Learning Outcomes
At the end of the course students should be able to:
1. identify and deduce the physical quantities and their units;
2. differentiate between vectors and scalars;
3. describe and evaluate the motion of systems based on the fundamental laws of mechanics.
4. apply Newton’s laws to describe and solve simple problems of motion;
5. evaluate the work, energy, velocity, momentum, acceleration, and torque of moving or
rotating objects;
6. explain and apply the principles of conservation of energy, linear and angular momentum;
7. describe the laws governing motion under gravity; and
8. explain motion under gravity and quantitatively determine behaviour of objects moving
under gravity.
Course Contents
Space and time, units and dimension, vectors and scalars, differentiation of vectors.
Displacement, velocity, and acceleration; kinematics. Newton laws of motion (Inertial frames,
Impulse, force and action at a distance, momentum conservation). Relative motion.
Application of Newtonian mechanics. Equations of motion. Conservation principles in physics.
Conservative forces. Conservation of linear momentum. Kinetic energy, and work, Potential
energy, System of particles, centre of mass. Rotational motion; Torque, vector product,
moment, rotation of coordinate axes and angular momentum. Polar coordinates, conservation
of angular momentum. Circular motion. Moments of inertia, gyroscopes, and precession.
Gravitation: Newton’s Law of Gravitation, Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion, Gravitational
Potential Energy, Escape velocity, Satellites motion, and orbits.
