Week 3 (2/11 - 2/15) Study Guide — PHYS 121

The material for our third week comes from FlipIt Unit 3-4. From Unit 3 we will discussion uniform circular
motion on Monday. For uniform circular motion, from the textbook Chapter 3 Sections 3 expect for
“Tangential Acceleration” in section 3. For Newton’s Laws, Chapter 4 Sections 1-3.
— The textbook has many great worked out examples which are helpful to work through. First, try to solve the
problem on your own and then look at the solution when you get stuck. Just reading through the solution will do
very little for your understanding:
• Chapter 4 examples: 4-1 through 4-3

— Below are some additional end of the chapter problems. Bolded problems are more conceptual in nature.
Chapter 4: 1; 6; 9; 12-20; 22-24; 30-39; 41; 42-44;47-53; 56-62; 63-65; 66-69; 75-77; 79

Important Equations from FlipIt Unit 3-4

v2 2π r
Magnitude of Centripetal Acceleration: a! c = Speed for Uniform Circular Motion: v! =
r T
2π v
Angular Speed: !ω = = ⃗
Transformation of Velocity: ! v AB ⃗
= v AC ⃗
+ v CB
T R

Newton’s 1st Law: If ! a ⃗ = 0 ,⃗ then ! v ⃗ = Constant Newton’s 2nd Law: ! ∑ F ⃗ = F NET

⃗ = m a ⃗

⃗
Newton’s 3rd Law: ! F A→B ⃗
= − F B→A

Week 3 Learning Objectives

Note: those learning objectives that are italicized are more conceptual in nature

• Uniform Circular Motion (Unit 3)

- State the magnitude of the centripetal acceleration and explain what the variables represent
- Describe both qualitatively and quantitively how the angular speed, speed, velocity, and acceleration of an object undergoing
uniform circular motion change over time
- Draw the velocity and acceleration vectors for an object undergoing uniform circular motion
- Calculate the period for an object undergoing uniform circular motion
- Calculate the velocity and acceleration for an object in uniform circular motion at any point in its motion,
i.e. be able to decompose the velocity and acceleration vectors into components

• Newton’s Laws (Unit 4)

- State and explain Newton’s 1st law of motion and identify situations where it is applicable to an object
- State Newton’s 2nd law of motion as well as identify and explain each of the terms and variables
- Explain how the direction of the net force and the acceleration for an object are related
- Explain and determine how the velocity changes when an object has a net force
- State the three fundamental SI units as well as express quantities (such as velocity, acceleration, forces,…) in terms of the
fundamental SI units
- State Newton’s 3rd law of motion and apply it to determine whether two forces are a Newton’s 3rd law pair
- Calculate the net force on an object which involves: determining all forces acting on an object, breaking
down individual forces into x & y components, and calculating the net force in the x & y directions
- Apply Newton’s 2nd Law to calculate the acceleration of an object for both 1D & 2D motion