PHYSICS FOR BEGINNERS
GETTING ACQUAINTED WITH ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM LOOKING AT STATIC CHARGES AND ELECTRIC FI ELD MOVING ON TO MAGNETISM AC CIRCUITS: REGENERATING CURRENT WITH ELECTRIC AND MAGNETIC FI ELDS RIDING THE WAVES GETTING ALONG WITH SOUND WAVES FIGURING OUT WHAT LIGHT IS REFL ECTION AND REFRACTION: BOUNCING AND BENDING LIGHT SEARCHING FOR IMAGES: LENSES AND MIRRORS CALLING INTERFERENCE: WHEN LIGHT COLLIDES WITH LIGHT BRANCHING OUT WITH MODERN PHYSICS SHEDDING LIGHT ON BLACKBODIES: WARM BODIES MAKE THEIR OWN LIGHT SPEEDING UP WITH RELATIVITY: YES, E = MC2 ASSUMING A DUAL IDENTITY: MATTER TRAVELS IN WAVES, TOO MELTDOWN! KNOWING THE ???’S OF RADIOACTIVITY MATH AND MEASUREMENTS: REVIEWING THOSE BASIC SKILLS USING THE MKS AND CGS SYSTEMS OF MEASUREMENT MAKING COMMON CONVERSIONS KEEPING IT SHORT WITH SCIENTIFI C NOTATION BRUSHING UP ON BASIC ALGEBRA USING SOME TRIG USING SIGNIFI CANT DIGITS REFRESHING YOUR PHYSICS MEMORY POINTING THE WAY WITH VECTORS MOVING ALONG WITH VELOCITY AND ACCELERATION STRONG-ARM TACTICS: APPLYING SOME FORCE GETTING AROUND TO CIRCULAR MOTION GETTING ELECTRICAL WITH CIRCUITS PART II: DOING SOME FIELD WORK: ELECTRICITY AND MAGNETISM UNDERSTANDING ELECTRIC CHARGES CAN’T LOSE IT: CHARGE IS CONSERVED MEASURING ELECTRIC CHARGES OPPOSITES ATTRACT: REPELLING AND ATTRACTING FORCES GETTING ALL CHARGED UP STATIC ELECTRICITY: BUILDING UP EXCESS CHARGE CHECKING OUT CHARGING METHODS CONSIDERING THE MEDIUM: CONDUCTORS AND INSULATORS COULOMB’S LAW: CALCULATING THE FORCE BETWEEN CHARGES INTRODUCING ELECTRIC FIELDS SHEETS OF CHARGE: PRESENTING BASIC FI ELDS LOOKING AT ELECTRIC FI ELDS FROM CHARGED OBJECTS UNIFORM ELECTRIC FI ELDS: TAKING IT EASY WITH PARALLEL PLATE CAPACITORS SHIELDING: THE ELECTRIC FI ELD INSIDE CONDUCTORS VOLTAGE: REALIZING POTENTIAL GETTING THE LOWDOWN ON ELECTRIC POTENTIAL FINDING THE WORK TO MOVE CHARGES FINDING THE ELECTRIC POTENTIAL FROM CHARGES ILLUSTRATING EQUIPOTENTIAL SURFACES FOR POINT CHARGES AND PLATES STORING CHARGE: CAPACITORS AND DIELECTRICS FIGURING OUT HOW MUCH CAPACITORS HOLD GETTING EXTRA STORAGE WITH DIELECTRICS CALCULATING THE ENERGY OF CAPACITORS WITH DIELECTRICS ALL ABOUT MAGNETISM: LINKING MAGNETISM AND ELECTRICITY ELECTRON LOOPS: UNDERSTANDING PERMANENT MAGNETS AND MAGNETIC MATERIALS NORTH TO SOUTH: GOING POLAR DEFI NING MAGNETIC FI ELD MOVING ALONG: MAGNETIC FORCES ON CHARGES FINDING THE MAGNITUDE OF MAGNETIC FORCE FINDING DIRECTION WITH THE RIGHT-HAND RULE A LAZY DIRECTION: SEEING HOW MAGNETIC FI ELDS AVOID WORK GOING ORBITAL: FOLLOWING CHARGED PARTICLES IN MAGNETIC FI ELDS DOWN TO THE WIRE: MAGNETIC FORCES ON ELECTRICAL CURRENTS FROM SPEED TO CURRENT: GETTING CURRENT IN THE MAGNETIC-FORCE FORMULA TORQUE: GIVING CURRENT A TWIST IN ELECTRIC MOTORS GOING TO THE SOURCE: GETTING MAGNETIC FIELD FROM ELECTRIC CURRENT PRODUCING A MAGNETIC FI ELD WITH A STRAIGHT WIRE GETTING CENTERED: FINDING MAGNETIC FI ELD FROM CURRENT LOOPS ADDING LOOPS TOGETHER: MAKING UNIFORM FI ELDS WITH SOLENOIDS AC CIRCUITS AND RESISTORS: OPPOSING THE FLOW FINDING OHM’S LAW FOR ALTERNATING VOLTAGE AVERAGING OUT: USING ROOT-MEAN-SQUARE CURRENT AND VOLTAGE STAYING IN PHASE: CONNECTING RESISTORS TO ALTERNATING VOLTAGE SOURCES AC CIRCUITS AND CAPACITORS: STORING CHARGE IN ELECTRIC FIELD