Study Guide for Physics 1100 Final Exam

 

Dr. Wolfson’s Physics 1100 Final Exam will take place on

Monday, December 12th   from 2:00PM-3:50PM in Room M-122.

 

Click on the “Detailed Class Information” link on our class web page to locate the Course Objectives in the syllabus.

 

Summary by Topics:

 

Measurement / Variables / Hypotheses

 

Be able to keep track of units and be able to use conversions.  For example:

Given: Speed = 60 mile per hour, what is this speed in meters per second?

(You would be given that 1.6 km = 1 mile, and 1000 m = 1 km).

 

Be able to identify the independent variable, the dependent variable, and any controlled variables in an experiment that is described and be able to evaluate the validity of such an experiment.

 

Newton’s 1st Law of Motion

 

Be able to cite Newton’s 1st law.  What is the behavior of an object when there are no net forces (pushes or pulls) on that object?

 

What is “inertia”?

 

What does it mean to be in “equilibrium?”  Distinguish between static equilibrium and dynamic equilibrium.

 

Linear Motion

 

Be able to distinguish position, displacement, path, average speed, average velocity and average acceleration.

 

Distinguish between instantaneous speed and instantaneous velocity.

 

Be able to interpret position vs. time and velocity vs. time graphs.  Be able to deduce a velocity graph from a position graph.

 

Be able to apply v = at and d= (1/2)at2 in appropriate situations.

 

(Take the acceleration due to gravity as 10 m/s2 downward near the Earth’s surface.)

 

Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion

 

Be able to sketch a force vector diagram on an object showing all the forces that act on that object.

 

Be able to sketch the resultant vector from the addition of 2 or more vectors.

 

Be able to resolve a given vector into components parallel and perpendicular to some chosen set of coordinate axes.

 

Be able to distinguish between mass and weight.

 

Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion

 

Be able to identify action/reaction pairs of forces.  Remember action/reaction pairs act on different objects.  For example: Earth pulls down on apple = Action.  Then the reaction is: Apple pulls up on Earth.  Does it make a different which one of the pair is called the “action?”

 

Distinguish between internal and external forces acting on a system.

 

Momentum

 

Be able to distinguish momentum and impulse (which is a CHANGE IN momentum).

 

Remember that “change in (whatever)”  = whatever(after) – whatever(before).

The symbol for “change in” is “D”.  The symbol for momentum is “p”.

Impulse = Dp = D(mv).  Also, Dp = F(Dt).

 

Be able to deduce the outcome of a collision.  That is, be able to solve problems like Chapter 6, PROBLEMS 2, 4, 6, 8.

           

Use conservation of momentum p(before) = p(after) for a system with no external forces acting it.

 

Energy

           

Be able to compute the work done by a force (W = F(parallel) x displacement) and the rate at which work is done (Power = W/t).

 

Distinguish different forms of mechanical energy:

Kinetic Energy = (1/2)mv2                 Gravitational Potential Energy = mgh

 

Be able to solve a problem like we did in class:  How fast does object go at the bottom ramp given some conditions by using conservation of energy.

 

Rotational Motion

 

Be able to distinguish rotational and linear variables (like Linear Velocity and Angular Velocity).

 

What is rotational inertia?  What keeps an object moving in a circle?  What is center-of-mass?  What determines the stability of an object?

 

Be able to solve simple balancing problems like you did (or will do) in the lab.

 

What is angular momentum? (Angular momentum = Iw)  Be able to describe the behavior of rotating objects using conservation of angular momentum.

 

Gravity

 

Be able to calculate the gravitational force between two objects whose centers are

separated by some distance.  Know what it means when something obeys an “inverse-square law”.

 

What interpretation of gravity did Albert Einstein promote?

 

Projectile / Satellite Motion

 

Be able to determine the position of an object thrown at some angle near the surface of the Earth at some later time.  What are the components of the object’s velocity?

 

How do the vertical and horizontal components of velocity behave when an object is thrown at an arbitrary angle near the surface of the Earth?

 

What are Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion?  What do they mean?

 

Atomic Nature of Matter

 

            Be able distinguish elements, compounds, mixtures, atoms, molecules.

Know structure of atoms:  Where are the protons, neutrons, electrons in an atom?

What are protons and neutrons made of?

 

            Be able to use a periodic table (it will be provided), to use information regarding

            atomic number & atomic mass.  (Look at questions 22 & 26 in Chapter 11).

 

            What is antimatter?  What is dark matter?

 

Solids

 

Be able to distinguish mass, volume, weight, density.

Be able to calculate density if given the mass and volume of a substance.

 

            Be familiar with elasticity: that the amount of stretch force (or compression force)

is proportional to the change in length (Hooke’s law).  (See p. 234)

 

            If given diagrams (like those on page 235-6), be able to tell where the tension      occurs and where the compression occurs.

 

            Be able to describe scaling effects (for example, “surface area to volume ratio”).

 

Liquids

 

            Be able to calculate pressure in a liquid at a given depth.

