Physics 2A: Mechanics
Winter 2011
A calculus-based science-engineering general physics course
covering vectors, motion in one and two dimensions, Newton's first and
second laws, work and energy, conservation of energy, linear momentum,
collisions, rotational kinematics, rotational dynamics, equilibrium of
rigid bodies, oscillations, gravitation.
Prerequisites: Mathematics 20A, and concurrent enrollment in Mathematics 20B.
Schedules
Class Sections
See
The UCSD Time Schedule for enrollment information.
Also see the
Academic Calendar for information on class dates and holidays.
People
Contact information here.
Information and Announcements
Information on rules, course administration,
exams, grading and more. You must read this and understand this if you
are taking the course.
Announcements: Notices, comments on homewrok
problems and add-ons to lectures, practice exams, etc.
Grades
Section A
Section B
Section C
Syllabus
At heart, science is about how things
evolve over time. And most things change over time because they move,
or the pieces of which they are made move. This is true of innanimate
objects, like stars and volcanos, as well as living things, like
bacteria and you. Motion underlies phenomena where you would not
suspect it. For example, electric current is nothing but the motion of
electric charges. Understanding motion is a prerequisite for
understanding all of physics and a heap of chemistry, biology and
engineering.
Mechanics is what we call the study of motion. We start by learning
how to describe motion: we ned a precise language that tells us, with
mathematical precission, how any one given object is going from here
to there and rotating or shaking on its way. But painting a picture of
moving object is noit enough. We must find out what causes
motion and how these causes produce motion. Then putting the two
together, the how and the why, we can predict a mtion given a
particular situation where we identify all possible causes of motion.
Kinematics is the study of the "how" of motion, while
Dynamics is what we call the "why" of motion. And this is what we
study in this course.
A specific breakdown: chapters 1 – 10 and 14 of the textbook. Chapters
11–12 will be (very) briefly discussed too.