Reviewer for General Physics 1

Lesson 1: ROTATIONAL EQUILIBRIUM AND ROTATIONAL DYNAMICS

● Torque it is the ability of a force to rotate an object around some axis
● Translational motion is the motion by which a body shifts from one point in space to another.
● Angular acceleration describes the relationships among angular velocity, angle of rotation, and
time.
● Static Equilibrium is when an object is at rest and is in a state of equilibrium.

MOMENT OF INERTIA
-Moment of inertia, in physics, quantitative measure of the rotational inertia of a body—i.e., the
opposition that the body exhibits to having its speed of rotation about an axis altered by the application of
a torque (turning force).
-Moment of inertia of the body depends upon the mass of the body, axis of rotation of the body

and shape and size of the body. *m = kg | r = m | I = kg m 2 formula:

TORQUE
-a measure of the force that can cause an object to rotate about an axis.
-is a vector quantity. The direction of the torque vector depends on the direction of the force on
the axis.
-direction of a torque (counterclockwise or clockwise) is determined by the direction of rotation the
torque will cause an object to adopt from rest.
-the rotational equivalence of force.
-net torque means calculating the resulting torque from n different contributing is in rotational
equilibrium, meaning it is neither accelerating nor decelerating.
-torque can be either static or dynamic.
-a static torque is one which does not produce an angular acceleration. Someone pushing on a
closed door is applying a static torque to the door because the door is not rotating about its hinges,
despite the force applied. Someone pedalling a bicycle at constant speed is also applying a static torque
because they are not accelerating.
-the drive shaft in a racing car accelerating from the start line is carrying a dynamic torque
because it must be producing an angular acceleration of the wheels given that the car is accelerating
along the track.

ANGULAR ACCELERATION

1
 -It is the rate of change of angular velocity with a time of an object in motion. Acceleration is the
change in velocity of a moving object with respect to time. If the object moves on a circular direction than
its velocity is called angular velocity.
-The larger I, the harder it is for an object to acquire angular acceleration. We derive this
expression in our article on rotational inertia.

EQUILIBRIUM
-When all the forces that act upon an object are balanced, then the object is said to be in a state
of equilibrium. The forces are considered to be balanced if the rightward forces are balanced by the
leftward forces and the upward forces are balanced by the downward forces.

STATIC EQUILIBRIUM
-If an object is at rest and is in a state of equilibrium, then we would say that the object is at "static
equilibrium." "Static" means stationary or at rest.

ROTATIONAL EQUILIBIUM
-The concept of rotational equilibrium is an equivalent to Newton’s 1st law for a rotational system.
An object which is not rotating remains not rotating unless acted on by an external torque.

-In this equation, n is the total number of torques being applied to the object. There is also
a special case of this called rotational equilibrium. This is where the addition of all the torques
acting on an object equals zero.

Lesson 2: GRAVITY
● Law of universal gravitation- stated as that every particle attracts every other particle in the
universe with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely
proportional to the square of the distance between their centers.
● Gravitational field- A field is something that has a magnitude and a direction at every point in
space.
● Orbits- is a regular, repeating path that one object in space takes around another one.
● Law of Planetary Motion- describe the orbits of planets around the Sun.

GRAVITY
-It is the force by which a planet or other body draws objects toward its center.
-It is an attraction that exists between all objects, everywhere in the universe.
-Sir Isaac Newton (1642 -1727) discovered that a force is required to change the speed or
direction of movement of an object. He also realized that the force called "gravity" must make an apple fall
from a tree, or humans and animals.

*formula:
NEWTON’S LAW OF UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION
-Newton's law of universal gravitation extends gravity beyond earth.
-Newton's place in the Gravity Hall of Fame is not due to his discovery of gravity, but rather due to
his discovery that gravitation is universal.

2
 -This force of gravitational attraction is directly dependent upon the masses of both objects and
inversely proportional to the square of the distance that separates their centers. formula:

-Since the gravitational force is directly proportional to the mass of both interacting objects, more
massive objects will attract each other with a greater gravitational force. So as the mass of either object
increases, the force of gravitational attraction between them also increases.
-If the mass of one of the objects is doubled, then the force of gravity between them is doubled. If
the mass of one of the objects is tripled, then the force of gravity between them is tripled.
-Since gravitational force is inversely proportional to the square of the separation distance
between the two interacting objects, more separation distance will result in weaker gravitational forces. So
as two objects are separated from each other, the force of gravitational attraction between them also
decreases.

