Introduction
Welcome to Phys 211!
Lecturer
Nick Conklin
Email: nbc109@psu.edu
Phone: 865-6107
Office: 212 Osmond
Hours: M & Th: 2:15-3:15pm
(or by appointment)
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Teaching Assistants
M. Singh (recitation section 1)
 J. Qualls (recitation section 2)
 V. Taveras (lab)
 S.-C. Yoon (lab)


They will give you their office hours and
contact info
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Course Website:

http://class.phys.psu.edu/p211su/
 Syllabus
 Schedule
 Lecture
notes and labs
 Discussion forum
 Grades
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Text

Fundamentals of Physics; Halliday, Resnik
and Walker (5th or 6th edition).
 We

will cover Chapters 1-14 and 16-17
Lab manual
 May
purchase at bookstore or downloaded from
http://class.phys.psu.edu/211labs/labManual.pdf
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Lectures

Twice a week
M
Th 12:45-2:00 (119 Osmond)
Will introduce concepts and ideas
 My notes will be available on the course
website prior to class. I recommend you
print them in advance and “flush them out”
in class
 Still need to read the book!

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Recitation
Meets twice a week (check your schedule
for time and place)
 You must register for a recitation section
 You may only attend the section for which
you are registered
 Will build problem solving skills

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Lab
Wed 12:45-03:35 (312 Osmond)
 Bring a copy of the lab with you (either
from the course website, or a lab manual
purchased from the bookstore)
 It helps to read through the lab before
class
 Physics is an experimental science!

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Homework
We will be using a web based homework
system called WebAssign
 http://webassign.net/psu/student.html
 You will need to purchase access (either
on-line or in the bookstore)
 First assignment due: Wed, June 23 @
5pm

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Exams

2 midterms and a final
 Midterm
1: Tues, July 6
 Midterm 2: Tues, July 27
 Final: University Assigned

These will be graded by hand, so you will
receive partial credit for your work
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Grading

Your grade will be assigned based on the
following components:
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Final Exam
Midterm 1
30 %
20%
Midterm 2
Homework
Lab
20 %
10%
7%
Pre/post lab
Recitation
8%
5%
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Grade Cutoffs
A
AB+
B
B-
<=100%
< 93%
< 90%
< 87%
< 83%
C+
C
D
F
< 80%
< 77%
< 70%
< 60%
These boundaries may be lowered if
necessary, but they will never be raised
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Absences

If you must miss a lab or other activity due
to illness, emergency, or an approved PSU
activity, follow the policy on the course
web site under ‘Excuses’

Contact your TA promptly
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Caution

We will be going very fast. If you have
trouble, get help right away from:
 Myself
 Your
TA
 The course website
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So why should you study physics?

Describes how the world works

Problem solving skills

Physics is phun!
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This week:

Tues: Recitation

Look at problems 1.5, 1.10, 1.11, 1.18, 1.25
Wed: Lab
 Th: Lecture
 Fri: Recitation


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Look at problems 2.5, 2.10, 2.13, 2.23
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Chapter 1
Measurement
International System (SI) Units
Base Units:

Length


Time


Meter (m)
Second (s)
Mass

Kilogram (kg)
 NOTE: pounds are not a unit of mass
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SI Units (cont.)
Derived Units
Velocity: m/s
 Accleration: m/s2
 Force: kg m/s2 [N]
 Momentum: kg m/s
 Energy: kg m2/s2 [J]
 Etc…

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Units (cont.)

Useful way of checking your answer

Common thing to screw up (ask NASA)!

If you have no idea how to solve a
problem, try dimensional analysis!
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Changing Units

2.0 min = ? sec
 60 sec 
  120 sec
2 min  
 1 min 

5.0 km/hr = ? m/s
km  1 hr  1 min  1000 m 
m
  2.8
10



hr  60 min  60 sec  1 km 
s
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Common Unit Conversions
1 m =1.09 yd
 1 in = 2.54 cm
 1 mi = 1.61 km
 1 light-yr = 9.45*1015 m
 1 day = 86,400 s
 1 yr = 3.16*107 s

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Scientific Notation

Should be review, but…
102 = 100
 10-2 = 0.01


So then

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1.234 x 103 = 1234
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Common Prefixes

mega (M) = 106
1 MB = 1,000,000 Bytes

killo (k) = 103
1 km = 1000 m

centi (c) = 10-2
100 cm = 1 m

milli (m) = 10-3
1000 mm = 1 m
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Topics not covered in HRW
(but should be)

Difference between accuracy and
precision:
 Accuracy:

closeness to true value
p = 3.14
 Precision:
number of digits to which answer is
specified


p = 3.14159265358979323846264 …
One does not imply the other!
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Accuracy and Precision (cont)

Can be very precise and very inaccurate
 Hubble

mirror
Manufactured to very high precision, but quite wrong
Before and after the installation of corrective optics
Photo from: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/712418.stm
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Significant Figures

Shouldn’t give a misleadingly precise
answer
 Only
report answer to precision of least
precisely known quantity
Example:
5.000 / 3.0 = 1.7, not 1.6666666666667
 Won’t be enforced in this class, but you’ll
probably encounter it later

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Chapter 2
Straight Line Motion
Kinematics
Webster’s: A branch of dynamics that
deals with aspects of motion apart from
considerations of mass and force
 This chapter only deals with 1-D motion
 Treat every object like a particle

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Position

An object’s location is measured with
respect to an origin
x=0
x1 = 5
Must define a positive and negative
direction
 Position is a function of time: x(t)

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Displacement

A change in position is called a
displacement
x2 = -3
0
x1 = 5
Dx = x(t2) – x(t1) = x2 – x1
 Displacement is a vector

 Direction
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and magnitude
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Average Velocity

Rate of change in position over time Dt
vavg
Dx x2  x1


Dt t 2  t1
Velocity is also a vector
 Speed is a scalar (magnitude only)

savg
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total distance

Dt
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Example:

A flea is sitting on your ruler. You see it
run from the 15 cm mark to the 10 cm
mark in 2.5 seconds. What is it’s
displacement and velocity?
Dx = -5.0 cm = -0.05 m
 vavg = 2.0 cm/s = -0.02 m/s

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