Vietnamese-German University

Foundation Year 2017

BASIC CONCEPTS OF PHYSICS

Khiem H. PHAN, Dr.

phkhiem@hcmus.edu.vn, khiem.hong.phan@desy.de
Objective
physics is fun
basic knowledge of classical (and modern)
physics
how to set up an experiment
how to prepare and give a presentation
how to work as a team
Improve your English of Physics and Science
Reference books
Walker, Halliday & Reznik, Fundamental of Physics,
10th Ed., J. Wiley & Sons (2014).
L. D. Landau and A. I. Kitaigorodsky, Physics for
Everyone Physical Bodies, 2nd Ed., Mir Pub. (1980);
Molecules, 2nd Ed., Mir Pub.(1980).
Physics, Principles with Applications by Douglas C.
Giancoli.
College Physics by Hugh D. Young.
Evaluation
Dont use computer and phone during the
lectures.
Discussion (exercise): 20%.
Midterm: 30%.
Final Project: 50%.
Attending the class: > 80% (no more than 15
minutes late to the class).
Content of Phase I (8 weeks)
Mechanics:
1. Basic Concepts
2. Laws of motion
3. Conservation laws
4. Oscillations
5. Motion of solid bodies
6. Gravitation
7. Pressure

Midterm examination.
Content of Phase I (8 weeks)
Thermodynamics:
1. Building blocks of the universe
2. Structure of matter
3. Temperature
4. States of matter
5. Solutions
6. Molecular mechanics
7. Transformation of molecules
8. Laws of thermodynamics

Final examination
The International System of Units (SI)
The International System of Units (SI)

In 1971, the 14th General Conference on Weights

and Measures picked seven quantities as base
quantities: length, mass, and time, etc.*
These units were defined to be on a human
scale.
Many SI derived units are defined in terms of
these base units.
* The others are Temperature (Kelvin), electric current (ampere), luminous intensity
(candela), amount of substance (mole).
The International System of Units (SI)

Example: the SI unit for power, called the watt (W).

how does it define in terms of the base units for mass, length,
and time?
Prefixes for SI Units

In order to express the

very large and very small
quantities, we often run
into in physics, we use
scientific notation.
Changing Units

Chain-link conversion: we multiply the original

measurement by a conversion factor.
Length

In 1792, the meter was defined to be one ten-

millionth of the distance from the north pole to
the equator.
Length

In 1960, the meter was redefined to be 1 650

763.73 wavelengths of a particular orange-red
light emitted by atoms of krypton-86.
By 1983, the meter is the length of the path
traveled by light in a vacuum during a time
interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second.
Time

Time must be able to answer two questions:

When did it happen? and What is its
duration?
One second: is the time taken by 9 192 631 770
(~9.10^9) oscillations of the light (of a specified
wavelength) emitted by a cesium-133 atom.
Mass

The SI standard of mass is a cylinder of platinum

and iridium.
The carbon-12 atom is a mass of 12 atomic mass
units (u).
 Physical quantities?
-Scalar and Vector quantities-
Scalar and Vector quantities
Scalar:
- If we waited half an hour and then another
hour, we would lose one and a half hours of time
all told.
- If we bought 200 g of grapes and then another
400 g, we would have 600 g of grapes.
Time, mass and other similar quantities are
added arithmetically.
Scalar and Vector quantities

Vector:
- We say that it is 45 km from VGU to HCM city and
20 km from VGU to Dong Nai city, it does not follow
that Dong Nai city is located at a distance of 65 km
from HCM?
- Distances are not added arithmetically.
- Distances, Velocities, Forces are vector quantities.
Scalar and Vector quantities

Vector: magnitude and direction

Physical quantities: Force, velocity, acceleration,

momentum, Torque, Angular momentum, mass, time,
Average Speed, kinetic energy, potential energy,
Power, Work? which ones belong to scalar, vector
quantities? examples to explain your opinions?
Position and Displacement
Position: To locate an object means to find its
position relative to some reference point.
The positive direction of the axis is in the
direction of increasing numbers.
The opposite is the negative direction.
Position and Displacement

Displacement: A change from position x1 to

position x2 is called a displacement :
Average Velocity and Average Speed

Average Velocity: is the ratio of the displacement

that occurs during a particular time interval to
that interval

Average Speed: the total distance covered over

total time.
Instantaneous Velocity and Speed

Instantaneous Velocity: Taking the time interval

tends to 0, the average velocity then approaches
a limiting value, which is the velocity at that
instant t.

Instantaneous Speed: is the magnitude of

instantaneous velocity.
Acceleration
Acceleration: When a particles velocity changes,
the particle is said to undergo acceleration, the
average acceleration over a time interval is

Instantaneous acceleration:
Unit of velocity and acceleration

Velocity:

Unit: how to find unit of velocity?

Acceleration:

Unit of acceleration?
Motion Along a Straight Line: a
example
Motion Along a Straight Line with constant
acceleration, derive following equations.

Plot these equations.

Adding Vectors Geometrically

Parallelogram rule

Triangle rule
The Scalar (Vector) Product

The scalar product of the vectors:

The Vector Product:

Force

In physics, a force (interaction) is a physical

quantity that causes of changing the motion of an
object.
Unit?
Vector or scalar?
Principle of superposition for forces.
Decomposition of force

Vertical direction?
Horizontal direction?
Perpendicular?
Kind of forces
The Normal Force
Friction
Tension
Gravitational force and weight
Problems and Solutions
Problems and Solutions

Question 1: For example, consider a simple

pendulum of length l. Suppose that you cant
remember whether the equation for the period
T? By applying the dimensional analysis, one
confirms that
Problems and Solutions

Question 2: An automobile is moving to the right

along a straight highway, which we choose to be
the positive x axis. Then the driver steps on the
brakes. If the initial velocity (when the driver hits
the brakes) is v1 = 15.0 [m/s], and it takes 5.0 s
to slow down to v2 = 5.0 [m/s], what was the
cars average acceleration?
Problems and Solutions

Question 3: From the theorem of Pythagoras,

the magnitude (draw vector) of the resultant
force ?
Problems and Solutions

Question 4: From the theorem of Parallelogram,

the magnitude (draw vector) of the resultant
force ?
Problems and Solutions
Question 4: Two boxes are connected by a cord
running over a pulley. We ignore the mass of the
cord and pulley and any friction in the pulley,
analysis the forces act on the boxes?
Problems and Solutions

Question 5:
When a measurement is repeated several times, we
see the measured values are grouped around
some central value.
This distribution can be described with two
numbers: the mean (central value) and the
standard deviation (deviation of the measured).
Problems and Solutions
Question 5:
For a set of N measured values for some quantity
x, the mean of x is represented by the symbol and
is calculated by the following formula:

The standard deviation:

Problems and Solutions
Problems and Solutions
Problems and Solutions

Question 6: It is easier to roll a body up an

inclined plane than to lift it vertically. Why?