CLASS 1 – LINEAR MOTION

We will begin our studies of motion, by looking at linear motion which is motion
that occurs in a straight line.

All motion is relative. A glass on a table appears to be at rest, but since the Earth
is moving around the sun, the glass is actually moving even though it appears not
to be. When we examine the motion of objects in our environment, we often
mean relative to the surface of the Earth which appears to be at rest from our
perspective.

When we are examining motion, we are looking at rates. A rate is a quantity

divided by time.

I. Speed: a measure of how fast something is moving.

We will need to look at two different ways of measuring speed:

1) Average Speed = distance/time

In science, the units of speed are typically standardized to m/s

(meters/second).

When we calculate the average speed, we do not take into the

variations in the speed that take place during the trip. For example,
if a car travels 250 km in 5 hours, the average speed will be

Average speed = distance/time = 250km/5 hours = 50 km/hr

(Here we are using km/hr for units since this is typically how
automobile journeys are measured).

This measurement of speed does not take into account that at one
instant during the trip the car may have been going 51 km/hr while at
another instant, it may have been going 48 km/hr.
 2) Instantaneous Speed

If we want to know the exact speed that the car was going at a
particular instant in time, we need to look at the instantaneous
speed. We will see the equation for instantaneous speed a little bit
later.

II. Velocity

Velocity is the term used for speed in a specific direction. To a physicist,

traveling at a speed of 50 km/hr due east is different from traveling at a
speed of 50 km/hr due west.

Thus, velocity has two components:

1) Speed
2) Direction

Constant Velocity

In order for the velocity of an object to be constant, it must be traveling

at a constant speed and in a straight line.
Changing Velocity

Velocity is changing when either the speed or the direction of an object

is changing (or both).

Constant speed does not equal constant velocity. You must be careful
of the different definitions of speed and velocity!

A car could be traveling at a constant speed around a curve, but its

velocity will not be constant since it is always changing direction.

When the velocity is in a straight line, we tend to use speed and velocity
interchangeably.
III. Acceleration

Acceleration measures the rate at which the velocity of an object

changes.

Since acceleration is a rate, it will involve dividing by time.

Acceleration = the change in velocity

time

We can express the change in velocity as: final velocity – initial velocity

Acceleration = (final velocity – initial velocity)

time

You may be familiar with acceleration from an automobile. If the driver

gives the car gas, the car accelerates. When the driver applies the
brakes, the car also accelerates because there is a change in velocity
over a period of time.

To a physicist, acceleration can be either an increase or a decrease in

speed over a period of time. Often the decrease in speed over time is
called deceleration or negative acceleration.

Acceleration will also occur if the car is going around a curve. Since the
direction is changing, the velocity is changing over some period of time.
IV. Free Fall

An object in free fall is falling toward the ground due to gravity, but
without air resistance.

Elapsed Time Instantaneous Speed (m/s)

0 0

1 9.8

2 19.6

3 29.4

t 9.8t

We can see in the above figure that as a ball drops toward the ground, its
speed increases by 9.8 m/s each second that it falls.

The change in speed per second = acceleration. Thus, while the velocity is
increasing, the acceleration remains constant at 9.8 m/s2.

The value 9.8 m/s2 is called g because it is the acceleration with which
objects fall toward Earth due to gravity.
 It is important to note that this value of 9.8 m/s2 is only valid for Earth or
any planet that has the same gravitational force as Earth. Other planets
and moons with different gravitational forces have different g values.

The instantaneous velocity of an object falling toward Earth starting from

rest after time, t, can be expressed as

Instantaneous velocity = g x time

More generally, since g is a value for acceleration, we can say that

Instantaneous velocity = acceleration x time

If the initial velocity of the object is not zero, then this equation is modified
to give

Instantaneous velocity = velocity0 + acceleration x time

where velocity0 is the initial velocity of the object

V. Objects Thrown Upward

What goes up must come down! An object thrown straight up continues to

move upward until it reaches an instantaneous speed of zero and then it
starts to fall down.

When the object starts to fall down, it falls the same as it would as if it
had been dropped from a state of rest.
What about the upward motion when the object is first thrown? In this
case, the speed of the object is decreasing every second because of the pull
of gravity on the object. How much does the speed decrease every
second? For objects on Earth, 9.8 m/s.

3 0 m/s
s

9.8 m/s 2 4
s s

19.6 m/s 1 5
s s

29.4 m/s 0 6
s s

39.2 m/s 7
s
 When a ball is projected upward, its velocity will decrease at a rate of 9.8
m/s (every second) until it reaches a velocity of 0 m/s. At that point, it will
start to fall downward, and its velocity will increase at a rate of 9.8 m/s.

VI. The Distance the Object Falls

As we have seen, when an object is falling, its velocity increases at a rate of

9.8 m/s.

Let’s take the case of an object that falls for 1 second:

Before the object starts falling, it has a velocity of 0 m/s.
After 1 second, the object has a velocity of 9.8 m/s.

The average velocity of the object then is:

(0 m/s + 9.8 m/s) = 4.9 m/s

2

This means that after 1 second, the object has travelled a distance of 4.9
meters.

Is the distance travelled constant for each second the object falls? Let’s
check and see:

After 2 seconds the object has a speed of 19.6 m/s. The average velocity of
the object between seconds 1 and 2 is as follows:

9.8 m/s + 19.6 m/s = 14.7 m/s

2

This means that between seconds 1 and 2 when the object is falling, it has
 travelled 14.7 m. Thus, the distance the object travels increases with each
passing second.

After 2 seconds, the object has fallen a total distance of 24.5 m (14.7 m + 5
m from the first second of falling).

We can keep calculating the distance an object falls for each second and
then adding it to previous distances for the previous amounts of time the
object has fallen, but it is easier to use the following formula:

Distance = ½ x acceleration x time2

Since the object is falling, the acceleration is 9.8 m/s2 on Earth. This
formula gives the distance an object has fallen at a given time in seconds.

If a free falling object does not have an initial velocity of zero, the equation
is modified to give

Distance = (velocity0 x time) + (½ x acceleration x time2)

Where velocity0 is the initial velocity of the object.

VII. Air resistance

Suppose you drop a feather and a bowling ball from the same height at the
same time. Which will reach the ground first? You may say the feather will
reach the ground first based on your experiences, but the answer is that it
depends on the experimental conditions.

If you drop the feather and the bowling ball together in a vacuum tube, the
two will fall together at a constant acceleration of g.
 Air resistance does not affect compact objects like a bowling ball or a stone
as much as it does things like pieces of paper or feathers. If the air
resistance is small enough to be neglected, we can consider that the object
is falling freely.

VIII. Graphing Motion

Let’s say we create a plot for a freely falling object with speed on the
vertical (y) axis and time on the horizontal (x) axis. What would you expect
this graph to look like?

For every second the object falls, its speed increases by 9.8 m/s.

If we created a table, we would see the following results:

Time Speed

0s 0 m/s

1s 9.8 m/s

2s 19.6 m/s

3s 29.4 m/s

4s 39.2 m/s

5s 49 m/s

6s 58.8 m/s

7s 68.6 m/s

8s 78.4 m/s
 If we look at the values between 2 seconds and 4 seconds, we see that time
and speed both double. The same is true for the values between 4 seconds
and 8 seconds. If both quantities double, they are directly proportional to
each other.

What happens if we graph two quantities that are directly proportional to

each other? We get a straight line! (Note on the x-axis each box
represents 1 second and on the y-axis each box represents 9.8 m/s).

For a freely falling object, the slope of the line (change in y/change in x) is
equal to the acceleration! (m/s)/s = m/s2

Speed versus Time for a Freely Falling Object

78.4
68.6
58.8
49
Speed (m/s)

39.2
29.4
19.6
9.8
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Time (s)
CLASS 2 – PROJECTILE MOTION

Projectile motion involves motion that is non-linear. It follows a curved path

instead of a straight line.

I. Vector Quantities

Many quantities in physics such as mass and volume do not require

information about direction to describe them. These quantities are called
scalar quantities.

We learned that velocity has both a magnitude (how fast an object is going)
and a direction. How can we represent both the speed and the direction of an
object at once? We use a vector, and these quantities are called vector
quantities.

II. Velocity Vectors

Velocity is not the only quantity in physics that can be represented by a vector,
but for now we will concentrate on velocity for our understanding of vectors.

direction

Vectors are represented by arrows

magnitude
that start at the origin and point in
the direction of the motion.

The length of the vector represents

the magnitude, i.e., the numerical
value.
origin
 III. How Velocity Vectors Are Used

Let’s take the example of an airplane flying at 300 km/hr due east. The
airplane encounters a tailwind at a velocity of 30 km/hr due east. In this case
the plane and the wind are in the same direction and so the vectors add
together.

If the plane is flying at 300 km/hr due east, but encounters a headwind is at a
velocity of 30 km/hr due west, then the vector for the velocity of the wind will
be subtracted from the vector for the velocity of the airplane.

300 km/hr 300 km/hr

+
-

30 km/hr
30 km/hr

= 310 km/hr
= 330 km/hr
HEADWIND
TAILWIND

Note that the velocity vector for the airplane is ten times as long as the velocity
vector for the wind since the plane is moving ten times faster than is the wind.
What happens if the airplane is flying at a velocity of 200 km/hr directly north and
encounters a crosswind of 50 km/hr from due east?

In this case we add the two vectors together to get the resultant which will give
us the actual speed of the airplane. The resultant of two vectors that are
perpendicular to each other is the diagonal of the rectangle that uses the vectors
as two of the sides. Later we will look at how to determine the resultant of
vectors that are not perpendicular when we look at force which is another vector
quantity.

Resultant
(in green)

To determine the length of the

resultant, we can use the
Pythagorean Theorem:
200 km/hr
a2 + b 2 = c2

Where a and b are the sides of a

triangle and c is the hypotenuse.

(200 km/hr)2 + (50 km/hr)2 = c2

40,000 km2/hr2 + 2500 km2/hr2 = c2

42,500 km2/hr2 = c2
50 km/hr
206 km/hr = c
 IV. Resolving Vectors into Component Vectors

Resolving a vector into two component vectors is essentially the reverse of

adding two vectors into a resultant vector.

In this case a single vector is resolved into two component vectors at right
angles to each other.

Velocity Vector
(in red)

Vertical Component of
Velocity

Horizontal Component
of Velocity

V. Projectile Motion

What is a projectile? A projectile is any object that is thrown by the exertion of a

force. A force changes the motion of an object. Examples of projectile motion
include a baseball that is thrown into the air, a bullet that is fired from a gun, a
rocket that is shot into the air, and a golf ball that is launched into the air.

Projectiles typically follow a curved path, but we can break their motion into two
separate components: the horizontal velocity and the vertical velocity.

This allows us to simplify the motion of the projectile.

To see how the horizontal component of velocity for a projectile behaves, we can
examine the case of a ball rolling on a flat surface. If the ball does not experience
any significant friction, it will move at a constant velocity:

A projectile behaves in the same way. The horizontal velocity remains constant as
long as no horizontal force acts on the object.

The vertical component of velocity of a projectile does experience a force,

however, because of gravity. This vertical component behaves exactly the same
as if the ball were dropped from a vertical height, however:

The projectile experiences a constant acceleration, g, while the velocity increases

with the passage of time. The increase in velocity causes the ball to cover a
greater distance with each passing unit of time.
The vertical and horizontal components of motion are completely independent of
each other, but together they produce a curved path.

Let us examine this by comparing a ball that is dropped from the same height as
one that is projected horizontally.

The ball projected horizontally increases its horizontal distance by the same
amount each time interval. The increase in vertical distance of the ball matches
that of the ball that was simply dropped.

The path that this ball follows is called a parabola. Any object that is falling
downward with gravity while maintaining a constant horizontal velocity will
follow a parabolic path if the air resistance is negligible.
 VI. Upwardly launched projectiles

If you launch a projectile at an upward angle into the air, it should follow a
straight path and keep going forever. We know that it doesn’t. Instead of
following the straight path, it falls to the ground in a curved path due to gravity.

Let’s examine how the projectile behaves in comparison to the straight path:

2s 3s
19.6 m 44.1 m
1s
4.9 m

As time passes, the projectile falls father and farther below the straight path. If
we examine the amount of time that has passed in relation to the distance that
the object has fallen, we see that it follows the same formula that we used to
calculate the distance that a free-falling object has fallen:

distance = ½ x acceleration x time2

where the acceleration is 9.8 m/s2.

For each passing second, the increase in horizontal distance is always the same,
however, since there is no horizontal acceleration. Only the gravity of the Earth
provides acceleration in the vertical direction.
We can represent the vectors for the velocity of the projectile along the parabolic
path, by their horizontal and vertical components. Again, we see that the
horizontal component is always the same and only the vertical component
changes.

At the highest point on the parabola, the vertical velocity is zero and only the
horizontal velocity contributes to the overall velocity of the object.

The above path is for an object that experiences negligible air resistance. If a
projectile experiences significant air resistance, it will not travel as far as the path
will not be an actual parabola.

If air resistance is negligible, a projectile will take the same time to rise to it
maximum height as it will to fall from that same height. This is because the
deceleration due to gravity as the projectile travels up is the same as the
acceleration due to gravity as the projectile travels down.

Thus, the projectile hits the ground with the same speed that it had when it was
launched.
 9.8 m/s 9.8 m/s

29.4 m/s 29.4 m/s

49 m/s 49 m/s

VII. Satellites

We have already seen that a projectile will fall below the path of a straight line
due to the effects of gravity. We also saw that for every second, the projectile
falls 4.9 m below the straight-line. This is true regardless of the speed of the
projectile. Instead of following a straight line, the projectile follows a curved
path due to gravity.

What would happen if we could launch a projectile so fast that the curved path
it follows matches that of the curved surface of the Earth?

