Review topics for Physics 101
Exam 1
Chapter 1.
Measurements – Why are measurements necessary in physics?
Units – What units do physicists use and how do you convert between units?
Scope of Physics – what are the different areas of physics and how are they related?
Chapter 2.
Average and instantaneous speed – what are their definitions and how are they used?
Vectors and scalars – what is the difference?
Velocity – what is velocity and how is it related to speed?
Acceleration – what is it and what is its relationship to velocity? Changing what
produces an acceleration?
Graphing Motion – how are velocity and acceleration related to the graphs of different
quantities?
Uniform Acceleration – how are position, velocity and acceleration all related when the
acceleration is constant?
Chapter 3.
Acceleration due to gravity – how do objects move when subjected to gravity?
Falling objects – how do you describe the motion of a falling object?
Throwing a ball upward – what are the similarity and differences between a dropped
object and a thrown object?
Projectile Motion – independence of horizontal motion and vertical motion. How the two
motions work together.
Chapter 4.
Newton’s First Law – understand the law of inertia. This is a special case of the second
law (for the case of no forces.)
Newton’s Second Law – How forces are related to changes in motion.
Mass and Weight – What are the differences between the two. How are they
mathematically related?
Newton’s Third Law – forces come in pairs. They always act on different objects. They
are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. The horse and cart ‘paradox.’
Chapter 5.
Uniform Circular Motion – be able to describe the motion and know when is an
appropriate time to use it.
Centripetal acceleration – what direction is it and what is its magnitude? When does it
occur?
Centripetal forces – be able to apply Newton’s second law to centripetal accelerations.
Newton’s law of universal gravitation – what things affect ths size of the force of gravity
and what direction does it point?
Chapter 6.
Work – what is the definition of work? When does it show up? What sign is it?
Power – how is power different from work? When is it important?
Kinetic Energy – how is Kinetic Energy related to the work done on an object? What is
its mathematical form? This is called the work-kinetic energy theorem.
Potential Energy – What is Potential Energy? How is it related to work done by a force?
What different types of potential energy are there?
Conservation of Energy – When is mechanical energy conserved? How do you use
conservation of energy to understand what is happening in a system?
Friction – When friction is present, how does that change conservation of energy?
Oscillations – What factors affect the frequency of oscillation of a spring-mass system?
What factors affect the frequency of oscillation of a pendulum? How does
conservation of energy relate to oscillating systems?