VCE Physics Tutor - Derrick, PhD (Monash Uni)
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VCE PHYSICS Unit 3 Study Guide
Core:Motion
NEWTON'S LAWS
• Apply Newton’s three laws of motion in situations where two or more coplanar forces act along a straight line and in two dimensions;
CIRCULAR MOTION
• Analyse the uniform circular motion of an object moving in a horizontal plane
(Fnet= mv2/R) eg; A vehicle moving around a circular road; a vehicle moving around a banked track; an object on the end of a string;
• Apply Newton’s second law to circular motion in a vertical plane; consider forces at the highest
and lowest positions only;
PROJECTILES
• Investigate and analyse the motion of projectiles near Earth’s surface including a qualitative
description of the effects of air resistance;
ENERGY , MOMENTUM, IMPULSE
ENERGY , MOMENTUM, IMPULSE
• Apply laws of energy and momentum conservation in isolated systems;
• Analyse impulse (momentum transfer) in an isolated system, for collisions between objects moving in a straight line (F∆t = m∆v);
• Apply the concept of work done by a constant force
– work done = constant force × distance moved in direction of net force
– work done = area under force-distance graph;
• analyse transformations of energy between: kinetic energy; strain potential energy; gravitational potential energy; and energy dissipated to the environment considered as a combination of heat, sound and deformation of material
– kinetic energy, i.e. ½mv2
--Elastic and inelastic collisions in terms of conservation of kinetic energy
– strain potential energy, i.e. area under force-distance graph including ideal springs obeying
Hooke’s Law, ½kx2
– gravitational potential energy, i.e mg∆h or from area under force-distance graph and area under
field-distance graph multiplied by mass;
GRAVITY, Circular motion of planets and astronomical Objects
GRAVITY, Circular motion of planets and astronomical Objects
• Apply gravitational field and gravitational force concepts, g = GM/r2
and F = GM1M2/r2
• Apply the concepts of weight (W=mg), apparent weight (reaction force, N), weightlessness (W=0)
and apparent weightlessness (N=0);
• Model satellite motion (artificial, moon, planet) as uniform circular orbital motion
•Identify and apply safe and responsible practices when working with moving objects and equipment in investigations of motion.
Vectors:
Vectors have both the magnitude and direction. An arrow can be used to represent a vector. The relative size of an arrow would indicates the relative magnitude of the vector.
Adding Subtracting Vectors;
Use the Head to -Tail Rule when making vector diagrams.
Eg: If a car travels in northern direction at a velocity 75 km/hr and turn to east at 55 km/hr. Find the change in velocity of the car.
Questions & Answers:
Circular Motion
Ex 1. Two spheres of equal mass are attached to a light rod of
negligible mass of length 3.0 m as shown in the figure below. The spheres and
the rod are whirled around in a horizontal circle about the point O at a
constant rate.