If there were no air resistance to slow the projectile, it would orbit the Earth.
This is exactly how satellites work. Instead of falling toward the Earth, they
travel fast enough that they fall around it. Satellites are launched high enough
that air resistance is negligible because if they were not, the friction caused by
the air particles would be so high that they would burn up.
CLASS 3 – NEWTON’S UNIVERSAL LAWS OF MOTION

I. NEWTON’S FIRST LAW OF MOTION – THE LAW OF INERTIA

An object in motion will continue in motion in a straight line at a constant

speed and an object at rest will remain at rest unless it is acted upon by an
unbalanced force.

Newton’s First Law of Motion essentially states that objects want to keep
doing whatever they are already doing.

A book sitting on the top of a table will not move unless a force is exerted to
lift it. A hockey puck sliding across the ice in a straight line will only slow down
and stop eventually because the ice provides some small amount of friction
which is a force. If an astronaut working on the space station drops a tool that
is not tethered, the tool will move in a straight line until it encounters the
force of gravity of some other object in space.

A force is something that changes the motion of an object. Force is measured

in Newtons (N).

This tendency of an object to keep doing what it is already doing is called

inertia.
Not all objects have the same amount of inertia. You may already know that
it’s much harder to move a large rock than a small rock. This is because inertia
is influenced by mass. The more mass an object has, the greater its inertia and
thus the greater the force required to change its state of motion.

Mass is the amount of matter an object has and is measure in kilograms (kg).
Mass is also a measure of how much inertia an object has.

It is important to note that mass is not the same as volume. You could have a
large pillow of feathers that is bigger in volume than a bowling ball, but the
bowling ball would be harder to set in motion because it has more mass.

Mass is also not the same as weight. A heavy object does contain more matter
and so will have more mass, but the mass of an object depends only on its
chemical composition, that is the amount and type of atoms that comprise it.

The amount of matter in an object will not change if the object is on Earth or if
it is placed on the moon, or on Mars. The same force will be required to move
this object no matter where it is. Its inertia will remain the same.
On the other hand, the object’s mass will change if it is on the moon versus if it
is on Earth or on Mars. This is because weight is the pull of gravity on an
object and the force of gravity is different on the moon than it is on Earth or
on Mars.

Weight = mass x g (where g is the acceleration due to gravity)

The larger the mass, the more it will weigh. This is because mass and weight
are directly proportional. An object with twice as much mass will have twice
as much weight and an object with half the mass will have half the weight, as
long as the force of gravity remains the same.

II. Net Force and Equilibrium

All of the forces acting on an object combine to create a net force. It is

actually the net force that changes the state of motion of an object. Like
velocity, force is a vector quantity with a magnitude and a direction. Forces
can add together or cancel each other out in part or in whole to create the net
force on an object. A free-body diagram shows all the forces acting on an
object.

APPLIED FORCE NET FORCE

2N
6N
4N

2N 4N 2N

2N 2N 0N
A book sitting on a table does not fall to the ground even though the force of
gravity is acting on it. This is because there is another force acting upon the
book that cancels out the force of gravity. This force is the support force, or
normal force, from the table.

Because the support force cancels out the force of gravity, the net force on the
book is zero. We say that the book on the table is in a state of equilibrium.
The table is pushing back on the book with the exact same force that the book
is pushing down on the table.

III. Newton’s Second Law of Motion

Newton’s Second Law of Motion focuses on how force creates acceleration.

When the net force on an object increases, its acceleration increases. Force
and acceleration are directly proportional: if the force increases, the
acceleration increases by the same amount for a given mass.

If the force doubles, the acceleration doubles as long as the mass is the same.
If the force is halved, the acceleration is also halved as long as the mass is the
same.

You know from experience that if you push a cart that is empty, it is easier to
push than if it contains a heavy load of wood. That is to say that it is more
difficult to accelerate more mass with the same amount of force. This is
because mass and acceleration are inversely proportional: if the mass
increases, the acceleration decreases by the same amount for a given mass.

In this case, if the mass doubles, the acceleration will be cut in half for the
same force.
If the mass is cut in half, the acceleration will double for the same force.

Newton put these two concepts together into an equation:

Force = mass x acceleration (or F = ma) where the force is the net force.

We can also see from this equation that the units of force are also the unit of
mass (kg) times the units of acceleration (m/s2).

Thus, a Newton is also a kg x m.

s2

IV. Friction

Friction is a force because it can change the motion of an object, but friction
always acts to slow down the motion of an object and never to speed it up.
Friction occurs when two objects come in contact with each other.

The magnitude of the force of friction between two objects depends on the
type of materials that are in contact and the amount of contact between the
two objects.

Pushing Force

Force of Friction
For solids, friction is due to the irregularities in the surface that produce small
bumps that impede the motion of the objects as they slide past each other.

Friction can also occur with liquids and gases, however. We call this fluid
friction since both liquids and gases can flow and are thus termed fluids.

Fluid friction occurs as an object moves through the fluid and pushes its
particles aside.

Air resistance is one common form of fluid friction.

A terminal velocity occurs for a falling object when the force due to air
resistance is the opposite of the object’s weight.

AIR RESISTANCE

WEIGHT

Terminal velocity means that the velocity is constant and no longer increases.
V. Pressure

The pressure is the amount of force applied per unit area. If the force is
perpendicular to the surface area, we can write the equation:

Pressure = force
area

where the area is the area over which the force is acting.

Since the units of force are Newtons and the units of area are meters squared,
the units of pressure are:

Newtons which are also called pascals (Pa).

m2

Pressure and area are inversely proportional. The smaller the area supporting
a particular force, the larger the pressure.

VI. Free Falling Objects Revisited

We have seen that a free falling object will have a constant acceleration, g,
when air resistance is minimal.

Using Newton’s second law, we can see why that is true.

If we rearrange force = mass x acceleration, we get

Acceleration = force where the acceleration is g.

mass
Since mass and weight (the force due to gravity) are proportional, the larger
the mass, the larger the force. The ratio of force to mass remains the same
and the acceleration due to gravity is a constant (9.8 m/s2 for Earth).

For a 10 kg ball and a 1 kg

ball falling, the ratio of
force (weight) to mass is
the same for both.

We can also see now why outside a vacuum, a feather is affected by air
resistance while a bowling ball is not. The feather is very light, and it does not
take long for the air resistance to equal the weight of the feather. When it
does, the net force is zero and the feather reaches a terminal velocity.

It takes longer for the air resistance to match the weight of the bowling ball
and if the height from which it is dropped is not very high, it may reach the
ground before air resistance has a chance to affect its velocity.

If two spherical rocks of different masses are dropped from the same height at
the same time, the heavier rock will attain a higher terminal velocity as it takes
longer for the air resistance to create a net force of zero.

The shape of a falling object will also affect its terminal velocity. If the object
has a greater surface area, it will encounter greater air resistance, while a
more compact object will encounter less air resistance.
VII. Newton’s Third Law of Motion

When one object exerts a force on another, the second object exerts and equal
and opposite force on the first object.

One force is called the action force and the other force is called the reaction
force, although it does not matter which force is assigned which name.

This is because the forces exist as a pair and one force does not exist without
the other. The two forces are equal in magnitude but opposite in direction.

If you push against a wall, the wall pushes back with an equal and opposite
force.

If you are standing on the ground, you exert a force on the ground while the
ground exerts an equal and opposite force on you.

If a rock is falling to the ground, it is because the Earth’s gravity is exerting a

force on it, but at the same time, the rock is exerting an equal and opposite
force on the Earth.

This means that the rock is pulling the Earth up while the Earth is pulling the
boulder down! Why don’t we notice the Earth moving? According to
Newton’s Second Law of Motion, a force exerted on a small mass produces a
much greater acceleration than is produced when the same force is exerted on
a larger mass. The mass of the Earth is so incredibly large that its acceleration
upward due to the rock is incredibly small, and so we never notice it.
CLASS 4 – MOMENTUM

I. Momentum

You already know from your experiences that it is harder to stop a large truck
than a bicycle if both are going the same speed.

This is because the truck has more momentum which is inertia of motion.

The equation for momentum is:

momentum = mass x velocity

From this equation we can see that an object will have a high momentum if it
has a large mass, a high velocity, or both. If the bicyclist were able to go at a
much higher velocity than the truck, they could attain a higher momentum
than the truck despite the lower mass.

How does momentum change? By changing either the mass or the velocity.
Since an object’s mass is not likely to change, it is most often the velocity that
changes when the momentum of an object changes.

A change in velocity is known as acceleration. What produces a change in

velocity? A force. We have already seen from Newton’s Second Law that the
greater the force, the greater the acceleration that occurs.
Not only is the size of the force important, but also its duration. The longer
the force is applied, the greater the change in momentum.

To represent the time component of momentum, we use the term impulse.

impulse = force x time interval

The greater the impulse that is exerted on an object, the greater the object’s
change in momentum.

We can also say:

Force x Dt = D(mass x velocity) where D is the symbol for change.

Since the impulse is the force multiplied by a time interval, the units of impulse
are Newtons times seconds or Newton-seconds.

II. Increasing and Decreasing Momentum

When increasing momentum, it often makes sense to apply the greatest force
possible for the greatest length of time possible. A baseball player will try to
hit the ball with as much force as possible and follow through their swing for
as long as possible in order to get a hit.

When decreasing momentum, however, it often makes sense to extend the

time of the impact of the force.

Let’s say you are driving a car and unfortunately the brakes fail. You have two
choices to stop the car: you can crash into a brick wall, or you can crash into a
haystack. You choose the haystack, of course.
Why does the haystack cause less injury to you and your car? Both the wall
and the haystack stop the momentum of the car with the same impulse, but
remember

impulse = force x time

While the impulse is the same, this is only because the product of the force and
the time is the same. If the impact time is extended by the haystack, the
impact force will be lowered. This is because force and time are inversely
proportional.

If we want the impact force to be lowered, we can extend the impact time.
Other examples of this include the airbag of a car, falling on a soft surface
versus a hard surface, and bungee jumping.

If two objects are dropped and one hits the ground and stops while another
bounces, which has the greater impulse? The one that bounced. This is
because it takes a greater impulse to launch the object back into the air.

III. Conservation of Momentum

We have seen that in order to change the momentum of the object, an

impulse must be exerted on it. This impulse must come from outside the
object. An internal force will not change the momentum of the object because
of the Law of Conservation of Momentum.
Conservation means that a quantity, in this case momentum, does not change.

Momentum is also a vector quantity and so if the momentum in one direction

is equal in magnitude to the momentum in the opposite direction, the two can
cancel each other out.

Take the case of a cannon that fires a cannon ball. Before the cannon ball is
fired, the momentum is zero. As the cannon ball is fired, it gains momentum,
but according to Newton’s Third Law, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
As the cannon ball is fired, the cannon moves backwards. This momentum of
the cannon is equal to that of the cannon ball, but in the opposite direction,
and so the two momenta (the plural of momentum) cancel each other out.

We can consider the cannon and the cannon ball to be a system. Within this
system, the overall momentum did not change. It is still zero.

The Law of Conservation of Momentum says that if there is no net force or

impulse on a system, there is no change in momentum for that system.

The momentum of a system cannot change unless it is acted upon by an

external (outside) force.
The cannon ball moves forward farther than the cannon moves backward
because its mass is much less, but the overall momentum of the cannon
ball/cannon system remains the same.
IV. Collisions

One way that we can see the conservation of momentum is with collisions.

If two objects collide in the absence of external forces, the net momentum of
the objects before the collision is equal to the net momentum of the objects
after the collision:

net momentum before collision = net momentum after collision

There are two types of collisions: elastic collisions and inelastic collisions. In an
elastic collision, the objects collide without being permanently altered and
without producing heat.

When a moving ball (in blue) strikes a stationary ball (in green), the
momentum is transferred from the blue ball to the green ball and the green
ball moves away from the blue ball with the same initial velocity that the blue
ball had. The momentum vector is the same before and after the collision.

If the two balls were to move in opposite directions and collide head on or if
the collision was between two balls moving in the same direction, the collision
would still be elastic, and momentum would be conserved.

In an inelastic collision, the objects become distorted and generate heat. This
occurs whenever two colliding objects become tangled or coupled together.
Despite this, momentum is conserved during the collision.
Let’s say that a moving car collides with a stationary car and the two become
coupled together. The cars are of equal mass, however the moving car was
traveling at a velocity of 8 m/s. The stationary car initially had a velocity of 0
m/s.

Initial velocity 8 m/s 0 m/s

What would be the velocity of the two cars after they are joined together?
Remember that momentum equals mass times velocity and that

net momentum before collision = net momentum after collision

Thus, we have

mass blue car x (8 m/s) = (mass blue car + mass green car) x final velocity

Since the masses of the two cars are equal, we have

mass x (8 m/s) = 2 mass x final velocity

The mass cancels out on both sides to give

8 m/s = 2 x final velocity

and the final velocity = 4 m/s.

Most collisions do involve some external force, which is often friction. The
moving balls on a pool table encounter friction from the surface of the table
and from the air. Two cars that collide encounter friction from the pavement
as they continue moving.

At the moment of collision, however, these external forces are usually

negligible and so we can consider the actual collision to follow the equation
above: the net momentum of the objects before the collision is the same as it
is after the collision and we can say that momentum was conserved during the
collision.

V. Momentum Vectors

Thus far we have looked at collisions in one dimension. Momentum is still

conserved when objects collide in two or in three dimensions, however, in
these cases we need to use momentum vectors to analyze the results.

For example, if a car is travelling north while another car is travelling west and
they collide, their new momentum will be given by the sum of the two
momentum vectors.
CLASS 5 – ENERGY

I. Work

In our discussion of momentum, we looked at how long a force was applied. In

the case of work, we look at over what distance a force is applied.

If the force is constant and the motion is in a straight line, work is done when a
force is exerted over a distance.

