Physics 111: Lecture 1

“Mechanics for Physicists and Engineers”

Agenda for Today
 Advice
 Scope of this course
 Measurement and Units
Fundamental units
Systems of units
Converting between systems of units
Dimensional Analysis
 1-D Kinematics (review)
Average & instantaneous velocity and acceleration
Motion with constant acceleration

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 1

 Course Info & Advice

 See info on the World Wide Web (heavily used in Physics 111)
Go to http://www.physics.uiuc.edu and follow “courses” link
to the Physics 111 homepage

 Course has several components:

Lecture: (me talking, demos and Active learning)
Discussion sections (group problem solving)
Homework sets, Web based
Labs: (group exploration of physical phenomena)
If you miss a lab or discussion you should always try to make
it up as soon as possible in another section!!

 The first few weeks of the course should be review, hence the
pace is fast. It is important for you to keep up!

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 2

 Lecture Organization
 Three main components:
Lecturer discusses class material
» Follows lecture notes very closely

Lecturer does as many demos as possible

» If you see it, you gotta believe it!

» Look for the symbol

Students work in groups on conceptual

“Active Learning” problems
» Usually three per lecture

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 3

 Scope of Physics 111

 Classical Mechanics:

Mechanics: How and why things work

Classical:
» Not too fast (v << c)
» Not too small (d >> atom)

 Most everyday situations can be described in these terms.

Path of baseball
Orbit of planets
etc...

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 4

 Units

 How we measure things!

 All things in classical mechanics can be expressed in terms
of the fundamental units:

Length L
Mass M
Time T

 For example:
Speed has units of L / T (i.e. miles per hour).
Force has units of ML / T2 etc... (as you will learn).

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 5

 Length:
Distance Length (m)
Radius of visible universe 1 x 1026
To Andromeda Galaxy 2 x 1022
To nearest star 4 x 1016
Earth to Sun 1.5 x 1011
Radius of Earth 6.4 x 106
Sears Tower 4.5 x 102
Football field 1.0 x 102
Tall person 2 x 100
Thickness of paper 1 x 10-4
Wavelength of blue light 4 x 10-7
Diameter of hydrogen atom 1 x 10-10
Diameter of proton 1 x 10-15

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 6

 Time:

Interval Time (s)

Age of universe 5 x 1017
Age of Grand Canyon 3 x 1014
32 years 1 x 109
One year 3.2 x 107
One hour 3.6 x 103
Light travel from Earth to Moon 1.3 x 100
One cycle of guitar A string 2 x 10-3
One cycle of FM radio wave 6 x 10-8
Lifetime of neutral pi meson 1 x 10-16
Lifetime of top quark 4 x 10-25

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 7

 Mass:

Object Mass (kg)

Milky Way Galaxy 4 x 1041
Sun 2 x 1030
Earth 6 x 1024
Boeing 747 4 x 105
Car 1 x 103
Student 7 x 101
Dust particle 1 x 10-9
Top quark 3 x 10-25
Proton 2 x 10-27
Electron 9 x 10-31
Neutrino 1 x 10-38

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 8

 Units...

 SI (Système International) Units:

mks: L = meters (m), M = kilograms (kg), T = seconds (s)
cgs: L = centimeters (cm), M = grams (gm), T = seconds (s)

 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.

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 9

Converting between different systems of units

 Useful Conversion factors:

1 inch = 2.54 cm
1 m = 3.28 ft
1 mile = 5280 ft
1 mile = 1.61 km

 Example: convert miles per hour to meters per second:

mi mi ft 1 m 1 hr m
1 1  5280    0.447
hr hr mi 3.28 ft 3600 s s

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 10

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

 Example:
Doing a problem you get the answer distance
d = vt 2 (velocity x time2)

Units on left side = L

Units on right side = L / T x T2 = L x T

 Left units and right units don’t match, so answer must be

wrong!!

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 11

 Lecture 1, Act 1
Dimensional Analysis

 The period P of a swinging pendulum depends only on

the length of the pendulum d and the acceleration of
gravity g.
Which of the following formulas for P could be
correct ?

d d
(a) P = 2 (dg)2 (b) P  2 (c) P  2
g g

Given: d has units of length (L) and g has units of (L / T 2).

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 12

 Lecture 1, Act 1
Solution
 Realize that the left hand side P has units of time (T )
 Try the first equation

2 4

(a)  L  L  L
  4 T Not Right !!
 T2  T

d d
(a) P  2 dg 
2
(b) P  2 (c) P  2
g g

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 13

 Lecture 1, Act 1
Solution
 Try the second equation

L
(b)  T2  T
L Not Right !!
T2

d d
(a) P  2 dg 
2
(b) P  2 (c) P  2
g g

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 14

 Lecture 1, Act 1
Solution
 Try the third equation

L
(c)  T2 T This has the correct units!!
L
T2 This must be the answer!!

d d
(a) P  2 dg 
2
(b) P  2 (c) P  2
g g

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 15

 Motion in 1 dimension
 In 1-D, we usually write position as x(t1 ).

