Physics MCAT notes Flashcards
What are vectors? And what are the different vector quantities?
How are vectors added?
Numbers with magnitude and direction.
displacement, velocity, acceleration, and force
they are added tip to tail, • The X component of the resultant vector is the sum of the X components of the vectors being added. Similarly, the Y component of the resultant vector is the sum of the Y components of the vectors being added. • : 1. Resolve the vectors to be summed into their X and Y components.2. Add together the X components to get the X component of the resultant (Rx). In the same way, add the Y components to get the Y component of the resultant (Ry). 3. Find the magnitude of the resultant by using the Pythagorean theorem. If Rx and Ry are the components of the resultant, then Subtracting two vectors can be accomplished by adding the opposite of the vector that is being subtracted. By “ − B,” we mean a vector with the same magnitude of B but pointing in the opposite direction.
What are scalars? and what are the different scalar quantities?
numbers with quantity only, no direction
include distance, speed, energy, pressure and mass
Can a vector be multiplied by a scalar?
yes, to change either or both the length and direction. If we multiply vector A by the scalar value n, we produce a new vector, B, such that B = nA. To find the magnitude of the new vector, B, simply multiply the magnitude of A by the absolute value of n. To determine the direction of the vector B, we must look at the sign on n. If n is a positive number, then B and A are in the same direction. However, if n is a negative number, then B and A point in opposite directions. For example, if vector A is multiplied by the scalar +3, then the new vector B is three times as long as A, and A and B point in the same direction. If vector A is multiplied by the scalar -3, then B would still be three times as long as A but would now point in the opposite direction.
What is kinematics?
deals with the description of motion. study of motion with regard to what causes it.
What is displacement
vector quantity and, as such, has both magnitude and direction. The displacement vector connects (in a straight line) the object’s initial position and its final position. Understand that displacement does not account for the actual pathway taken between the initial and the final positions.
What is velocity and the difference between average velocity and instantaneous velocity?
it is a vector, is a vector. Its magnitude is measured as the rate of change of displacement in a given unit of time. The direction of the velocity vector is the same as the direction of the displacement vector. The SI units for velocity are meters/second. Speed, you will recall, is the rate of actual distance traveled in a given unit of time. The distinction is subtle, so let’s look at this a little more carefully. The instantaneous speed of an object will always be equal to the magnitude of the object’s instantaneous velocity, which is a measure of the average velocity as the change in time (Δ t) approaches 0. a measure of speed, instantaneous speed is also a scalar number. Average speed will not necessarily always be equal to the magnitude of the average velocity. This is because average velocity is the ratio of the displacement vector over the change in time (and is a vector), whereas average speed (which is scalar) is the ratio of the total distance traveled over the change in time. Average speed accounts for actual distance traveled.
- The average velocity of an object over an interval of time is the object’s displacement divided by the time elapsed: average velocity describes the motion of an object over a period of time, not at one particular instant. object has constant displacement, it is stationary. But when an object changes position, it does so at a certain rate — a concept we call velocity. The average speed is the distance traveled divided by the time elapsed. The average speed isn’t a vector quantity; it doesn’t depend on direction.
- An object’s instantaneous velocity is its velocity at any one moment in time. Instantaneous velocity, like average velocity, is a vector; it has both magnitude and direction. The instantaneous speed is the speed at any one moment in time. It doesn’t depend on direction like the instantaneous velocity. In fact, the instantaneous speed of an object at any time is the magnitude of the object’s instantaneous velocity vector at that time.
What is acceleration, and the difference between average and constant acceleration?
• is the rate of change of velocity over time. It is a vector quantity. acceleration results from application of force(s). Average acceleration,a, is the change in instantaneous velocity over the change in time. Instantaneous acceleration is defined as the average acceleration as t approaches 0. graph of velocity versus time, the tangent to the graph at any time t, which corresponds to the slope of the graph at that time, would indicate the instantaneous acceleration. If the slope is positive, the acceleration is positive and is in the direction of the velocity. If the slope is negative, the acceleration is negative and is in the direction opposite of the velocity, and it may be called deceleration.
acceleration is proportional to the force applied to it
objects experiencing translational or rotational equilibrium, in which the motional behavior of the object is constant. If an object’s motion is changing, as indicated by a change in velocity, then the object is experiencing acceleration, and that acceleration may be constant or itself changing
- acceleration to define the rate of change of velocity. An object at rest can also be described as moving at a constant velocity; that velocity happens to be zero. Whether or not an object is at rest or at some constant, non-zero velocity, the object has zero acceleration. An object only accelerates when the velocity is changing.