Work = force x distance

We can see from the equation that the units of work are N x m which is also
known as a joule (J). We can also see that work is directly proportional to both
force and distance. That is the greater the force or the greater the distance
over which the force is applied, the more work that is done.

It should be noted that work involved applying a force over a distance. If you
are standing still while holding a package, no work is being done on the
package. Work was done on the package when you picked it up and work will
be done on the package if you put it down, but as long as you are simply
holding the package, no work is being done on it. You may get tired of holding
the package, but according to physics, no work is being done on it.

Work is done when a force is applied to move something against an opposing

force such as gravity or friction. Work can also be done to change the speed of
an object.

II. Power

It is often useful to know how long it will take to do a particular amount of

work.

Power measures the amount of time it takes to do a particular amount of

work:

Power = work
Time

Since power involves dividing by time, it is also a rate. The units of power are
J/s which is also known as a watt (W), named after James Watt, the inventor of
the steam engine.

The more work an engine can do in a given amount of time, the more powerful
it is.

III. Mechanical Energy

Mechanical energy is the energy an object has due to either its position or its
movement. Energy allows work to be done and is also measured in joules.
Mechanical energy comes in two forms: potential energy and kinetic energy.
Potential energy is when an object stores energy due to its position. The
energy is not being used at the moment but is ready to be used when needed
and has the potential to do work.

A rock on top of a cliff, a compressed spring, a stretched rubber band, and

water at the top of a waterfall all have potential energy because of their
position.

Chemical potential energy exists within the fuels that we burn, the food that
we eat, and electric batteries. In this case the stored energy is due to the
position of the electric charges within the atoms and molecules of the
materials.

When an object is above the ground, it has gravitational potential energy.

The amount of gravitational potential energy that an object has is given by the
equation:

Gravitational potential energy = mass x g x height

The larger the mass, the greater the height, or the greater the g value, the
greater the gravitational potential energy. This is because work is required to
lift an object to a particular height above gravity and this work is equal to the
potential energy of the object.

Since work is equal to force x distance and the upward force required to lift
the object is equal to its weight, the gravitational potential energy is equal to:

Gravitational potential energy = weight x distance

Knowing that weight is the pull of gravity on the mass of an object and the
distance is equal to the height, we get

Gravitational potential energy = mass x g x height

Kinetic energy is the energy of motion. The kinetic energy of an object

depends on its mass and its velocity:

Kinetic energy = ½ x mass x velocity2

The greater the mass, the greater the kinetic energy of an object and the
greater the velocity of the object, the greater its kinetic energy.

In order for an object to be set in motion, work must be done on it.

The kinetic energy of a moving object is equal to the work necessary to bring it
from a state of rest to the speed at which it is moving.
Since work = force x distance, we can also write

Force x distance = ½ x mass x velocity2

Since velocity is squared, that means that is the velocity of an object is

doubled, its kinetic energy is actually quadrupled. It also means that it will
take four times as much work to stop the object once its velocity is doubled.

Work is done when energy changes. If there is no change in energy, then no

work is done. This is called the work-energy theorem and can be represented
in equation form by:

Work = DEnergy
IV. Conservation of Energy

Like momentum, energy is conserved. The Law of Conservation of Energy

states that

Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can be converted from one
form of energy to another, but the total amount of energy always remains the
same.

The sun’s energy is converted from radiant energy into chemical energy by
plants doing photosynthesis. If you eat the plant, your body then converts the
chemical energy into mechanical energy so that you can move the parts of
your body.

When potential energy is converted to kinetic energy, the amounts of

potential energy and kinetic energy are in theory equal. In reality, this may not
be the case because some energy may be lost as heat. Since heat is energy,
the Law of Conservation of Energy is still observed.

Maximum potential energy

(no kinetic energy)

Maximum kinetic energy

(no potential energy)
V. Machines

Machines multiply a force or change the direction of a force. Let’s consider a

very simple machine, the lever. If you push down on one end of the lever, the
direction of the force is changed, and the load at the other end is lifted up.

Machines follow the Law of Conservation of Energy. If the heat from friction is
small enough to be negligible, the work done on one end of the lever (input)
will be equal to the work done on the other end of the lever (output).

The pivot point of a lever is called the fulcrum.

Let’s take a look at three common placements of the fulcrum:

Class 1: The fulcrum is between the input force and the load. You are probably
already familiar with this type of lever from the seesaw on the playground.

Class 2: The load is between the fulcrum and the input force so to lift the load;
you must lift the end of the lever instead of pushing down on it. You may be
familiar with this type of lever from watching someone place a bar under an
automobile and pushing up on it to lift it.
Class 3: The fulcrum is at one end while the load is at the other. To lift the
load, the input force is applied between them. You may be familiar with this
type of lever from a pair of tongs. The fulcrum is at one end where the two
pieces are joined together. The load is at the other end and is whatever is
picked up by the tongs. The input force is applied in the middle to grip the
load.

The ratio of output force to input force for a machine is called the mechanical
advantage. Ignoring friction, the mechanical advantage can also be calculated
by dividing the input distance by the output distance.

A pulley is a type of lever that is used to change the direction of a force and in
some cases to also multiply a force.

The pulley below is a Class 1 lever and only changes the direction of the force;
it does not multiply the force. This is because the center of the pulley acts as
the fulcrum and the distance from the fulcrum to the end of the pulley is the
same for both the input force and the output force.
The input distance is the same as the output distance and since the pulley does
not multiply the force, the mechanical advantage is 1.

The second pulley (below) is a Class 2 lever with the fulcrum at the left end.
The load is suspended half-way between the input force and the fulcrum. The
load is supported by two pieces of rope and so the mechanical advantage is
now 2 since each piece of rope supports half the load. Each newton of input
force will support two newtons of load. To raise the load 1 m, the person will
have to pull up 2 meters because for a simple pulley system:

Applied force x input distance = output force x output distance

VI. Efficiency

An ideal machine would have an efficiency of 100%. This means that all of the
energy put into the machine would be converted to useful work. In reality,
some energy will be lost to the environment in the form of heat and so the
machine’s efficiency is less than 100%.

When the pulley turns on its axis or the lever turns on its fulcrum, friction
generates heat and this heat is lost to the environment, lowering the efficiency
of the machine. The more heat that is lost, the lower the efficiency.
We express efficiency according to the following equations:

Efficiency = useful work output

total work input

or efficiency = actual mechanical advantage

theoretical mechanical advantage
CLASS 6 – CIRCULAR MOTION AND THE CENTER OF GRAVITY

i. Rotation and Rotational Speed

The turntable of a record player and an ice skater doing a pirouette both
rotate around an axis. The axis is the straight line around which the rotation
occurs. In order for an object to rotate, it must turn around an internal axis.
This means that the axis is located within the body of the object.

When an object turns around an external axis, it is said to revolve. You can see
both types of motion with the Earth. The Earth revolves around the sun, but it
rotates on its axis.

Rotational speed is equal to the number of rotations per unit of time.

Sometimes rotational speed is also called angular speed. It’s common to
express rotational speed in revolutions per minute (rpm) and in fact, this is
how a record were labeled according to how fast they should be spun: 45, 33
½ or 78.

We have already studied linear speed. What happens if an object is travelling

in a circle? The motion of the object is always tangent to the circle and so is
called tangential speed.
Tangential speed is directly proportional to the rotational speed as well as the
radial distance from the axis of rotation. We can express this in equation form
as:

Tangential speed = radial distance x rotational speed

Tangential speed depends on both the radial distance and the rotational
speed. At the center of a rotating disk, the tangential speed is zero. The
tangential speed increases with increasing distance from the center. The
rotational speed will not change, however, based on distance from the center
of the rotating disk.

Two coins at different

places on a turntable
have the same
rotational speed, but
the coin farthest from
the center has a greater
tangential speed (linear
speed).

For circular motion, the tangential speed can be considered to be the linear
speed.

II. Centripetal Force

A centripetal force is any force that causes an object to follow a circular path.
Without this force, the motion of an object would be in a straight line and the
object would not revolve.

This force acts at a right angle to the path of a moving object to produce a
circular path. The force is directed toward the center of motion.
For example, when a car turns a corner, the friction between the tires of the
car and the pavement of the road produces a force that acts at a right angle to
the car to produce a centripetal force that keeps the car on the curved path.

centripetal force

If the centripetal force (the force of friction) is not strong enough, the car is
not able to make the turn and instead will enter a skid as the tires slide
sideways.

If you are riding in the car as it makes a successful turn, you tend to move in
the opposite direction as the car. For example, if the car turns left, you are
thrown toward the right. Even though it may seem as if a force is causing you
to move to the right, in reality, it is because there is no centripetal force
keeping you in circular motion. Your tendency is to keep moving in a straight
line according to Newton’s First Law of Motion.

Sometimes, however, the tendency for an object to move outward during

rotation is called the centrifugal force, a force that pulls outward. This is not
an actual force, however, because a force requires an interaction between two
bodies. In the example of the car above, it may seem like a force is throwing
you against the right side of the car, but it’s really just the effect of Newton’s
First Law of Motion.
III. Simulated Gravity

Astronauts on the space station today experience a weightless environment

and must undergo strict exercise regiments to keep their bodies functioning
properly. In the future, space travelers may be subject to simulated gravity to
help alleviate the problems associated with weightlessness.

A centrifugal force can help simulate gravity by providing a support force to

which the occupants of the space station will experience like gravity. The
space station will spin, and the rotation will create a centripetal acceleration
that is directly proportional to the radial distance and the square of the
rotational speed. If you double the distance from the axis of rotation, the
centripetal acceleration will double.

Most people will be fine at a rate of 1 revolution per minute (RPM) but rates
greater than 2 or 3 RPM can provide difficulty for many people. At these rates
of revolution, simulating gravity will require a very large structure around 2km
in diameter which is much larger the space stations in existence today.

Because the centripetal acceleration varies with the distance from the axis of
rotation, the g value for the simulated gravity experience by the occupants
would vary and at the axis they would experience weightlessness. This means
that people would have to live within a narrow range of diameters from the
axis in order to experience a g value similar to that of what they experience on
Earth. Otherwise, they would need to become accustomed to experiencing
slightly different g values depending on where they went in the space craft.
IV. Center of Gravity

The center of gravity (CG) for an object is the point at which weight is evenly
distributed and thus all sides are in balance.

For a symmetrical object such as a sphere or a cube, the center of gravity is also
the geometric center of the object.

Objects such as a hammer that are heavier on one end than the other, will have a
center of gravity that is toward the heavier end. For objects that are made of
different types of materials, the center of gravity may be very far from the
geometric center.

If you slide an oddly shaped object across a smooth surface, it will appear to spin,
but the center of gravity of the object follows a straight line. The other parts of
the object will rotate around the center of gravity.

The same is true if you toss an oddly shaped object into the air. It will seem to
wobble, but the center of gravity of the object will follow the path of a parabola.

The center of gravity is often called the center of mass which is the position in
which all the particles of mass that make up the object are evenly distributed.

For almost all objects near or on earth, we can use the terms center of gravity and
center of mass interchangeably. For a tall building, the center of gravity would be
slightly below its center of mass since the lower stories experience the pull of
gravity slightly more than the upper stories. Nevertheless, this difference is not
significant, and we can still use the terms interchangeably.
We have seen that if an object is uniform, its center of gravity is at its geometric
center. For example, a ruler will have its center of gravity at the midpoint and if
you are careful, you can balance the ruler on just your finger at the center of
gravity.

What about an object that is not uniform? How can we find the center of gravity
of this type of object?

In this case we can use a plumb bob which is a string with a weight at the end of
it. You will need to be able to hang the object freely from several different points.
For example, for the irregular shape below, we can hang it from two different
points along with the plumb bob. Draw a line on the object where the plumb bob
hang and repeat for the second point. The intersection of the two lines will be
the center of gravity for the object.

For some objects the center of gravity may be in empty space. For example, the
center of gravity for a donut is in the middle of the hole! For a hollow sphere, the
center of gravity is still in the geometric center, but now that center contains no
matter since the sphere is hollow.

The center of gravity for people and animals will vary depending on the position
of their body. When a person stands upright with their arms at their side, their
center of gravity is typically 2-3 centimeters below their navel. If the person puts
their arms above their head, their center of gravity will rise, however, as part of
their body rises. If they bend over, their center of gravity may be located outside
of their body.

V. Toppling and Stability

Why do some objects fall over while others do not? Why does a wooden cone
balance easily on its base, but not its tip?

To answer these questions, let’s examine when objects begin to topple. If the
center of gravity of an object is above the area of support, it will not fall over.

If, however, the center of gravity extends outside the area of support, the object
will fall over.

If two wooden boards are

joined together and the top
board is raised, the box will
topple when its center of
gravity is outside its area of
support (the base of the
block).

We can examine this with the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It leans but does not topple
because its center of gravity is above its base of support. If the tower was to lean
farther so that its center of gravity was outside its support base, the tower would
indeed topple.

In fact, many tall buildings extend far into the ground so that their center of
gravity is lowered. The Space Needle in Seattle extends so far below the ground
that its center of gravity is actually beneath the surface. With such a low center
of gravity, the building will not topple because the center of gravity remains
above the base of support.

The base of support does not have to be solid, however. Think of a chair. The
four legs form a support base that includes the area between the legs.

Some support bases are simply too small to keep the center of gravity above
them consistently. Think of the tip of a wooden cone. You may be able to
balance the cone ever so briefly on its tip if its center of gravity is perfectly
positioned above it, but very quickly the cone topples over.

As soon as the cone topples, its center of gravity is lowered. In this case the cone
was in an unstable equilibrium before it toppled.
When the cone stands on its base, its center of gravity is already very low. For the
cone to topple, its center of gravity would have to be raised. In this case the cone
is in a stable equilibrium. In order to raise the center of gravity, work would have
been done, so the cone will only topple if something knocks into it with sufficient
energy to topple it.

