General Physics I (Mechanics)

On completion, the students should be able to: 1. identify and deduce the physical quantities and their units; 2. differentiate between vectors and scalars; 3. describe and evaluate motion of systems on the basis of the fundamental laws of mechanics; 4. apply Newton’s laws to describe and solve simple problems of motion; 5. evaluate work, energy, velocity, momentum, acceleration, and torque of moving or rotating objects; 6. explain and apply the principles of conservation of energy, linear and angular momentum; 7. describe the laws governing motion under gravity; and 8. explain motion under gravity and quantitatively determine behaviour of objects moving under gravity.

Space and time; units and dimension, vectors and scalars, differentiation of vectors: displacement, velocity and acceleration; kinematics; Newton’s laws of motion (inertial frames, impulse, force and action at a distance, momentum conservation); relative motion; application of Newtonian mechanics; equations of motion; conservation principles in physics, conservative forces, conservation of linear momentum, kinetic energy and work, potential energy, system of particles, centre of mass; rotational motion; torque, vector product, moment, rotation of coordinate axes and angular momentum. Polar coordinates; conservation of angular momentum; circular motion; moments of inertia, gyroscopes and precession; gravitation: Newton’s law of gravitation, Kepler’s laws of planetary motion, gravitational potential energy, escape velocity, satellites motion and orbits. PHY 103 : General Physics III (Behaviour of Matter) (2 Units C: LH 30) Learning Outcomes On completion, the students should be able to: 1. explain the concepts of heat and temperature and relate the temperature scales; 2. define, derive and apply the fundamental thermodynamic relations to thermal systems; 3. describe and explain the first and second laws of thermodynamics, and the concept of entropy; 4. state the assumptions of the kinetic theory and apply techniques of describing macroscopic behaviour; 5. deduce the formalism of thermodynamics and apply it to simple systems in thermal equilibrium; and 6. describe and determine the effect of forces and deformation of materials and surfaces. Course Contents Heat and temperature, temperature scales; gas laws; general gas equation; thermal conductivity; first Law of thermodynamics; heat, work and internal energy, reversibility; thermodynamic processes; adiabatic, isothermal, isobaric; second law of thermodynamics; heat engines and entropy, Zero’s law of thermodynamics; kinetic theory of gases; molecular collisions and mean free path; elasticity; Hooke's law, Young's shear and bulk moduli; hydrostatics; pressure, buoyancy, Archimedes' principles; Bernoullis equation and incompressible fluid flow; surface tension; adhesion, cohesion, viscosity, capillarity, drops and bubbles.