- Average acceleration- object’s average acceleration is much like its average velocity: average acceleration is the change in velocity, divided by the time elapsed. Acceleration is, in general, a vector quantity, the acceleration will be in one dimension, so keeping track of signs will be sufficient. At any particular moment, an object can have an instantaneous acceleration. The slope of a position versus time graph at a particular time gives the instantaneous velocity at that time. The slope of the velocity versus time graph at any single time is the object’s instantaneous acceleration.
- Constant acceleration. the acceleration is positive. Whatever the starting velocity is, the velocity is becoming more and more positive as time goesslope of the velocity versus time plot at any time is the instantaneous acceleration, the slope must be constant. Regardless of what position the object occupies at time zero, its acceleration is positive. Since the velocity is constantly becoming more and more positive, the slope of the position versus time plot must be increasing with time
What occurs when move along linear motion?
• linear motion, the object’s velocity and acceleration are along the line of motion. The pathway of the moving object is a straight line. Linear motion does not need to be limited to vertical or horizontal paths; the inclined surface of a ramp will provide a path for linear motion at some angle. Falling objects exhibit linear motion with constant acceleration. This one-dimensional motion. constant acceleration (the acceleration due to gravity (g), 9.8 m/s2) and would not reach terminal velocity. This is called free fall. Terminal velocity is due to the upward force of air resistance equaling the downward force of gravity. As the net force on the object at this point becomes zero, the acceleration is also zero. The object remains at a constant velocity until it is acted upon by another force.
What are the characteristics of projectile motion?
Projectile motion is motion that follows a path along two dimensions. The velocities and accelerations in the two directions (usually horizontal and vertical) are independent of each other and must, accordingly, be analyzed separately. Objects in projectile motion on Earth, such as cannonballs, baseballs, or bullets, experience the force and acceleration of gravity only in the vertical direction (“ along the y-axis” ). This means that vy will change at the rate of g but vx will not. assume that the horizontal velocity, vx, will be constant, because we assume that air resistance is negligible and, therefore, no measurable force is acting along the x-axis. When dealing with free fall problems, you can make “ down” either positive or negative, thus making the force of gravity either positive or negative. As long as you keep all forces upward with the opposite sign of all forces downward, you will get the correct answer. Though, for the sake of simplicity, ALWAYS make “ up” positive and “ down” negative. To demonstrate projectile motion and apply the kinematics equations to motion in two dimensions, we can turn our attention to cannonballs from a cannon. Projectiles display motion that can be analyzed with relatively simple mathematics. Whenever an object reaches its maximum height, its vertical velocity will be zero for the brief instant that it stops going up and starts falling down. As soon as an object is “ in flight,” the only force acting on it will be gravity; thus an object’s acceleration will be -9.8 m/s2 the entire time it is in flight. The amount of time that an object takes to get to its maximum height is the same time it takes for the object to fall back down; this fact makes solving these problems much easier. Because you can solve for the time to reach maximum height by setting your final velocity to zero, you can then multiply your answer by two, getting total time in flight. Because the only force acting on the object after it is launched is gravity, the velocity it has in the x-direction will remain constant throughout its time in flight. By multiplying the time by the x-velocity, you can find the horizontal distance traveled.
- The object’s motion in the horizontal direction (usually labeled the x-direction) has no acceleration, but the object’s motion in the vertical direction (the y-direction) has an acceleration of -g. When a projectile launches, it has the following initial properties: an initial height y0 (the ground level is usually y = 0), an initial speed v0, an initial angle of incline, θ, which divides the initial velocity into components: the x-component, v0x = v0 cos θ, and the y-component, v0y = v0 sin θ, Of course, as holds true throughout the entire flight of the projectile, the horizontal component of the acceleration, ax, is zero, and the magnitude of the vertical component, ay, equals g.
