Topics in Depth

Topics in Depth

The ABC's of Physics

The ABC’s of PhysicsBefore we dive into forces, gravitational or otherwise, we should understand the underlying concepts of motion in a framework of space and time. We need a foundation on which...

Free Fall and Projectile Motion

We’ve always wondered whether it’s possible to calculate the position of a dropped or thrown object. While we could certainly investigate this matter by rigorous experimentation, we don’t hav...

Newton's Three Laws of Motion

Now that’s we’ve mastered motion and vectors to at least a moderate degree, we’re prepared to study forces, another vector quantity related to motion. And how could we possibly study forces w...

Force of Gravity and Orbital Motion

The force of gravity, famous for allegedly dropping an apple on Sir Isaac Newton’s head and thereby furthering the development of physics, is still perhaps the least understood of standard non-co...

Unbalanced Forces

As we learned in the introduction to Newton’s Second Law and witnessed with orbital motion and the Universal Gravitation Law, an unbalanced force leads to acceleration. And, as we saw in projecti...

Common Mistakes

Introduction to MotionReview the whole scalar/vector business with every sunrise until the whole positive vs. negative acceleration thing makes sense. Also: notation, notation, notation. A vector s...

Test Your Knowledge

Introduction to Motion1. What type of motion is ? Detail as much as possible.2. What is the total displacement for the sum of ?3. A bicycle decreases speed from to rest in 5 seconds. What’s its...