Fall 2019 Official General Catalog [Archived Catalog]
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PHY 161 - Physics I: Mechanics and Heat
Physics includes the study of matter and motion, mass and energy. It tells you how and why things move. It is important for everyone from technicians to doctors to know why something happens. Problem solving skills that you learn in physics will help you in other courses, as will the skills in laboratory observation and analysis. In Mechanics you will learn about forces and the accelerations they produce, and conservation laws for energy and momentum. In thermodynamics you will study how heat energy affects the properties of matter. This includes topics that range from how atoms bounce around on a hot day to the operation of a gasoline engine. Physics provides the underlying concepts used in technologies and in other sciences. Basic principles are applied to solve realistic problems, using algebra and elementary trigonometry. This course is designed for Liberal Arts, Computer Science, and Technology students and others who are interested in learning why things happen the way they do. Laboratory experiences will provide you with problem solving techniques, measurement skills and applications of theory.
Prerequisite- Corequisite
Prerequisite: Minimum grade of 75 in Math B (H.S.) or a minimum grade of “C” in Math MAT 130 Applied Algebra and Trigonometry or MAT 136 College Algebra and Trigonometry. Minimum grade of 75 in H.S. Physics or a “C” in PHY 090 Preparatory Physics.
Credits: 4
Hours
3 Class Hours, 3 Laboratory Hours
Course Profile
Learning Outcomes of the Course:
Upon successful completion of this course the student will be able to:
1. Carry out particular experimental tests of various theories considered, including calculating from measurements, stating results, and describing patterns of proportionality.
2. Make and record measurements of such physical quantities as length, time, mass, force, and temperature with appropriate instruments to the limit of accuracy of the instruments.
3. Express the results of measurements and calculations with correct units and with an appropriate number of significant digits.
4. Distinguish between a scalar quantity and a vector quantity.
5. Add two or more vectors by graphical and by component methods.
6. Display understanding of position, velocity, acceleration, and time as different quantities behaving differently in time, by (for example) explaining and graphing how position can be maximal when velocity is zero and acceleration is not zero.
7. Solve problems involving motion with constant acceleration, including linear free-fall and projectile motion problems, using all of the equations describing uniformly accelerated motion.
8. Solve problems involving varied physical systems undergoing uniform circular motion.
9. State and correctly draw conclusions from Newton’s first, second, and third laws of motion.
10. Apply the second law, with equations describing motion with constant acceleration, to varied problems, including situations involving friction, linked objects, and later buoyant forces.
11. Use Newton’s law of gravitation to draw correct conclusions and to solve numerical problems.
12. Define the quantities work, kinetic energy, gravitational energy, elastic energy, total mechanical energy, and internal energy.
13. Use the work energy theorem and the law of conservation of energy to solve problems.
14. Define the quantities impulse, momentum of an object, and system momentum.
15. Use the impulse momentum theorem and the law of conservation of momentum to solve problems.
16. Determine the torque of a force about a given axis.
17. State Newton’s second law for rotation and apply it in solving problems involving an object’s rotation about a fixed axis.
18. Apply the concepts of work, kinetic energy, and angular mementum to solving problems involving rotational motion.
19. Apply the first and second conditions of equilibrium in solving problems about the equilibrium of objects with concurrent and non-concurrent forces applied to them.
20. Use the ideas of elastic deformation, stress, strain, and Young’s modules.
21. Define the ideas of density, pressure, and buoyancy and use them to account for everday phenomena and to solve problems.
22. Distinguish among the ideas of temperature, heat, and internal energy.
23. Solve problems involving thermal expansion.
24. Use the equation of state of an ideal gas to solve problems involving gases in various processes.
25. Solve problems involving transfer of heat between systems changing in temperature and changing phase.
26. Name and describe processes of heat transfer.
27. State and apply the first and second laws of thermodynamics.
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