- As a projectile- The horizontal speed of the projectile, vx, doesn’ t change, because there is no horizontal acceleration. So the horizontal speed of the projectile is always equal to the initial horizontal speed: vx = v0 cos θ. The vertical speed of the projectile, vy, is always changing. That’ s because there is a constant vertical acceleration, g, pointing downward. So the projectile’ s upward motion slows down, stops, and then the projectile falls back to Earth. The important fact to remember about the motion of the projectile at the top of the arc is that the vertical speed is zero at that instant. The top of the arc is the place where the downward acceleration has reduced all of the initial vertical velocity to zero. only motion that the projectile undergoes at the top is horizontal motion; the horizontal speed is still vx = v0 cos θ. the horizontal distance it covered during the trip is called the range. If the object was launched and landed at the same height, then its motion is symmetric. This has two consequences: The time it took for the projectile to travel up to the top of the arc is equal to the time it took for the projectile come down from the top of the arc and land. The speed v at which the object lands is equal to the speed v0 at which the object took off. Furthermore, the vertical component of the speed at landing is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the initial vertical component of the speed, v0y.
What is force?
• experienced as pushing or pulling on objects. The amazing thing about forces is that they can exist between objects that aren’t even touching. While it is common in our experience for forces to be exerted by one object touching another, there are even more instances in which forces exist between objects nowhere near each other. On a grand scale, the oceanic tides are the result of the attractive gravitational force of the Moon on the water. On an even grander scale, the gravitational pull of planets orbiting a sun causes the sun to “ wobble” on its axis. On a more human scale, we can feel the repulsive force that exists between the north ends (or the south ends) of two bar magnets. The SI unit for force is the newton (N) and is equivalent to one kilogram · meter/second2.
What is the difference between mass and weight?
Mass and weight are not the same things! Mass (m) is a measure of a body’s inertia— the amount of matter in something, the amount of “ stuff.” Mass is a scalar quantity. (Remember, scalar numbers have magnitude only.) The SI unit for mass is the kilogram. Measurement of mass is independent of gravity. One kilogram of chocolate on Earth will have the same mass as one kilogram of chocolate on the Moon (and will be equally delicious). Weight (W) is a measure of gravitational force, usually that of the Earth, on an object’s mass. Weight is sometimes represented as Fg, or the force due to gravity. Because weight is a force, it is a vector quantity and has the same SI unit as any other force, the newton (N). Mass and weight are not the same thing. Weight: W = mg. N = (kg) (m/s2) W = weight = acceleration due to gravity, g, exerted on the mass, m. The weight of an object can be thought of as being applied at a single point in that object, called the center of gravity. Only for a homogeneous body (symmetrical shape and uniform density) can the center of gravity be located at its geometric center. For example, we can approximate the center of gravity for a metal shot-put ball as the geometric center of the sphere. The same cannot be said, however, for a human body, complex automobile, or any asymmetrical, non-uniform object.
What is Newton’s Laws of motion?
- Newton’s laws of motion- If there is no acceleration, then there is no net force on the object. This means that any object with a constant velocity has no net force acting on it. Where 1. F=ma=0. there is no acceleration, then there is no net force on the object. This means that any object with a constant velocity has no net force acting on it. A body either at rest or in motion with constant velocity will remain that way unless a net force acts upon it. law of inertia: “ A body in motion will stay in motion, and a body at rest will stay at rest, unless acted upon by an external force.” Newton’s first law ought to be thought of as a special case of his second law.
- The net force is the sum of all forces acting on an object. Even though the force of gravity is always acting on us, the net force on our bodies will be zero unless there is no ground below us pushing back up against gravity. The symbol in front of the F stands for “ sum of” and, in this case, means the “ vector sum of.” What Newton’s second law states is actually the corollary of the first: No acceleration of an object with mass m will occur when the vector sum of the forces results in a cancellation of those forces (vector sum equals zero). An object of mass m will accelerate when the vector sum of the forces results in some nonzero resultant force vector. In a game of tug-of-war, one team will eventually end up in the mud pit because the uneven application of forces to the rope will cause an acceleration of the (losing) team toward the center. The net force is the sum of all forces acting on an object. Even though the force of gravity is always acting on us, the net force on our bodies will be zero unless there is no ground below us pushing back up against gravity.
- law of action and reaction: “ To every action, there is always an opposed but equal reaction.” More formally, the law states that for every force exerted by object B on object A, there is an equal but opposite force exerted by object A on object B. The mutual gravitational pull between the Earth and the Moon traverses hundreds of thousands of kilometers of space. our hand may have exerted quite the force against your desk, but it is an unavoidable law of Newtonian mechanics that your desk exerted the same force back against your hand
How are free body diagrams drawn?
