter has greater mass or inertia and offers much more resistance to being displaced. We get a sense of time through changes taking place all around us; the changing light as day and night follow each other, the changing seasons, the growth and decay of things, etc.

Measurement: Systems of Units and Standard Units

Units: When we have more than one object we can compare their lengths by placing them next to each other and measure the larger length in terms of the smaller one. We can do the same in the case of their masses or weights. Similarly in the case of time intervals between pairs of events we can measure the longer time interval in terms of the shorter one.

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We are free to choose our arm, the length of our foot, the size of any suitable small object as a unit of or the distance between two notches on a stick as a unit of length. For the measurement of mass we may choose and single or certain number of grain seed, a fruit such as an apple, or piece of stone. Likewise, most natural phenomenon repeat after some time; our heart beat, sun rise and sun set, the waxing and waning of moon and the changing seasons. In this case also a suitably chosen short time interval of a periodic phenomenon can be used to measure longer time intervals or time durations. For practical purposes, however, measurements of the same physical quantity made by different people at different places and at different times must agree with each other. For this purpose commonly agreed units of length, mass and time are used. In scientific work and in everyday life in most countries except USA and UK, these units are; meter for length, kilogram for mass and second for time. In USA and UK and in some engineering applications foot, pound and seconds are used for this purpose. Originally meter was defined as one ten-millionth (10 7 ) of the length of the earth's meridian along a quadrant (one fourth the circumference of the earth) passing through Paris, a kilogram was the mass of a cubic decimeter of water (a cube of side 10 cm) and the second was defined as the fraction 1/86 400 of the mean solar day. For meeting the increasing precision requirements of science and technology international standards of these quantities are currently defined as follows. The standard meter is the length of the path traveled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second. The standard kilogram is the unit of mass; it is equal to the mass of the international prototype of the kilogram. For an even more precise standard of mass the weight of C12 isotope of carbon atom, being defined as exactly 12 atomic mass units is being adopted. The standard second is the duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium 133 atom. For more information, and background of units and standards see Historical context and Definitions of the SI base units Least Count and Significant Figures: Least count is the minimum or smallest quantity that can be measured on an instrument. A common measuring tape, for example, gives reading to within or tenth of an inch on one side and one millimeter on its other side. Normal watches give time to within a second and commonly used scales or weighing machines measure mass to within a few grams. For more precise measurements we use specialized instruments, such

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as screw gauge and stop watch. Therefore, each measurement gives a certain number of digits, or a certain number of significant figures. For example, when we say some ones height is 67.4 inches, 5 feet and 7.4 inches, or 1.754 m, then the number of significant figures in one case is three and in the other case it is 4. In either case the number 4 at the end is the least significant figure of the measurement. Accuracy and Error: The number of significant figures in a measurement indicates the accuracy of measurement- the larger the no of significant figure then the more accurate is the measurement. The result of a calculation, however, cannot be more accurate than the minimum number of significant figures of the quantities used in calculating it. For example, if the length of a rectangle is measured to be12.5m and it width is 4.25m then its calculated area to within correct significant figures is 52.1m 2 and not 52.125m 2 . Every measurement contains some error, including instrumental and random errors. Instrumental errors can be identified and corrected for. Random errors can be reduced by averaging over several measurements, but such errors cannot be eliminated. It is, therefore, important to always mention the error along with the result of measurement. Writing the result of a measurement or a calculation without mentioning appropriate units and error is meaningless. Comparing of the values of two similar physical quantities without giving the error makes it difficult to know which one of these is bigger or smaller. The smaller the difference in their values the more precise should be their measurements or the smaller should be the error. This will be clear in answering the question you will explore in the following activity. Activity 1.1: Our height, measured while lying straight on a flat hard surface is somewhat more than that while we stand. Measure your height for checking this statement carefully and check whether your error is small enough to observe this difference. The above assertion should in principal be true for any object, say a ruler or long spring. In the case of a ruler the difference might be too small to measure while for a long soft enough spring it should be possible to measure it with reasonable accuracy. Question 1.3: Does the experiment with a spring suggest some possible explanation for the result of activity 1.1? Activity 1.2: Try to measure the time lag of the thunder and its corresponding flash. Use this information to measure the location of the source of lightening. How much accuracy is needed for making a reasonable measurement? What are the possible source of error in this experiment/

