Week 2 (2/4 - 2/8) Study Guide — PHYS 121
The material for our second week comes from FlipIt Unit 2-3. From the textbook Chapter 1 Sections 6-7 and
Chapter 3 Sections 1-3 expect for “Tangential Acceleration” in section 3.
— The textbook has many great worked out examples which are helpful to work through. First, try to solve the
problem on your own and then look at the solution when you get stuck. Just reading through the solution will do
very little for your understanding:
• Chapter 1 examples: 1-8 and 1-9
• Chapter 3 examples: 3-2 through 3-9; 3-12
— Below are some additional end of the chapter problems. Bolded problems are more conceptual in nature.
Chapter 3: 1-8; 10-12; 16; 19-27; 30-31; 38-39; 47; 55-58; 69; 72; 76-77; 80-89
Important Equations from FlipIt Unit 2-3
Kinematics Equations for Projectile Motion:
Horizontal: x! (t) = xo + vox t v! x (t) = vox ! x=0
a
1 2
Vertical: y(t)
! = yo + vo y t − gt v! y(t) = vo y − gt ! y =−g
a
2
Magnitude of Vector: ! | v ⃗ | = vx2 + vy2 Vector in Component Form: ! v ⃗ = vx i ̂ + vy j ̂
v2 2π r
Magnitude of Centripetal Acceleration: a! c = Period: v! =
r T
⃗
Transformation of Velocity: ! v AB ⃗
= v AC ⃗
+ v CB
Week 2 Learning Objectives
Note: those learning objectives that are italicized are more conceptual in nature
• 2D Kinematics (Unit 2)
- Explain when an object is in free-fall
- Describe how the velocity and acceleration of an object in free fall change over time
- Describe how the superposition principle applies to objects in free fall
- State the horizontal and vertical kinematic equations for projectile motion
- Decompose the motion (position, velocity, and acceleration) of an object into x and y components
- Plot both the x and y components of the position vs time, velocity vs time, and acceleration vs time for
objects undergoing 2D motion
- Draw the average velocity vector given the initial and final position vectors
- Draw the average acceleration vector given the initial and final velocity vectors
- Solve 2D kinematic problems with constant acceleration using the kinematic equations: i.e. solve for the
total time, total distance, maximum height, initial/final positions, initial/final velocities, etc.
• Vectors (Unit 2)
- Explain the difference between scalars and vectors and identify a quantity as being one or the other
- Graph vectors given either in component form or as a magnitude & direction
- Express a vector in component form or as a magnitude & direction given its graph. You should be able to
clearly define the direction of a vector through both an angle and a direction (i.e. 30 ! ∘ south of east)
- Decompose a vector into components given the magnitude and direction and vice versa
- Add and subtract vectors both graphically and algebraically
• Relative Motion (Unit 3)
- State the equation relating velocities in different frames and explain what the terms represents
- Calculate relative velocities between different frames/observers that are moving at constant velocities with
respect to each other
• Uniform Circular Motion (Unit 3)
- State the magnitude of the centripetal acceleration and explain what the variables represent
- Describe both qualitatively and quantitively how the speed, velocity, and acceleration of an object undergoing uniform circular
motion change over time
- Draw the velocity and acceleration vectors for an object undergoing uniform circular motion
- Calculate the period for an object undergoing uniform circular motion
- Calculate the velocity and acceleration for an object in uniform circular motion at any point in its motion,
i.e. be able to decompose the velocity and acceleration vectors into components