• Drawing Free-Body Diagrams- When solving these problems, ALWAYS break each force that is not ONLY in the x- or y-direction into its x and y component parts using trigonometry. Looking at your forces, you know that there is more force in the negative y-direction than there is in the positive x-direction. Before jumping into the math, see if one of the answer choices has an angle that puts the vector closer to the negative y than to positive x. This would translate as an angle between 45 and 90 degrees below the x-axis. If you ever lose track of the angles, there’s a trick to finding which angle you’re dealing with. Drawing out vectors creates right triangles out of the vectors Wgravity, Wx, and Wy. Because you are breaking gravity into its component parts, it will be the largest value, making it the hypotenuse of both triangles. Wy, which goes perpendicular to the incline, will be equal to the normal force. By drawing the final force Wx, you see that it goes parallel to the incline. The angle theta will equal the angle between the force of gravity and Wy. By plugging Wx into F = ma, you can solve for the acceleration of the block in the x-direction. Because the block is neither breaking through the incline nor floating off of it, the normal force and Wy must be equal and opposite, meaning the net force in the y-direction is zero.
What is gravity?
• Gravity- Newton’s third law states that the force of gravity on m1 from m2 is equal and opposite of the force of gravity on m2 from m1. This means that the force of gravity on you from the Earth is equal and opposite of the force of gravity from you on the Earth. This may sound strange, but with Newton’s second law, you can make sense of it. Because the forces are equal but the masses are very different, you know that the accelerations must also be very different, from F = ma. Because your mass compared to that of the Earth is very small, you experience a large acceleration from it. In contrast, because the Earth is very massive and it feels the same force, it only experiences a tiny acceleration from you. Gravity is an attractive force that is felt by all forms of matter. We usually think of gravity as acting on us to keep us from floating off of the Earth’s surface, and of course, the planets of our solar system are kept in their orbits by the gravitational pull of the Sun. gravity is only one kind of force and it just happens to be the weakest of the four forces known to us. There are a lot of other forces that are working to oppose gravity (for example, friction, which is an electromagnetic force), magnitude of the gravitational force (F) between two objects is where G is the universal gravitational constant (6.67 × 10− 11 N· m2/kg2), m1 and m2 are the masses of the two objects, and r is the distance between their centers. magnitude of the gravitational force is inverse to the square of the distance (that is, if r is halved, then F will quadruple).
What are the other kinds of motion?
translational, rotational, and periodic
What is translational motion?
• Translational motion occurs when forces cause an object to move without any rotation about a fixed point in the object. The simplest pathways may be linear, such as when a child slides down a snowy hill on a sled, or parabolic, as in the case of a clown shot out of a cannon.
What is rotational motion?
Rotational motion- occurs when forces are applied against an object in such a way as to cause the object to rotate around a fixed pivot point, also known as the fulcrum. Application of force at some distance from the fulcrum, along the lever arm, generates torque,τ , or the moment of force. It is the torque that generates the rotational motion, not the mere application of the force itself. This is because torque depends not only on the magnitude of the force but also on the angle at which the force is applied against the lever arm as well as the distance between the fulcrum and the point of force application. where F is the magnitude of the force, r is the distance between the fulcrum and the point of force application, and theta (the Greek letter) is the angle between F and the lever arm.
What is circular motion?
Circular motion occurs when forces cause an object to move in a circular pathway. Upon completion of one cycle, the displacement of the object is zero. uniform circular motion, in which case the speed of the object is constant, you ought to know that there is also nonuniform circular motion. Nonuniform circular motion is covered briefly after we discuss uniform circular motion. For circular motion that demonstrates a constant speed at all points along the pathway. the instantaneous velocity vector is always tangent to the circular path. object moving in the circular motion has a tendency (inertia) to “ break out” of its circular pathway and move in a linear direction along the tangent. In all circular motion, we can resolve the forces into radial (center-seeking) and tangential components. In uniform circular motion, the tangential force is zero (because there is no change in the speed of the object). the resultant force is the radial force. This is known as the centripetal force, and according to Newton’s second law, this generates centripetal acceleration. Remember, also, from our discussion of Newton’s laws that both force and acceleration are vectors and the acceleration is always in the same direction as the resultant force. Thus it is this acceleration generated by the centripetal force that keeps an object in its circular pathway. When the centripetal force is no longer acting on the object, it will simply exit the circular pathway and assume a path tangential to the circle at that point. Examples of centripetal force in action are the force of gravity in maintaining a satellite’s orbit and the tension in a rope attached to an object that is being spun around. This is the force that keeps the object from flying off tangentially. the resultant force is the radial force. This is known as the centripetal force, and according to Newton’s second law, this generates centripetal acceleration. Remember, also, from our discussion of Newton’s laws that both force and acceleration are vectors and the acceleration is always in the same direction as the resultant force. Thus it is this acceleration generated by the centripetal force that keeps an object in its circular pathway. When the centripetal force is no longer acting on the object, it will simply exit the circular pathway and assume a path tangential to the circle at that point. where v2/r is the centripetal acceleration and F is the force necessary to keep an object of mass m in orbit with radius r. This means, then, that there is a tangential force acting to create a tangential acceleration. This force vector adds to the radial force vector to produce a resultant force (and resultant acceleration) that is not directed toward the center of the circle.