GRAVITATIONAL FIELD
-the gravitational force per unit mass that would be exerted on a small mass at that point. It is a
vector field, and points in the direction of the force that the mass would feel. formula:

-The gravitational field has its physical significance in the force between bodies. It is common to
consider of distant satellites, rockets and the like.
-The pattern of gravitational field of the Earth can be represented by arrows and known as field
lines.
-Field strength, like force between bodies follows the inverse-square law.

GRAVITATIONAL POTENTIAL ENERGY

-It is the energy stored in an object as the result of its vertical position or height.
-More massive objects have greater gravitational potential energy.

formula:
ORBITS
-It is a regular, repeating path that one object in space takes around another one. An object in an
orbit is called a satellite.
-A satellite can be natural, like Earth or the moon. Many planets have moons that orbit them. A
satellite can also be man-made, like the International Space Station.

3
 -Planets, comets, asteroids and other objects in the solar system orbit the sun.
-Orbits come in different shapes. All orbits are elliptical, which means they are an ellipse, similar
to an oval.
-The closest point a satellite comes to Earth is called its perigee. The farthest point is the apogee.
For planets, the point in their orbit closest to the sun is perihelion. The farthest point is called aphelion.
-Earth reaches its aphelion during summer in the Northern Hemisphere. The time it takes a
satellite to make one full orbit is called its period.
-Without gravity, an Earth-orbiting satellite would go off into space along a straight line. With
gravity, it is pulled back toward Earth.
-Orbital velocity is the speed needed to stay in orbit. At an altitude of 150 miles (242 kilometers)
above Earth, orbital velocity is about 17,000 miles per hour.

KEPLER’S LAW OF PLANETARY MOTION

-in astronomy and classical physics, laws describing the motions of the planets in the solar
system.
-They were derived by the German astronomer Johannes Kepler, whose analysis of the
observations of the 16th-century Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe enabled him to announce his first two
laws in the year 1609 and a third law nearly a decade later, in 1618.

JOHANNES KEPLER (1571-1632)

● PLANETS MOVE IN ELLIPTICAL ORBITS WITH THE SUN AS A FOCUS (Kepler’s First Law)
-each planet's orbit about the Sun is an ellipse. The Sun's center is always located at one focus
of the orbital ellipse. The Sun is at one focus.
● A PLANET COVERS THE SAME AREA OF SPACE IN THE SAME AMOUNT OF TIME NO
MATTER WHERE IT IS IN ITS ORBIT (Kepler’s Second Law)
-the imaginary line joining a planet and the sons sweeps equal areas of space during equal time
intervals as the planet orbits. Basically, that planets do not move with constantspeed along their
orbits. Rather, their speed varies so that the line joining the centers of the Sun and the planet
sweeps out equal parts of an area in equal times.
● A PLANET’S ORBITAL PERIOD IS PROPORTIONAL TO THE SIZE OF ITS ORBIT (Kepler’s
Third Law)
-the squares of the orbital periods of the planets are directly proportional to the cubes of the semi
major axes of their orbits. Kepler's Third Law implies that the period for a planet to orbit the Sun
increases rapidly with the radius of its orbit. Thus we find that Mercury, the innermost planet,
takes only 88 days to orbit the Sun. The earth takes 365 days, while Saturn requires 10,759 days
to do the same.

Lesson 3: PERIODIC MOTION

● Period - time needed for an object to repeat one complete cycle of the motion
● Frequency - number of cycles in 1 seconds
● Amplitude - the maximum displacement or distance moved by a point on a vibrating body or wave
● measured from its equilibrium position.
● Periodic Motion - refers to any movement of an object that is repeated in a given length of time. ●
Angular Frequency - refers to the angular displacement per unit time.
● Restoring Force - a force which acts to bring a body to its equilibrium position.
● Oscillation - movement back and forth at a regular speed.
● Simple Harmonic Motion - a motion that occurs when the restoring force on an object is directly
proportional to the object's displacement from equilibrium.

4
 ● Simple Pendulum -acts like a harmonic oscillator with a period dependent only on L and g for
sufficiently small amplitudes.
● Physical Pendulum - depends upon its moment of inertia about its pivot point and the distance
from its center of mass.

