Steven Holzner - Physics I For Dummies

Physics I For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2022931882

ISBN 978-1-119-87222-1 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-87223-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-87224-5 (ebk)

1 Cover

2 Title Page

3 Copyright

4 Introduction About This Book Conventions Used in This Book What You're Not to Read Foolish Assumptions How This Book Is Organized Icons Used in This Book Beyond the Book Where to Go from Here

5 Part 1: Putting Physics into Motion Chapter 1: Using Physics to Understand Your World What Physics Is All About Observing Objects in Motion When Push Comes to Shove: Forces Feeling Hot but Not Bothered: Thermodynamics Chapter 2: Reviewing Physics Measurement and Math Fundamentals Measuring the World around You and Making Predictions Eliminating Some Zeros: Using Scientific Notation Checking the Accuracy and Precision of Measurements Arming Yourself with Basic Algebra Tackling a Little Trig Interpreting Equations as Real-World Ideas Chapter 3: Exploring the Need for Speed Going the Distance with Displacement Speed Specifics: What Is Speed, Anyway? Speeding Up (Or Down): Acceleration Relating Acceleration, Time, and Displacement Linking Velocity, Acceleration, and Displacement Chapter 4: Following Directions: Motion in Two Dimensions Visualizing Vectors Putting Vectors on the Grid A Little Trig: Breaking Up Vectors into Components Featuring Displacement, Velocity, and Acceleration in two dimensions Accelerating Downward: Motion under the Influence of Gravity

6 Part 2: May the Forces of Physics Be with You Chapter 5: When Push Comes to Shove: Force Newton’s First Law: Resisting with Inertia Newton’s Second Law: Relating Force, Mass, and Acceleration Newton’s Third Law: Looking at Equal and Opposite Forces Chapter 6: Getting Down with Gravity, Inclined Planes, and Friction Acceleration Due to Gravity: One of Life’s Little Constants Finding a New Angle on Gravity with Inclined Planes Getting Sticky with Friction Let’s Get Fired Up! Sending Objects Airborne Chapter 7: Circling Around Rotational Motion and Orbits Centripetal Acceleration: Changing Direction to Move in a Circle Seeking the Center: Centripetal Force Getting Angular with Displacement, Velocity, and Acceleration Letting Gravity Supply Centripetal Force Looping the Loop: Vertical Circular Motion Chapter 8: Go with the Flow: Looking at Pressure in Fluids Mass Density: Getting Some Inside Information Applying Pressure Buoyancy: Float Your Boat with Archimedes’s Principle Fluid Dynamics: Going with Fluids in Motion Getting Up to Speed on Flow and Pressure

7 Part 3: Manifesting the Energy to Work Chapter 9: Getting Some Work Out of Physics Looking for Work Making a Move: Kinetic Energy Energy in the Bank: Potential Energy Choose Your Path: Conservative versus Nonconservative Forces Keeping the Energy Up: The Conservation of Mechanical Energy Powering Up: The Rate of Doing Work Chapter 10: Putting Objects in Motion: Momentum and Impulse Looking at the Impact of Impulse Gathering Momentum The Impulse-Momentum Theorem: Relating Impulse and Momentum When Objects Go Bonk: Conserving Momentum When Worlds (Or Cars) Collide: Elastic and Inelastic Collisions Chapter 11: Winding Up with Angular Kinetics Going from Linear to Rotational Motion Understanding Tangential Motion Applying Vectors to Rotation Doing the Twist: Torque Spinning at Constant Velocity: Rotational Equilibrium Chapter 12: Round and Round with Rotational Dynamics Rolling Up Newton’s Second Law into Angular Motion Moments of Inertia: Looking into Mass Distribution Wrapping Your Head around Rotational Work and Kinetic Energy Can’t Stop This: Angular Momentum Chapter 13: Springs ’n’ Things: Simple Harmonic Motion Bouncing Back with Hooke’s Law Getting Around to Simple Harmonic Motion Factoring Energy into Simple Harmonic Motion Swinging with Pendulums

8 Part 4: Laying Down the Laws of Thermodynamics Chapter 14: Turning Up the Heat with Thermodynamics Measuring Temperature The Heat Is On: Thermal Expansion Heat: Going with the Flow (Of Thermal Energy) Chapter 15: Here, Take My Coat: How Heat Is Transferred Convection: Letting the Heat Flow Too Hot to Handle: Getting in Touch with Conduction Radiation: Riding the (Electromagnetic) Wave Chapter 16: In the Best of All Possible Worlds: The Ideal Gas Law Digging into Molecules and Moles with Avogadro’s Number Relating Pressure, Volume, and Temperature with the Ideal Gas Law Tracking Ideal Gas Molecules with the Kinetic Energy Formula Chapter 17: Heat and Work: The Laws of Thermodynamics Getting Temperature with Thermal Equilibrium: the Zeroth Law Conserving Energy: The First Law of Thermodynamics Flowing from Hot to Cold: The Second Law of Thermodynamics Going Cold: The Third (And Absolute Last) Law of Thermodynamics