INTRODUCING CAPACITIVE REACTANCE GETTING OUT OF PHASE: CURRENT LEADS THE VOLTAGE PRESERVING POWER AC CIRCUITS AND INDUCTORS: STORING ENERGY IN MAGNETIC FIELD FARADAY’S LAW: UNDERSTANDING HOW INDUCTORS WORK INTRODUCING INDUCTIVE REACTANCE GETTING BEHIND: CURRENT LAGS VOLTAGE THE CURRENT-VOLTAGE RACE: PUTTING IT TOGETHER IN SERIES RLC CIRCUITS IMPEDANCE: THE COMBINED EFFECTS OF RESISTORS, INDUCTORS, AND CAPACITORS DETERMINING THE AMOUNT OF LEADING OR LAGGING PEAK EXPERIENCES: FINDING MAXIMUM CURRENT IN A SERIES RLC CIRCUIT CANCELING OUT REACTANCE FINDING RESONANCE FREQUENCY SEMICONDUCTORS AND DIODES: LIMITING CURRENT DIRECTION THE STRAIGHT DOPE: MAKING SEMICONDUCTORS ONE-WAY CURRENT: CREATING DIODES PART III: CATCHING ON TO WAVES: THE SOUND AND LIGHT KINDS ENERGY TRAVELS: DOING THE WAVE UP AND DOWN: TRANSVERSE WAVES BACK AND FORTH: LONGITUDINAL WAVES WAVE PROPERTIES: UNDERSTANDING WHAT MAKES WAVES TICK EXAMINING THE PARTS OF A WAVE RELATING THE PARTS OF A WAVE MATHEMATICALLY WATCHING FOR THE SINE: GRAPHS OF WAVES WHEN WAVES COLLIDE: WAVE BEHAVIOR VIBRATING JUST TO BE HEARD: SOUND WAVES AS VIBRATIONS CRANKING UP THE VOLUME: PRESSURE, POWER, AND INTENSITY UNDER PRESSURE: MEASURING THE AMPLITUDE OF SOUND WAVES INTRODUCING SOUND INTENSITY CALCULATING THE SPEED OF SOUND FAST: THE SPEED OF SOUND IN GASES FASTER: THE SPEED OF SOUND IN LIQUIDS FASTEST: THE SPEED OF SOUND IN SOLIDS ANALYZING SOUND WAVE BEHAVIOR ECHOING BACK: REFL ECTING SOUND WAVES SHARING SPACES: SOUND WAVE INTERFERENCE BENDING RULES: SOUND WAVE DIFFRACTION COMING AND GOING WITH THE DOPPLER EFFECT BREAKING THE SOUND BARRIER: SHOCK WAVES LET THERE BE LIGHT! GENERATING AND RECEIVING ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES CREATING AN ALTERNATING ELECTRIC FI ELD GETTING AN ALTERNATING MAGNETIC FI ELD TO MATCH RECEIVING RADIO WAVES LOOKING AT RAINBOWS: UNDERSTANDING THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM PERUSING THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM RELATING THE FREQUENCY AND WAVELENGTH OF LIGHT SEE YA LATER, ALLIGATOR: FINDING THE TOP SPEED OF LIGHT CHECKING OUT THE FI RST SPEED-OF-LIGHT EXPERIMENT THAT ACTUALLY WORKED CALCULATING THE SPEED OF LIGHT THEORETICALLY YOU’VE GOT THE POWER: DETERMINING THE ENERGY DENSITY OF LIGHT FINDING INSTANTANEOUS ENERGY AVERAGING LIGHT’S ENERGY DENSITY WAVE HELLO TO RAYS: DRAWING LIGHT WAVES MORE SIMPLY SLOWING LIGHT DOWN: THE INDEX OF REFRACTION FIGURING OUT THE SLOWDOWN CALCULATING THE BENDING: SNELL’S LAW RAINBOWS: SEPARATING WAVELENGTHS BENDING LIGHT TO GET INTERNAL REFL ECTION RIGHT BACK AT YOU: TOTAL INTERNAL REFL ECTION POLARIZED LIGHT: GETTING A PARTIAL REFL ECTION GETTING VISUAL: CREATING IMAGES WITH LENSES DEFI NING OBJECTS AND IMAGES NOW IT’S COMING INTO FOCUS: CONCAVE AND CONVEX LENSES DRAWING RAY DIAGRAMS GETTING NUMERIC: FINDING DISTANCES AND MAGNIFI CATION GOING THE DISTANCE WITH THE THIN-LENS EQUATION SIZING UP THE MAGNIFI CATION EQUATION COMBINING LENSES FOR MORE MAGNIFI CATION POWER UNDERSTANDING HOW MICROSCOPES AND TELESCOPES WORK GETTING A NEW ANGLE ON MAGNIFI CATION THE PLANE TRUTH: REFL ECTING ON MIRROR BASICS GETTING THE ANGLES ON PLANE MIRRORS FORMING IMAGES IN PLANE MIRRORS FINDING THE MIRROR SIZE WORKING WITH SPHERICAL MIRRORS GETTING THE INSIDE SCOOP ON CONCAVE MIRRORS