PERIODIC MOTION
-a motion repeated in equal intervals of time. Periodic motion is performed, for example, by a
rocking chair, a bouncing ball, a vibrating tuning fork, a swing in motion, the Earth in its orbit around the
Sun, and a water wave.
-We can also define a frequency for the motion measured in hertz, which is the number of

complete cycles each second. formula:

ANGULAR FREQUENCY
-Angular frequency refers to the angular displacement per unit time (e.g., in rotation) or the rate of
change of the phase of a sinusoidal waveform (e.g., in oscillations and waves), or as the rate of change of
the argument of the sine function.

formula:

UNDERSTANDING THE RESTORING FORCE

-If an object is vibrating to the right and left, then it must have a leftward force on it when it is on
the right side, and a rightward force when it is on the left side.
-The restoring force causes an oscillating object to move back toward its stable equilibrium
position, where the net force on it is zero.
-The motion of a mass on a spring can be described as Simple Harmonic Motion (SHM):
oscillatory motion that follows Hooke’s Law. formulas:

SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION

-Simple harmonic motion is a type of periodic motion where the restoring force is directly
proportional to the displacement.
-Any system that obeys simple harmonic motion is known as a simple harmonic oscillator.

formula:

PHYSICAL PENDULUM
-A physical pendulum is the generalized case of the simple pendulum. It consists of any rigid
body that oscillates about a pivot point.

5
 -The period is still independent of the total mass of the rigid body. However, it is not independent
of the mass distribution of the rigid body. A change in shape, size, or mass distribution will change the
moment of inertia and thus, the period.

formula:

Lesson 4: MECHANICAL WAVES AND SOUND

● Mechanical Wave - A wave that is an oscillation of matter, and therefore transfers energy through
a medium.
● Medium - The material through which a wave travels
● Periodic Wave - A wave with a repeating continuous pattern which determines its wavelength and
frequency.
● Sinusoidal or Sine Wave - A continuous wave
● Standing Wave - Combination of two waves moving in opposite directions
● Sound - Are mechanical vibrations that propagate in a host medium
● Doppler Effect - Observed whenever the source of waves is moving relative to an observer.

MECHANICAL WAVES
-a disturbance in matter that carries energy from one place to another. Mechanical waves are
waves which propagate through a material medium (solid, liquid, or gas) at a wave speed which depends
on the elastic and inertial properties of that medium.
● Transverse Waves - A wave that causes the medium to vibrate at right angles to the
direction in which the wave travels.
- particles of the medium vibrate up and down
perpendicular to the
direction of the wave.
- The highest point of the wave above the rest
position is the crest.The crest of a wave is the point on the medium that
exhibits the maximum amount of positive or upward displacement from
the rest position
- The lowest point below the rest position is the
trough. The trough of
a wave is the point on the medium that exhibitsthe maximum amount of negative
ordownward displacement from the rest position.
● Longitudinal Waves - a wave in which the vibration of the medium is parallel to the
direction the wave travels and particles of the medium vibrate back and forth parallel to
the direction of the wave.
- An area where the particles in a medium are spaced close
together is called a compression. (max density)
- An area where the particles in a medium are spread out is called
a rarefaction. (min density)
● Surface - A surface wave is a wave that travels along a surface separating two media.
- In a surface wave, particles of the medium vibrate both up and down and back
and forth, so they end up moving in a circle.

6
PROPERTIES OF MECHANICAL WAVES
-Any motion that repeats at regular time intervals is called periodic motion.
-The time required for one cycle, a complete motion that returns to its starting point, is called the
period.
● FREQUENCY - The number of complete cycles in a given time. Frequency is measured in cycles
per second, or hertz (Hz).
● AMPLITUDE - The amplitude of a wave is the maximum displacement of the medium from its rest
position. The more energy a wave has, the greater is its amplitude.
● WAVELENGTH - Wavelength is the distance between a point on one wave and the same point
on the next cycle of the wave. Increasing the frequency of a wave decreases the wavelength.
● SPEED - If you assume that waves are traveling at a constant speed, then wavelength is
inversely proportional to frequency. If wavelength increases, then frequency decreases. (and vice
versa)
● WAVE SPEED - Formula for the speed of waves: Speed = Wavelength x Frequency

formula:

PERIODIC WAVE
-a wave with a repeating continuous pattern which determines its wavelength and frequency. It is
characterized by the amplitude, a period and a frequency.

SINE OR SINUSOIDAL WAVE

-curve that describes a smooth repetitive oscillation. We can define the sine wave as “The wave
form in which the amplitude is always proportional to sine of its displacement angle at every point of time”.

