Learning objectives
The course has been designed to provide fundamental concepts indispensable for understanding the physical laws and the properties of matter, with special emphasis on those aspects useful in the comprehension of chemical and biological processes.
Course unit content
INTRODUCTION
Units of measure and physical magnitudes. Measurements and uncertainty. Absolute magnitudes and derived magnitudes. Principle of dimensional homogeneity. Units, standards and CGS, MKS, SI. Converting units. Mathematics in physics
VECTOR CALCULUS.
Scalars and vectors. Addition of vectors: graphical methods. Subtraction and multiplication of vectors. Vector components. Versors. Operations with vectors by components. Scalar product and vector product.
MOTION.
Linear motion. Average and instantaneous velocity. Distance and displacement. Average and instantaneous acceleration. Motion at constant acceleration. Falling objects. Graphical analysis of linear motion. Kinematics on two dimensions. Projectile motion: trajectory equation.
FORCE AND MOTION.
Newton’s first law of motion. Force and Mass. Measurements of force and mass. Newton’s second law of motion. Specific types of force: the gravity, the weight, the normal force, the spring force, the tension in a string, the frictional force: static and dynamic friction. Newton’s third law of motion. Uniform circular motion: angular speed and centripetal acceleration. Period and frequency. Centripetal force and circular motion. Circular motion and gravitation. Newton’ law of universal gravitation. Kepler’s laws. Types of forces in nature.
ENERGY AND WORK.
Work and kinetic energy. Work done by a constant force and by a varying force. Theorem of the kinetic energy. Potential energy. Conservative and non conservative forces. Mechanical energy and its conservation. Dissipative forces. The law of energy conservation.
LINEAR MOMENTUM
Momentum and its relation to force. Conservation of momentum. The impulse. Elastic and inelastic collisions. The center of mass. The center of mass and the translation motion. The center of gravity.
ROTATIONAL MOTION
Angular quantities. The torque. The torque. Rotational dynamics. torque and rotational inertia. Moments of inertia. Angular moment and its conservation. Bodies in equilibrium. Statics: the conditions for equilibrium.
FLUIDS.
Mass of a volume unit. Specific gravity. Pressure in fluids. Pascal’s principle. Buoyancy and Archimedes’ principle. Fluid dynamics. The equation of continuity. Bernoulli’s principle. Application of Bernoulli principle. Viscosity. Flow in tube: Poiseuille’s law. Surface tension and capillarity. Diffusion and Fick’s law. Osmotic phenomena and osmotic pressure.
VIBRATION AND WAVES
Simple harmonic motion. Energy in the simple harmonic motion. The period and the sinusoidal nature of simple harmonic motion. The simple pendulum. Damped harmonic motion. Wave motion. Transverse and longitudinal wave. Energy transported by a wave. Reflection and interference of waves. Resonance, refraction and diffraction
TEMPERATURE AND HEAT.
Temperature and heat. Thermal equilibrium and the zero law of thermodynamics. Temperature measurement. Temperature scales. Linear and volumic thermal expansion. Anomalous behaviour of water. The equation of state of an ideal gas. Kinetic theory of gases. The molecular interpretation of temperature. Mean translational kinetic energy. Molar specific heats for an ideal gas: Cp and Cv . Heat as energy transfer. The specific heat. Calorimetry. The latent heat. The heat transfer: conduction, convection and radiation.
THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS
The first law of thermodynamics. The volume pressure diagram. Adiabatic, isochoric, isothermal and closed cycle transformations. Work in thermodynamic processes. The second law of thermodynamics. Entropy and second law of thermodynamics. Order or disorder. Statistical interpretation of entropy. Heat engines and refrigerators. The Carnot cycle. The Kelvin-Plank and Clausius statements of the second law of thermodynamics.
ELECTRIC CHARGE AND ELECTRIC FIELD.
Static electricity: electric charge and its conservation. Electric charge in the atoms. Conductors and insulators. Coulomb’s law. The superposition principle. The electric field. Field lines. Electric field and conductors. Electric field generated by a point charge, by a dipole and by a linear charge. Electric field flow. The Gauss’ law, Application of Gauss’ law.
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL AND ELECTRIC ENERGY: CAPACITANCE
Electric potential and potential difference. Relation between electric potential and electric field. The equipotential lines. The electric potential due to point charges. Electric dipoles. Capacitance. Dielectrics. Permittivity of the material. Capacitors.
ELECTRIC CURRENT
The electric battery. The electric current and charge flow. Ohm’s law: resistance and resistors. Resistivity. Electric power. Resistors in serial and in parallel. Energy in electric circuits. Resistor combination. Kirchhoff’s laws. Circuits containing capacitors in serial and in parallel. Circuits containing a resistor and a capacitor.
ELECTROMAGNETIC INDUCTION AND FARADAY’S LAW
Magnets and magnetic fields Forces generated by a magnetic field. Flow of a punctiform charge in a magnetic field. Current-generated magnetic fields. Law of Biot and Savart. Theorem of Ampere. Coils, solenoids and magnets. Magnetic property of matter. Electromagnetic induction and laws of Faraday.
ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE
Maxwell’s equations. Production of electromagnetic waves. Light as electromagnetic wave. The electromagnetic spectrum. Speed of light. Energy in electromagnetic wave.
THE GEOMETRIC OPTICS.
Light reflection and the image formation by a plane mirror. Plane and spherical mirrors. Index of refraction. Snell’ s law of refraction. Total reflection: fiber optics. Thin lenses and ray tracing. The lens equations. Huygens’ principle and diffraction. Huygens’ principle and the law of refraction. Interference. Diffraction. Polarization. Spectrometer and optical instruments.
Bibliography
Jewett and Serway, Principi di Fisica (4 edizione)-EdiSES
Walker JS Fondamenti di Fisica (4 edizione)-Pearson
Douglas C. Giancoli “Fisica” Casa Editrice Ambrosiana (2 Edizione).
Teaching methods
The course consists of classroom lectures with frequent discussion of problems. Lectures are supplemented by projection of Power Point files that summarise basic concepts together with illustrations from the course textbook.
Assessment methods and criteria
written and oral examination
