Physics I

Source: Andrew Duffy, PhD, Department of Physics, Boston University, Boston, MA This experiment examines at various situations involving two interacting objects. First, the experiment examines the forces that two objects apply to one another while they collide. The objects are wheeled carts that have variable masses. The purpose of this experiment is to discover when the force the first cart exerts on the other is the same magnitude as the force the second cart exerts back on the first, as well...

Source: Nicholas Timmons, Asantha Cooray, PhD, Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA The goal of this experiment is to understand the components of force and their relation to motion through the use of Newton's second law by measuring the acceleration of a glider being acted upon by a force. Nearly every aspect of motion in everyday life can be described using Isaac Newton's three laws of motion. They describe how objects in...

Source: Nicholas Timmons, Asantha Cooray, PhD, Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA This experiment demonstrates how vectors add and subtract in multiple directions. The goal will be to analytically calculate the addition or subtraction of multiple vectors and then to experimentally confirm the calculations. A vector is an object with both magnitude and direction. The magnitude of a vector is simply denoted as the length,...

Source: Ketron Mitchell-Wynne, PhD, Asantha Cooray, PhD, Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA This experiment demonstrates the kinematics of motion in 1 and 2 dimensions. This lab will begin by studying motion in 1 dimension, under constant acceleration, by launching a projectile directly upward and measuring the maximum height reached. This lab will verify that the maximum height reached is consistent with the kinematic...

Source: Ketron Mitchell-Wynne, PhD, Asantha Cooray, PhD, Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA Legend states that Isaac Newton saw an apple fall from a tree. He noticed the acceleration of the apple and deduced that there must have been a force acting upon the apple. He then surmised that if gravity can act at the top of the tree, it can also act at even larger distances. He observed the motion of the moon and the orbits of the...

Source: Nicholas Timmons, Asantha Cooray, PhD, Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA The goal of this experiment is to test the concept of the conservation of momentum. By setting up a surface with very little friction, collisions between moving objects can be studied, including their initial and final momenta. The conservation of momentum is one of the most important laws in physics. When something is conserved in physics, the...

Source: Nicholas Timmons, Asantha Cooray, PhD, Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA The goal of this experiment is to examine the physical nature of the two types of friction (i.e., static and kinetic). The procedure will include measuring the coefficients of friction for objects sliding horizontally as well as down an inclined plane. Friction is not completely understood, but it is experimentally determined to be proportional...

Source: Ketron Mitchell-Wynne, PhD, Asantha Cooray, PhD, Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA Potential energy is an important concept in physics. Potential energy is the energy associated with forces that depend upon the position of an object relative to its surroundings. Gravitational potential energy, which is discussed in another video, is the energy associated that is directly proportional to the height of an object above...

Source: Ketron Mitchell-Wynne, PhD, Asantha Cooray, PhD, Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA Equilibrium is a special case in mechanics that is very important in everyday life. It occurs when the net force and the net torque on an object or system are both zero. This means that both the linear and angular accelerations are zero. Thus, the object is at rest, or its center of mass is moving at a constant velocity. However, this...

Source: Nicholas Timmons, Asantha Cooray, PhD, Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA The goal of this experiment is to understand the components of torque and to balance multiple torques in a system to achieve equilibrium. Much like how a force causes linear acceleration, torque is a force that causes a rotational acceleration. It is defined as the product of a force and the distance of the force from the axis of rotation. If...

Source: Nicholas Timmons, Asantha Cooray, PhD, Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA Inertia is the resistance of an object to being accelerated. In linear kinematics, this concept is directly related to the mass of an object. The more massive an object, the more force is required to accelerate that object. This is seen directly in Newton's second law, which states that force is equal to mass times acceleration. For rotation,...

Source: Nicholas Timmons, Asantha Cooray, PhD, Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA Angular momentum is defined as the product of the moment of inertia and the angular velocity of the object. Like its linear analog, angular momentum is conserved, meaning that the total angular momentum of a system will not change if there are no external torques on the system. A torque is the rotational equivalent of a force. Because it is a...

Source: Ketron Mitchell-Wynne, PhD, Asantha Cooray, PhD, Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA This experiment demonstrates the work-energy principle. Energy is one of the most important concepts in science and is not simple to define. This experiment will deal with two different kinds of energy: gravitational potential energy and translational kinetic energy. Gravitational potential energy is defined as the energy an object...

Source: Ketron Mitchell-Wynne, PhD, Asantha Cooray, PhD, Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA When a pot of water is placed on a hot stove, heat is said to "flow" from the stove to the water. When two or more objects are placed into thermal contact with each other, heat spontaneously flows from the hotter objects to the colder ones, or in the direction that tends to equalize the temperature between the objects. For example,...

Source: Ketron Mitchell-Wynne, PhD, Asantha Cooray, PhD, Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA The second law of thermodynamics is a fundamental law of nature. It states that the entropy of a system always increases over time or remains constant in ideal cases when a system is in a steady state or undergoing a "reversible process." If the system is undergoing an irreversible process, the entropy of the system will always...