Introduction

All science is the result of man’s curiosity about the universe.
Physics is an attempt to understand the basic laws which govern the interactions of matter and energy.
The goal is to be able to describe something with an equation or set of equations.
Measurement is the comparison of an unknown quantity to a known one- a “standard”.
One set of accepted standards (known quantities) is the Metric System.

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M eter : distance
K ilogram : mass (roughly “how many atoms make up an object”)
S econd : time
Ampere: electric current (how many atoms are flowing)
Mole : the number of atoms needed to equal the atomic mass number in grams (1 mole of Carbon has a mass of 12 g and contains 6.022…×10 23 atoms)
Kelvin : temperature
Candela : light

Tera- T 10¹² “trillion” (Terabyte computer hard drive)
Giga- G 10⁹ “billion” (1.21 Gigawatts of energy to power the flux capacitor)
Mega- M 10⁶ “million” (Mega! Big! M! Million!)
Kilo- K 10³ “thousand” (a kilometer is like a metric mile, 1,000 meters like 1,000yards)
centi- c 10^-2 “one hundredth” (100 cents in a dollar ∴ one cent is 1/100th of a dollar)
milli- m 10^-3 “one thousandth” (a millipede has, like, a thousand legs)
micro- µ (mu) 10^-6 “one millionth” (million and micro both start with “m”)
nano- n 10^-9 “one billionth” (nono- nino- nine zeroes)

All physical measurements are subject to error. Errors may stem from the method used, environmental fluctuations, instrument limitations, or personal error.
Systematic errors are in one direction only.
Random errors are in both directions and may be reduced by large numbers of observations (repeated trials).
Tolerance is the amount of accepted error. It leads to a Range of acceptable values.
The accuracy of a measurement refers to how closely it agrees with an accepted value. (AKA percent deviation or percent error)
Precision is the degree of exactness of a measurement and is determined by the instrument used.

For handheld instruments the precision is half the smallest mark (which is estimated).

Significant figures are those known to be reasonably reliable. Therefore all measured figures and one estimated figure would be considered significant.

Digits 1 to 9 are always significant. Zeroes are significant when they appear between digits; if they follow digits a decimal must be present in the number for the zeroes to be significant.
Addition and Subtraction: When adding or subtracting numbers, your answer will have the same number of significant figures after the decimal as the least precise number used.

Multiplication and Division: When multiplying or dividing numbers, your answer cannot have more total significant figures than the smallest total number of significant figures in any of the numbers used to obtain the answer.

These rules are fairly easy to follow until you begin introducing zeros into your equations. Below are some examples using zeros.

700 has only one significant figure (the 7).
700.0 has 4 significant figures (all 4 numbers).
0.0700 has 3 significant figures (the 7 and the two zeros to the right of the 7).
0.007 has only 1 significant figure (the number 7).
7.007 has 4 significant figures (all 4 numbers).

For very large and very small quantities we write numbers in scientific notation.

Greek Alphabet- used as variables or symbols

Many letters represent specific values or measurements

Use in Physics	Capital	Name	Lower Case	Use in Physics
	Α	Alpha	α	angle
	Β	Beta	β	angle
torque	Γ	Gamma	γ	E/mc², angle
change	Δ	Delta	δ	small change
	Ε	Epsilon	ε	electromotive force
	Ζ	Zeta	ζ
	Η	Eta	η	index of refraction
angle	Θ	Theta	θ	most common symbol for angle
	Ι	Iota	ι	rarely used- looks too much like i
	Κ	Kappa	κ
rate, lambda baryon	Λ	Lambda	λ	wavelength, rate
	Μ	Mu	μ	coefficient of friction, muon, micro-
	Ν	Nu	ν	frequency, nutrino
charmed baryon	Ξ	Xi	ξ
	Ο	Omicron	ο	rarely used- looks like 0
product operator	Π	Pi	π	Hello! Pi! also a pion
	Ρ	Rho	ρ	density, resistivity
sum of	Σ	Sigma	σ	conductivity, cross section, area density
	Τ	Tau	τ	mean lifetime, tau lepton
	Υ	Upsilon	υ	rearely used- look slike v
wave function, angle	Φ	Phi	φ	wave function, angle
	Χ	Chi	χ
wave function	Ψ	Psi	ψ	wave function
	Ω	Omega	ω	angular frequency

Before you solve an exercise, it is important that all units on the ends of the numbers you are using be in the same system. Most of the quantities you will see this year use the SI System (Systeme International), which is the standard system of units in physics.
To convert units into an equivalent amount using different units you will need to multiply by fractions which equal 1 and cancel out like units.

Notice that anything you are trying to eliminate in the numerator must be written in the denominator and vice versa.
The units appearing in both the numerator and denominator cancel each other out, as shown by the slash marks through them.
Multiplying the numerators gives: 5 x 365 x 24 x 60 x 60= 157,680,000
Multiplying the denominators gives: 1 x 1 x 1 x 1=1
Final answer: 157,680,000s/1 = 157,680,000 s. Note: This number is not written with significant figures.

To get an answer of m/s 2 (acceleration) you will need to multiply meters by seconds 2 (seconds x seconds)
By the way if “seconds squared” sounds too weird pronounce it as “meters per second per second.” Which means “for every second, your speed increases by so many meters per second”

The rules of trigonometry are developed with the use of right triangles as shown in the labeled diagram. Using this diagram, you can construct trigonometric equations in the following way.

Remember, you can only use the above relationships with right triangles. The hypotenuse of a right triangle is always the longest side.

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