If the cone is on its side, any displacement will not change the height of the center
of gravity and so the object is said to be in neutral equilibrium.

The center of gravity tends to take the lowest position possible. This is ultimately
why objects float or sink.

If the object weighs less than an equal volume of the liquid, the center of gravity
of the system will be lowered if the object floats on the top of the liquid.

On the other hand, if the object weighs more than an equal volume of the liquid,
the center of gravity of the system, will be lowered if the object sinks to the
bottom of the liquid.
CLASS 7 – ROTATIONAL MECHANICS

i. Torque

We have seen that if you want to make an object move, you apply a force so
that the object will accelerate. What if you want to make an object turn or
rotate? In that case, you apply a turning force called a torque. A torque is
produced when a force is applied with leverage. Leverage is gained when you
use a lever.

Devices that use torque include faucets, doorknobs, wrenches, and crowbars.
You may already know that when you use a wrench, it is easier to turn the nut
when you have a wrench with a long handle. If you’re trying to pry open a can
of paint, you choose a screwdriver with a longer handle over one with a
shorter handle.

Lever Arm

Force

If the force applied is perpendicular, the distance from the turning axis to the
point where the force is applied is called the lever arm. The longer the lever
arm, the more torque that can be applied given the same amount of force.
We can express this in equation form as:

torque = force x lever arm

Force and lever arm are inversely proportional so for a given amount of
torque, if the length of the lever arm is doubled, the force necessary to
produce the torque is cut in half.
Torques produce rotation, but when two torques are balanced, no rotation
occurs. You may have experienced this when you were young and sat on a
seesaw that rotated with someone whose weight was much more or much less
than your own. Whoever weighed more sat closer to the fulcrum so that the
seesaw would not rotate.

The counterclockwise torque is equal to the clockwise torque. Since the

torque equals the force times the distance from the fulcrum, this can be
expressed mathematically by:

(Force x distance)cw = (Force x distance)ccw

By knowing three of the four values, we can calculate the fourth. For example,
if you were to sit on the seesaw in a particular position, by knowing both your
weight and your friend’s weight, you could calculate how far from the fulcrum
your friend should sit to avoid any torque.

150 N 300 N

3m x

(150 N)(3 m) = (300 N)(x)

450 N x m = 300 N(x)
1.5 m = x

Why do some objects rotate while others don’t? It has to do with how the
force is applied. If the direction of the force is through the center of gravity of
the object, then the force moves the object, but there is no torque to turn the
object around its center of gravity. If, however, the force is off-center from
the center of gravity, then the object will move forward while rotating about
its center of gravity.
You may have seen this phenomenon in playing Frisbee. If you want to have a
good spin on the frisbee, you must apply the force to the edge of it, away from
the center of gravity. The spin on the frisbee gives it a greater accuracy.

II. Rotational Inertia

We can modify Newton’s First Law of Motion, the Law of Inertia, so that it
applies to objects that are rotating.

An object that is rotating about its axis tends to keep rotating about its axis
unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

Rotational Inertia is the resistance of a rotating object to changes in its motion

and a torque is required to change the rotational state of motion of an object.

Rotational inertia depends on the mass, but also on the distribution of the
mass. A greater rotational inertia will be produced when most of the mass of
the object is farther from the axis about which rotation takes place.

Easier to rotate Harder to rotate

The rotational inertia of an object is not always constant. For example, a

baseball player may hold the bat farther from its end so as to reduce the
rotational inertia. This makes the bat easier to swing with a higher speed.
The formula for calculating the rotational inertia varies depending on the
object and the axis about which it is rotating. Below are a few formulas for
different objects of mass, m, and axes.

Pendulum:
rotational inertia = mr2
Solid Cylinder
rotational inertia = 1/2mr2

Stick Sphere
rotational inertia = 1/12mL2 rotational inertia = 2/3mr2

Gymnasts and figure skaters need to be aware of rotational inertia in their

routines. There are three axes of rotation in the human body, each of which
passes through the center of gravity: the longitudinal axis, the median axis,
and the transverse axis.
 longitudinal axis

median axis

transverse axis

The rotational inertia is lowest on the longitudinal axis since the majority of
the body’s mass is concentrated along this axis and this makes a rotation
about this axis the easiest to execute.

When an ice skater enters a spin, they are rotating about the longitudinal axis.
If they extend an arm or a leg, they will increase their rotational inertia. This
means that when they draw the leg and/or arm toward their body, their speed
of rotation will increase as the rotational inertia decreases.
When a gymnast does a somersault or a flip, they are rotating about their
transverse axis. They have their lowest rotational inertia with their limbs
drawn inward and their greatest rotational inertia when all of their limbs are
fully extended. When a gymnast dismounts from swinging on a bar and pulls
their limbs in, their rotational speed increases as their rotational inertia
decreases and they are able to complete several flips before landing on the
ground.

III. Angular Momentum

Linear momentum is the tendency of an object to keep moving in a straight

line and as we have seen, is the product of mass times velocity.

Angular momentum is the tendency of an object to keep rotating. Angular

momentum is a vector quantity as is the speed of rotation, the rotational
velocity.

In mathematical terms, angular momentum is the product of the rotational

inertia and the rotational velocity:

angular momentum = rotational inertia x rotational velocity

If, however, the object is small compared to radial distance to the axis of
rotation, the angular momentum can be calculated as the product of the linear
momentum times the radial distance to the axis of rotation:

angular momentum = mass x velocity x radial distance

This is the case for the rotation of the Earth about the sun since the Earth is
very small compared to its distance from the sun.

An external net torque is required to change the angular momentum of a

rotating object and the angular momentum of a rotating object or system is
conserved if no net torque is acting upon the system.
The Law of Conservation of Angular Momentum states that the angular
momentum of a system is unchanged in the absence of an unbalanced
external torque.

Since angular momentum is the product of rotational inertia and rotational

velocity, we can see why an ice skater will spin faster when they pull their arms
and legs inward or why a gymnast will tumble faster when they pull their limbs
inward.

The rotational inertia of the skater or the gymnast is greater when their arms
and legs are extended. When they pull their limbs inward, their rotational
inertia decreases. To maintain the same angular momentum, their rotational
velocity increases.
CLASS 8 – UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION

I. Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation

You are probably familiar with gravity from your experiences in life. You know
that if you drop something, it falls down. What causes gravity? A century ago,
Albert Einstein stated that gravity results from the warping of space and time
because neither is perfectly smooth. Ultimately this means that every mass in
the universe is attracted to every other mass.

You may have heard the story that Sir Isaac Newton discovered gravity when
he was sitting under an apple tree, and one fell and hit him on the head. In
wondering why the apple fell down, he decided that it must be gravity.
Whether the story is actually true or not, we’ll never know, but Newton did
come up with an equation to explain the properties of gravity.

This equation is known as Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation and has the
following form:
Force = G x mass1 x mass2
distance2

The force of gravity is proportional to the masses of the two objects, and it is
inversely proportional to the distance squared. This means that the greater
the masses are, the greater the force of gravity between them and the greater
the distance between the two masses, the lower the force is between them.

Because the force is inversely proportional to the distance squared, this means
that the force of attraction decreases even more rapidly with increasing
distance. If you double the distance (a factor of 2), the force will be one fourth
of what it was and not ½ because 22 is 4.

As the name of the equation implies, gravity is universal. In the equation, G is

called the universal gravitational constant and has the value

G = 6.67 x 10-11 N x m2
kg2
The gravitational constant allows us to place the equals sign in Newton’s
equation. Without it, all we can say is that the force is directly proportional to
the masses and inversely proportional to the distance squared. If we wish to
do calculations with Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation, we need the
constant.

The value of G tells scientists that gravity is a very weak force. Because of this,
we tend to notice gravity only when one of the masses is very large and the
distance between the masses is rather small.

G was measured by a scientist named Henry Cavendish about 150 years after
Newton discovered the gravity was universal. Later Philipp von Jolly repeated
the experiment using liquid mercury in a spherical flask attached to one arm of
a balance. When the balance was in equilibrium, a 6-ton lead sphere was
placed beneath the sphere containing the mercury. The lead sphere was so
large that it pulled the mercury sphere slightly downward. The balance was
placed in equilibrium again by adding further weights to the other side. The
amount of weight necessary to add was equal to the gravitational force
between the lead sphere and the mercury in the flask.

v v

A flask of The lead sphere

mercury on a pulls the flask of
balance in mercury slightly
equilibrium. downward.

The balance is
brought back into
equilibrium by
adding an
additional weight
(in green) which is
equal to G.
II. Gravitational Fields

The force of gravity creates a gravitational field around a massive object such
as the Earth. Smaller objects have gravitational fields whose effects are too
small to notice. To understand what a force field is, think of two magnets. If
you push the like poles toward each other, you can feel a repulsion. The
magnets do not need to touch, however, for you to feel the repulsion. This is
because of the force field that exists between the two magnets.

Similarly, objects do not need to be on the surface of the Earth to be

influences by the gravitational field of the Earth. If they are close enough, they
fall to the surface of the Earth because of the gravitational force field.

Earth’s gravitational field can be represented by field lines, although these

lines are purely imaginary and are only meant to show the direction of the
force field. The closer the lines are to each other, the strong the force field is.
The strength of the gravitational force field is equal to g, the acceleration an
object experiences in free fall when only the force of gravity acts upon it.
Thus, we can define the gravitational force field as

g = Force/mass

If you substitute Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation for the force in the
above equation, you will end up with

g = GM
R2

where M is the mass of the planet and R is the radius of the planet. If you
know these two values for any planet, you can calculate the acceleration due
to gravity at the surface of that planet.

The gravitational field of any planet exists inside the planet as well as outside
the planet. If you could drill a hole through a planet, you would find that as
you dropped an object through the hole, the force on it and its acceleration, g,
would decrease as it moved toward the center of the planet. At the center of
the planet, the force on it would be zero. This is because there is not only a
downward force from the center of the planet pulling the object down, but
there is also an upward force from the outside of the planet, pulling the object
upward. At the very center, these two opposing forces are equal and cancel
each other out, leaving a net force of zero.

g = 9.8 m/s2

g = 0 m/s2

g = 9.8 m/s2
III. Weight and Weightlessness

Astronauts on the space station experience weightlessness. You may have

experienced this feeling yourself if you were in a car that went over a bump or
on a roller coaster. Are these experiences due to a lack of gravity?

The car and the roller coaster are still on Earth and are under the influence of
Earth’s gravity. Even the space station is still under the influence of Earth’s
gravity as well as the gravity of the Sun and the other planets.

Why then do you feel weightlessness if you momentarily leave your seat while
on a roller coaster or if the car momentarily leaves the road as it goes over a
bump? It’s because of the absence of a support force, not because of the
absence of gravity.

When you stand on the floor, you exert a force on the floor, but the floor
exerts a force on you which as you may recall is called the support force. The
same is true if you sit in a seat. You exert a force on the seat and the seat
exerts a force on you.

We have defined weight as the pull of gravity on an object, but for this reason,
we may also define weight as the force an object exerts on the supporting
surface on which it sits.

If you were in a falling elevator, there would be no constant support force and
you would feel weightless as if gravity were absent. The same thing occurs
with astronauts as their space station falls around the Earth.

IV. Ocean Tides

You probably have already learned that the gravity of the moon causes the
ocean tides, but let’s take a closer look at exactly how this occurs. Isaac
Newton showed that it is not simply the moon pulling on the oceans of the
Earth that causes the tides. It’s the difference in the gravitational pull of the
moon on opposite sides of the Earth that causes the tides.
The moon will always be closer to one side of the Earth (and its oceans) and
farther from the other side of the Earth (and its oceans). Remember that the
gravitational force decreases as the distance increases. Thus, the moon’s
gravity will have a stronger pull on the ocean that is closest to it and a weaker
pull on the ocean that is farther from it.

The Earth and the moon are orbiting each other about their combined center
of mass. As this happens, the ocean nearest the moon is pulled toward the
moon and away from the ocean farthest from the moon. Because the Earth is
round, this has the effect of elongating Earth’s oceans at both ends, creating
two tidal bulges.

Earth spins on its axis beneath these tidal bulges, completing one turn per day.
Every time a part of the Earth passes through a tidal bulge, that part
experiences a high tide. When that part of the Earth is not under a tidal bulge,
it experiences low tide. The water is lower than the average level of the ocean
in these parts because some water that would have been there is now under
the bulges.

Because the moon is moving in its orbit, it appears in the same position at a
place in the sky every 24 hours and 50 minutes. Since this is slightly longer
than 24 hours, the tides do not occur at the same time every day.
Even though the sun is much more massive than the moon and has a much
stronger pull on the Earth, it does not contribute to the ocean tides as much as
the moon does. This is because the tides are caused by the difference in the
pull of gravity on one side of the Earth versus the other.

Because the sun is so very far away, the difference in its pull of gravity on one
side of the Earth versus the other is not as big as it is with the moon. Thus, the
tides caused by the moon are larger than those caused by the sun. When the
sun, the Earth, and the moon are lined up, however, the tides caused by the
sun and the moon add together and the high tides are higher than usual, and
the low tides are lower than usual.

Another factor that influences the tides is the tilt of the Earth on its axis. This
means that the two tides experienced each day are unequal most of the time,
even though the two tidal bulges are equal.

The fact that the tides are caused by a large difference in the pull of gravity can
also be seen in the fact that there are no high tides and low tides in a lake. No
one part of the lake is significantly closer to the moon than another since a
lake is a much smaller body of water. Without this large difference in the pull
of gravity, there are no tides.
V. Black Holes

Stars undergo two different processes simultaneously. Gravitation pulls

matter inward toward the center. At the same time, the explosive force of
fusion blows matter outward. When these two forces balance each other, the
result is a star of a given size.

