All course materials are available at vista Online

All course materials are available at vista. Online surveys at Vista (pre- and postcourse) Physics 100 Pre-Course Survey Due 8 am Monday, Sept 8, 2008.

Labs in Hebb 20 Section Lab time L 1 C Tues 0930 -1100 L 1 D Tues 1400 -1530 L 1 E Wed 0800 -0930 L 1 M Wed 1100 -1230 L 1 F Wed 1400 -1530 L 1 G Thur 0930 -1100 L 1 H Thur 1400 -1530 L 1 J Fri 1400 -1530 LC 1 LD 1 LE 1 LM 1 LF 1 LG 1 LH 1 LJ 1 Tutorial time Tues 1000 -1100 Tues 1430 -1530 Wed 0830 -0930 Wed 1130 -1230 Wed 1430 -1530 Thurs 1000 -1100 Thurs 1430 -1530 Fri 1430 -1530 Tutorial time 1100 -1200 1530 -1630 0930 -1030 1230 -1330 1530 -1630 1100 -1200 1530 -1630 Lab time 1100 -1230 1530 -1700 0930 -1100 1230 -1400 1530 -1700 1100 -1230 1530 -1700 tutorial room Hebb 10 LSK 462 Hebb 10 Hebb 12 Hebb 10 Hebb 13

Setting up I-clicker ü At the beginning of each class: • • • Hold your On/Off button for 2 seconds (the blue Power Light will flash) Enter [AA] Your “Vote Status” light will turn green after you’ve entered this new frequency. ü Your frequency is now changed for the duration of the lecture & you may vote.

How do you vote? When I ask a question in class (and start the timer), select A, B, C, D, or E as your vote. I may also ask you to talk about your possible choice/answer with your neighbor or in groups.

Test of i. Clicker I am a 1) 1 st year college student; 2) 2 nd year college student; 3) 3 nd year college student

Phys 100 section 102 L 2: What to achieve? 1) Understand general physics “laws” Examples: Energy conservation law, Newton’s law, Coulomb’s law, Faraday’s Law, Maxwell’s Law, Boltzmann’s Law, the Law of quantum mechanics, …… 2) Understand the real world using laws/principles; Model the real world using basic laws/principles and analyze quantitatively a physical phenomenon.

Models • “A model is a simplified description of reality…isolating the essential features, and developing a set of equations that provide an adequate, although not perfect description of reality. ” • “Physics, in particular, attempts to strip a phenomenon down to its barest essentials in order to illustrate the physical principles involved. “

Tools we are going to use • Mathematics provides an extremely powerful tool to describe theories and to model or simulate reality. • Experimental techniques including the data acquisition and analysis give us the ways to test theories/models and collect useful information of technologies and sciences.

Dimension of a physical quantity Dimension is associated with combinations of mass, length and time etc. D(Speed)=L/T D(Momentum)=M L / T If X=Y, D(X)=D(Y). This provides a way to check if your results make sense.

Dimensional analysis Ex: Formula for wavelength of light A scientist working in the field of applied optics obtained the following formula for the wavelength of light measured by an instrument: λ = (a 2+b 2/c)/d where a, b, c and d are the dimensions (in meters) of the different parts of the instrument. Q 1. Is this formula correct? 1. Yes 2. No 3. Not enough information to decide

Units of a physical quantity • Physical quantities have units. Examples. • Important to use standardized SI units: m, kg, s, N, J, o. K…. with appropriate prefixes • We very often see other units such as cm, inches, miles, nautical miles, ft, pounds, o. C, o. F, etc. • Need to convert units in problem sets. Examples: – 0. 5 mm = 5 x 10 -7 m. – 1 inch = 25. 4 mm =. 0254 m