PHYSICS 30

UNIT 1: INTRO & ESSENTIAL SKILLS

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 THE NATURE OF SCIENCE & PHYSICS

• the crowning achievement of the human species has been a single but
immensely ________________ and powerful invention: _____________

• the ____________ of science has been used to uncover essential

____________ about our physical world

• as our knowledge and understanding of the universe has grown, we

have ______________ related ____________ into special ‘categories’
Some examples:
___________________ ____________________
___________________ ____________________
and of course: _______________

• the word physics comes from the ___________ language meaning

‘________________________________ ’

• it’s generally stated that physics is concerned with the nature and properties of ____________ and
_____________

• because of the relationships physics describes, it is in many ways the most __________________
field of science
• the principles described by physics are in fact the key _________________ ideas that we

build our _____________________ upon in all other fields

• at the heart of all branches of science is the ______________ that we use to investigate phenomena
and answer _______________ : the __________________ method
• science requires that all new ___________ (often called __________________ ) be
rigorously ________________
• this requires __________ be constructed (a.k.a. _________________ )

• as the tests are run, _____________________ must always be collected and analyzed
• these measurements will either ________________ or prove the hypothesis _____________
• so measuring and collecting _________ in science is really, really important…

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 THE TOOLS OF SCIENCE

• science is much easier to ______ and ______________ if the person involved has a useful set of
_____________ they can draw upon
• much like the idea that any time someone ______________ a shed or a deck, having
____________ to, and knowing how to ________ a collection of fundamental __________
will make the job much _____________ and ____________
• ____________ the hand and power tools that make construction ___________, science makes
heavy _________ of tools of a different sort - namely ___________________

• recognizing the importance of math as a tool in science, we should

consider and review several important skills that will make our study of
physics easier:

1. __________________________
2. __________________________
3. __________________________
4. __________________________
5. __________________________
6. __________________________
7. __________________________
8. __________________________
9. __________________________

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 1. UNITS
• units are _________________ or _________________ that allow us to make measurements
____________________
• consider the statement: ‘a tree is 6 metres tall’
• failure to include a __________ in this measurement would remove an essential piece of

___________________ that we need to make ____________ of what is being described

• its also worth noting that in order to make sense of this ______________________ we
need to know what a _____________ is…

• there are primarily _________ common sets of standards used in today's world: ______________
and _________________
• standards are agreed upon ‘____________________’ that are established before measurement

___________________ can begin

THE IMPERIAL SYSTEM

• Imperial units include standards such as _____________ , __________ , __________ & _____________

• the Imperial system was first defined by a ________________ act in 1824 and was adopted by many
nations across the earth but it has since been _______________ out due to it’s _________________
• it is especially difficult to ________________ between different units of the imperial
system
• different units measuring the same __________________ have a seemingly ________________
connection

Examples:

____ mile = ____ furlongs = ________ yards = ________ feet = ____________ inches

____ gallon = ____ quarts = ____ pints = ______ cups = _________ tablespoons = ________ teaspoons

____ square mile (a.k.a section) = _______ acres = _________________ square feet

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THE METRIC SYSTEM
• at the outbreak of the ________________ revolution in 1789, most countries (and even some
___________ !) had their own system of ________________________
• in 1799, the first republic in _______________ introduced the metric system to the _____________
and it is today the ________________________ agreed _________________ system of
measurement

• the current iteration (sometimes called the _____ system) is the _______________ system of
measurement used in almost country in the _____________
• the metric system is much ______________ to use that the imperial system
• ________________ between metric units requires multiplying or dividing by _____ a
certain number of times

Example:
____ kilometer = _________ metres = ______________ centimeters = __________________ millimeters

THE BASE UNITS:

• as science has _____________________ , it has become apparent that there are in fact a very
______________ number of physical ____________________ that can be measured

• this list might be _____________ , but all of it’s members are very ___________________ !

