Chapter 1

What is Physics…….

Physics is the study of the laws of nature, i.e. why do things

(atoms, electricity, gravity, etc.) work like they do?

To test new theories, or refine existing theories, the physicist

relies upon experiments. Experiments are a very important part
of physics (hence 15% of your mark is devoted to labwork).
Units

-To make comparisons between different measurements, and

provide consistency, a standard system of units is used:

SI (Le Système International d’Unités) units

In this system; standard unit of length = meter

standard unit of time = second
standard unit of mass = kg

You don’t necessarily have to use these units if you know what
you are doing, however, to be safe, it is usually better to convert
everything to SI units.

What can happen when you don’t have standard units……

The Gimli Glider (July 23, 1983):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPbqbE277ok AdolfGalland
(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

- was a mix-up between pounds of fuel, and kilograms of fuel

Artist's rendering of the

Mars Climate Orbiter
The Mars Climate Orbiter (Sept. 23, 1999):
http://abcnews.go.com/Archives/video/sept-23-1999-mars-orbiter-destroyed-11002953

-the contractor, Lougheed-Martin, programmed in

English units (eg. ft/s)
NASA image, public domain

- NASA expected units in metric.

To express a final answer that is much larger of smaller than
the standard SI units, use a set of standard prefixes

cf. the standard prefixes in the text, table 1.2

Eg. 1) kilo means 1000

or 10 X 10 X 10
or 103 (scientific notation)
So a kilometer = 1000 m = 103 m

2) micro means 1/1000000

or 1/ (10 X 10 X 10 X 10 X 10 X 10 )
or 10-6
So a microsecond = (1/1000000 ) s = (10-6s)
Conversion of Units

To convert units, multiply by 1

Eg 1) Convert 2.3 km to m
1000 m = 1 km  1000m/1km = 1
Hence, 2.3 km = 2.3 km 1000m
1km

=1
= 2300 m

Q1) Convert 5.6 m to km

Q2) Convert 16 km/day to ft/hr (1 m = 3.3 ft)

Q3) Convert 1.25 in2 to cm2 ( 1 in. = 2.54 cm)

30 Minute Trig Review
Trig will be very important in this course. For a right-
angled triangle, with an angle θ (theta):
se
Fundamental Relations
enu
ot sin(θ) = opposite
p opposite
hy hypotenuse Useful when have
θ
cos(θ) = adjacent the angle and one
adjacent hypotenuse side of the
triangle tan(θ) = opposite
adjacent and want to solve
for the other side.

Q1) The Calgary Tower casts a 110m shadow. The angle

between the Sun and the ground is 60o. How tall is the
Calgary Tower?
 Sometimes, have 2 sides of the triangle, and need to find the
angle θ. Can now use the inverse trig relations:
θ = sin-1 opposite
hypotenuse
θ = cos-1 adjacent
hypotenuse
θ = tan-1 opposite
adjacent

Q1) You are standing 10m away from a 60m high cliff. At what
angle from the horizontal must you look to see the top of
the cliff?
Note “-1” normally means “reciprocal” (i.e. a-1 = 1/a ), BUT
NOT FOR TRIG FUNCTIONS….sin-1(a), cos-1(a), tan-1(a)
means the inverse of the function, not the reciprocal.
sin-1(a) ≠ 1/sin(a) Horrible Notation!...but
inverse reciprocal we’re stuck with it.
 Aside: examples of bad “math grammar” (which might cost you
marks):

Incorrect: sin(θ) = 1 = 90o Correct: sin(θ) = 1

 θ = 90o
1 ≠ 90o

Incorrect: sin(θ) = 1 Correct: sin(θ) = 1

 θ = sin = 90
-1 o  θ = sin -1
(1) = 90 o

no argument to
the inverse sin
function
Final trig relations you’ll need:
c
a2+b2=c2 (Pythagoras)
Φ b
θ θ + Φ =90o  Φ = 90o - θ
a
30 Second Significant Figure/Digit Review
I don’t worry too much about significant figures (digits) in the
lectures/tests…..you’ll worry about them in the lab.
I’d rather you spend your time figuring out how
to solve the problem, rather than figuring out the right number
of significant figures.

Significant Figure/Digit Rule for the class….

Be reasonable!

