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Scope of Physics 111

“Mechanics for Physicists and Engineers”
l Classical Mechanics:
Agenda for Today
l Advice ç Mechanics: How and why things work
l Scope of this course ç Classical:
l Measurement and Units » Not too fast (v << c)
ç Fundamental units » Not too small (d >> atom)
ç Systems of units
ç Converting between systems of units l Most everyday situations can be described in these terms.
ç Dimensional Analysis ç Path of baseball
l 1-D Kinematics (review) ç Orbit of planets
ç Average & instantaneous velocity and acceleration ç etc...
ç Motion with constant acceleration

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 1 Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 2

Length:
Units
Distance Length (m)
Radius of visible universe 1 x 1026
l How we measure things!
To Andromeda Galaxy 2 x 1022
l All things in classical mechanics can be expressed in terms
of the fundamental units: To nearest star 4 x 1016
Earth to Sun 1.5 x 1011
ç Length L Radius of Earth 6.4 x 106
ç Mass M Sears Tower 4.5 x 102
ç Time T Football field 1.0 x 102
Tall person 2 x 100
l For example: Thickness of paper 1 x 10-4
ç Speed has units of L / T (i.e. miles per hour). Wavelength of blue light 4 x 10-7
ç Force has units of ML / T2 etc... (as you will learn). Diameter of hydrogen atom 1 x 10-10
Diameter of proton 1 x 10-15

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 3 Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 4

Mass:
Time:
Object Mass (kg)
Interval Time (s) Milky Way Galaxy 4 x 1041
Age of universe 5 x 1017 Sun 2 x 1030
Age of Grand Canyon 3 x 1014 Earth 6 x 1024
32 years 1 x 109 Boeing 747 4 x 105
One year 3.2 x 107 Car 1 x 103
One hour 3.6 x 103 Student 7 x 101
Light travel from Earth to Moon 1.3 x 100 Dust particle 1 x 10-9
One cycle of guitar A string 2 x 10-3 Top quark 3 x 10-25
One cycle of FM radio wave 6 x 10-8 Proton 2 x 10-27
Lifetime of neutral pi meson 1 x 10-16 Electron 9 x 10-31
Lifetime of top quark 4 x 10-25 Neutrino 1 x 10-38

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Units... Converting between different systems of units

l SI (Système International) Units: l Useful Conversion factors:

ç mks: L = meters (m), M = kilograms (kg), T = seconds (s) ç 1 inch = 2.54 cm
ç cgs: L = centimeters (cm), M = grams (gm), T = seconds (s) ç 1m = 3.28 ft
ç 1 mile = 5280 ft
l British Units: ç 1 mile = 1.61 km
ç Inches, feet, miles, pounds, slugs...
l Example: convert miles per hour to meters per second:
l We will use mostly SI units, but you may run across some
problems using British units. You should know how to convert mi mi ft 1 m 1 hr m
back & forth. 1 =1 ´ 5280 ´ ´ = 0.447
hr hr mi 3.28 ft 3600 s s

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 7 Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 8

Dimensional Analysis Lecture 1, Act 1

l This is a very important tool to check your work Dimensional Analysis
ç It’s also very easy!

l Example: l The period P of a swinging pendulum depends only on

Doing a problem you get the answer distance the length of the pendulum d and the acceleration of
gravity g.
d = vt 2 (velocity x time2)
ç Which of the following formulas for P could be
correct ?
Units on left side = L
Units on right side = L / T x T2 = L x T d d
(a) P = 2p (dg)2 (b) P = 2p (c) P = 2p
g g
l Left units and right units don’t match, so answer must be
wrong!!
Given: d has units of length (L) and g has units of (L / T 2).

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 9 Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 10

Lecture 1, Act 1 Lecture 1, Act 1

Solution Solution
l Realize that the left hand side P has units of time (T
T) l Try the second equation
l Try the first equation

2 4 L
(a) æ L ö L
çL × 2 ÷ = 4 ¹ T (b) =T2 ¹T
è
Not Right !! L Not Right !!
T ø T 2
T

2 d d 2 d d
(a) P = 2 p (dg ) (b) P = 2p (c) P = 2p (a) P = 2 p (dg ) (b) P = 2p (c) P = 2p
g g g g

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Lecture 1, Act 1 Motion in 1 dimension

Solution
l In 1-D, we usually write position as x(t1 ).
l Try the third equation
l Since it’s in 1-D, all we need to indicate direction is + or -.

è Displacement in a time Dt = t2 - t1 is
Dx = x(t2) - x(t1) = x2 - x1
L
(c) = T 2 =T This has the correct units!!
L
2 This must be the answer!! x
T
x some particle’s trajectory
Dx 2 in 1-D
x
2 d d 1
(a) P = 2 p (dg ) (b) P = 2p (c) P = 2p
g g t1 t2 t
Dt
Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 13 Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 14

1-D kinematics 1-D kinematics...

l Velocity v is the “rate of change of position” l Consider limit t1 t2

l Average velocity vav in the time D t = t2 - t1 is: l Instantaneous velocity v is defined as:

dx ( t )
x ( t2 ) - x( t1 ) D x v( t ) =
v av º = dt
t 2 - t1 Dt

x so v(t2) = slope of line tangent to path at t2.

