Physics 20

Unit 1: Kinematics

The language of motion — describing where things are, how fast they move, and how that motion changes, in one dimension and two. Vectors, graphs, and the equations that link displacement, velocity and acceleration.

• Displacement, velocity and acceleration
• Scalars vs vectors
• Uniform and uniformly accelerated motion

• Relative motion
• Two-dimensional motion with vector components

Unit 2: Dynamics

Why motion changes — force. Newton's three laws, friction, and adding forces as vectors; then the deepest force of all, gravity, from Newton's law of universal gravitation to the field it creates and the weight it gives objects on any planet.

• Net force changes velocity
• Newton's first law (inertia)
• Newton's second law
• Newton's third law (action–reaction)

• Static and kinetic friction
• Resultant force from vector components
• Solving problems with Newton's laws

• Gravity as a fundamental force
• Newton’s law of universal gravitation
• The Cavendish experiment
• The concept of a field
• Linking $G$ to local $g$
• Weight on different planets

Unit 3: Circular Motion, Work & Energy

Motion in a circle — why an object turning at steady speed is still accelerating, and how that explains satellites and orbits. Then the accounting of motion: work, power, and the conservation of mechanical energy.

• Circular motion as 2-D motion
• Centripetal acceleration
• Speed, frequency, period and radius
• Circular motion and Newton's laws

• Satellite and planetary motion
• Finding the mass of a celestial body
• Kepler's laws and Newton

• Mechanical energy
• Kinetic, potential and total energy
• Conservation of mechanical energy

• Work and power
• Describing power
• Energy change in a non-isolated system

Unit 4: Oscillatory Motion & Mechanical Waves

Motion that repeats — pendulums and springs in simple harmonic motion, and the energy they store. Then how that oscillation travels: mechanical waves, their properties and the universal wave equation, reflection, interference, resonance and the Doppler effect.

• Period and frequency
• Defining simple harmonic motion
• SHM: displacement, velocity, acceleration, time
• Energy in simple harmonic motion
• Mechanical resonance

• Waves as particles in SHM
• Energy transport by matter vs waves
• Longitudinal and transverse waves
• Wave terminology
• Wave speed and the medium
• The universal wave equation

• Reflection of waves
• Interference and acoustic resonance
• The Doppler effect