If the fusion rate increases, the star gets hotter and bigger, but if it decreases,
the star gets colder and smaller. Eventually the star will run out of hydrogen
used in fusion. For stars that are two or three times more massive than the
Sun, once fusion stops, gravitation takes over and the star collapses inward on
itself. It is believed that the density (mass/volume) becomes infinite, and the
gravitation is so enormous that not even light can escape. Thus, these
structures have been named black holes.

The gravitational field beyond the space that the star originally occupied does
not change; it has the same strength that it did when the star was still there. It
is only the area that the star occupied that is now a black hole.

While scientists cannot see a black hole since no light can escape them, they
can predict their existence based on their effects. Many star systems are
binary which means that two stars orbit around each other. Sometimes only
one star is observed, but yet it behaves as if it is part of a two-star system with
matter streaming toward an unseen companion star. It is probably a black
hole that is attracting this matter.
CLASS 9 – SPECIAL RELATIVITY: SPACE AND TIME

In 1905 Albert Einstein proposed the special theory of relativity which described
how time is affected by motion in space at constant velocity as well as the
relationship between mass and energy.

We will first take a look at the part of the theory that relates space to time.

I. Space-Time

According to Einstein, both space and time exist only within the
universe, and not outside of it.

Furthermore, Einstein did not separate space and time into different
components but saw them as two parts of a whole which he termed
space-time.

You can move through space-time in three ways:

1) If you stand still, you are moving only through time

2) If you are moving, you are traveling through both space and time

3) If you are moving at the speed of light, you are only moving through
space and not through time just as light does; light moves through
space but not time.

Since space and time are not independent of each other in Einstein’s
theory, motion through space affects motion through time.

Time dilation is a stretching of time. For speeds we experience on

Earth, it is slight, but for speeds that approach the speed of light, it can
be significant.
II. Motion is Relative

The speed of an object is relative and thus its value depends on where it
is observed and measured.

Let’s take three examples of a ball being pitched to a stationary person:

1) The ball is pitched at 50 km/hr from a stationary position

In this case the ball is moving toward the person at 50 km/hr.

2) The ball is pitched at 50 km/hr from a vehicle that is moving toward

the person at 30 km/hr

Now the ball is moving at a total speed of 80 km/hr: the 30 km/hr that
the truck is moving plus the 50 km/hr speed at which the ball was
pitched.

3) The ball is pitched at 50 km/hr from a vehicle that is moving away

from you at 30 km/hr

Now the ball is moving toward the person at 20 km/hr: the 30 km/hr
that the truck is moving is subtracted from the speed of the pitch.
III. The Speed of Light

Unlike the baseball in the previous example, light does not behave this
way.

Every measurement of light in space is the same: 300,000 km/s, no

matter what the speed of the source of the light is.

This is to say that if light were beamed from the truck in our preceding
example, the speed of the light would always be the same regardless of
whether or not the truck was approaching the observer, moving away
from the observer, or standing still.

Speed is the time it takes to travel through an amount of space.

Because the speed of light was constant no matter the source, Einstein
theorized that space and time must be two parts of a single whole:
space-time.

IV. The First Postulate of Special Relativity

The laws of physics are the same for all frames of reference.

Uniform motion is when an object is moving at a constant velocity (a

constant speed and in a straight line).

According to Einstein, there is no way to determine the state of uniform

motion.

Let’s take the case of an airplane. How can you tell if you are on the
ground at rest or high in the air flying at a constant velocity if the
window shades are closed and you cannot hear any sounds?

If you drop a ball, it will fall to the ground in both cases.

If you swing a necklace back and forth, it will behave the same in both
cases.
 According to Einstein, there is no experiment that you can perform to
determine whether or not the plane is on the ground or in the air under
these conditions because the laws of physics are the same whether the
plane is flying at a constant velocity or stationary on the ground.

V. The Second Postulate of Special Relativity

The speed of light in empty space is constant regardless of the motion of

the source of the light or the motion of the observer of the light.

A spaceship is in space outside of a space station.

Again, there are three possibilities for the motion of the spaceship:

1) The spaceship is motionless

2) The spaceship is travelling toward the space station

3) The spaceship is travelling away from the space station.

In any of the above cases, if the speed of light is measured, it will always be 300,
000 km/s. This value is known as c.

The reason for this is because anything that moves through space does so with a
corresponding passage of time.

For light, the ratio of the amount of space travelled to the time it takes for the
travel to occur is always constant.

In other words: space = c

time

VI. Time Dilation

To understand time dilation, let’s think of a clock that measures time by emitting
a pulse of light. The light travels to a mirror and bounces back to where it
originated. When the original pulse returns, another pulse is sent out. Thus, the
clock will measure time in pulses of light.

How long does it take the clock for one pulse of light to be emitted and return?
The answer to that question differs depending on where the observer of the clock
is in relation to where the clock is. If you are standing on the ground and the
clock is also on the ground, then the pulse of light appears to travel in a vertical
direction up to the mirror and back.

On the other hand, if you are standing on the ground, but the light clock is moving
on a spaceship above the Earth, then it will appear that the pulse of light travels a
longer distance from its origin to the receiver and back. Remember distance =
speed/time. Since the speed of light is always constant, regardless of the frame
of reference, if the distance the light travels is longer, then the time that it takes
for the light to travel must be longer in the moving clock.

It appears then that the moving clock “ticks” slower than the stationary clock. If a
person was on the spaceship with the moving clock, however, they would regard
that clock as stationary and would see the clock on the ground on the Earth as
moving. For them, the slower clock would be the clock on the ground.

If we want to calculate this difference in time, we can do so by using the

Pythagorean theorem.

We’ll consider one “tick” of the light clock the distance that the light travels from
its source to the mirror. The time for one “tick” of the stationary clock as
observed from the ground, is simply the distance the light has travelled divided by
its speed which is the speed of light, c.

distance Time(ground clock/ground observer) = distance

between c
mirrors
To calculate the time that it takes for one “tick” of the moving clock, we’ll need to
use the Pythagorean theorem.

distance
between
mirrors

distance
moved

The distance the clock has moved is equal to:

The velocity of the moving clock x the time passed to the observer on the ground.
We’ll call this time(moving clock/ground observer).

The Pythagorean Theorem gives us a2 + b2 = c2. In this case c2 is the distance the
light has travelled from the bottom mirror to the top mirror, so:

(distance light travels)2 = (distance between mirrors)2 + (velocity x time(moving clock/ground observer).)2

Taking the square root of both sides gives

distance light travels = (distance between mirrors)2 + (velocity x time(moving clock/ground observer).)2

Since time = distance, then distance = time x c and substituting in for the distance
c

the light travels, we get

time(moving clock/ground observer). = (distance between mirrors)2 + (velocity x time(moving clock/ground observer))2
c

If we square both sides, we get

(time(moving clock/ground observer))2 = (distance between mirrors)2 + (velocity x time(moving clock/ground observer)))2
c2 c2
The distance between the mirrors is equal to the time for one click of the
stationary clock to the observer on the ground which we’ll call
time(stationary clock/ground observer) multiplied by the speed of light, c.

Substituting in, we get

(time(moving clock/ground observer))2 = (time(stationary clock/ground observer))2 + (velocity x time(moving clock/ground observer)))2
c2

If we divide both sides by time(moving clock/ground observer), we get

1 = (time(stationary clock/ground observer))2 + velocity2

(time(moving clock/ground observer))2 c2

If we solve for the time of the moving clock to the ground observer, we get:

(time(moving clock/ground observer)) = time(stationary clock/ground observer))

1 – (velocity/c)2

We can see from this equation that the time for the moving clock to the ground
observer must be less than the time for the stationary clock next to the observer
since this quantity is divided by the square root of 1- (velocity/c)2.

The time it takes for one tick of the moving clock will always be more than it takes
for the tick of the stationary clock next to the observer.

The square root of 1 - (velocity/c)2 is called the Lorentz factor. We can use the
Lorentz factor to calculate the time dilation between stationary and moving
clocks.

It is only when moving objects begin to approach the speed of light that time
dilation becomes a big factor. For an object travelling at 99% of the speed of
light, the Lorentz factor is 0.141. This means that the time of the tick for the
moving clock will be 0.141 times that of the stationary clock. For every one tick of
the moving clock, the stationary clock will tick seven times.

VII. Space and Time Travel

The difference of seven ticks per one tick can be quite significant and poses
problems for future space travel if we were to figure out how to travel close to
the speed of light. The nearest star to Earth (other than the sun) is Alpha Centauri
which is 4 light years away. This means that light travels at 300,000 km/s for 4
years to reach the distance between us and Alpha Centauri. In order to reach
distant galaxies, we may need to be able to travel at or near the speed of light.

Because of time dilation, if astronauts were to travel near the speed of light, they
would be able to make the trip to distant galaxies in far fewer years than it would
take even light to make the trip. Not only would their clocks indicate the much
shorter time, but they would age only the number of years that were indicated by
their clocks.

What would happen when such astronauts returned to Earth, however? Their
families and friends would be long gone. If the astronauts were gone for 15 years,
over a century would pass by on Earth. Time, as far as we know, travels only in
one direction: forward. Thus, the astronauts would not have the option of
returning to an earlier time when those they knew when they left were still alive.
CLASS 10: SPECIAL RELATIVITY: LENGTH, MOMENTUM, AND ENERGY

I. Length Contraction

It is not just time that changes for moving objects versus stationary objects.
The actual object itself also appears to contract in the direction of travel when
viewed by an outside observer. If the object is moving horizontally, the width
of the object doesn’t change, only its length. Furthermore, the amount of
contraction depends on the amount of time dilation. Again, it is only when the
motion of the object approaches the speed of light that this contraction
becomes significant.

A spaceship moving
horizontally
appears to contract
in length, but not
height and width.

As the relative speed of an object moving past a stationary observer gets

closer to the speed of light, the measured length of the object gets closer to
zero. A moving basketball would appear like a pancake close to the speed of
light.

velocity = 0 velocity = 0.995c velocity = 0.999c

Let’s say the moving object is a spaceship with people in it. What do they see
aboard their spaceship? Is everything contracted? No. They see everything as
it always was before they took off on their journey. If, however, they looked
down at an object on Earth, that object would appear contracted to them.
This is because as far as the travelers on the spaceship are concerned, they are
at rest and everything else either moves toward them or away from them.

The Lorentz factor can also be used to calculate the amount of relativistic
length contraction:

L = L0 1 – (velocity/c)2

where L is the length of the moving object to the observer and L0 is the length
of the object when it is stationary to the observer.

If we substitute in the speed of light, c, for the velocity of the object, we see
that the Lorentz factor becomes zero and thus the measured length of the
object also becomes zero.

II. Relativity with Momentum and Inertia

Classical physics (that of Newton) says that force is directly proportional to

acceleration (force = mass x acceleration). This means that the higher the
force, the greater the acceleration for an object. This equation implies that as
long as you can increase the force, you can increase the acceleration as high as
you would like.

In reality, this is not true. You cannot accelerate an object to the speed of light
or to any velocity greater than the speed of light. Newton originally wrote his
Second Law of Motion in terms of momentum where the force equals the
change in momentum divided by the change in time.

Momentum is directly proportional to the size of the impulse applied to the

object. Does momentum have a limit the way that velocity does? It does not.
Momentum does not have an upper limit and can increase indefinitely. The
equation that we saw for momentum previously was

momentum = mass x velocity

According to this equation, infinite momentum would require infinite velocity
and yet the upper limit of velocity is the speed of light. Because of this,
Einstein determined that a new equation for momentum was necessary:

momentum = mass x velocity

1 – (velocity/c)2

Notice that once again this equation includes the Lorentz factor and once
again, if the velocity approaches the speed of light, the Lorentz factor is zero.
This means that momentum approaches infinity as the velocity approaches
the speed of light and that an infinite impulse would be necessary to create
this infinite momentum. Since this is impossible, no mass can travel at the
speed of light. This equation gives the relativistic momentum.

The mass in this equation is called the rest mass of the object because it is
true no matter the speed of the object.

If the velocity is much smaller than the speed of light, then the Lorentz factor
is essentially equal to 1 and the original equation of

momentum = mass x velocity

holds true!

III. The Equivalence of Mass and Energy

Many people have heard of Einstein’s famous equation E = mc2, but what does
it mean? According to Einstein, mass is a form of energy and therefore the
two are different versions of the same thing. It takes energy to create mass
and when that mass disappears, the energy is released. The amount of energy
that a piece of matter has simply for existing is essentially a form of potential
energy and is called the rest energy.
It is this rest energy that is the E in the equation E = mc2. This is the total
energy content possessed by a piece of matter that has a mass, m, and is
stationary. The quantity c is still the speed of light, 300,000 km/s. When this
number is squared, it is obviously very large, and this means that a very small
amount of matter has a very large equivalent of energy.

An object’s mass measures its energy and for an object at rest, its energy is its
mass. Therefore, a change in energy for any object at rest is also a change in
its mass. Take a cup of cold water and measure its mass. Then heat that same
cup of water and measure its mass again. You will find that cup of water has
more mass when it is heated than it does when it is cold. This is because the
cup of hot water has more energy than the cup of cold water!

A cup of hot water

has more mass than a
cup of cold water
because the cup of
hot water has more
energy.

IV. Relativity of Kinetic Energy

Einstein’s famous E = mc2 formula is for matter at rest. For moving matter,
Einstein modified the equation to include the Lorentz factor:

E= mc2

1 – (velocity/c)2

We can see that if the object is at rest, the velocity is zero and the Lorentz
factor is equal to one, giving the familiar E = mc2 equation.
If the object is moving, its energy should be greater than its rest energy. If the
velocity is greater than zero, then the Lorentz factor is smaller than 1. Dividing
through by this number, gives a larger energy value than would be obtained
from just E = mc2.

Once again, we also see that if the object approaches the speed of light, the
Lorentz factor approaches zero and the energy becomes infinite which is
impossible. Thus, we see again that it is impossible for an object to travel at
the speed of light.