Eg. If your final answer (on your calculator) for the speed of a
fighter jet is 842.6456789 m/s, could express your final
answer on paper as:
840m/s, 843m/s, or 842.6m/s ….
But don’t express answer as 842.6456789m/s or 800m/s
Vectors and Scalars
There are 2 types of quantities that you’ll deal with in this
course, vectors and scalars.
Scalars: Quantities that can be described by a single number
(including units).
Eg. Temperature, mass, time
Note, sometimes (in the case of temperature for
instance), the “number” can be negative.
Vectors: Quantities that require a number (with units),
plus a direction.
Eg. Location (51m, 40o north of east)
or Velocity (100 km/hr northwest)
 The “number” of a vector is called the magnitude. Vectors are
often depicted by an arrow, with the length proportional to the
magnitude.

Symbolically, denote a vector by a symbol with an “arrow” on

the top (or sometimes boldface is used).
Eg. A  scalar quantity “A”
A or A  the vector quantity “A”
|A | or |A| the magnitude of the vector
“A”
Some Examples of Vectors and Scalars
Displacement: A vector that specifies the change in position of an
object. The vector is directed from the initial
position to the final position.
Displacement = Δx = xf – xi
(x=position, Δ= “change in”, xf = final position, xi = initial position)

Note, ‘Δ’ (Delta) of any quantity means “the change in”,

i.e. the final value of a quantity minus the initial value.

Distance: A scalar that specifies how far something has

traveled.
For a car, distance is measured with the odometer….
the odometer does not care about the direction
traveled, only the total number of kilometers driven.
 For 1-dimension often denote the direction of displacement by
defining positive in one direction, and negative in the other.

Eg. An elephant starts at 5km east of your position, travels 10km

east, then 2km west.
a) What is the distance the elephant traveled?
b) What is the displacement from the starting point?

Soln:
5 13 15

a) distance = 10km + 2km = 12km

b) displacement = xf – xi = +13km – (+5km) = +8km
i.e. displacement = 8km east.
More Examples
Speed = Total distance traveled (scalar, with units of
Elapsed Time length/time)

Average Velocity = Displacement = xf – xi = Δx

Elapsed Time tf – ti Δt

(vector, with units of length/time, SI units = m/s)

Direction = same direction as the displacement

A hovercraft crossing the English Channel from England to

France travels 40 km straight south in 40 minutes.
It then returns to England, heading straight north.
After 20 minutes it has traveled 20 km north.
The average velocity of the hovercraft during the entire trip is:
A: 20 km/hour south. C: 60 km/hour south.
B: 60 km/hour. D: 20 km/hour.
More Examples
Speed = Total distance traveled (scalar, with units of
Elapsed Time length/time)

Average Velocity = Displacement = xf – xi = Δx

Elapsed Time tf – ti Δt

(vector, with units of length/time, SI units = m/s)

Direction = same direction as the displacement

Instantaneous Velocity = velocity when Δt becomes very small

i.e. it is the velocity of an object “at an
instant of time.

When an object travels at a constant velocity,

average velocity = instantaneous velocity
Q1) A girl walks 10m down a sidewalk in 10 seconds. She realizes
she dropped a toonie and walks slowly back, covering 5m
in 20 seconds. She then gives up and returns to walking in
her original direction, covering 30m in 15 seconds. If we
define the original direction the girl traveled as the positive
direction, what is the girl’s:
a) distance covered
b) displacement
c) speed
d) average velocity
e) instantaneous velocity at 12 seconds
Q2) A running boy’s distance traveled (in meters) can be
described by a function x = 5t, with t=time (in seconds).
What is the boy’s speed?
Adding Vectors (Part 1)
When you have more than 1 dimension, one way to add
vectors is to use the Graphical Method.
1) Represent each vector as an arrow:
- the arrow points in the direction of the vector (can use
a protractor to get the direction)
- the length is proportional to the magnitude
2) After the first vector (arrow), each subsequent vector is
drawn “head to tail” (the head (top) of the first vector
touches the “tail” (bottom) of the second vector).

Eg. If have vectors A & B A B

Then would represent A + B as:

A
B
3) The resultant vector is represented by an arrow from the
tail of the first vector to the head of the last vector.
R A

4) The resultant vector magnitude and direction is measured

with a ruler and protractor.

Eg. A =20km E, B =18km 45o N of E, what is R =A + B?

Measure |R| with a ruler, and θ with a
R
B protractor.
θ
A “Head” of vector “A” touches the “tail” of
vector B.
For the vectors A and B depicted below, which of the
following depicts the sum of B + A ?

A: B:

C: D:

Remember, after the first vector (arrow), each subsequent

vector is drawn “head to tail” (the head (top) of the first vector
touches the “tail” (bottom) of the second vector).
Homework Problems for Chapter 1
Pages 26-29
#s 11, 13, 17, 27, 29, 49, 59, 61