An Introduction To Physics (Classical Mechanics)

Introduction to Physics

(Classical Mechanics)

Published by Jason King at Smashwords

Copyright 2018 Jason King

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal education and enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

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Contents

Introduction

Accuracy and Precision

Numbers and other Numbers

Significant figure

Scientific Notation

Measuring Variability

Uncertainty

Unit Conversion

Trigonometry and Vectors

Area and Volume

Position, Displacement and Distance

Speed and Velocity

Acceleration

Force

Energy

Pressure

Density

Electromagnetism

Temperature

Waves, Sound and Light

Advanced Analysis

Conclusion

Appendix A – Units and Quantities

Appendix B – Constants and Formula

Introduction

There are many different fields of Physics such as electromagnetism, relativity, quantum, thermodynamics etc. Although the field of interest in this workbook is Classical Mechanics there are blurred lines between each field with topics overlapping with relationships from one field to another.

The main scope of Classical Mechanical, also referred to as Newtonian Mechanics, is the study of the interaction between stationary and moving bodies with topics such as:

- Dimensions, Area and Volume.

- Position, Displacement and Distance.

- Motion, Speed and Velocity.

- Mass and Density.

- Acceleration and Gravity.

- Energy (Kinetic and Potential), Work and Power.

- Force, Momentum and Torque.

- Electrostatics and Magnetism.

- Waves, Sound and Light.

In the late 1600’s Sir Isaac Newtown proposed three rules of motion which have now been verified as scientific laws of Nature:

1 – Every body of matter continues in a state of rest or movement of constant velocity in a straight line unless compelled by a force to change its state.

2 – When net unbalanced forces act on a body, they will produce a change in the momentum of that body proportional to the vector sum of the forces. The direction of the change in momentum is that of the line of action of the resultant force.

3 – Forces, arising from the interaction of particles, act in such a way that the forces exerted by one particle on the second is equal and opposite to the force exerted by the second on the first and both are directed along the line joining the two particles.

It is these above mentioned topics and laws that are covered in this book along with basic introductions to scientific calculation principles such as numbers, significant figures, uncertainty etc. Each section contains a brief explanation of the topic of interest followed by numerous worked-through examples.

This workbook is by no means a comprehensive study of the field of Newtonian Mechanics but serves only as a basic introduction that would suffice for beginners, junior high schoolers and the curious. My aim is that it would not only lay a basic foundation for those who plan to continue on in their study of physics but also spark an interest in those who previously had little inclination to do so.

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Accuracy and Precision

Increasing the precision of a value can be done by expanding the range of measured value beyond the subject and then scaling down to reduce the uncertainty.

For example, in you wanted to measure the diameter of an atom with a measuring device that has a 10% uncertainty to it, then measure 10 atoms in a row and divide your measured value by 10 including the uncertainty. This would obviously only work under certain conditions such as having the 10 atoms exactly the same diameters with zero gap between each.

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Numbers and other Numbers

Numbers are not always considered the same and a basic fundamental understanding of the specific differences in definition is required for all mathematical and scientific fields.

Whole Numbers - All positive numbers that are complete units such as 0,1, 10, 3000 etc. and excludes portions of numbers such as fractions, percentages and decimal places such as ½ , 0.5, π or 50%. Sometimes referred to as Natural or Cardinal Numbers.

Integers – The same definition as Whole Numbers but also including the inverse. For example 1, -1, 10, -10, 3000, -3000 etc.

Counting Numbers – All Whole Numbers excluding zero. A bit of a technicality that simply aims to recognize the fact you can’t count zero/nothing.

Fraction – A fraction is a number (numerator) represented as a ratio of another number (denominator). The ratio is represented by the numerator and denominator separated by a line such as – or /. For example ½ or 1/2. Some definitions say a fraction is always less than 1 or a numerical quantity that is not a whole number.

Technically this is incorrect as for example 10/5 is technically being represented as a fraction but is certainly greater than 1, likewise 10/10 is a whole number although being represented as a fraction.

Percentage – A percentage is a specific type of fraction that has 100 has the denominator. In this way the numerator is presented as a ratio or portion of 100. For example if we have 7 out of 10 people male then the male population is 7/10 or scaled up to 70/100 (70 out of 100).

As the denominator is 100 we can also represent it using the special percentage symbol % as 70%. Notice how the % symbol is simply an icon representation of the fraction structure!

Rational and Irrational Numbers – All numbers that can be represented as a fraction. To clarify the definition it may be simpler to show examples of Irrational numbers or those that cannot be represented by a fraction. The √3 will result in a number of approximately 1.732050807568877 with never ceasing numbers and cannot be represented as a fraction.

Another example is the symbol π (pi) which is approximately equivalent to 3.14159265358979323846 and so on ever repeating with no pattern or end. Pi can be closely represented by the fraction 22/7 (or more accurately 355/113) but not exactly. It is hence not a rational number. Using this definition, is Zero a rational number?

Real and Imaginary Numbers – Real numbers Include all rational and irrational numbers. Imaginary numbers are just as their title suggests – numbers that do not and cannot actually exist. Sounds impossible! Not really.

Consider the square root of a negative number such as √-3 for example. This representation of a number cannot be reduced to a rational or even irrational number and hence it is just a symbolic representation of a number that is impossible to reduce further. Imaginary numbers are typically given the symbol i. As the √0 is 0 it is considered a real number!

Complex Numbers – Complex numbers consist of a combination of a real number and an imaginary number. For example x+√-y, xi, x-i, x/i etc. Technically 0i is a complex number!

Other Special Numbers – There are a few famous and very useful numbers that are so important that they have been given their own symbol, such as:

Speed of Light (c): The speed at which light travels used to be considered a constant at a defined 299,792,458 meters per second. Numerous measurements over a long period of time using more accurate and precise measurement techniques and equipment seem to indicate it is not actually a constant but is in fact slowing down, meaning the universe may not be as old as it appears to be.

There is some illogical circular reasoning with the speed of light as it is measured using the definition of meters and seconds but the definition of a meter and a second is based on the speed of light, hence