V. The Correspondence Principle

New theories replace old theories. How can we be sure that a new theory is
correct? That’s where the correspondence principle comes into play. For the
new theory to be valid, it must account for the results of the old theory that
have already been verified.

In this case our new theory is the theory of relativity put forth by Einstein, and
the old theory involves the laws of motion put forth by Newton.

If the equations that we have looked at for special relativity are valid, then
they must correspond to classical mechanics (the laws of Newton) when
speeds are much lower than the speed of light.
We have already seen that when the velocity of an object is small compared to
the speed of light, the Lorentz factor is essentially 1, and the special relativity
equations reduce to the equations derived in classical mechanics. It is only
when the speed of light is approached by an object that the special relativity
equations come into play.

Thus, the correspondence principle is upheld for the special relativity

equations. They are true for any speed of an object, but they are only
necessary to employ at very high speeds. At lower speeds, the equations of
classical mechanics work just fine. We can think of the special relativity
equations as a refinement to classical mechanics where the equations have
been modified slightly to fit any speed possible.
CLASS 11 – SOLIDS AND LIQUIDS

I. Density

The density of a solid measures how much matter fits into a certain volume.
Density is also a property of liquids and gases and can be defined as

density = mass
volume

Density is an intensive property which means that it does not change with the
amount of material present. The density of a solid copper coin is the same as
the density of a solid copper pot.

For a solid, the density will be determined by the masses of the atoms as well
as the spacings between them. Osmium is the densest element, even though
its atoms are not nearly as massive as the atoms of other elements. Osmium is
so dense because the atoms are so close together in the crystal structure.

The closer packing of osmium atoms versus those of copper give osmium a higher density.
Density varies with temperature and pressure, so it is common to standardize
the density to that observed at 0 oC and 1 atm.

Sometimes instead of mass, weight is used in the calculation of density and in

this case, it is referred to as weight density.

weight density = weight

volume

Another way to measure density Is by the specific gravity of a substance. The

specific gravity compares the density of a substance to the density of water. A
ratio is taken with the density of the substance divided by the density of water.
If a substance has a density of 4 g/cm3, its specific gravity will be 4. (4 g/cm3
divided by 1.00 g/cm3 for the density of water at 4 oC.). Note that there are no
units for specific gravity since they cancelled out. It is common to use the
density of water at 4 oC.

II. Elasticity

You may be familiar with the concept of elasticity from a spring. If you stretch
the spring and then let it go, it returns to its original shape. Elasticity means
that when an object experiences a deforming force, it returns to its original
shape when the deforming force is removed.

If a material does not return to its original shape when a deforming force is
applied and then removed, it is said to be inelastic. You are probably familiar
with inelasticity from working with clay.
In the mid-1600s, Robert Hooke noticed that the distance a spring stretches is
directly proportional to the force applied to it. If you double the force, the
spring will stretch twice as far and if you halve the force, the spring will stretch
only half as far.

This relationship has become known as Hooke’s Law and can be expressed
mathematically as

F a x or F = kx

Hooke’s Law works for compression as well as stretching of an object.

You may know from experience that if you stretch an elastic object too far, it
becomes permanently distorted and will no longer return to its original shape.
This is because you have reached the elastic limit, the distance at which
permanent distortion occurs. Hook’s law no longer works once a material has
reached its elastic limit.
III. Compression and Tension

Compression occurs when different parts of an object are pressed together.

Tension occurs when different parts of an object are pulled apart. Typically,
when a weight is added to a beam, one part of it will compress while the other
part of it will stretch and undergo tension. A region where there is neither
compression nor tension is called the neutral layer.

Force

Compression Forces

Neutral Layer
Tension Forces

If you go to a construction site, you will probably see that the steel beams
being used are in the shape of a very long “I.” Why is this? It’s because the
stress occurs mostly in the top and the bottom of the “I” when the beam is
placed horizontally in the building. One end tends to be compressed while the
other is stretched. The piece in the middle is not under much stress and so a
thinner amount of material there has about the same strength as a solid beam.
The solid beam would weigh much more, however!
IV. Liquid Pressure

A liquid in a container will exert forces on both the walls and the bottom of
that container. If we divide the force exerted by the area on which it is
exerted, we get the pressure:

pressure = force
area

Solids and gases can also exert pressure, but here we will focus on the
pressure exerted by liquids. The pressure that the liquid exerts on the bottom
of the container will be the weight of the liquid divided by the area of the
bottom of the container assuming that we ignore air pressure.

How much pressure a liquid exerts depends on how much it weighs which in
turn depends upon its density. If we take equal volumes of mercury and water
and place them in containers of the same size and shape, mercury will exert a
greater pressure on the bottom of its container because it has a much greater
density than does water.

mercury = greater pressure water = lesser pressure

If we take the same liquid and place it in identical containers of the same size
and shape, the liquid with more volume will exert a greater pressure on the
bottom of its container.

greater pressure
If we change the shape of the container with the larger pressure, but keep the
same depth of liquid, we will see that the pressure does not change. The
pressure exerted by a liquid depends only on its density and the depth of the
liquid. It does not depend on the shape of the container or the shape and size
of the bottom of the container. The pressure does not depend on the volume
of the liquid or even the total weight of the liquid.

We can express this mathematically by saying:

pressure exerted by the liquid = weight density x depth

At a particular depth, the pressure exerted by a liquid is the same regardless of

the surface. The sides of the container, or the surface of an object submerged
in the liquid to that depth both have the same pressure exerted on them by
the liquid.

If you measured the water pressure at 1 m below the surface of a large lake
and 1 m below the surface of a small lake, you would find that the pressure
would be the same since pressure does not depend on the total volume of a
liquid.

1m
V. Buoyancy

You may have been playing with a friend or sibling in the water and noticed
that it is easier to carry them on your back under the water than it is on the
ground. This is because of buoyancy. When an object is under the water, the
water exerts an upward force on it that is in the direction opposite of gravity.
This force is called the buoyant force.

To see why the buoyant force exists, let’s recall that liquid pressure is greater
at a greater depth. If you have a person underneath the water, water exerts a
force all around the person. The forces to the sides of the person cancel each
other out, but the forces acting against the bottom of the person are greater
than those acting on the top of the person because the bottom of the person
is at a greater depth. This difference between the forces at the top of the
person and at the bottom of the person creates the buoyant force and they
become easier to carry.

The upward forces at the

bottom of a submerged
object are greater than the
downward forces at the top
of the object and so there is
a net upward force which is
called the buoyant force.

You may have learned that if an object is denser than a liquid, it will sink in
that liquid and if it is less dense than that liquid, it will float in that liquid. We
can also look at whether objects float or sink in terms of buoyancy. If the
weight of an object is greater than the buoyant force, the object will sink and if
the weight of the object is less than the buoyant force, it will float.
VI. The Archimedes Principle

If an object is submerged in a volume of water, it will displace a volume of

water equal to its own volume. The water level will rise by this volume. By
measuring the difference in the water level before the object was placed in the
water and after the object was placed in the water, the volume of the object
can be determined. This method works well if you need to determine the
volume of an irregularly shaped object.

the difference in volume is the volume of the object

The relationship between the buoyant force and the water displaced by a
submerged object was first discovered by the ancient Greek philosopher
Archimedes.

Archimedes discovered that the buoyant force is equal to the weight of the
volume of the liquid that an immersed object displaces. This statement is
called the Archimedes Principle and applies not only to liquids, but also to
gases.

Note that the force is not equal to the weight of the object itself, but the
weight of the volume of liquid that it displaces. An object may be completely
immersed in the liquid or partially immersed.
VII. Flotation

As we have seen, the size of the buoyant force depends on the volume of the
liquid displaced, which in turn depends on the volume of the object. A larger
object displaces a larger volume of liquid and so a large buoyant force acts on
it.

We have also seen that objects that are less dense than a liquid will float while
objects that are denser will sink. One way to float then, is to decrease your
density. Since weight density equals weight divided by volume, one way to do
this is to increase your volume while keeping your weight relatively the same.
When you do this, your density will decrease. This is what a life jacket does. It
adds very little weight to you, but it increases your volume.

A life jacket increases

volume without adding
much weight and so
decreases a person’s
density.

A fish typically has the same density as water. This is why it can move through
the water and does not sink or float. If a fish wants to move upward, however,
it can do so by increasing its volume and if a fish wants to move downward, it
can do so by decreasing its volume. The fish has an air sac that will allow it to
change its volume as it expands or contracts sac.

A submarine functions in much the same way that a fish does except for the
fact that it lets water in an out of its ballast tanks instead of expanding and
contracting an air sac. As water moves into the submarine, it becomes denser
and will sink and as water moves out of the submarine, it becomes less dense
and will float.
The principle of floatation states that a floating object displaces a weight of
fluid equal to its own weight. The object floats because the buoyant force
equals the weight of the object.

Thus, every ship must be designed to displace the weight of water that is equal
to its own weight in order for it to float. Furthermore, this weight of the ship
must include any cargo or people that are on board!

Iron is 8 times as dense as

water, so a solid block of
iron will only displace 1/8 If the block of iron is shaped into an
of its weight in water and elongated bowl, it will displace a much
thus will sink. greater volume of water. For it to float,
the volume of water displaced must
weigh the same as the iron.

VIII. Pascal’s Principle

Pascal’s Principle states that a change in pressure at any point along an

enclosed fluid that is not moving is transmitted to all other places in the fluid.
It applies to both liquids and gases since gases can be thought of as a fluid.

A typical use of Pascal’s Principle is the lift used to elevate a car in an auto
mechanic’s shop. Compressed air is used to increase the pressure on oil that is
kept in an underground reservoir. This increase in pressure in the oil is
transmitted to a cylinder which contains oil and this in turn lifts the car.
 The air pressure exerted is fairly low, but it is exerted over a large area. This is
transferred to the oil which is in a small area. The decrease in area produces a
large force.

Compressed Air

Force = pressure
Area

Since the pressure

remains the same,
but the area is
smaller, the force
must increase.
The small force of
the compressed air
is applied over a According to Pascal’s
large area. Principle, the pressure
is the same in both
Force = pressure chambers.
Area
CLASS 12 – GASES

Like liquids, gases are fluids because they flow. In a gas, the particles are much
farther apart then they are in a liquid, however. A gas expands to take both the
volume and the shape of its container whereas only the shape of a liquid is
dependent on its container. Gas particles are in continuous motion and bounce
off of each other such that the total amount of kinetic energy is unchanged.

I. The Atmosphere

The atmosphere of Earth is due to both the sun’s energy and the gravity of
Earth. The energy of the sun is transferred to the particles in the atmosphere
and keeps them in motion instead of falling to Earth. Gravity keeps the
particles from flying off into outer space.

Most of the atmosphere is very close to the surface of the Earth. 50% of the
atmosphere is within 5.6 km which is lower than Mount Everest. 99% of the
atmosphere is below 30 km. As one goes higher in elevation, the atmosphere
thins out. Outer space can be considered to be a vacuum since there are
barely any gas particles there, but in reality, there is approximately one gas
particle per cubic centimeter in outer space.

Just like liquids exert pressure, gases exert pressure too. The pressure of a
liquid is due to the weight of a liquid and the pressure of air is due to the
weight of the air. It may seem like air is weightless as we move about through
the atmosphere, but in reality, air can be quite heavy.

One cubic meter of air at 1 atm and 20 oC has a mass of approximately 1.2 kg.

II. A Simple Barometer

A barometer is an instrument that is used to measure the pressure of the

atmosphere. Most barometers use mercury since, as you may remember,
mercury has a very high density and thus a 76 cm column of mercury will
provide enough weight to exert the same pressure as the atmospheric
pressure.

To create the barometer, a glass tube is filled with mercury. The tube is open
on one end, and it is placed upright in a dish of mercury so that the open end
is submerged in the mercury.

Some of the mercury runs out of the tube, leaving a vacuum at the top. The
mercury stops running out of the tube when the weight of the liquid inside the
tube exerts the same pressure as the atmospheric pressure exerts on the
mercury in the dish.

vacuum
Atmospheric
pressure increases,
Sea level pushing some of the
Pressure = 760 mercury up the
mm (76 cm) tube.

If the atmospheric pressure increases, it will push some of the mercury up the
glass tube and if the atmospheric pressure decreases, some of the mercury will
come out of the tube and into the dish. The height of the mercury is around
76 cm but fluctuates with the changes in atmospheric pressure.

This same process occurs when you drink through a straw. You reduce the air
pressure in the straw by sucking on it and the atmospheric pressure on the
liquid’s surface pushes some of the liquid into the lower pressure of the straw.

If you try to use a straw that is sealed off from the atmosphere in some way,
you will have a very difficult time getting anything to drink because the
atmosphere is unable to push on the liquid!
III. Boyle’s Law

In the 1600’s Robert Boyle used an air pump to investigate the relationship
between pressure and volume. To do this, he held temperature and the
number of gas particles constant.

Boyle discovered that pressure and volume varied inversely. That is to say that
if the volume was doubled, the pressure was cut in half and vice versa. This
makes sense because the larger the volume, the more room the particles have
to move and the smaller the volume, the less room the particles have to move.
If the temperature and the number of particles remain the same, when the
volume is cut in half, there will be twice as many collisions between the
particles. The number of collisions on the container creates the pushing force
of pressure and so when the number of collisions is doubled, the pressure is
doubled.
It makes sense that volume and
pressure vary inversely because if the
volume decreases, the particles are
forced closer together and closer to the
walls of the container and in the smaller
space there will be more collisions and
more collisions = greater pressure.

On the other hand, if volume is larger,

there is more room for the particles to
move about and there will therefore be
less collisions and less collisions = lower
pressure.

IV. Buoyancy in Air and Bernoulli’s Principle

The rules of buoyancy and the Archimedes Principle that we saw previously
are also true for air since air is a fluid.

