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Boundless Physics
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Chapter 1

The Basics of Physics

Book Version 3
By Boundless
Boundless Physics
Physics
by Boundless
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Section 1
The Basics of Physics
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Introduction: Physics and Matter

Physics is a study of how the universe behaves.

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Physics and Other Fields

Physics is the foundation of many disciplines and contributes directly to chemistry, astronomy, engineering, and most scientific fields.

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Models, Theories, and Laws

The terms model, theory, and law have exact meanings in relation to their usage in the study of physics.

Section 2
Units
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Length

Length is a physical measurement of distance that is fundamentally measured in the SI unit of a meter.

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Mass

Mass is the quantity of matter that an object contains, as measured by its resistance to acceleration.

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Time

Time is the fundamental physical quantity of duration and is measured by the SI Unit known as the second.

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Prefixes and Other Systems of Units

SI prefixes precede a basic unit of measure to indicate a multiple or fraction of the unit.

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Converting Units

Converting between units can be done through the use of conversion factors or specific conversion formulas.

Section 3
Significant Figures and Order of Magnitude
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Scientific Notation

Scientific notation is a way of writing numbers that are too big or too small in a convenient and standard form.

Round-off Error

A round-off error is the difference between the calculated approximation of a number and its exact mathematical value.

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Order of Magnitude Calculations

An order of magnitude is the class of scale of any amount in which each class contains values of a fixed ratio to the class preceding it.

Section 4
Solving Physics Problems
Dimensional Analysis

Any physical quantity can be expressed as a product of a combination of the basic physical dimensions.

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Trigonometry

Trigonometry is central to the use of free body diagrams, which help visually represent difficult physics problems.

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General Problem-Solving Tricks

Free body diagrams use geometry and vectors to visually represent the problem.

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Chapter 1
The Basics of Physics
  • The Basics of Physics
  • Units
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Kinematics
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