BEHAVIOR OF WAVES
● REFLECTION - occurs when a wave bounces off a surface that is cannot pass through.
● REFRACTION - the bending of a wave as it enters a new medium at an angle.
● DIFFRACTION - bending of a wave as it moves around an obstacle or passes through a narrow
opening.
● INTERFERENCE - occurs when two or more waves overlap and combine together. Two types of
interference are constructive interference and destructive interference.

STANDING WAVES
-a wave that appears to stay in one place. A standing wave pattern is a vibrational pattern created
within a medium when the vibrational frequency of the source causes reflected waves from one end of the
medium to interfere with incident waves from the source.
-A node is a point on a standing wave that has no displacement from the rest position.
-An antinode is a point where a crest or trough occurs midway between two nodes.

SOUNDS
-are longitudinal waves that travel through a medium. Sound can travel through any medium, but
it cannot travel through a vacuum. There is no sound in outer space. Sound is a variation in pressure. -
Sound is a mechanical wave that results from the back and forth vibration of the particles of the medium
through which the sound wave is moving.

7
BEHAVIORS OF SOUND
● SPEED - In dry air at 20°C, the speed of sound is 342 m/s. Sound waves travel fastest in solids,
slower in liquids, and slowest in gases.
● INTENSITY AND LOUDNESS - Intensity is the rate at which a wave’s energy flows through a
given area. The decidel (dB) is a unit that compares the intensity of different sounds. Loudness is
a physical response to the intensity of sound.
● FREQUENCY AND PITCH - Pitch is the frequency of a sound as you perceive it. High-frequency
sounds have a high pitch, and low-frequency sounds have a low pitch.

DOPPLER EFFECT
-phenomenon which causes change in sound frequency caused by motion of the sound source,
motion of the listener, or both.

Lesson 5: FLUID MECHANICS

● Fluids - are substances that flow. They follow under the influence of external forces.
● Density - is a measure of mass per volume.
● Mass density - is defined as the mass per unit volume of a substance.
● Buoyancy - is a measure of the upward force a fluid exerts on an object that is submerged.
● Specific gravity - is a density of a material divided by the density of water.
● Volume - the amount of space that a substance or object occupies, or that is enclosed within a
container, especially when great.
● Area - the extent of measurement of a surface or piece of land.
● Depth - the distance from the top or surface to the bottom of something.
● Pascal’s principle - states that in a fluid at rest in a closed container, a pressure change in one
part is transmitted without loss to every portion of the fluid and to the walls of the container.
● Archimedes’ principle - means the buoyant force applied by the fluid is equal to the weight of the
displaced fluid.
● Bernoulli’s principle - states that “As fluid flows through a pipe, it won’t gain or lose any energy.”

FLUID
-They follow under the influence of external forces. The molecules of liquid fluids readily move
around due to the weak intermolecular forces that are significant enough to keep them together.
-Liquids are incompressible because their densities are nearly constant. This is in contrast with
gases whose molecules are far apart.
-Density, as you will see, is an important characteristic of substances. Density is the mass per
unit volume of a substance or object. (p=mV)
-Mass density is defined as the mass per unit volume of a substance. It is denoted by the Greek
letter rho. (p=m/V)
-Cold water is denser than hot water.

ARCHIMEDES’ PRINCIPLE
-Buoyancy is a measure of the upward force a fluid exerts on an object that is submerged.
Buoyancy explains why some objects sink and others float. A submerged object floats to the surface if the
buoyant force is greater than its weight.

8
formula:

PASCAL’S PRINCIPLE
-states that, “in a fluid at rest in a closed container, a pressure change in one part is transmitted

without loss to every portion of the fluid and to the walls of the container.” formula:

BERNOULLI’S PRINCIPLE
-Fluids are incompressible, has laminar flow (flows smoothly) and low in viscosity (honey has high
viscosity).

formula:

To get the mass: p=m/V | m=pV | ∆m=p∆V

To get the volume: ∆V=A∆d
To get the distance: V=∆d/∆t

Lesson 6: TEMPERATURE AND THERMODYNAMICS

● Thermodynamics is a branch of physics and engineering that focuses on converting energy, often
in the form of heat and work.
● Kinetic energy (KE) - the type of energy that’s involved with movement.
● Translational kinetic energy - the most common form of energy and is when something moves
from one location to another.
● Rotational kinetic energy - when something spins or rotates.
● Vibrational kinetic energy - when something shakes and vibrates.
● Potential energy (PE) is a type of energy that can come from where something is, even if it’s not
moving.
● Internal energy is the energy associated with the seemingly random movement of molecules.
● Stationary System or Closed System - kinetic and potential energies do not change, where no
fluid is moving in or out.
● Adiabatic Process - when a system works adiabatically, no heat flows into or out of the system.
The gas is expanding quasistatically from an initial volume.
● Isochoric Process - occurs at constant volume. In this process, a substance (solid, liquid, or gas)
is heated.

