Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

This is a calculus-based physics course required for students majoring in engineering, physics and chemistry.  The course is transferable to other baccalaureate engineering programs.  Students should be aware of the program requirements of the institutions to which they wish to transfer.  This course conforms with the Oregon Block Transfer program.
 

After completion of this course, students will
1) Apply knowledge of fluids, thermodynamics, sound waves, and light waves to explain natural physical processes and related technological advances.
2) Use an understanding of calculus along with physical principles to effectively solve problems encountered in everyday life, further study in science, and in the professional world.
3) Design experiments and acquire data in order to explore physical principles, effectively communicate results, and critically evaluate related scientific studies.
4) Assess the contributions of physics to our evolving understanding of global change and sustainability while placing the development of physics in its historical and cultural context.
 

Principles and techniques are presented through lectures and class demonstrations.  Students must register for lecture, one recitation,
and one lab.  Laboratory work will be performed in order to clarify certain facts in the lecture materials.
 

At the beginning of the course, the instructor will detail the methods
used to evaluate student progress and the criteria for assigning a course
grade.  The methods may include one or more of the following tools: 
examinations, quizzes, homework assignments, laboratory reports,
research papers, small group problem solving of questions arising from
application of course concepts and concerns to actual experience, oral
presentations, or maintenance of a personal lab manual.
Specific evaluation procedures will be given in class.  In general, grading
will be based on accumulated points from homework assignments, tests,
final exam, and labs.
 

1.0 OSCILLATIONS
Goal: The goal is to gain knowledge and develop an understanding of vibratory
motion.
Objectives:
     1.1  To learn the vocabulary of oscillatory motion.
     1.2  To thoroughly understand the very special case of simple harmonic
     motion.
2.0 FLUIDS
Goal: The goal is to gain knowledge and develop an understanding of the
mechanical properties of fluids.
Objectives:
     2.1  To learn the vocabulary which applies to fluids.
2.2  To learn the basic equations for fluids at rest and fluids
in motion.
3.0  WAVES IN ELASTIC MEDIA
Goal: The goal is to develop an awareness and understanding of wave motion.
Objectives:
     3.1  To learn the vocabulary and definitions associated with wave motion.
     3.2  To understand the form of simple harmonic waves.
     3.3  To learn how to relate wave velocity to the inertial and
     elastic properties of a simple medium: an elastic string.
     3.4  To learn and understand the phenomenon of interference.
4.0  SOUND WAVES
Goal: The goal is to gain knowledge and develop skills in the understanding
of sound.
Objectives:
     4.1  To learn the special properties of sound waves.
     Basically this means learning to relate position variations to
     pressure variations.
     4.2  To understand the phenomena of standing sound waves and
     the temporal interference of sound waves which produce beats.
     4.3  To learn and understand the Doppler shift.  Particular
     attention will be paid to the difference in the cause of the
     effect depending upon whether it is source or observer which
     moves.
5.0 TEMPERATURE
Goal: The goal is to gain knowledge of the thermal properties of matter
and develop skills in problem solving using these concepts.
Objectives:
     5.1  To learn and understand the definition of temperature
     (from a more precise point of view than your intuitive ideas
     of this concept.)
     5.2  To learn the basic laws of thermal expansion and how to
     deal with linear, area, and volume expansions or contractions.
6.0  THERMODYNAMICS
Goal: The goal is to gain knowledge and develop skills in the laws of
thermodynamics.
Objectives:
     6.1  To learn the definition of heat capacity and learn to
     solve calorimetry problems.
     6.2  To learn to solve the basic problems of linear heat
     conduction.
     6.3  To learn the basic vocabulary and definitions of
     thermodynamic processes.
     6.4  To learn and understand how to use the first law of
     thermodynamics.
     6.5  To learn the terms associated with and the basic
     properties of the model thermodynamics system to be studied,
     the ideal gas.
     6.6  To learn and understand the second law of thermodynamics
     which will be stated in two equivalent forms.
     6.7  To learn and understand the concept of a thermodynamics
     cycle by studying the very important Carnot cycle applied to
     the ideal gas.
7.0  KINETIC THEORY OF GASES
Goal: The goal is to gain knowledge and develop an understanding of the
kinetic theory of gases.
Objectives:
     7.1  To learn the basic microscopic properties of an ideal gas
     and how these properties are applied to relate the pressure of the gas to
     the average of the square of the speed of the gas molecules.
     7.2  To follow the description of the theory of the specific
     heats of ideal gases.
     7.3  To learn the concept of mean free path which will lead to a
     deeper understanding of the concept of density.  This will also
     explain how averages of microscopic properties of gases to relate
     to the macroscopic properties familiar from thermodynamics.
8.0  GEOMETRICAL OPTICS
Goal: The goal is to develop a basic understanding of the properties of
light and geometrical optics.
Objectives:
     8.1  To learn that an electromagnetic wave can transport
     momentum as well as energy.
     8.2  To understand the phenomenon called the Doppler effect.
     8.3  To learn the meaning of the index of refraction of a
     medium.
     8.4  To learn what happens to a light ray as it strikes a
     plane interface separating two media.  This involves the laws
     of reflection and refraction.
EACH WEEK, LABS WILL BE PERFORMED THAT CORRESPOND TO THE MATERIAL
COVERED IN THE LECTURE SESSIONS.