Physics 101

Physics 101 is a calculus level course that covers mainly classical mechanics. Much of the course is concerned with the study and application of Newton's Laws which form the foundation of classical mechanics and mechanical engineering.

Initially the course begins with an introduction to quantitative methods of describing the motion of a body moving in one or two dimensions. Once familiarity of these concepts have been gained, Newton's Laws are introduced. The concept of energy and is then presented to show how it facilitates the solution of seemingly complicated motions. Newton's laws are then applied to rotational motion. The culmination of the ideas covered by kinematics, Newton's Laws, and energy are then applied to fluids and gravitational fields.

An important component of the course is the laboratory work where students get to use state of the art, computer based, learning tools to acquire and analyze data from experiments on motion.

Transfer Units (UC:CSU): 5

Co-requisite: Mathematics 261