Physics Club

Physics Course (Session 2)

Instructor:

Ritchie Yu

Hi, I’m Ritchie and I’m a graduating student from Western Canada High School, attending McGill in the fall with a major in Bioengineering. Having maintained a high school physics average of 99 with 100 on the physics diploma, I’m very familiar with the physics courses you will take. I hope to share this familiarity with you, and help you establish a better intuition and understanding of important physics concepts. In my own time, I enjoy making hyperrealism art, conducting biomedical research at the University of Calgary, playing badminton, and exploring computer science.

Course outline:

With Elon Musk sending rockets and satellites up into space these days on a seemingly weekly basis, it’s clear that space exploration is the future. In this course, I cover two important intersections between these space ventures and the Physics 20 curriculum – gravity and circular motion.

Lesson 1: Uniform circular motion

  • Scalars, vectors, vector addition, free-body diagrams, and forces revisited
  • Uniform motion
  • Acceleration and Newton’s second law
  • Centripetal force
  • Uniform circular motion
  • Sources of centripetal force
  • Direction of centripetal acceleration
  • Period and frequency
  • Banked curves, horizontal UCM
  • Assigned homework

Lesson 2: Gravity

  • Review of lesson 1
  • Gravity
  • Kepler’s laws of planetary motion
  • Newton’s law of universal gravitation
  • Cavendish’s torsion balance – determining G
  • Gravitational fields and gravitational force
  • Satellites
  • Rollercoasters, vertical circular motion
  • Assigned homework

Lesson 3: Simple harmonic motion (SHM), work and energy (pt.1)

  • From uniform circular motion to simple harmonic motion
  •  The pendulum
  •  Period of pendulum
  • Springs
  • Hooke’s law and weighted springs
  • Vibrating weighted springs
  • Energy and its forms
  •  Mechanical energy
  •  Laws of energy
  • Work, net work, work-energy theorem
  •  Power
  • Conservation of energy
  • Applying dynamics and energy to SHM
  • Homework

Lesson 4: Waves

  • Mechanical waves
  • Transverse waves
  • Longitudinal waves
  • Wave pulses
  • Wavelength, period, frequency
  • Speed and universal wave equation
  •  Reflection and transmission of waves
  • Interference
  • Waves in 2D
    • Reflection
    • Refraction
    • Diffraction
    • Interference
  • Resonance and sound Standing waves Resonance
  • Resonance in air columns
  • Doppler

Date & Time:

  • July 15, 22, 29 & August 5 (2020)
  • Wednesday 1:00PM-2:30PM

*No fee required

Past