Dimension and Dimensional Analysis

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Dimension: In physics and mathematics the independent pieces of information needed to describe a quantity is usually referred to as its dimension. For example, only one piece of information is needed for locating a point on a line or for that matter on a curve of any shape. It is the length of the curve between some reference point and the given point. We, therefore, say that a point, itself a dimensionless object, is embedded in a line, or a curve, which is a onedimensional object. On the other hand two pieces of information are needed for locating a point on a surface, which may be a curved surface. Therefore, a curve is a two-dimensional object; and so on. We express derived physical quantities in terms of basic physical quantities. Mass, length, time are the basic physical quantities in mechanics. Examples of some derived physical quantities are , area ( A = L2 ), volume ( V = L3 ), speed or velocity ( v = LT 1 ), acceleration ( a = LT 2 ), linear mass density ( = ML1 ), surface mass density ( = M/ L2 ), volume mass density ( = ML3 ), linear momentum ( p = mv = ML / T ), force ( F = ma = MLT 2 ), and energy ( 1 2 mv = MLT 2 ). 2 Q 1.4: Express the following quantities in terms of basic physical quantities in terms of the basic physical quantities. a) The potential energy b) The moment of a force c) The angular momentum. Note.1.1. Different physical quantities may have the same dimensional expression as for example energy and moment. 2. Usually density means mass density. Later on we shall also discuss corresponding expression for charge density. Dimensional Analysis is a conceptual tool often applied in physics, chemistry and engineering for expressing a physical quantity I of interest in a given situation in term of other physical quantities on which it may depend. It is routinely used by physical scientists and engineers for forming reasonable hypotheses about complex physical situations that can be tested by experiment or by more developed theories of the phenomena. As a simple example of this powerful tool lets consider finding an expression for the time t it takes an object of mass m to fall through a height h . It is reasonable to assume that the value of t .increases with the value of h . Its value would also depend on the acceleration due to gravity g .and possibly on its mass m . Ignoring air resistance and assuming monotonically increasing or monotonically decreasing simple power-law dependence, we may write; t h m g

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Here, , and are some positive or negative real numbers. In terms of the corresponding basic physical quantities, T L M [ LT 2 ] , or Equating the powers of L, M and T on both sides of the above equation we get; + = 0 , or = , = 0 , and 2 = 1 , giving, 1 1 = , and = 2 2 Thus, according to the above dimensional analysis argument the time of free fall, t , through a height h , in the absence of air resistance is independent of the mass m of the body, as Galileo Galilee had argued some four hundred years ago. It is given by, h h t =C (1.1) g g Here C is a dimensionless constant. Its value can be calculated either by experiment or through a more detailed analysis that we will do next week. Activity 1.3: Using stop watch of your cell phone measure the time t of free fall of an object through various heights h . Plot t 2 as a function of h and check using the value of g = 9.8m / s 2 calculate the value of C . Q1.5: Using dimensional analyses argument outlined above find an expression for time period of a simple pendulum of mass m and length l . Q1.6: Using dimensional analyses find an expression for the velocity v of an object after its free fall through a height h and check the functional dependence of t on h . Can you find the values of g and c from such an experiment? Home Work: 1.. Make sure you understand all the check points and sample problems in chapter 1 of the Text Book. 2. Attempt all the questions and activities in these notes and the following problems at the end chapter 1; 5, 7, 10, 13-16, 19, 20, 23, 25, 26, 29, 37, 43, 45,
TL0 M 0 L M L T 2 = L + M T 2

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