PHY 111
General Physics I (Mechanics)
2
Course Description
At the end of this course, 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.
Course Outline
Space and time; units and dimension, Vectors and Scalars, Differentiation of vectors:
displacement, velocity and acceleration; kinematics; Newton 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.