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Steven Holzner. U Can: Physics I For Dummies
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Beyond the Book
Where to Go from Here
Part I
Chapter 1. Using Physics to Understand Your World
What Physics Is All About
Observing Objects in Motion
When Push Comes to Shove: Forces
Feeling Hot but Not Bothered: Thermodynamics
Chapter 2. Reviewing Physics Measurement and Math Fundamentals
Measuring the World around You and Making Predictions
Eliminating Some Zeros: Using Scientific Notation
From Meters to Inches and Back Again: Converting Between Units
Checking the Accuracy and Precision of Measurements
Arming Yourself with Basic Algebra
Tackling a Little Trig
Interpreting Equations as Real-World Ideas
Chapter 3. Exploring the Need for Speed
Going the Distance with Displacement
Speed Specifics: What Is Speed, Anyway?
Speeding Up (Or Down): Acceleration
Relating Acceleration, Time, and Displacement
Linking Velocity, Acceleration, and Displacement
Chapter 4. Following Directions: Motion in Two Dimensions
Visualizing Vectors
Putting Vectors on the Grid
A Little Trig: Breaking Up Vectors into Components
Featuring Displacement, Velocity, and Acceleration in 2-D
Accelerating Downward: Motion under the Influence of Gravity
Part II
Chapter 5. When Push Comes to Shove: Force
Newton’s First Law: Resisting with Inertia
Newton’s Second Law: Relating Force, Mass, and Acceleration
Newton’s Third Law: Looking at Equal and Opposite Forces
Chapter 6. Getting Down with Gravity, Inclined Planes, and Friction
Acceleration Due to Gravity: One of Life’s Little Constants
Finding a New Angle on Gravity with Inclined Planes
Getting Sticky with Friction
On the Move: Understanding Static and Kinetic Friction
Chapter 7. Circling around Rotational Motion and Orbits
Centripetal Acceleration: Changing Direction to Move in a Circle
Getting Angular with Displacement, Velocity, and Acceleration
Getting into Angular Velocity
Whipping Around with Angular Acceleration
Connecting Angular Velocity and Angular Acceleration to Angles
Connecting Angular Acceleration and Angle to Angular Velocity
Seeking the Center: Centripetal Force
Letting Gravity Supply Centripetal Force
Chapter 8. Go with the Flow: Looking at Pressure in Fluids
Mass Density: Getting Some Inside Information
Applying Pressure
Buoyancy: Float Your Boat with Archimedes’s Principle
Fluid Dynamics: Going with Fluids in Motion
Getting Up to Speed on Flow and Pressure
Part III
Chapter 9. Getting Some Work Out of Physics
Looking for Work
Making a Move: Kinetic Energy
Energy in the Bank: Potential Energy
Choose Your Path: Conservative versus Nonconservative Forces
Keeping the Energy Up: The Conservation of Mechanical Energy
Powering Up: The Rate of Doing Work
Chapter 10. Putting Objects in Motion: Momentum and Impulse
Looking at the Impact of Impulse
Gathering Momentum
The Impulse-Momentum Theorem: Relating Impulse and Momentum
When Objects Go Bonk: Conserving Momentum
When Worlds (Or Cars) Collide: Elastic and Inelastic Collisions
Chapter 11. Winding Up with Angular Motion
Going from Linear to Rotational Motion
Understanding Tangential Motion
Applying Vectors to Rotation
Doing the Twist: Torque
Spinning at Constant Velocity: Rotational Equilibrium
Chapter 12. Round and Round with Rotational Dynamics
Rolling Up Newton’s Second Law into Angular Motion
Moments of Inertia: Looking into Mass Distribution
Wrapping Your Head around Rotational Work and Kinetic Energy
Can’t Stop This: Angular Momentum
Chapter 13. Springs ’n’ Things: Simple Harmonic Motion
Bouncing Back with Hooke’s Law
Getting Around to Simple Harmonic Motion
Factoring Energy into Simple Harmonic Motion
Swinging with Pendulums
Part IV
Chapter 14. Turning Up the Heat with Thermodynamics
Measuring Temperature
The Heat Is On: Thermal Expansion
Heat: Going with the Flow (of Thermal Energy)
Chapter 15. Here, Take My Coat: How Heat Is Transferred
Convection: Letting the Heat Flow
Too Hot to Handle: Getting in Touch with Conduction
Radiation: Riding the (Electromagnetic) Wave
Chapter 16. In the Best of All Possible Worlds: The Ideal Gas Law
Digging into Molecules and Moles with Avogadro’s Number
Relating Pressure, Volume, and Temperature with the Ideal Gas Law
Tracking Ideal Gas Molecules with the Kinetic Energy Formula
Chapter 17. Heat and Work: The Laws of Thermodynamics
Thermal Equilibrium: Getting Temperature with the Zeroth Law
Conserving Energy: The First Law of Thermodynamics
Flowing from Hot to Cold: The Second Law of Thermodynamics
Going Cold: The Third (And Absolute Last) Law of Thermodynamics
Part V
Chapter 18. Ten Common Mistakes People Make When Solving Problems
Mixing Units
Expressing the Answer in the Wrong Units
Swapping Radians and Degrees
Getting Sines and Cosines Mixed Up
Not Treating Vectors as Vectors
Mixing Up the Signs of the Components of Vectors
Getting the Direction of Forces Wrong
Neglecting Latent Heat
Using the Wrong Temperature in the Ideal Gas Law
Getting the Signs Wrong in the First Law of Thermodynamics
Chapter 19. Ten Wild Physics Theories
Heisenberg Says You Can’t Be Certain
Black Holes Don’t Let Light Out
Gravity Curves Space
You Can Measure a Smallest Distance
Matter and Antimatter Destroy Each Other
Supernovas Are the Most Powerful Explosions
The Universe Starts with the Big Bang and Ends with the Gnab Gib
Most Matter Is Invisible
Microwave Ovens Are Hot Physics
Is the Universe Made to Measure?
About the Authors
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