General outline of topics for test 1 - March 5 (one week from tonight)

General topics for exam 1.  Be sure to review all assigned homework, blog posts and your notes.

You are permitted to have a sheet of notes for this test.  I will NOT give equations.

 Basic format:  multiple choice, short answer, maybe a short essay 

SI units (m, kg, s) - meanings, definitions (original AND current)
velocity

average vs. instantaneous velocity

acceleration

related motion problems using the formulas

speed of light (c) - approx 300,000,000 m/s

gravitational acceleration (g) - on earth (approx 10 m/s/s) and elsewhere (Moon, etc.)

freefall problems

Newton's 3 laws - applications and problems

Kepler's 3 laws - applications and problems

epicycles

weight vs. mass
Weightlessness

 Reference frames (recall demos)

Newton:  _Principia Mathematica_, 1687

Inverse square law (discussed next class)



Useful equations

Average speed:  v = d/t

Definition of acceleration:  (Vf - Vi) / t

Final speed:  Vf = a t

Distance traveled:  d = 0.5 a t^2

Newton's 2nd law (Force):  F = m a

Weight:  W = m g

Kepler's 3rd law:  a^3 = P^2

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