Energy is the mover and shaker of the universe. Heat from the Sun, sounds from your radio, riding a bike and watching a movie are all expressions of different forms of energy. As you sit there reading this, there is energy flowing all around you in the form of light waves, sound waves, radio waves, heat and more. You are constantly being bombarded by energy. Energy is everywhere, all the time.
The physics problems we've solved on paper so far have made good use of Newton's Laws of Motion to figure out how a parachutist falls, how fast the airplane goes, or how high a pitcher throws the baseball. But sometimes, Newton's Laws of Motion break when we apply them to certain problems, such as particles moving near the speed of light, or describing the motion of an electron in an atom. Since there's more than one way to climb a mountain, we're going to look at solving physics problems using energy.
NEW! Download the complete packet for this section here.
The physics problems we've solved on paper so far have made good use of Newton's Laws of Motion to figure out how a parachutist falls, how fast the airplane goes, or how high a pitcher throws the baseball. But sometimes, Newton's Laws of Motion break when we apply them to certain problems, such as particles moving near the speed of light, or describing the motion of an electron in an atom. Since there's more than one way to climb a mountain, we're going to look at solving physics problems using energy.
NEW! Download the complete packet for this section here.
Physicists are kind of strange sometimes... they'll spend more time figuring out a faster way to solve the problem if it's neater, slicker, and more fun to do. Which is where this new model of looking at the energy transfer between objects comes in.
We're going to look at the different forms of energy and how it changes to figure out the same sorts of things we did with Newton's Laws of Motion, so now you'll have two different ways to solve the same problem. This is important because sometimes, you can't use Newton's Laws because you have too many unknown variables (thus making the problem unsolvable), but if you come at the problem from the Energy side, everything works out (and sometimes the math is easier too!).
Be sure to take out a notebook and copy down each example problem right along with me so you take good notes as you go along. It's a totally different experience when you are actively involved by writing down and working through each problem rather than passively sitting back and watching.
We're going to look at the different forms of energy and how it changes to figure out the same sorts of things we did with Newton's Laws of Motion, so now you'll have two different ways to solve the same problem. This is important because sometimes, you can't use Newton's Laws because you have too many unknown variables (thus making the problem unsolvable), but if you come at the problem from the Energy side, everything works out (and sometimes the math is easier too!).
Be sure to take out a notebook and copy down each example problem right along with me so you take good notes as you go along. It's a totally different experience when you are actively involved by writing down and working through each problem rather than passively sitting back and watching.