Preparation for Test #1 (Monday, Feb. 4)
Things to Remember
- Anything we did in class is fair game - whether I did it as an example on the board, or you did it in the student workbook.
- Anything from the Mastering Physics homework is fair game.
- Anything from the required reading assignments is fair game.
- Problems you are asked to solve may not look exactly like examples from class or homework, but will involve exactly the same processes or concepts. Don't just memorize examples, make sure you understand the physics concepts and the reasons behind the solutions.
- You MUST show all work or provide an explanation in order to receive full/partial credit. This includes multiple choice questions.
- Dr. Russell will provide you with the basic equations you will need (you can find the equation sheet on the PHYS-114 webpage)
Concepts and Skills you will be expected to demonstrate
- Draw a complete motion diagram (dots, velocity vectors, and acceleration vectors) from a problem statement.
- Be able to correctly define and distinguish between distance, displacement, speed, average velocity, instantaneous veloctiy, average acceleration, and instantaneous acceleration.
- Given a graph of
- position-versus-time
- velocity-versus-time
- acceleration-versus-time
obtain the other two graphs with correct shapes and correct values.
- Given a written problem statement (similar to the types of problems from Mastering Physics Chapter 2 Part 2), you will be expected to demonstrate the entire problem solving strategy (this problem will count for half the points on this test)
- Model
- Visualize
- Pictorial (complete motion diagram)
- Physical (sketch, coordinate origin, identify symbols, list of knowns)
- Graphical (sketch graphs of x-vs-t, v-vs-t, and a-vs-t)
- Solve
- Assess
- Be able to add two or three vectors graphically (using either the parallelogram method or the tip-to-tail method)
- Be able to obtain the x-component and y-component of a vector in terms of the magnitude and angle
- Be able to obtain the x-component and y-component of a vector in unit vector form
- Be able to obtain the magnitude and angle of a vector when given the x-component and y-component
- Be able to add two or more vectors using unit vector notation
- Given a problem statement, you should be able to:
- identify the system and environment
- identify (and draw vectors for) all of the forces acting on the system
NOTE: the smart way to use a practice test is to actually take it as a test with a 1-hour time limit in an uncomfortable room (classroom or library). The not-so-smart way to use a practice test is to just work through the questions as if they were homework questions. REMEMBER: There is no guarantee your test will have the same questions as on this practice test.
Here's a the answers --- but don't look at these until after you have worked the practice test.