 

            Be able to calculate buoyant force on a submerged or floating object knowing that

            the magnitude of the buoyant force is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced.

            (Archimedes Principle)

 

            Be able to relate the density of a floating object to the fluid it is in by noting the

            fraction of the submerged portion.

 

            Be able to use Pascal’s Principle to explain a “hydraulic lever” (see page 259).

 

            What is surface tension?  What is capillarity?

 

Gasses & Plasmas

 

            Be able to use Boyle’s Law to relate pressure and volume.  For example:

            If the volume of a container of gas is cut in half, what happens to the pressure?

 

Note that air is fluid and that an object in air also experiences a buoyant force

equal to the weight of the air displaced by the object (see p. 276).

 

Bernoulli’s Principle: where the speed of a fluid increases, the pressure decreases.

 

What is plasma?  What are some examples?

 

Temperature, Heat & Expansion

 

Be able to distinguish temperature, heat, and internal energy.

Be able to convert between Celsius scale and the Kelvin scale.

 

Understand the fundamental meaning of specific heat capacity and be able to use

Q = mcDT.  (See Problems: 1, 2, 3, 4 at the end of Chapter 15)

 

Heat Transfer

           

            Be able to distinguish between conduction, convection and radiation.

 

Which is hotter: a red-hot object or a blue-hot object?  Why?

 

What is Newton’s law of cooling?

 

Change of Phase

 

Know whether evaporation or condensation are cooling or warming processes

and why.

 

Be able to use Q = mL to calculate latent heat of transformation. For example:

How much heat is required to change 10 g of ice at 0 °C to water at 0 °C?

For example, see page 335 and try Problem 1 at the end of Chapter 17.

 

Thermodynamics

 

            Be able to cite the first 2 laws of thermodynamics.  What is an adiabatic process?

 

            Be able to calculate the efficiency of a heat engine operating between 2

temperatures or the coefficient of performance of a refrigerator.  (Be sure to use Kelvin temperature!)

 

What is entropy?  Be able to calculate the probability for a simple event (as we did in class).

 

Vibrations, Waves & Sound

 

Be able to identify the amplitude, wavelength, frequency, period and wave speed

for a wave if given a picture and/or numbers.

 

Be able to distinguish transverse and longitudinal waves.

 

What is interference?  Be able to distinguish between constructive and

destructive interference. 

 

What is the Doppler effect?  What are beats?  What is resonance?

 

Be able to describe how the angle of a bow wave or Mach cone varies for speeds

greater than the speed of the wave through that medium.

 

Be able to identify resonance modes of a vibrating air column or string from

numbers or a picture.  Where are the nodes?  Where are the antinodes?

 

Electrostatics

 

            Be able to find the magnitude and direction of electrical forces between charges

            using Coulomb’s Law.  (How do 2 “like” changes behave if near each other? 

            How do “opposites” behave?)

 

            What are the directions of a electric field lines due to charges?

 

            Distinguish between conductors, semiconductors, superconductors, insulators.

 

            Know the relationship between electrical potential energy, electrical potential

and charge.

 

Electric Current

 

            Be able to apply Ohm’s Law to relate voltage (electrical potential), current and

            resistance.

 

Be able to identify and use electrical units properly:

Volts, Amperes, Coulombs, Ohms

 

Be able to distinguish between series and parallel circuits.  Be able to predict bulb

brightness in various circuits.

 

Be able to determine equivalent resistance for a network of resistors in series or parallel.

 

Understand power from a battery or dissipated in a resistor

 

Magnetism & Magnetic Induction

 

            Be able to recall experiences in the lab:  Opposite poles attract,

            like poles repel and induced currents are caused by changing magnetic fields.

 

            Be able to distinguish different devices: electromagnets, motors, generators,

            transformers.

 

            Be able to calculate input and output voltage, current and power for a transformer.

 

Light

 

            Be able to describe the relationship between the color of a glowing object and its

            Temperature.

 

            Understand color mixing of light, absorption, and transmission.

 

            Understand scattering (why is the sky blue and sunsets red)

 

            Be able to describe the behavior of light interacting with by plane, concave, and convex mirrors and lenses.

 

            Explain the phenomena of reflection and refraction.  What is total internal

            reflection?

 

            Understand polarization

 

            Be able to identify components of the electromagnetic spectrum.

 

            Understand light emission as the transition of an electron between orbits and that DE=hf

 

            Be able to distinguish incandescence, fluorescence, and phosphorescence in light emission.

 

            What is the photoelectric effect?  What is the evidence for wave-like and particle-

            like properties of light and matter?

 

EXTRA CREDIT TOPICS

Atomic and Nuclear Physics

 

            Understand the Bohr model of the atom and Atomic Spectra

 

            What is radioactivity?  Why atoms are radioactive?  Be able to calculate half-life?

 

Distinguish the different types of radiation: alpha, beta, gamma.

 

What is transmutation?   Be able to identify the products in a decay series.

 

Distinguish nuclear fission and fusion.  What is a critical mass?

 

What is meant by mass-energy equivalence?