An object surrounded by air will be lifted by a buoyant force equal to the

weight of the air displaced.
This means that if an object has a mass that is less than the mass of an equal
volume of air, it will rise. Another way to look at this is with density: an object
that is less dense than air will rise. Helium balloons rise because helium gas is
less dense than air.

An equal volume of helium has a

lower mass than an equal volume
of air, so a helium balloon will rise.

Helium is less dense than air.

How is the pressure of a fluid affected by its motion? When the speed of a
fluid increases, its pressure decreases.

If water is flowing through a horizontal pipe continuously, it will slow down if

the pipe gets wider and it will speed up if the pipe gets narrower. This is
because the amount of water that flows through any section of the pipe is
constant and the water speeds up or slows down to maintain this consistency.
This is only true, however, for streamline flow which means that the water
particles are following smooth paths that do not cross over each other.

A fluid speeds up when it flows into a narrower region because the amount of water flowing
through any section is constant.
In the 1700’s Daniel Bernoulli formulated this observation into what is now
called Bernoulli’s Principle. The greater the speed of flow, the less the force
of the water perpendicular to the direction of the flow. Thus, the pressure at
the walls of the pipe decreases as the speed of the water increases.

Bernoulli’s Principle: If a fluid is flowing horizontally, places where the fluid

speed increases will have less pressure than places of slower fluid speed.

It is important to realize that Bernoulli’s Principle is referring to the pressure

within the fluid exerted in all directions including the walls of the pipe and not
the pressure that the fluid would exert if an object got in its way and tried to
stop its motion.

Bernoulli formulated an equation that applies the conservation of energy to a

flowing fluid, assuming no friction within the fluid. There are three types of
energy within the fluid: the kinetic energy of the moving particles, the
gravitational potential energy of the fluid due to elevation, and the work due
to the pressure forces.

If no energy is added or subtracted, as occurs in a fluid with steady flow, work

done on one part of the fluid by another part of the fluid appears as kinetic or
potential energy. The sum of the three energy terms must be constant due to
the conservation of energy.

Bernoulli’s equation can be written as

½ mv2 + pV + mgh = constant

or kinetic energy + (pressure x volume) + gravitational potential energy =

constant

If the height of the fluid does not change, then as the speed of the fluid
changes, the pressure must decrease to maintain the constant value.
 Air passes over the top of the wing
faster than the bottom of the wing,
making the pressure less at the top
of the wing than the bottom of the
wing. The lower pressure at the top
creates an upward force.

Bernoulli’s Principle can account in part for the flight of airplanes and birds.
Due to the shape and the position of the wings in both, air passes over the top
of the wing faster than it does beneath the wing. Since the velocity of the fluid
over the top of the wing is increased, the pressure is decreased compared to
the bottom of the wing. This difference in pressure creates an upward force,
called lift. If the lift is greater than the weight, the plane or the bird will rise in
the air. Lift is greater for higher speeds or larger wing areas.
CLASS 13 – HEAT AND HEAT TRANSFER

I. Temperature and Heat

Temperature is a scale that measures how hot or cold a substance is

compared to certain standard temperatures. Temperature measures the
average kinetic energy of particles in a substance.

The Celsius temperature assigns zero to the temperature at which water

freezes and 100 to the temperature at which water boils. The difference
between these two points is divided into 100 parts called degrees. The
temperature of a substance is then related to the boiling point or freezing
point of water.

The Fahrenheit temperature scale is used in the United States and several
other countries and assigns 32 to the temperature at which water freezes and
212 to the temperature at which water boils.

Often temperature is measured in Celsius in laboratory experiments, but the

true scientific temperature scale is Kelvin. The Kelvin temperature scale
assigns 0 to the coldest possible temperature, -273 oC or absolute zero. At
absolute zero a substance has no kinetic energy at all; there is absolutely no
movement of the particles.

Heat is the energy that transfers from one substance to another because of a
temperature difference between them. You probably already know from your
experiences that heat flows spontaneously from a hotter object to a colder
one. If you come in from the cold and take a warm shower, you will get
warmer. If you place your feet in cold water, heat transfers from you to the
water.

If two substances are in contact and heat flows from one to the other, the
substances are said to be in thermal contact. Heat flows from a hotter object
to a colder one spontaneously, but it is important to note that the hotter
object may not contain the most kinetic energy. A cup of hot water will
transfer heat to a frozen lake, but the lake is so very large compared to the cup
of water, that the total kinetic energy of the molecules will be greater.

If two objects of different temperatures are in thermal contact, the hotter one
will transfer heat to the colder one until they are both the same temperature.
When no more heat flows between them, we say they are in thermal
equilibrium.

Heat transfer occurs from a

higher temperature to a
lower temperature and the
larger the temperature
difference, the faster heat is
transferred. Heat transfer
will occur until they are
both the same temperature
and are in thermal
equilibrium.

When you are measuring the temperature of a substance, the thermometer

reaches a thermal equilibrium with the substance being measured. Since the
temperatures of both the thermometer and the substance are the same at this
point, we can know the temperature of the substance by reading the
temperature on the thermometer. It is important to wait until the
thermometer is in thermal equilibrium before taking a reading, however.
II. Measuring Heat

How can we determine how much heat has been transferred from one
substance to another? If we measure the temperature change for a pot of
water, we might get a very different answer than if we measured the
temperature change for a metal spoon even though the same amount of heat
was added.

Likewise, if we add the same quantity of heat to a pot with a small amount of
water, the temperature rise will be greater than if we added that same
amount of heat to a pot with a large amount of water.

To talk about heat transfer, we must specify both the mass of the substance
heated and well as the type of material heated.

The standard unit of heat is the calorie or the joule. The calorie is the amount
of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 oC.

You may have heard of calories from food, however, the energy unit used in
food is actually the kilocalorie which will raise 1 kilogram of water 1 oC.
Sometimes this kilocalorie is written as a Calorie so you must be careful to
distinguish whether there is a capital C or a lower-case c.

The energy value of a food is determined by burning the food and then
measuring the amount of heat that is released. This amount of heat is then
quantified as to how much mass was used to produce it.

The standard international unit for energy (SI unit) is the joule (J).

1 calorie = 4.184 J

You may have noticed that when you are heating a pot of water on the stove,
if will take much longer for the water to become hot to the touch that in will
for a metal spoon stuck in the water. You may also have noticed that if you
eat a pastry that has just been taken out of the oven, the outside dough is
cool, but the filling inside is still hot enough to burn your tongue.
This is because different materials have different capacities for storing internal
energy. The internal energy is the sum total of all of the different energies
inside a substance. This includes the translational kinetic energy of particles in
a substance moving back and forth and up and down, the kinetic energy of the
atoms moving within a molecule, the rotational energy of molecules as they
turn, and the potential energy due to the forces between the molecules.

kinetic energy of + potential energy from = internal energy

particles attractive forces
between particles

It is only the translational kinetic energy of particles that affects the

temperature of a substance and so absorbed energy must increase the
translational kinetic energy in order for the temperature of a substance to rise.
The absorbed energy can increase the rotational energy, the vibrations within
a molecule, or the potential energy stored in the bonds, but in these cases, the
temperature of the substance will not increase.

translational kinetic energy

If a material increases its temperature with only a small amount of heat added,
it is because the material converts this heat to translational kinetic energy of
the particles. This happens in metals. In water, a lot of the energy added
affects the rotations and internal vibrations in the water molecules and causes
the bonds to stretch but does not get converted to translational kinetic energy
and so the temperature does not increase rapidly.
The specific heat capacity of a substance is the quantity of heat required to
raise 1 g of that substance 1 oC. If you think this definition looks very close to
that of a calorie, you are correct. The specific heat for water is 1 calorie!

One calorie may seem like a small amount, but water actually has a very high
specific heat capacity compared to many materials. Because of this, water is
often used in cooling systems in automobiles and other engines.

Water has a very large specific heat

capacity. That’s why it takes a pot of
water a long time to boil.

By comparison, metals have a very low

specific heat capacity and thus a metal
spoon heats up quickly.

Wooden spoons have a larger specific

heat capacity and thus are a safer bet
when cooking!

III. Thermal Expansion

When the temperature of a substance is increased, its particles move around

faster (increased kinetic energy) and in doing so, they move farther apart.
Thus, most substances tend to expand when heated and contract when
cooled.

This expansion and contraction must be accounted for in design and

construction since the temperature often changes in our surroundings.
Sidewalks and highways are not paved in one continuous piece because if they
were, the expansion and contraction of the concrete would cause cracks in the
surface. Instead, the concrete is laid down in small sections with a small gap
between each section that allows for expansion and contraction.

Different materials expand at different rates. A bimetallic strip can be

constructed in which two strips of different metals are joined together through
welding or riveting. When the strip is heated, the two metals expand at
different rates. The metal that expands more becomes longer and the strip
bends into a curve because of this. When the strip cools, it bends in the other
direction as the metals contract at different rates. The movement of the strip
may be used as a switch.

Iron

Brass

A thermostat is one device that uses such a switch. The bimetallic switch
opens and closes an electric circuit as it bends back and forth. If the room is
too cold, the bending closes the circuit and turns on the heat. If the room is
too warm, the strip bends toward the other side and opens the circuit to turn
off the heat.

Almost all liquids expand when they are heated. Water, however, is an
exception. Water at 0 oC (the freezing point of water) will contract when
heated until it reaches 4 oC. Only then does water begin to expand as it is
heated further.

Most solids are denser than their corresponding liquids, but again water is an
exception. Ice is less dense than water and so floats on the top of liquid water.
This is because of the way that the water molecules are arranged in the crystal
structure of ice. They occupy a larger volume than they do in the liquid state.
As the ice crystals melt, water initially contracts as the molecules move closer
together. Above 4 oC, increased heat means increased molecular motion for
the water molecules and as they move farther apart, water begins to expand.

Liquid water
Solid water

Water molecules in their solid form are farther apart than they are in the liquid form.

The fact that ice is less dense than liquid water is tremendously important in
nature because it means that lakes freeze from the top down instead of the
bottom up. This means that underneath the frozen ice, liquid water still exists
which allows the aquatic organisms that make the body of water their home to
remain alive.
IV. Methods of Heat Transfer

If you place one end of metal rod in a flame, before long the other end of the
metal rod becomes very hot, and you will no longer be able to hold it. Heat
was transferred from one end of the metal rod to the other by conduction.

Metals are good conductors because they have outer electrons that are not
bound tightly to the atom. Conduction occurs when atoms or molecules gain
kinetic energy from a source of heat and pass that kinetic energy on to
neighboring atoms or molecules through collisions. The free electrons that can
drift through the metal also collide with atoms and other free electrons and
transfer energy.

Wood, paper, cork, Styrofoam, wool, and straw are all poor conductors. They
are insulators because they are slow to transmit heat. Air is also a good
insulator and so materials that are porous are good insulators because they
have many small pockets of air throughout. This is the reason that materials
such as wood are good insulators.
 Heat transfer by conduction involves the transfer of energy from one
individual particle to another. While the energy is transferred, the particles do
not move. Convection transfers heat by movement of a group of particles.

Example: a boiling pot of water

In a boiling pot of water, the

molecules closest to the heat
source expand as they are
heated and as they spread
farther apart, the less dense
region rises to the top.

It is then cooled by the air at the

top of the pot and as the water
molecules cool, they move closer
together, become denser and
then sink.

This process is repeated over and

over and the regions of rising and
sinking water are called
convection cells.

Heat from the sun is transmitted to the Earth through radiation which is energy in
the form of electromagnetic waves. The electromagnetic spectrum is the
collection of all the electromagnetic waves and includes radio waves, microwaves,
infrared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays, and gamma rays.
V. Newton’s Law of Cooling

Objects can also cool through conduction, convection, or radiation. An object

that is hotter than its surroundings will eventually come to thermal equilibrium
with its surroundings. The rate of cooling of an object depends on the
temperature difference between the object and its surroundings.

Whether the object cools by conduction, convection, or radiation, the rate of

cooling is approximately proportional to the temperature difference between
the object and its surroundings.

We can represent this mathematically as

rate of cooling ~ DT

where DT is the change in temperature. This is known as Newton’s Law of

Cooling. Although it is stated for cooling, it also works for heating!
CLASS 14 THERMODYNAMICS

I. The First Law of Thermodynamics

Heat is a form of energy and energy is neither created nor destroyed; it can
only change from one form to another. Thermodynamics is the study of heat
and when the Law of Conservation of Energy is applied to thermal systems, it
is known as the First Law of Thermodynamics.

The First Law of Thermodynamics states that if heat is added to a system, it

changes into the same quantity of energy, but in a different form.

The system is what we define and could be a group of atoms or molecules or a

group of objects. If we add heat to the system, it will be able to do work on
external things. The added heat is only able to do this, however, if it leaves the
system. If it remains in the system, it will simply increase the internal energy
of the system.

Mathematically, we can express this as:

Heat added = Increase in internal energy + External work done by the system

For example, if we heat the air in a sealed cylinder, the internal energy of the
system will be increased, but no work will be done unless the cylinder bursts
open. It is dangerous to heat a closed system like this because as the air
expands upon heating, it may cause the cylinder to burst open.

If the cylinder has a movable piston, the piston can move downward as the air
expands when it is heated and then work is done. This is how an automobile
engine works, although these engines typically consist of four or six cylinders.
II. Adiabatic Processes

If no heat enters or leaves a system, a thermodynamic process is said to be

adiabatic. A process can be adiabatic in one of two ways. First, an adiabatic
change of volume can be performed if the volume is changed so quickly that
heat does not have time to enter or leave the system. Second, a system can
be insulated from its surroundings to prevent heat from entering or leaving
the system.

The cylinder of an automobile engine is an example of a process that is

essentially adiabatic. The compression of the gases in the cylinder and their
subsequent expansion office so rapidly that most of the heat does not have
time to leave the cylinder.

