COURSE EXPECTATIONS
COURSE CODE: PHYS-1006 COURSE NAME: GENERAL PHYSICS I: MECHANICS
F ACULTY M EMBER : W ENFENG C HEN
 2012-13  2013-14
C ALENDAR C OURSE D ESCRIPTION :
This course, specializing to students in Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Science and Technology, Bachelor of
General and Liberal Science programs, introduces fundamental concepts and physical laws in classical mechanics and their applications in modern science and technology. Topics include: one- and two-dimensional motions; Newton’s three laws of motion and application; work, power, kinetic energy, potential energy, workenergy theorem and law of mechanical energy conservation; impulse, momentum, impulse-momentum theorem and momentum conservation, collision; notions in rotational motion including angular position, angular speed, and angular acceleration, moment of inertial, toque, work and energy in rotational mention, angular momentum and conservation law of angular momentum; Newton’s law of universal gravitation, and Kepler’s three laws; planetary and satellite motion.
EXPECTATIONS:
B
Y THE END OF THE COURSE STUDENTS SHOULD BE ABLE TO
:
1.
DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING OF THE KINEMATICAL CONCEPTS IN ONE AND TWO -
DIMENSIONAL MOTIONS BY CALCULATING POSITION , DISPLACEMENT , VELOCITY ,
ACCELERATION , DISTANCE AND SPEED OF A MOVING OBJECT AT A CERTAIN TIME AND
SKETCH POSITION TIME AND VELOCITY TIME GRAPHS , AND SKILLFULLY USING KINEMATIC
EQUATIONS TO SOLVE PHYSICAL PROBLEMS IN A NUMBER OF ANALYSIS MODELS SUCH AS
MOTION UNDER CONSTANT ACCELERATION , PROJECTILE MOTION , UNIFORM CIRCULAR
MOTION
2.
DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PHYSICAL CONTENTS AND SIGNIFICANCE OF
N EWTON ’ S THREE LAWS AND THEIR APPLICATIONS BY USING THE THREE LAWS TO ANALYZE
HOW A FORCE CAUSES THE MOTION CHANGE OF AN OBJECT , AND FURTHER ,
CONCEPTUALIZE , CATEGORIZE , AND MODEL DYNAMICAL PROBLEMS .
S KILLFULLY APPLY
N EWTON ’ S SECOND LAW TO SOME ANALYSIS MODELS SUCH AS A PARTICLE UNDER
CONSTANT FORCE , A PARTICLE IN UNIFORM AND NON UNIFORM CIRCULAR MOTION , AND
THE MOTION CAUSED BY RESISTIVE FORCE
3.
DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONCEPTS AND PHYSICAL MEANINGS OF WORK ,
POWER , KINETIC ENERGY AND POTENTIAL ENERGY OF A SYSTEM BY USING THEIR
DEFINITIONS TO CALCULATE THE WORK AND POWER DONE BY A FORCE , KINETIC ENERGY
OF A MOVING OBJECT AND POTENTIAL ENERGY ASSOCIATED TO A CONSERVATIVE FORCE .
S KILLFULLY APPLY THE WORK KINETIC THEOREM , THE CONSERVATION LAW OF
MECHANICAL ENERGY IN AN ISOLATED SYSTEM AND THE GENERALIZED CONSERVATION
LAW ENERGY FOR A NON ISOLATED SYSTEM TO SOLVE SOME TYPICAL DYNAMICAL PROBLEMS
INVOLVING GRAVITATIONAL FORCE , SPRING BLOCK SYSTEM AND FRICTION FORCE
4.
DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONCEPTS AND PHYSICAL MEANINGS OF IMPULSE
AND LINEAR MOMENTUM BY DERIVING THEIR DEFINITIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FROM
N EWTON ’ S SECOND LAW AND THIRD LAW , AND USING THE DEFINITIONS TO EVALUATE
LINEAR MOMENTUM OF A MOVING OBJECT AND IMPULSE PRODUCED BY A FORCE ACTING ON

AN OBJECT DURING A SHORT TIME INTERVAL .
F URTHER , SKILLFULLY USE THE IMPULSE -
MOMENTUM THEOREM FOR A NON ISOLATED SYSTEM TO CONCEPTUALIZE , ANALYZE AND
SOLVE DYNAMICAL PROBLEMS INVOLVING AN SHORT LIVING EXTERNAL FORCE ACTING ON
A SYSTEM , AND APPLY THE LAW OF LINEAR MOMENTUM CONSERVATION TOGETHER WITH
THE CONSERVATION OF KINETIC ENERGY CONSERVATION TO THE PROBLEMS OF ELASTIC
AND INELASTIC COLLISIONS IN ONE DIMENSION AND TWO DIMENSIONS
5.
DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONCEPT OF CENTER OF MASS AND ITS
APPLICATION BY USING THE DEFINITION TO FIND THE LOCATION OF CENTER OF MASS OF A
SYSTEM OF PARTICLES AND AN OBJECT WITH CONTINUOUS MASS DISTRIBUTION AND
REGULAR GEOMETRICAL SHAPE , AND USING THE IDEA OF CENTER OF MASS REPRESENTING
AN ENTIRE PHYSICAL SYSTEM TO DEAL WITH DYNAMICS OF A SYSTEM OF PARTICLES
6.
DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONCEPTS AND PHYSICAL IMPLICATIONS OF
PHYSICAL QUANTITIES TO DESCRIBE THE ROTATION OF A RIGID BODY ABOUT A FIXED AXIS
BY CALCULATING ANGULAR POSITION , ANGULAR VELOCITY AND ANGULAR ACCELERATION
USING DEFINITIONS OR THE KINEMATIC EQUATIONS IN THE CASE RIGID BODY UNDERGOES
A ROTATION WITH CONSTANT ANGULAR ACCELERATION ; EVALUATING THE MOMENT OF
INERTIAL OF A RIGID BODY WITH SYMMETRIC GEOMETRIC SHAPE ABOUT A FIXED AXIS AND
THE ROTATIONAL KINETIC ENERGY ; USE VECTOR PRODUCT TO CALCULATE TOQUE AND
ANGULAR MOMENTUM ACCORDING TO THEIR DEFINITIONS .
S KILLFULLY USE THE
ROTATIONAL ANALOGUE OF N EWTON ’ S SECOND LAW TO DESCRIBE A RIGID BODY UNDER
NET TORQUE AND THE CONSERVATION LAW OF ANGULAR MOMENTUM IN AN ISOLATED
ROTATIONAL SYSTEM , COMBINED WITH THE CONSERVATION LAW OF MECHANICAL ENERGY
TO FIND ANGULAR ACCELERATION AND ANGULAR VELOCITY
7.
DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING OF THE TWO CONDITIONS FOR A RIGID OBJECT IN
EQUILIBRIUM BY UTILIZING THEM TO CHECK WHETHER A RIGID BODY IS IN EQUILIBRIUM
OR TO FIND THE REQUIRED FORCES TO KEEP A RIGID BODY IN EQUILIBRIUM
8.
DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING OF THE PHYSICAL CONTENT AND APPLICATIONS OF
N EWTON ’ S UNIVERSAL GRAVITATIONAL LAW BY USING IT TO FIND THE GRAVITATIONAL
FORCE BETWEEN ANY TWO MASSIVE OBJECTS AND DERIVE
CELESTIAL MOTION
K EPLER ’ S THREE LAWS FOR
, AND BY APPLYING IT TO THE CALCULATION OF GRAVITATIONAL FIELD
CREATED BY THE E ARTH AND GRAVITATIONAL ENERGY OF THE E ARTH OBJECT SYSTEM ,
AND A DISCUSSION ON THE MOTION OF AN OBJECT IN GRAVITATIONAL FIELD
9.
DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING OF PHYSICS EXPERIMENTS BY DEVELOPING SKILL AND
ABILITY IN PHYSICAL EXPERIMENT DESIGN AND SET UP , EXPERIMENTAL EQUIPMENT AND
DEVICE OPERATION , EXPERIMENT DATA COLLECTING AND PROCESSING , AND
EXPERIMENTAL TESTING OF PHYSICAL LAWS IN CLASSICAL MECHANICS
OUTCOMES:
S UCCESSFUL GRADUATES OF THIS COURSE WILL DEMONSTRATE
1.
A DEVELOPED KNOWLEDGE AND CRITICAL UNDERSTANDING OF KEY CONCEPTS ,
METHODOLOGIES , THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIMENTAL SKILLS IN
CLASSICAL MECHANICS , AND A CLEAR COMPREHENSION ON THE APPLICATIONS OF
CLASSICAL MECHANICS IN OTHER BRANCHES OF SCIENCE AND MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING
2.
A DEVELOPED ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE IN CLASSICAL MECHANICS TO REAL -
LIFE PROBLEMS AND TO CREATE MATHEMATICAL MODELS FOR SUCH PROBLEMS
3.
AN ABILITY OF UNDERSTANDING PHYSICAL PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING MECHANICAL
PHENOMENA , EQUIPMENTS AND APPARATUS
4.
AN APPRECIATION OF HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF CLASSICAL MECHANICS AND
ITS PRESENT KNOWLEDGE STRUCTURE

5.
A DEVELOPED ABILITY TO SUCCEED IN FUTURE STUDY AND CAREERS IN SCIENCE
AND ENGINEERING RELATED TO CLASSICAL MECHANICS
6.
AN ABILITY OF APPLYING PHYSICAL CONCEPTS , PRINCIPLES AND LAWS OF CLASSICAL
MECHANICS TO PROBLEMS IN OTHER BRANCHES OF NATURAL SCIENCE AND
ENGINEERING
7.
A DEVELOPED ABILITY OF APPLYING ADVANCED MATHEMATICS SUCH AS CALCULUS ,
VECTOR ALGEBRA , ANALYTIC GEOMETRY , ELEMENTARY LINEAR ALGEBRA AND
ELEMENTARY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATION TO THE PROBLEMS OF CLASSICAL
MECHANICS