x
trajectory x
x
Dx 2
Dx 2
Vav = slope of line connecting x1 and x2. x
x 1
1

t1 t2 t
t1 t2 t
Dt
Dt

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 15 Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 16

1-D kinematics... Recap

l If the position x is known as a function of time, then we can
l Acceleration a is the “rate of change of velocity” find both velocity v and acceleration a as a function of time!
l Average acceleration aav in the time Dt = t2 - t1 is:

x
v ( t 2 ) - v ( t1 ) D v
aav º =
t 2 - t1 Dt x = x(t )

l And instantaneous acceleration a is defined as: dx t

v = v
dt
dv d 2x
dv ( t ) d 2 x( t ) a = =
a( t ) = = dt dt 2
dt dt 2 a
t

dx ( t ) t
using v ( t ) =
dt

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More 1-
1-D kinematics 1-D Motion with constant acceleration
1
l High-school calculus: òt n dt = t n +1 + const
l We saw that v = dx / dt n +1
dv
l In “calculus” language we would write dx = v dt, which we l Also recall that a =
dt
can integrate to obtain:
t2 l Since a is constant, we can integrate this using the above
x ( t 2 ) - x ( t1 ) = òv (t )dt rule to find:
t1 v = òa dt = a òdt = at + v 0
l Graphically, this is adding up lots of small rectangles:
dx
l Similarly, since v = we can integrate again to
get: dt
v(t) + +...+
= displacement 1
x = òv dt = ò( at + v 0 )dt = at 2 + v 0 t + x0
2
t

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 19 Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 20

Recap
Lecture 1, Act 2
l So for constant acceleration we find: Plane
w/ lights Motion in One Dimension

x l When throwing a ball straight up, which of the following is

true about its velocity v and its acceleration a at the
highest point in its path?
1 2
x = x0 + v 0t + at
2 v t
v = v 0 + at
(a) Both v = 0 and a = 0.
0.
a = const
t
a (b) v ¹ 0, but a = 0.
0. y

(c) v = 0,
0, but a ¹ 0.
t

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 21 Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 22

Lecture 1, Act 2
Useful Formula
Solution
1
l Going up the ball has positive velocity, while coming down v = v 0 + at x = x0 + v 0 t + at 2
it has negative velocity. At the top the velocity is 2
momentarily zero.
x l Solving for t: l Plugging in for t:
l Since the velocity is 2
v - v0 æv - v 0 ö 1 æv - v 0 ö
t= x = x0 + v 0 ç ÷+ aç ÷
continually changing there must è a ø 2 è a ø
t a
be some acceleration. v
ç In fact the acceleration is caused
t
(g = 9.81 m/s2).
by gravity (g
v 2 - v 0 2 = 2a( x - x0 )
ç (more on gravity in a few lectures) a

l The answer is (c) v = 0,

0, but a ¹ 0. t

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Alternate (Calculus-
(Calculus-based) Derivation Recap:
dv dv dx l For constant acceleration: Washers
a= = × (chain rule)
dt dx dt 1
x = x0 + v 0t + at 2
dv 2
a = v× Þ a ×dx = v ×dv v = v 0 + at
dx
x x v a = const

òa dx = a òdx =
x0 x0
òv ×dv
v0
(a = constant)
l From which we know:

1
Þ a( x - x0 ) = (v 2 - v20 ) v 2 - v 02 = 2a(x - x 0 )
2
1
v av = (v 0 + v)
2
v 2 - v 0 2 = 2a( x - x0 )

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 25 Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 26

Problem 1 Problem 1...

l A car is traveling with an initial velocity v0. At t = 0, the l A car is traveling with an initial velocity v0. At t = 0, the
driver puts on the brakes, which slows the car at a rate of driver puts on the brakes, which slows the car at a rate of
ab ab. At what time tf does the car stop, and how much farther
xf does it travel?

vo v0
ab ab
x = 0, t = 0 x = 0, t = 0
v=0

x = xf , t = t f

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 27 Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 28

Problem 1... Problem 1...

l Above, we derived: v = v0 + at l To find stopping distance we use:

l Realize that a = -ab v 2 - v 02 = 2a(x - x 0 )

l Also realizing that v = 0 at t = tf : l In this case v = vf = 0, x0 = 0 and x = xf

find 0 = v0 - ab tf or

tf = v0 /ab - v 0 2 = 2( -ab )x f

2
v0
xf =
2ab

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Problem 1... Tips:

2
v0 1 v0 l Read !
l So we found that tf = , xf =
ab 2 ab ç Before you start work on a problem, read the problem
statement thoroughly. Make sure you understand what
information is given, what is asked for, and the meaning
l Suppose that vo = 65 mi/hr = 29 m/s of all the terms used in stating the problem.
l Suppose also that ab = g = 9.81 m/s2
l Watch your units !
ç Always check the units of your answer, and carry the
ç Find that tf = 3 s and xf = 43 m units along with your numbers during the calculation.

l Understand the limits !

ç Many equations we use are special cases of more
general laws. Understanding how they are derived will
help you recognize their limitations (for example,
constant acceleration).

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 31 Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 32

Recap of today’s lecture

l Scope of this course
l Measurement and Units
ç Systems of units
ç Converting between systems of units
ç Dimensional Analysis
ç 1-D Kinematics
ç Average & instantaneous velocity
and acceleration
ç Motion with constant acceleration
l Example car problem

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 33