 Since it’s in 1-D, all we need to indicate direction is + or .

 Displacement in a time t = t2 - t1 is
x = x(t2) - x(t1) = x2 - x1

x
x some particle’s trajectory
x 2 in 1-D
x
1

t1 t2 t
t
Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 16
 1-D kinematics

 Velocity v is the “rate of change of position”

 Average velocity vav in the time t = t2 - t1 is:

x( t 2 )  x( t1 ) x
v av  
t 2  t1 t

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

t1 t2 t
t

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 17

 1-D kinematics...

 Consider limit t1 t2
 Instantaneous velocity v is defined as:

dx( t )
v( t ) 
dt

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

x
x 2

x
1

t1 t2 t
t

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 18

 1-D kinematics...

 Acceleration a is the “rate of change of velocity”

 Average acceleration aav in the time t = t2 - t1 is:

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

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 19

 Recap
 If the position x is known as a function of time, then we can
find both velocity v and acceleration a as a function of time!

x
x  x( t )
dx
v  v
t
dt
dv d 2x
a  
dt dt 2
t
a

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 20

 More 1-D kinematics

 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

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 21

 1-D Motion with constant acceleration
1
 High-school calculus:  t n dt  t n 1  const
n 1
dv
 Also recall that a 
dt
 Since a is constant, we can integrate this using the above
rule to find:
v   a dt  a  dt  at  v 0

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

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 22

 Recap
 So for constant acceleration we find: Plane
w/ lights

1
x  x0  v 0 t  at 2
2 t
v
v  v 0  at
a  const
t
a

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 23

 Lecture 1, Act 2
Motion in One Dimension
 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?

(a) Both v = 0 and a = 0.

(b) v  0, but a = 0. y

(c) v = 0, but a  0.

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 24

 Lecture 1, Act 2
Solution
 Going up the ball has positive velocity, while coming down
it has negative velocity. At the top the velocity is
momentarily zero.
x
 Since the velocity is
continually changing there must
t
be some acceleration. v
In fact the acceleration is caused
t
by gravity (g = 9.81 m/s2).
(more on gravity in a few lectures) a

 The answer is (c) v = 0, but a  0. t

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 25

 Derivation:

1
v  v 0  at x  x0  v 0 t  at 2
2

 Solving for t:  Plugging in for t:

 v  v0  1  v  v0 
2
v  v0 x  x0  v 0    a 
t  a  2  a 
a

v 2  v 0  2a( x  x0 )
2

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 26

 Average Velocity

 Remember that v  v 0  at

v
vav
v0
t
t

v av 
1
v0  v 
2

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 27

 Recap:
 For constant acceleration: Washers

1
x  x0  v 0 t  at 2
2
v  v 0  at
a  const

 From which we know:

v 2  v 02  2a(x  x0 )
1
v av  (v 0  v)
2

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 28

 Problem 1

 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
ab

vo
ab
x = 0, t = 0

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 29

 Problem 1...

 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
ab. At what time tf does the car stop, and how much farther
xf does it travel?

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

x = xf , t = tf

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 30

 Problem 1...

 Above, we derived: v = v0 + at

 Realize that a = -ab

 Also realizing that v = 0 at t = tf :

find 0 = v0 - ab tf or

tf = v0 /ab

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 31

 Problem 1...

 To find stopping distance we use:

v 2  v 02  2a(x  x0 )

 In this case v = vf = 0, x0 = 0 and x = xf

 v 0  2( ab )xf
2

2
v
xf  0
2 ab

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 32

 Problem 1...
2
v0 1 v0
 So we found that tf  , xf 
ab 2 ab

 Suppose that vo = 65 mi/hr = 29 m/s

 Suppose also that ab = g = 9.81 m/s2

 Find that tf = 3 s and xf = 43 m

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 33

 Tips:
 Read !
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
of all the terms used in stating the problem.

 Watch your units !

Always check the units of your answer, and carry the
units along with your numbers during the calculation.

 Understand the limits !

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 34

 Recap of today’s lecture
 Scope of this course
 Measurement and Units (Chapter 1)
Systems of units (Text: 1-1)
Converting between systems of units (Text: 1-2)
Dimensional Analysis (Text: 1-3)
 1-D Kinematics (Chapter 2)
Average & instantaneous velocity
and acceleration (Text: 2-1, 2-2)
Motion with constant acceleration (Text: 2-3)
 Example car problem (Ex. 2-7)

 Look at Text problems Chapter 2: # 6, 12, 56, 119

Physics 111: Lecture 1, Pg 35