• each member of this list is measured (as you would expect) in comparison to a __________________
• we identify each of these ‘special’ quantities as a ________ unit or a ____________________
unit

THE 7 BASE UNITS:

QUANTITY MEASURED NAME OF STANDARD SYMBOL OF STANDARD

Distance
Mass
Time
Electric Current
Temperature
Amount of Substance
Intensity of Light

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• we will come across many __________ than the seven base units during our ___________ of physics

• all units other than the base units are called _______________ units
• as their name suggests, you can ‘_______________’ these units by piecing together some
_____________________ of the seven base ___________ we’ve listed

Examples:
Units for speed:
Units for area:
Units for acceleration:
Units for force:

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 2. SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
• scientific notation (also referred to as ________________ form or standard ____________ form) is a
way of expressing numbers that are too ________ or too _______________ to be
______________________ written in _________________ form

Examples:

1. distance to Saturn:

2. the time it takes light to cross the classroom:

• it would be much ______________ to represent these kind of numbers without all the __________…

ANATOMY OF NUMBERS IN SCIENTIFIC NOTATION:

6.022 X 1023

CONVERTING NUMBERS INTO SCIENTIFIC NOTATION

The Goal:
• the _______________ must be moved to the position immediately __________ the first non-zero

digit in the number and then the __________ are chopped off

• the number of ‘_____________’ taken by the decimal is shown by the ____________________

- if decimal jumps to the __________: the exponent is __________________

- if decimal jumps to the ____________: the exponent is _________________

- a negative exponent does ________ mean less than ___________!!

• the co-efficient represents the number that _________________ once all of the ___________ have
been cut off the original

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Examples: (Decimal notation → Scientific Notation)

1. 277 =

2. 277 000 000 =

3. - 2 770 000 =

4. 0.0227 =

5. 0.000 000 000 000 027 7 =

6. -0.000 000 002 77 =

Examples: (Scientific notation → Decimal Notation)

1. 2.13 x 103 =

2. 98.1 X 106 =

3. - 5.67 X 107 =

4. 7.5 x 10-4 =

5. 0.0021 X 10-7 =

6. -8.2 X 10-7 =

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 3. PREFIXES
• we have just seen that scientific notation is nothing more than a ______________________ method
we use to express very ______________ or ____________ numbers

• it turns out there is a ______________ short-hand method that is used to do virtually the same thing

• this method involves using _________________

• prefix notation creates very small __________ from what can be large (or small) numbers but unlike
scientific notation, it requires a _________ be attached to the number
• much like prefixes that are attached to ___________, metric prefixes are placed in
___________ of the units used when taking measurements
Note:
You must know how to use ________________ notation in order to use prefixes effectively!!!

PREFIX NAME LABEL / SYMBOL VALUE

yocto 1X

zepto 1X

atto 1X

femto 1X

pico 1X

nano 1X

micro 1X

milli 1X

centi 1X

deci 1X

1X

deca 1X

hecto 1X

kilo 1X

mega 1X

giga 1X

tera 1X

peta 1X

exa 1X

zetta 1X

yotta 1X

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SCIENTIFIC NOTATION AND PREFIXES:
• several _____________ (shown by the ________________ in scientific notation) are assigned letter
symbols called _____________

• there are ______ powers that are assigned prefixes in the ______ system

• the prefix is always placed ___________ the quantity (or number) but in ___________ of the
_________ of the measurement being expressed

i.e. 15 km

CONVERTING MEASUREMENTS INTO PREFIX NOTATION:

Step 1:
• express the measurement in proper __________________ notation

Step 2:
• replace the “ X 10n " term with the appropriate _______________
• sometimes the ‘X 10n’ term will need to be ________________…
• don’t forget about the __________!!

Examples: (Decimal notation → Prefix notation)

1. 0.00213 s =

2. 9 810 000 m =

3. -567 000 000 mol =

CONVERTING MEASUREMENTS OUT OF PREFIX NOTATION:

Step 1:
• replace the “ X 10n " term with the appropriate _______________
• sometimes the prefix will need to be ____________________…

Step 2:
• convert the measurement into ________________ notation
• don’t forget about the unit!!

Examples: (Prefix notation → Decimal notation)

1. 2.37 km =

2. 50 mK =

3. -5 670 000 µA =

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 4. CONVERSIONS
• the first step in solving many physics and chemistry _________________ is often a conversion

• the ___________________ used in physics and chemistry require we use common ___________
when measuring __________________
• once a conversion is made, both the ______________ and _______________ quantities are

_____________________
• the _________________________________________ is a very versatile and universal way of
performing these conversions
• it is nothing more than a simple ____________ technique that must be learned…

Examples:

1. 210 s → min

2. 120 m2 → cm2

3. 6.0 Tmol → mol

4. 2.7 pK → nK

5. 100 km/h → m/s

6. 9.8 m/s2 → km/hs

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 5. ALGEBRA
• it is essential that we are able to ___________________ and ____________ algebraic expressions
• this ______________ is often a fundamental step in solving physics & chemistry problems

• the main difference between “____________” math and algebra is that algebra uses
_______________ as well as “_________________” numbers

• an “ordinary” number is nothing more than a ________________ which represents some fixed or
constant _______________

• variables are also __________________

• it is essential that the _______________________ of this be understood: being numbers, variables

should always be ______________ like numbers!

