U Can: Physics I For Dummies (eBook)

Steven Holzner, PhD, was a graduate of and faculty member at MIT and Cornell. Daniel Funch Wohns earned his PhD in physics from Cornell and has been teaching physics for nine years.

INTRODUCTION 1

PART I GETTING STARTED WITH PHYSICS 5

Chapter 1: Using Physics to Understand Your World 7

Chapter 2: Reviewing Physics Measurement and Math Fundamentals 15

Chapter 3: Exploring the Need for Speed 35

Chapter 4: Following Directions: Motion in Two Dimensions 61

PART II MAY THE FORCES BE WITH YOU 87

Chapter 5: When Push Comes to Shove: Force 89

Chapter 6: Getting Down with Gravity, Inclined Planes, and Friction 111

Chapter 7: Circling Around Rotational Motion and Orbits 129

Chapter 8: Go with the Flow: Looking at Pressure in Fluids 159

PART III WORKING ENERGETICALLY 187

Chapter 9: Getting Some Work Out of Physics 189

Chapter 10: Putting Objects in Motion: Momentum and Impulse 215

Chapter 11: Winding Up with Angular Motion 237

Chapter 12: Round and Round with Rotational Dynamics 265

Chapter 13: Springs 'n' Things: Simple Harmonic Motion 285

PART IV LAYING DOWN THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS 309

Chapter 14: Turning Up the Heat with Thermodynamics 311

Chapter 15: Here, Take My Coat: How Heat Is Transferred 329

Chapter 16: In the Best of All Possible Worlds: The Ideal Gas Law 345

Chapter 17: Heat and Work: The Laws of Thermodynamics 357

PART V THE PART OF TENS 381

Chapter 18: Ten Common Mistakes People Make When Solving Problems 383

Chapter 19: Ten Wild Physics Theories 387

INDEX 393