Satisfactory performance in all the following Assessment Tasks of this Unit is a requirement for a passing grade.

Required Text

Physics 10e, JD Cutnell and KW Johnson, John Wiley, 10th edition, 2015, ISBN 9781118486894 OR E-Text, ISBN 9781118899175 (also Binder version). 

For completing practical work, a series of Experimental Notes will be available in iLearn.  

Teaching Strategy 

PHYS149 consists of lectures, tutorials, laboratory sessions and assessment including assignments, laboratory reports and formal exams.  

You are expected to attend all lectures.  Any announcements relating to the course are made during lectures.  If there are unavoidable timetable clashes, you can listen to the echo recording of each lecture, accessed from the course site.  

Attendance at tutorials is compulsory.

You should spend an average of 9 hours per week (for 18 weeks) studying the unit.

Laboratory (Lab) Sessions

The laboratory will operate in E7B.114, commencing week 1.  Access to the laboratory at other times may be possible by arrangement.  The first half comprises Skills Units involving tutorials on experimental practice. (See Schedule below). In the second half, you will be assigned an experiment each week for 4 weeks according to a roster. Each experiment requires one 3-hour laboratory session.  

Lab sessions are compulsory.

The laboratory work is designed to introduce you to some of the basic skills and techniques that are used in experimental physical science, and forms an important component of your learning in PHYS149.

All your work must be recorded directly into your laboratory notebook. Your laboratory notebook will be assessed by one of the demonstrators at the end of each session. Your laboratory notebook stays with the laboratory throughout the semester. You will be assessed on both, the actual content of your report as well as on its style. Further details of the laboratory assessment will be outlined in the first session. Detailed instructions for writing a physics laboratory report will be posted on iLearn. It’s your responsibility to check that all your marks have been entered correctly. If there are any errors or omissions, please let the supervising demonstrator know to get it resolved.

The laboratory component of the unit is compulsory and all experiments must be successfully completed to pass the unit overall.  Only under exceptional circumstances will extra catch up sessions be organised; you are responsible for ensuring that you complete all experiments as required during your registered laboratory class.

You should have a scientific calculator for use during the laboratory sessions. 

Lab Safety 

Safe practices in the laboratory are to be strictly observed.  You must wear enclosed footwear to the laboratory.  In the first week, there is a Safety Induction that is required by State Occupational Health and Safety legislation.  Our teaching laboratories can be closed down if we permit any breaches.  No one wearing inadequate footwear will gain entry to the lab.  Food and drink cannot be taken into the laboratory.  Exclusion from a laboratory session for violation of these requirements will be treated as absence without legitimate cause.

Schedule of Lab Work 

Week     Lab

1          Safety Induction to the Lab (must be completed before lab work can begin)

2          Skills 1 - Week 1 Measurement and Uncertainties 

3          Skills 2 - Week 2 Graphing and Computer-based Graphing

4          Skills 3 – Digital Oscilloscopes  

5          No Lab

6          Skills Unit 4 – DC circuits

Mid semester break

Mid semester break

7          No Lab

8          Skills 5 - Report Writing

9          Experiments

10        Experiments

11        Experiments

12        Experiments

13        No Lab 

Lab experiments

• Introduction to Graphs (Linear and non-linear)

• Direct Current, Voltage and resistance 

• Digital Oscilloscopes

• Measurement of Acceleration due to Gravity 

• Physics of Human Arm 

• Energy and Power 

• Optical Interference 

• Standing Waves 

• Ultrasonic Waves

• Radioactivity 

• Determination of γ =Cp /Cv for Air

Detailed Topic Outline

Chapters and Sections of Textbook covered in the Lectures

               Introduction and Mathematical Concepts (Chapter 1)

Section 1.1 The nature of physics

Sections 1.2, 1.3 Units

Sections 1.5-1.8 Vectors   

               Kinematics in One Dimension (Chapter 2)

Section 2.1 Displacement

Section 2.2 Speed and velocity

Section 2.3 Acceleration

Sections 2.4 - 2.5 Equations of kinematics for constant acceleration and applications

Section 2.6 Freely falling bodies

Section 2.7 Graphical analysis of velocity and acceleration 

               Forces and Newton’s Laws of Motion (Chapter 4)

Section 4.1 Concepts of force and mass

Section 4.2 Newton' first law of motion

Sections 4.3 - 4.4 Newton's second law of motion

Section 4.5 Newton's third law of motion

Sections 4.6 – 4.9 Types of forces: gravitational force, frictional forces and normal force

Sections 4.11- 4.12 Applications of Newton’s laws of motion

                Rotational Dynamics (Chapter 9)

Section 9.1 The Action of Forces and Torques on Rigid Objects

Section 9.2 Rigid Objects in Equilibrium

                Work and Energy (Chapter 6)

