Upon completing the course, you will be able to:
- Scientific Reasoning
- Apply the methods of scientific reasoning as related to physics that will be useful in their chosen occupational field and/or personal lives
- Laboratory Methods
- Become acquainted with measurement and laboratory research methods
- Applications
- Become acquainted with the applications of today's science and technology
- Quantitative Analysis
- Apply problem-solving methods to physical situations
- Communication
- Explain and interpret scientific reasoning, demonstrate listening skills, and the appropriate verbal and non-verbal responses in different contexts such as interpersonal relations and group discussions
- Units
- Identify units (AES and SI) associated with physical quantities
- Convert non-base units to base units (e.g. minutes to seconds)
- Scientific Method
- Identify steps in the scientific method
- Apply the scientific method in physical experiments
- Kinematics
- Identify, differentiate among, and perform calculations using distance, time, speed, displacement, velocity, and acceleration
- Identify and differentiate between scalar and vector quantities
- Describe different types of motion in one and two dimensions, and the conditions for which they occur
- Identify and perform calculations using centripetal acceleration
- Newton’s Laws
- Describe a force and how it affects the motion of an object
- Identify various types of forces in physical situations
- Define Newton’s laws of motion and apply them to physical situations
- Gravitation
- Describe Newton's law of universal gravitation and how it depends on mass and distance
- Apply Newton's law of universal gravitation to circular orbits
- Describe a gravitational field and how it related to the gravitational force
- Work and Energy
- Define work and describe how it relates to forces
- Define kinetic energy and potential energy and describe how they relate to work
- Differentiate among the different types of potential energies and kinetic energy
- Identify conditions in which mechanical energy is conserved
- Apply conservation of mechanical energy to physical situations
- Define power and describe how it relates to work and energy
- Apply the definition of power to physical situations
- Momentum
- Define momentum and describe how it relates to Newton's second law
- Identify conditions in which momentum is conserved
- Apply conservation of momentum to physical situations
- Describe and differentiate between elastic and inelastic collisions
- Rotational Motion
- Describe torque and how it relates to static equilibrium
- Define concept of angular momentum for point particle and rigid object
- Apply conservation of angular momentum to physical situations
- Physics of Matter
- Identify and differentiate among various states of matter
- Define density and describe how it relates to mass and volume
- Define pressure and describe how it relates to force
- Describe and differentiate between absolute pressure and gauge pressure
- Apply the definition of pressure to find the gauge pressure in a static fluid
- Describe Pascal's principle and how it relates to pressure
- Describe Archimedes' principle and how it relates to the buoyant force
- Describe an ideal moving fluid and how it relates to the continuity equation
- Describe Bernoulli's principle and how it relates to pressure and the motion of a fluid
- Heat
- Convert different temperature scales from one to another
- Describe thermal expansion and how it relates to temperature
- Define the ideal gas law and describe how it relates pressure, volume, and temperature
- Define heat and relate the heat transferred in materials to temperature
- Describe and differentiate between methods of heat transfer
- Describe the first and second law of thermodynamics and how they relate to energy and work
- Apply the laws of thermodynamics to physical situations
- Waves
- Describe a wave and identify its various properties
- Describe and differentiate between transverse and longitudinal waves
- Identify the relationship among wavelength, period, frequency, and wave speed
- Describe a standing wave and how it relates to the boundary conditions
- Define diffraction of waves and differentiate its behavior from a particle in the same physical situation
- Describe intensity of a wave and how it relates to sound level
- Describe the Doppler effect and how it relates to frequency
- Electricity and Electric Circuits
- Identify the different types of electrical charges and how they interact
- Define electric force described by the Coulomb's law and describe how it depend on charges and distance
- Define concepts of electric field including electric field due to point charges and explain its relation to electric field, charge and electric force
- Define the concept of electric potential and explain its relation to electric potential energy and charge
- Define current and apply the definition to physical situations
- State Ohm's law and define resistance and resistivity of materials
- Differentiate between ohmic and nonohmic materials
- Identify resistors in a circuit and whether they are in parallel or series
- Define the electrical power absorbed or dissipated by a device in terms of current and electric potential
- Describe and differentiate between direct current and alternating current
- Electromagnetism
- Describe magnetic poles and how they differ from electric charges
- Describe magnetic fields and how they relate to magnetic poles
- Identify how currents generate magnetic fields
- Define the magnetic force on moving charges and describe its orientation to the velocity and magnetic field
- Describe Faraday’s law and its applications
- Explain how electromagnetic wave are produced and identify the different types of waves in the electromagnetic wave spectrum
- Optics
- Describe the law of reflection and law of refraction
- Describe the conditions for total internal reflection
- Apply the law of reflection and law of refraction to mirrors and lenses, respectively
- Describe resolution using diffraction of light
- Describe the interference pattern for single slit, double slit, and other aperture shapes
- Describe and differentiate between polarized and unpolarized light
- Atomic Physics
- Describe the Bohr model of the atom in terms of quantized angular momentum, radii, and energy levels
- Describe the de Broglie hypothesis for matter waves and apply it to physical situations
- Identify the relation between energy and frequency for matter waves
- Identify the relation between momentum and wavelength for matter waves
- Describe blackbody radiation and its relation to temperature and energy quantization
- Describe the photoelectric effect and its applications
- Nuclear Physics
- Identify and differentiate among mass number, atomic number, neutron number, and isotopes
- Describe and differentiate among the different types of radioactive decays
- Define the half-life of an isotope and relate it to the number of nuclei in a sample
- Define the binding energy of an isotope and describe how it relates to mass
- Apply the concept of binding energy to fission and fusion processes