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Physics 111: Lecture 1 "Mechanics For Physicists and Engineers"
Physics 111: Lecture 1 "Mechanics For Physicists and Engineers"
Classical Mechanics:
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).
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 must 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 111: Lecture 1, Pg 14
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.
1 2
v v 0 at x x0 v 0 t at
2
2
v 2 v 0 2 a( x x0 )
a dx a dx v dv
x0 x0 v0
(a = constant)
1 2 2
a ( x - x0 ) ( v v 0 )
2
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
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