PHYS 221: General Physics I

PHYS 221: General Physics I



Professor: Dr. J. Best
Office: Byrd Science Center 115
Office Hours: MWF 9a-11a

Required Text: Fundamentals of Physics, by Halliday, Resnick, and Walker

Course Overview: This is a calculus-based treatment of the fundamentals of selected classical physics topics, including: motion, force, Newton's laws, energy, momentum, gravitation, rotation, acoustics, fluid dynamics, and thermodynamics. PHYS 221L (General Physics Laboratory I) must be taken concurrently with PHYS 221.

Course Objectives and Outcomes: I want students to be able to: understand basic physical concepts and methods; understand cause and effect relationships in physics; utilize charts, graphs, and equations to represent functional relationships and explain their meanings; analyze and solve problems in physics, and develop insight into the nature of the Universe. Among the specific content areas to be addressed are:

· science in theory and in practice. This includes defining the power and limitations of scientific enterprises, the importance of science in the modern world, techniques used by practicing scientists, and the process of peer review as the mechanism of oversight and correction.

· linear motion. This includes understanding the basic defining concepts used in motion (distance, velocity, acceleration), and the interaction among them in describing the motion of an object in horizontal and vertical directions.

· nonlinear motion. This includes linking the concepts of linear motion to describe multi-dimension motion (including projectile motion).

· force. This includes understanding and applying the Newtonian Laws of Motion in practice, as well as incorporation frictional forces into physical problems.

· energy. This includes understanding work, power, efficiency, the various types of energy, the link between work and energy, and the conservation of energy.

· collisional physics. This includes understanding momentum, impulse (and its relationship to momentum and Newton's Laws), the types of collisions, and the conservation of momentum.

· rotational motion. This includes understanding the defining concepts (and how they are analogous to the linear motion concepts), Newtonian gravitation, and dynamics in the rotational sense.