high school physics homework help

high school physics homework help

Exploring the Fundamentals of High School Physics

1. Introduction to High School Physics

Physics has a reputation as a difficult subject to learn and understand at the high school or college level, but many of our basic ideas, and especially these underlying basic principles, are within the understanding of nearly everyone. We use the idea of force to explain what keeps us from slipping while walking, why two surfaces might cling or stick to one another, or why we slide less easily on ice than on the concrete floor of a local skating rink. We can define work and explain the old adage “It’s as easy as falling off a log,” and we can use work principles to explain how a pulley system can help lift a heavy refrigerator to the second floor. The usefulness of the concepts lies in their ability to explain and predict how things will behave in everyday systems that can be seen and touched, but they are also rooted in principles that extend into parts of the universe that we cannot yet directly observe.

High school physics is an essential part of any student’s basic education. While for some of you, high school may be as far as your education goes, for others it is the first stepping stone toward a more advanced degree in the physical and biological sciences, humanities, or social sciences. Regardless of the focus of your future work, physics is of interest because of the ideas that we will cover in these chapters, and because it illuminates the underlying fundamental principles that govern how the universe works. As you will also see, the basic concepts that govern how very small things behave can be used to explain and predict behavior not only on a very large scale, but on scales that lie between, from molecules to humans.

2. Key Concepts in Mechanics and Motion

The prediction of motion depends entirely on mechanics, which is the scientific and mathematical study of motion. Mechanics is often divided into two branches: kinematics and dynamics. Kinematics is the study of how things move without considering the interaction of objects. It describes quantities such as displacement, velocity, and acceleration, all of which can be illustrated in numerous applications in the real world and will be explored over the course of this book. Dynamics, on the other hand, deals with the forces that influence the motion of objects. Thus, according to Newton’s laws of motion, these forces play an essential role in the mechanics of an object in motion.

The study of mechanics may be divided into two major branches. The first branch, called kinematics, concerns itself with the description of motion. The second branch deals with the forces which cause the motion. This branch is known as dynamics. In mechanics, the basic notion concerning the underlying forces and factors that influence the motion of objects is summed up in a series of interrelated concepts and principles known as the laws of motion. These laws are not mere speculation but rather determined from intensive study and exploration of the profound physical world. They are distilled from a variety of fundamental observations. Developed by Sir Isaac Newton three hundred years ago, they remain the foundation upon which modern physics is grounded.

3. Understanding Electricity and Magnetism

The interactions of electric charges result in many complex phenomena and practical elements due to an excess or shortage of electrons. The coulomb force between two point charges can be attractive or repelling. There is the momentum associated with the electrostatic force of electric charge, which flows as a current. One and another very common aspect are magnetism. Magnetism is associated with the spin of atomic particles. When such spin is in the same direction in a volume of material, magnetic dipoles are either with or against the field, which gives rise to a net magnetization of the material and a magnetic field. The action of this magnetic field in a second region gives rise to a magnetic force on the charged particle. Since the charge typically traveled by electrons, it created a magnetic field. In essence, this shows that electricity and magnetism are two sides of the same aspect. In particular, it shows that a magnetic field is generated by moving charges, like a current.

Physics is a branch of science, which deals with the nature and natural phenomena by studying its properties, behavior, and effects. Physics is involved on a variety of scales. We humans typically live at scales on the order of meters on up, but physics works at scales from subatomic to cosmic. One class of phenomena is subatomic and microworld physics and another class of phenomena is astrophysical and the study of the universe on the largest scales. Electricity and magnetism are related to one another and involve the behavior of electric charges. Electric charge, in both positive and negative charges, is a fundamental physical property of matter. The force between charges reduces as the square of the separation distance between them.

In the last few sections, we have explored some of the potential energies as well as forces, work, and energy as a framework built up around several simple fundamental forces and bodily interactions such as exerted by gravity and spring forces. We have also analyzed the propagation of waves on one side, and oscillatory motion on the other, especially for mechanical systems. This provided us with a good working knowledge of the kinetic energies associated with frames of reference and simple harmonic motion. Newton’s 2nd motion principle also provides insight into acceleration and introduces the concept of net force for all objects of mass ‘m.’

4. Exploring the Principles of Waves and Optics

Light can be described as electromagnetic waves with a frequency between 4 x 10^14 Hz and 8 x 10^14 Hz. The behavior of light can be described as photon or wave-particle duality. Light energy and wave energy occupy different regions such as the filling of space with light (straight radiation), the refraction of light in different media, the reflection of light in different media; optical systems such as optical interfaces consisting of multiple transparent surfaces; astrophysical instruments and principles, including interference, diffraction, and quantum mechanics (light as photon). In more applications, many situations involve waves, but in topics like astronomy, a discussion about electromagnetic (EM) waves is also pertinent. Electromagnetic waves, or light, have the ability to travel in a vacuum, ever moving at a speed of 3 x 10^8 m/s. When you consider the broadcasting of cellular waves, the transfer of information through the Internet, the use of television sets, radio, and radar, it is possible to see how much we are now fully surrounded by waves. In physics, there are a number of theories that describe waves starting from what is a trigger amplitude and the procedure of learning about waves, waves in tubes, transmission of waves, superposition of waves, and resonance.

A wave can be described as a disturbance or variation within some medium, including the properties of this medium like the temperature, electrical energy, magnetic fields, and stress, aside from the density or displacement of that medium. Characteristic features of waves are that they tend to travel and that they can spread out spherically or in straight lines in many mediums. All waves also display properties including frequency, wavelength, amplitude, power, period, phase, intensity, and velocity. Optics is the branch of physics investigating the interaction of light with different media. It examines the behavior of light, the transfer of light energy, the refraction, reflection, and diffraction of light, and other topics about light.

5. Applications of Physics in Everyday Life

Physics is associated with technological developments. Paths leading from the tremendous capabilities to understand the complexity and sophistication of the physical world to the demands of society are often obscure; some technological developments bring the need for physics, some others come from physics itself. 21st-century society is aware of the hazards facing this planet and the biological systems we know to survive. The atmosphere, oceans, the expanse of space in which space missions operate, our potential for nuclear conflict, and ecological disasters brought about by the actions of mankind can be mitigated through wise policy decisions based upon physical knowledge. When, for example, hurricanes are followed by floods in some of the poorest parts of the world, the cost in human life is mainly determined by the structures that have been built to protect the population and by the technology available. It is the physicist who studies and analyzes this physical world to create predictive models of natural disasters and works with engineers to develop structures that will keep people safe.

Physics is tightly associated with the aspects of the external world, life, and man. The most obvious manifestation of this fact is the influence of the development of natural science in the fields of technological developments and the practical needs of man. As the driving force in understanding and management of the technological processes in the field of production, the technological advances in engineering, metallurgy, and electrical and electronic products are associated with the knowledge in physical science. Applications of medical physics include the development of X-ray machines. It is also used to produce the alpha, beta, or gamma rays used in radiation cancer treatment. University of Banja mentions physics as the fastest-growing field of science.