Medgar Evers College / CUNY
Department of Physics & Computer Science
PHY 114 – ON41 (33212) BASIC PHYSICS FALL 2024
Instructor: Prof. Amit P. Chowdhury Friday : 5:30 PM - 9:00 PM
[email protected] Location: Online Lecture Class
[email protected]Course Description: 4 lecture hours; 3 credits.
A one semester survey course covering the fundamentals of Physics. Emphasis will be
placed on the basic concepts and meaning of physical laws. Topics include force,
vectors, velocity and acceleration, Newton’s laws of motion, gravitation, work and
energy, thermal energy, electrostatics, electric current, magnetism, atomic structure of
matter, and wave phenomena.
Co or Prerequisite: MTH 136 or MTH 138
Evaluation:
1. Attendance: Students are expected to attend all lectures and laboratory sessions. No
more than four (2) absences are allowed. If a class is missed, students are expected to
obtain the lecture notes from a classmate/online.
2. Assignments: Students are expected to complete all of the homework assignment
and submit them promptly. NO LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED.
3. Exams: There will be three (3) in-class examinations. There will be no make-up
exams. However, only two (2) best exams will be counted.
4. Final Examination: The final examination will cover the entire semester's work.
There will be no exemption from the final.
5. Final Grade: Homework assignments, laboratory experiments, class/tests
attendance together with 3 exams and a final examination will be weighted
towards the final grade as follows:
Grading
Class/Test Attendance 10%
Quizzes 30%
Homework 20%
Final Exam 40%
Total 100%
Textbooks:
Required: PHYSICS OF EVERYDAY PHENOMENA: A Conceptual Introduction to Physics,
Ninth Edition by W. Thomas Griffith and Juliet W. Brosing
McGraw – Hill Publishers
A spiral notebook for taking notes; Graph papers (metric); a protractor (transparent /
translucent); a ruler with metric units & a scientific calculator.
COURSE OUTLINE
Week Chapter Topics
1 1 The World Around You: Exact and measured numbers,
exponential form of numbers, algebraic rearrangement,
standard units, Metric system, measurement conversion.
2 2 Motion: Displacement, velocity, speed, acceleration,
motion in one dimension.
3 3 Motion: Free – fall, vertical and horizontal projectile
motion.
4 3 Vectors: Scalars, vectors, unit vectors, vector components,
addition and subtraction of vectors, scalar product.
5 4 Newton’s Laws: Mass, force and weight, Newton’s three
laws of motion, momentum.
6 5 Gravitation: Centripetal acceleration and centripetal
force, Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation, gravitational
constant, mass of Earth, satellites in orbit.
7 6 Momentum: Conservation of momentum.
7 Energy: Work, energy and power, kinetic energy, potential
energy, forms of energy, conservation of energy.
8 8 Fluids: Pressure, density, Archimedes Principle, Pascal’s
Principle and Bernoulli’s Principle.
9/10 9 Thermodynamics: Temperature, heat and internal energy,
mechanical equivalent of heat. Specific heat, heat flow, change of
state, heat of fusion and heat of vaporization.
11 10 Electricity: Electric charge, conservation of charge,
Coulomb’s law, electric fields, quantization of charge.
11 11 Electric circuits: Current, resistance, Ohm’s law, electric
power
12 12 Magnetism: Magnetic forces, forces between parallel
currents, magnetic fields, right hand rule, magnetic force on
a current or moving charge, electromagnetic induction.
12 13 Wave Motion and Sound: Elastic material, types of waves,
wave terms, sound waves, energy and sound.
13 14 Optics: Properties of light, light as a wave: reflection,
refraction, interference, diffraction, velocity of light.
13 15 Atomic Physics: Quantum hypothesis, Blackbody
radiation, photoelectric effect, uncertainty principle.
14 16 Bohr model: Hydrogen atom, orbit stability, energy levels,
atomic spectra, Pauli’s exclusion principle.
15 FINAL EXAMINATION