9
THERMODYNAMICS
-Energy is converted all around you. When you take a bite of an apple, you take in the fruit’s
energy and convert it into something that your body can use.
-Thermodynamics is a branch of physics and engineering that focuses on converting energy,
often in the form of heat and work. Thermodynamics also describes how thermal energy is converted to
and from other forms of energy and also to work.

ZEROTH LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS

-focuses on temperatures and defines thermal equilibrium.
-In general, an equilibrium is where certain properties like pressure, volume, or temperature,
remain the same across the system. So if two or more things are in thermal equilibrium, then they are all
at the same temperature.
-says that “When two objects are individually in thermal equilibrium with a third object, then they
are also in equilibrium with each other.”

THE FIRST LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS

-defines “heat as a form of energy, which means it can neither be created nor destroyed, but we
can convert it.”
-It allows us to better understand a system, how we can get energy from it, or how we can stop
the conversion of energy when we want to.

Two areas of energy that we need to concern ourselves with:

1. The energy contained within the system, and
2. The energy that can move between boundaries.

Let’s start with the energy inside a system. We can break it into three main parts:
● Kinetic energy (KE) - the type of energy that’s involved with movement.
● Potential energy (PE) - a type of energy that can come from where something is, even if it’s not
moving. We can basically think of it as stored energy.
● Internal Energy (U) - the energy associated with the seemingly random movement of molecules.
It’s similar to kinetic or potential energy, but on a much smaller, microscopic scale.

THERMODYNAMIC PROCESS
-a change from initial state to a final state of a system that usually involves a change in its
pressure, volume, or temperature.
● ISOBARIC PROCESS - pressure remains constant (ex. A hot air balloon is an example of the
isobaric process.)
● ISOCHORIC PROCESS - also called a constant-volume process, an isovolumetric process. (ex.
that the burning of the gasoline-air mixture in an internal combustion engine car is instantaneous.
There is an increase in the temperature and the pressure of the gas inside the cylinder while the
volume remains the same.)
● ADIABATIC PROCESS - there is no heat transfer (ex. the compression of a gas within a cylinder
of an engine is assumed to occur so rapidly that on the time scale of the compression process,
little of the system's energy can be transferred out as heat to the surroundings.)
● ISOTHERMAL PROCESS - is a process that occurs under constant temperature but other
parameters of the system can be changed accordingly. (ex. the temperature inside remains
constant. Here, the heat energy is removed and transmitted to the surrounding environment.)
HOW DO WE CALCULATE THERMAL EXPANSION?

10
TEMPERATURE
-a physical quantity that expresses hot and cold. It is the manifestation of thermal energy, present
in all matter, which is the source of the occurrence of heat, a flow of energy, when a body is in contact
with another that is colder or hotter.
-The lowest theoretical temperature is absolute zero, at which no more thermal energy can be
extracted from a body. Experimentally, it can only be approached very closely (100 pK), but not reached,
which is recognized in the third law of thermodynamics.

TEMPERATURE CONVERSION: FARENHEIT & CELCIUS

-On the Fahrenheit scale, water freezes at 32°F and boils at 212°F (at sea level). -
On the Celsius scale, water freezes at 0°C and boils at 100°C (at sea level).

F° TO C°: FAHRENHEIT TO CELSIUS CONVERSION FORMULA:

*subtract 32 (-32) and multiply by 0.5556 (x 0.5556)

C° TO F°: CELSIUS TO FAHRENHEIT CONVERSION FORMULA:

*multiply by 1.8 (x 1.8) and add 32 (+32)

K to C°: KELVIN TO CELCIUS CONVERSION FORMULA: *C=K-

237.15

C° to K: CELCIUS TO KELVIN CONVERSION FORMULA:

*K=C+237.15

11