When work is done on a gas by an adiabatic process of compression, the gas

gains internal energy and becomes warmer.
If heat does not enter the system, heat added is zero in the equation

Heat added = increase in internal energy + external work done by the system

If a gas is compressed, work is done on the system and the internal energy of
the system increases which means the temperature of the system increases.

Conversely, if a gas expands, work is done by the system and the internal
energy of the system decreases which means the temperature of the system
decreases.

Air temperature is changed if heat is added to or subtracted from the system

or if the pressure of the system is changed. If the change in heat is very small,
the process can be considered to be adiabatic and therefore the change in air
temperature is directly proportional to the change in air pressure.

III. The Second Law of Thermodynamics

The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that heat will naturally flow only in
one direction and that is from a hotter object to a colder one. If we wish for
heat to flow in the opposite direction, from cold to hot, as in an air conditioner
or a refrigerator, we must put work into the system.

A heat engine converts internal energy into mechanical work when heat flows
from a higher temperature to a lower temperature. Examples of heat engines
include the steam engine, the automobile engine, and the jet engine. The
Second Law of Thermodynamics tells us that engines are able to convert only a
portion of the heat into useful work and the rest of the heat is expelled.

An engine consists of a high temperature reservoir that will allow it to increase

its internal energy and convert some heat to work and then release the
remaining heat to a low temperature reservoir. In an automobile engine, the
high temperature reservoir is the chamber of the cylinder where the gasoline
enters and begins to burn once the spark is provided by the spark plug. As the
gasoline burns, it expands and does work on the piston by pushing it down.
The exhaust products, water and carbon dioxide, exit the chamber into the low
temperature reservoir, in this case, the outside.

High Temperature

Heat Engine Work Done

Low Temperature

Sadi Carnot, a French engineer, examined the compression and expansion of a

heat engine and discovered that the portion of heat that can be converted to
useful work depends on the temperature difference between the high
temperature reservoir and the low temperature reservoir.
Carnot expressed the maximum efficiency as

ideal efficiency = Thot – T cold

Thot
where the temperature is in Kelvin. Sometimes the ideal efficiency is also
known as the Carnot efficiency.

Carnot’s discovery helps us to understand why steam is heated to such a high

temperature in steam engines and at power plants. The higher the
temperature of the steam, the greater the temperature difference will be
between the high temperature reservoir and the low temperature reservoir
and the greater the efficiency of the engine will be.

Another way to look at the Second Law of Thermodynamics is to say that

organized and usable energy such as gasoline is converted to disorganized and
unusable energy such as the hot exhaust. When we speak about the amount
of order or disorder that a system has, we are speaking about entropy.

LOW ENTROPY HIGH ENTROPY

(Solid) (Liquid)

High entropy is a high amount of disorder and when entropy increases, the
amount of disorder increases. The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that
entropy is always increasing over time.
If entropy is decreasing, it is because energy is being added and work is being
done on the system. Living organisms decrease their entropy in this way. A
freezer decreases entropy by creating an ice cube in this way. When the
entropy decreases in this localized area such as the ice cube or the living
organism, it increases elsewhere in the system, often as heat is wasted by
being expelled into the environment.
CLASS 15 VIBRATIONS AND WAVES

I. The Anatomy of a Wave

A swinging pendulum can be made from a compact object tied to the end of a
string. Tie the other end of the string to an immobile object and pull the
pendulum and let it go and it begins to swing back and forth. The time that it
takes for the pendulum reach its maximum on one side and then the other is
called the period.

The period of a pendulum does not depend on the mass of the object that
hangs from its end, nor does it depend on the distance through which it
swings. The period only depends on the length of the string and the
acceleration due to gravity, g.

In equation form, the period (T) is given by

T = 2p (L/g)

where L is the length of the pendulum and g is the acceleration due to gravity.

We can see from the equation that a long pendulum will have a longer period
than a shorter pendulum; it will swing back and forth more slowly than a
shorter pendulum will.

The motion of a pendulum is simple harmonic motion because the

acceleration of the pendulum is directly proportional to the displacement from
its resting position. Another example of simple harmonic motion is a weight
attached to a spring moving up and down.

If we were to attach a pen to the end of the pendulum or the weight on the
spring and move a piece of paper horizontally at constant speed, we would see
that a sine wave is drawn by the pen.
The sine wave is a visual representation of a wave caused by vibrations.
Waves transfer energy without requiring matter. Examples of waves include
the electromagnetic spectrum, sound, and the ripples in a pond.

Direction of wave travel

Crest Wavelength (l) Undisturbed

Position

Amplitude

Trough

1) Wavelength – the distance from the highest point (crest) of one wave to
the crest of the next wave. (Measured in meters (m) or some version there
of – centimeters (cm), millimeters (mm), etc.)

The crest is the highest point of the wave, and the trough is the lowest point of
the wave.

2) Amplitude – the height of the wave from the undisturbed position to the
crest.

3) Velocity – the speed and direction of the wavecrest (m/s)

4) Frequency – the number of wavecrests that go by a given point every
second. It is measured in cycles/sec, hertz or sometimes just 1/s.

High Frequency

Low Frequency

The frequency of a vibrating object is related to the period by

Period = 1
frequency

For example, if a pendulum makes four vibrations in one second, its frequency
is 4Hz and its period is ¼ of a second.

The speed of the wave depends upon the medium through which it is
travelling. The fastest that an electromagnetic wave can travel is 300,000
km/sec in a vacuum and the wave speed slows down if it travels through
matter.

Regardless of the type of wave, the relationship between wavelength,

frequency and velocity is:

Wave velocity = wavelength x frequency

II. Transverse versus Longitudinal Waves

In a transverse wave, the motion of the wave is perpendicular to the direction

of the wave. Examples include water ripples, the traditional crowd wave at a
stadium, and electromagnetic waves.

In a longitudinal wave, the motion of the wave is in the same direction as the
wave. Examples are sound waves.

wavelength

amplitude

longitudinal transverse

III. Interference:

What happens when one wave meets another wave? They overlap and affect
each other.

Interference is sub-divided into constructive interference or destructive

interference depending on how the waves interact and what the effect is.

Constructive Interference
Constructive interference
produces a larger wave
whose amplitude is equal
to the amplitude of Wave1
+ the amplitude of Wave2

If the amplitudes are the

same in destructive
interference, the wave
completely disappears.
 Destructive Interference

In constructive interference, the wave crests line up and the wave troughs
line up. This is called in phase. The two waves add together to make a
larger wave.

In destructive interference, the crest of one wave lines up with the trough
of another wave. This is called out of phase and the waves cancel each
other out.

If you tied a rope to a pole and shook the other end up and down, the wave
will travel to the wall and then come back to you. If both the original and
the reflected wave have the same wavelength and amplitude, their
interference will create a standing wave.

node
pole antinode

The portions of the standing wave that are out of phase are called nodes
and at the nodes, the rope remains stationary. The antinodes are the
portions of the wave resulting from constructive interference and are the
 points of largest amplitude. An antinode occurs half-way in between two
nodes. The greater the frequency, the more nodes (and antinodes) that
will be in the rope.

Standing waves can be produced in either transverse or longitudinal waves.

Examples of standing waves can be seen in the strings of musical
instruments.

IV. The Doppler Affect

If you are listening to the radio and the radio is stationary, the sound waves
produced by the radio will emanate outward with a consistent frequency.
Thus, there will also be a consistent wavelength and an even spacing
between each crest.

This is not the case, however, if the source of the sound wave is moving like
an ambulance. The crests of the wave move outward from their source
which is the ambulance but since the ambulance is moving, the crests
become closer together. After the first crest is emitted, the ambulance
moves before the next crest is emitted and this has the effect of making the
crests closer together.

Increase in Decrease in
frequency is a frequency is a
higher pitch lower pitch

The listener perceives this as an increase in frequency as the ambulance

and a decrease in frequency as the ambulance moves away. Because our
ear perceives a change in frequency as a change in pitch, the sound of the
ambulance appears in increase in pitch as it approaches and decrease in
pitch as it moves away. The next time you hear the siren of an ambulance,
listen carefully to hear the change in pitch!

The Doppler effect was named for the scientist who discovered it, and it
applies to any type of wave including light. With visible light, an increase in
frequency is toward the blue-violet end of the spectrum, and we say that
the light is blue shifted as the object emitting light approaches.

A decrease in the frequency of visible light is associated with the red end of
the visible light spectrum and for an object that is moving away, we say
that the light is red shifted.

Police use the Doppler affect in radar to determine the speed of a vehicle.
The pulse of an electromagnetic wave bounces off the metal of the
moving vehicle. A comparison of the frequency of the emitted wave with
the frequency of the returning wave allows the speed of the vehicle to be
determined.
CLASS 16 SOUND

I. How Sound is Created

Sound results from vibration. In stringed instruments, sound comes from the
vibration of the string. In woodwinds, the reed at the mouthpiece vibrates. In
singing and speech, your vocal chords vibrate. Once this initial vibration
occurs, it causes a secondary vibration of something larger: the board of a
stringed instrument, the column in a woodwind or the air in the mouth of a
singer or speaker.

Once the material is vibrating, it sets the air particles around it in motion and
creates longitudinal waves. The frequency of these waves is equal to the
frequency of the vibrating source. We refer to the different frequencies that
we hear as variations in pitch with high pitched sounds having high frequencies
and low-pitched sounds having low frequencies.

wavelength

amplitude

Typically, humans can hear pitches between 20 and 20,000 Hertz although as
humans age, it becomes more difficult to hear this entire range of frequencies,
particularly at the higher end. Sound waves that have frequencies below 20
Hertz are called infrasonic and sound waves with frequencies higher than
20,000 Hertz are called ultrasonic.

When you make a sound, a longitudinal wave goes out in all directions and
starts the air molecules vibrating, pushing them into neighboring molecules.
These molecules push into the molecules close to them and so on, creating a
compression.
Because groups of air particles are now compressed together in certain
regions, there are other regions that have less air particles in them. These
areas are called a rarefaction. Thus, the sound wave consists of pulses of
compressions separated by pulses of rarefactions that are produced by the
vibrations from the source.

compressions and rarefactions from a speaker travelling through a tube

Because the molecules in hot air are moving faster and take less time to bump
into each other, sound travels faster in hot air than it does in cold air. Sound is
also able to travel through liquids and solids. In fact, sound is transmitted
faster in liquids than it is in gases and even faster in solids. Sound is not able
to travel in a vacuum, however. There must be particles to compress and
rarefy in order for sound to travel and so a vibration that occurs in a vacuum
will produce no sound.

Sound travels in air at 20 oC at a speed of approximately 340 m/s. The speed

of sound in a particular material is dependent on the elasticity of that material.
Elasticity is the ability of a material to change its shape when a force is applied
and then regain its original shape once the force is removed. Clay is very
inelastic because once its shape changes in response to an applied force, it
does not bounce back to its original shape; it remains as the new shape. On
the other hand, steel is very elastic because it regains its original shape once
the force that changed its shape is removed.

Sound travels faster in elastic materials because the particles are very close
together and therefore the motion of one particle is able to very quickly
influence the motion of the particles around it. The energy is transmitted with
very little loss. This is why sound is transmitted fastest in solids and slowest in
gases. In solids, the particles are close together while in gases they are
comparatively far apart.

II. Characteristics of Sound

1) Loudness. The intensity of a sound wave is proportional to the square of

the amplitude of the wave. Intensity can be measured by instruments such
as an oscilloscope and its units are the decibel (dB), named for Alexander
Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone. How loud or how soft a sound is
varies according to the listener, but in general loudness varies with the
logarithm of the intensity. This means that a sound that is 10 dB is 10 times
as intense as a sound of 0 dB and a sound that is 20 dB is 10 times as loud
as a sound that is 10 dB. With each increase of 10 dB, the sound becomes
10 times louder.

2) Forced Vibration. When the sounding board of a stringed instrument

begins to vibrate because of the vibration of the strings, this is forced
vibration. Without this forced vibration, the sound of the vibrating string
would be very faint.

3) Natural frequency. An object’s natural frequency is its own particular

characteristic frequency at which it vibrates. The natural frequency of an
object depends on its shape and elasticity and is the frequency that
requires the least amount of energy to start and continue forced vibration.

4) Resonance. Resonance occurs when an object’s natural frequency matches

the frequency of a forced vibration. When this occurs, there is a large
increase in the amplitude. For a material to resonate, it needs to
experience a force to pull it back to its starting position as well as enough
energy to continue the vibration. Examples of resonance include a singer’s
voice shattering a glass and an infantry troop marching across a bridge in
rhythm with the bridge’s natural frequency thus causing the bridge to
collapse
III. Interference

Sound waves, like any waves, can undergo interference. Recall that when the
crests of one wave overlap with the crests of another wave, constructive
interference occurs as the waves add together. When the troughs of one wave
overlap with the crests of another wave, destructive interference occurs, and
the waves cancel each other out.

For a sound wave, the crest of the wave corresponds to a compression and the
trough of the wave corresponds to a rarefaction. Interference influences how
loud a sound is since the loudness of a sound is dependent on its amplitude.

constructive interference of a longitudinal wave

Anti-noise technology such as noise cancelling headphones makes use of

interference. Mirror image wave patterns of the noise are generated and then
the compressions of these waves will line up with the rarefactions of the
original wave and vice versa, cancelling out the sound.
A special case of interference is known as beats. Beats are generated when
two tones of slightly different frequencies are sounded together. The waves
will alternate between constructive interference and destructive interference
which will cause the sound to alternate between maximum loudness and
minimum loudness.

Beats can occur with any type of wave and allow comparison of the
frequencies of two waves. A piano tuner tunes a piano by striking a tuning
fork and a particular string on the piano. When the two frequencies are
identical, there are no beats.