• the __________________ of an equation (made up of letters and/or numbers) may be ____________

while not affecting the _________________ of the equation itself

• The rule here is:

• if an equation is ________ , then it will still be true if you change ________ sides of the equation
in the same _________ !
• _________________ equations by following this ‘golden rule’ will help us stay _______________
and allow us to make powerful _____________________

‘THE GOLDEN RULE OF EQUATION SHUFFLING’

You can change the appearance of an equation by

doing any _____________ (+ - × ÷ etc) identically
to ________ sides of the equation

Examples:
Solve the following equations for ‘x’:
2(x+7) = 22 6x - 8 = 4x+4

x2 + y = z2 v22 -v12 =2ax

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 6. TRIGONOMETRY
• when dealing with special types of measurements called _____________, we will see it is often very
useful to use basic ____________________ triangle trigonometry as a tool to _________________
these quantities into ____________ so we may proceed with the physics

• there are 6 trig operations that we will use in this course (and you should have seen all 6 at some
point in your math classes)
• ________ (sin), ___________ (cos), ______________ (tan)
• inverse sine (sin-1), inverse cosine (cos-1), inverse tangent (tan-1)

• as you are aware, the three trig functions relate angle ___ to the _____________ of the three sides of
a right angle triangle in the following ways:

• we should be able to use the trig functions and the ___________________ theorem (a2 + b2 = c2) to
calculate any ______________ information about right angle triangles

Examples:
1. Given the following triangle, calculate the angle that is missing and the length of ‘x’:

2. From the top of a barn 8 metres tall, you see a cat on the ground. From this point, the angle of
depression of the cat is 40º. How many metres must the cat walk to reach the barn?

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 7. GEOMETRY
• geometry is the branch of math that focuses on measuring ______________ and ______________

• geometry was one of the ________________ branches of math that was developed, having
important applications in _________________
• in fact, the __________________ , in about 235 BC were able to use geometry to determine the
_____________ of the earth (yes, they knew it was ______________ !)
• even earlier, the ______________ used geometry to measure the _______________ to, and
__________ of both the moon and sun

• we should be able to measure and calculate the _________________ , ___________ and

_______________ of a number of common shapes

Remember:
PERIMETER = ‘distance ______________ object’
AREA = ‘____ - dimensional space ____________ by object’
VOLUME = ‘____ - dimensional space _____________ by object’

SQUARES & CUBES:

PERIMETER AREA VOLUME

RECTANGLES & RECTANGLULAR PRISMS:

PERIMETER AREA VOLUME

TRIANGLES & TRIANGLULAR PRISMS:

PERIMETER AREA VOLUME

CIRCLES & SPHERES:

PERIMETER
AREA VOLUME
(Circumference)

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 8. SIGNIFICANT FIGURES
• when humans use __________ to take measurements of any physical quantity, a certain degree of
____________________ is incorporated into the measurement
• this is usually caused by “____________” that exist in the measuring _______________ and the
_______________ doing the measuring
• this identifies something very important that must be considered when we take measurements - we
can ______________ assume that the numbers we collect are ______________ numbers
• instead ALL measurements are a “best ________________________ ”

• some instruments are _____________ at doing their job then others

• we can ‘___________’ an instrument’s ability to measure based on two qualities that it possesses:

ACCURACY:
• states how ______________ a measurement is to the true or accepted ____________
• this is a measure of an instruments _________________
• the more ________________ the instrument the better!