What is friction and what are the kinds of friction?
electromagnetic force opposing the movement of objects causes it to slow down or become stationary
static and kinetic
What is static friction?
Static friction (Fs) exists between a stationary object and the surface upon which it rests. where μ s is the coefficient of static friction and Fn is the normal force. Don’t forget that the normal force is the component of the contact force that is perpendicular to the plane of contact between the object and the surface upon which it rests. The maximum value of static friction can be calculated from the right side of the previous equation. Objects that are stationary ought not to be assumed to be experiencing that maximum value. In fact, one can demonstrate quite easily that the static friction between an object and a surface is not at its maximal value. Contact points are the places where friction occurs between two rough surfaces sliding past each other (top). If the “ normal load” — the force that squeezes the two together— rises, the total area of contact increases (bottom). That increase, and not the surface roughness, governs the degree of friction. The coefficient of static friction will always be larger than the coefficient of kinetic friction. It is always harder to get an object to start sliding than it is to keep an object sliding.
What is kinetic friction?
• Kinetic friction (Fk) exists between a sliding object and the surface over which the object slides. A wheel, for example, that is rolling along a road does not experience kinetic friction because the tire is not actually sliding against the pavement. The tire maintains an instantaneous point of static contact with the road and, therefore, experiences static friction! Only when the tire begins to slide on, say, an icy patch during the winter will kinetic friction come into play. To be sure, any time two surfaces slide against each other, kinetic friction will be present. μk is the coefficient of kinetic friction and Fn is the normal force. important distinction between this equation for kinetic friction and the previous equation for static friction. The kinetic friction equation has an equals sign, not the less-than-or-equals sign. This means that kinetic friction will have a constant value for any given combination of a coefficient of kinetic friction and normal force. It does not matter how much surface area is in contact or even the velocity of the sliding object.
What is mechanical equilibria?
• Mechanical Equilibria: examine mechanical equilibrium, which occurs when the vector sum of the forces or torques acting on an object is zero; that is, when all of the force or all of the torque vectors cancel out. Just because the net force equal zero does not mean the velocity equals zero;
What is translational equilibrium?
Translational equilibrium exists only when the vector sum of all of the forces acting on an object is zero. This is called the first condition of equilibrium. It’s merely an instance of Newton’s first law, which, remember, is only a special case of the second. When the resultant force upon an object is zero, the object will not accelerate. Its motional behavior will be constant. That may mean that the object is stationary, but it could just as well mean that the object is moving with a constant nonzero velocity. What is important to remember is that an object experiencing translational equilibrium will have a constant speed (which could be a zero or nonzero value) and a constant direction. Remember that sin 90° equals 1. This means that torque is greatest when the force applied is 90 degrees (perpendicular) to the length of the lever arm. Knowing that sin 0° equals 0 tells us that there is no torque when the force applied is parallel to the lever arm
What is rotational equilibriuM/
• Rotational equilibrium exists only when the vector sum of all the torques acting on an object is zero. This is called the second condition of equilibrium. Torques that generate clockwise rotation are conventionally negative, while torques that generate counterclockwise rotation are positive. Thus, in rotational equilibrium, it must be that all of the positive torques exactly cancel out all of the negative torques. Similar to the motional behavior defined by translational equilibrium, there are two possibilities of motion in the case of rotational equilibrium. Either the lever arm is not rotating at all (that is, it is stationary), or it is rotating with a constant angular frequency (analogous to a constant velocity)