Section 6.1 Work done by constant force

Section 6.2 Work-energy theorem and kinetic energy

Section 6.3 Gravitational potential energy

Section 6.4 Conservative and non-conservative forces

Section 6.5 Conservation of mechanical energy

Section 6.6 Non-conservative forces and the work-energy theorem

Section 6.7 Power

Section 6.8 Other forms of energy and the conservation of energy

              Fluids. (Chapter 11)

Section 11.1 Mass density

Section 11.2 Pressure

Section 11.3 Pressure and depth in a static fluid

Section 11.4 Pressure gauges

Section 11.5 Pascal’s principle

Section 11.6 Archimedes’ Principle

Section 11.7 Fluids in motion

Section 11.8 Equation of continuity

Section 11.9 –11.10 Bernoulli's equation and applications

              Heat. (Chapter 12)

Section 12.1- 12.2 Temperature scales

Section 12.3 Thermometers

Section 12.6 Heat and internal energy

Section 12.7 Heat and temperature change

Section 12.8 Heat and phase change

               Heat transfer. (Chapter 13) 

Section 13.1 Convection

Section 13.2 Conduction

Section 13.3 Radiation

Section 13.4 Applications

              Thermodynamics. (Chapter 15)

Section 15.1 Thermodynamic systems and surroundings

Section 15.2 Zeroth law of thermodynamics

Section 15.3 First law of thermodynamics

Section 15.7 Second law of thermodynamics

Section 15.8 Heat Engines

Section 15.10 Refrigerators, air-conditioners and heat pumps

               Electricity. (Chapter 18)

Section 18.1 and 18.2 Introduction and charged objects

Section 18.5 Coulomb's Law

Section 18.6 Electric field

                Electric potential. (Chapter 19)

Section 19.1. Potential energy

Section 19.2 Electric potential difference

                Electric circuits. (Chapter 20)

Section 20.1 Electromotive force and current

Section 20.2 Ohm’s law

Section 20.3 Resistance and resistivity

Section 20.4 Electric power

Section 20.5 Alternating current

               Electric circuits. (Chapter 20)

Section 20.6 Series wiring

Section 20.7 Parallel wiring

Section 20.8 Circuits partially in series and partially in parallel

Section 20.11 Measurement of current and voltage

Section 20.14 Safety and the physiological effects of current            

              Waves and Sound. (Chapter 16)

Section 16.1 Nature of waves

Section 16.2 Periodic waves

Section 16.3 Speed of a wave on a string

Section 16.4 Mathematical description of a wave

Section 16.5 Nature of sound

Section 16.6 Speed of sound

Sections 16.7 – 16.8 Sound intensity and dB

Section 16.9 Doppler effect

Section 16.10 Applications of sound in medicine 

               Superposition and Interference. (Chapter 17)

Section 17.1 Principle of linear superposition

Section 17.2 Constructive and destructive interference of sound waves

Section 17.3 Diffraction

Section 17.4 Beats

Section 17.5 Transverse standing waves

Section 17.6 Longitudinal standing waves

                 Electromagnetic waves. (Chapter 24)

Section 24.1 Nature of electromagnetic waves

Section 24.2 Electromagnetic spectrum

Section 24.3 Speed of light

Section 24.5 Energy carried by electromagnetic waves

Section 24.6 Doppler effect and electromagnetic waves

Section 24.6 Polarization

                 Refraction of Light: Lenses and Optical Instruments. (Chapter 26)

Section 26.1 Index of refraction

Section 26.2 Snell’s law and refraction of light

Section 26.3 Total internal reflection

Section 26.4 Polarization and reflection and refraction of light

Section 26.5 Dispersion of light

Section 26.6 –26.7 Lenses and formation of images by lenses

Section 26.8 Thin lens equation and magnification equation

Section 26.9 Lenses in combination

Section 26.10 Human eye

Section 26.11 Angular magnification and magnifying glass

Section 26.12 Compound microscope

Section 26.14 Lens aberrations

                   Interference and Wave Nature of Light. (Chapter 27)

Section 27.1 Principle of linear superposition

Section 27.2 Young’s double slit experiment

Section 27.5 Diffraction

Section 27.6 Resolving power

                 Nature of the Atom. (Chapter 30)

Section 30.2 Line spectra

Section 30.3 Bohr model of the hydrogen atom

Section 30.6 Pauli exclusion principle and the periodic table of the elements

Section 30.7 X-rays

                  Nuclear Physics and Radioactivity. (Chapter 31)

Section 31.1 Nuclear structure

Section 31.2 Strong nuclear force and stability of the nucleus

Section 31.3 Mass defect of the nucleus and nuclear binding energy

Sections 31.4 and 31.6 Radioactivity and radioactive decay

                   Ionizing Radiation. Elementary Particles(Chapter 32)

Section 32.1 Biological effects of ionizing radiation

The old textbook that was out of print has been replaced by a new textbook (Physics 10e) this year.

For labs, there is no Lab Manual from the Coop Bookshop this year. This has been replaced by Experimental Notes that will be accessible on iLearn.