PRECISION:
• states how ____________ measurements taken on the same quantity are to each other
• this is a measure of an instruments ___________________
• the more ________________ the instrument the better!
• it is important to be _______________ when reporting a measurement

• our measurement must not appear to be more _____________ than the equipment used to make the
measurement allows

• we can achieve this by ___________________ the number of digits, or significant figures, used to
_____________ the measurement
• the ___________ significant figures reported in a measurement, the more ____________ and
______________ the instrument used to make them was
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 9. VECTORS & SCALARS
• when doing science, scientists need to ___________________ things

• there are two different kinds of quantities that can be measured:

1. ____________________
2. ____________________

• we must be able to differentiate between these two because we must follow different ___________
when working with them (i.e. use ‘different’__________ )…

SCALARS:
• scalars tell us only the ____________________ of the quantity being measured
• scalars tell us "how ______________”

Examples:
5 ____ (distance, d)
10 ____ (time, ∆t)
100 ________ (speed, v)

• the symbols used to denote scalars are usually ______________

• scalars can be added, subtracted, multiplied, divided, etc. just as ‘regular' _______________ can be
('regular' _______________ are scalars…)

VECTORS:
• vectors tell us the ___________________ of the quantity being measured and the _________________
over which it is acting
• vectors tell us “____________________” and “________________”

Examples:
5 ________________ (displacement, ∆d)
100 _________________ (velocity, )

• the symbols used to denote vectors are usually ______________ with a small ______________ above
them

• vectors can be added, subtracted, divided, etc. but we must _______________ the process used
according to the direction attached to the quantity
• we ____________ do ‘regular’ math with vectors quantities!

• we will learn how to __________ vectors in this course

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VECTOR ADDITION:
• because vectors have a _______________________ component we cannot simply add (or subtract)
the __________________ components of a vector

• we will use vector ____________________ to answer vector problems

VECTOR ADDITION USING VECTOR DIAGRAMS:

• this process requires we represent the vectors in question as ______________ that point in the

___________________ that they're acting

• the procedure used is often referred to as the __________________________ method

Terminology:

STEPS:
1. Draw vector 1
2. Add the second vector to the first by placing the _________ of vector 2 to the ______ of vector 1
3. Draw a third arrow that ________________ the tail of vector 1 to the tip of vector 2
• this arrow is called the __________________
• the resultant is the _________________!
• the resultant will have two _______________ built into it (magnitude and direction)

• this method works based on the fact that vector quantities act ______________________ from each
other
• what an object experiences in _______ dimension has no ____________ on what it

experiences in ______________ dimensions

• two kinds of ____________________ can be used when performing vector addition:

1. SCALED DRAWINGS:
• a _____________ must be set and used when _______________ all vectors
• no ____________ (outside of the scale conversions) needs to be used to ____________________ the
length and direction of the resultant

2. MATHEMATICAL METHOD:
• a rough _______________ is used when drawing all vectors
• simple ___________ and/or _______________________ must be used to determine the length and
direction of the _____________________
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Example 1:
Two people are pushing a car that is stuck in a snow bank. The first person pushes with a force of
15 N to the east and the second with a force of 25 N to the east. Assuming these are the only two
forces acting on the car, what is the net force acting on it?

Example 2:
Consider the same scenario described in the previous example but now the first person pushes east
and the second pushes west. What is the net force acting on the car?

Example 3:
Consider the scenario again but now the first person pushes east and the second pushes north. What
is the net force acting on the car?

PHYSICS 30 17
VECTORS & DIRECTION:
• because all vectors have a ___________________ component, we must be able to reference direction
using a ______________ and ______________ system

• we will use one of two sets of directional ___________________ to indicate direction:

SET 1 SET 2
North [____] Forward [____]
East [____] Right [____]
South [____] Backward [____]
West [____] Left [____]
Up [____] Up [____]
Down [____] Down [____]

• we must use ___________ set 1 or set 2 when referencing direction

• DO NOT USE A ______________________ OF BOTH!

REFERENCING DIRECTION:
• there are two methods we will encounter and use throughout this course:

METHOD 1:

[_________] reads as: “north 35° west”

METHOD 2:

[________________] reads as: “35° west of north”

• we will use either method 1 or method 2 when we reference directions in this course
• DO NOT USE A COMBINATION OF ___________!

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VECTOR RESOLUTION:
• adding vectors that do not occur at ____________ angles to each other involves more
__________________ math

Consider:

or

• a process called vector _____________________ allows us to break ‘___________________’ vectors

into ________________ which fall along specified axes
• this makes the math much ______________ in later steps

Examples:
Break the following vectors into their x & y component pieces:

1.

2.

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• we can now couple this technique with vector addition and solve ANY vector problems:

Example:
Two people are pushing a car that is stuck in a snow bank. The first person pushes with a force of
15 N [E] and the second with a force of 25 N [N33°E]. Assuming these are the only two forces acting
on the car, what is the net force acting on it?

PHYSICS 30 20