Anna Klales, Carlos Arguelles Delgado, Timothy Milbourne, and Anna Wang-Holtzen
PHYSICS 15A | Fall 2024/Full Term | Course Listing | Canvas Site
Tuesday & Thursday, 12:00 PM – 1:15 PM
Physics 15a is an introduction to the topics of Newtonian mechanics and special relativity, but it is also an introduction to what it means to be a physicist—formulating theoretical models to describe the natural world and testing those models for consistency with data. Topics include: vectors; kinematics in three dimensions; Newton’s laws; force, work, power; conservative forces, potential energy; momentum, collisions; rotational motion, angular momentum, torque; static equilibrium, simple harmonic motion, damped and driven oscillations; gravitation; fictitious forces; fluids; special relativity; experimental methods and tools including: basic programming, experimental design and data acquisition, model testing and error analysis; scientific communication.
Recommended Prep: Mathematics preparation at least at the level of Mathematics 1b concurrently is required. However, some elementary ideas from multivariable calculus may be used and students are encouraged to take Mathematics 21a concurrently.