General Physics A I (Fall, 2023)

Lecturer: Prof. Hsiu-Hau LIN
Schedule: 10:10 - 12:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays
Textbook: Physics for Scientists and Engineers (Serway and Jewett)

Note:
(1) This course follows a 16-week syllabus with extra learning materials available
online:

https://www.youtube.com/@prof-hedgehog

(2) AI tools (like ChatGPT) are allowed with necessary explanations.

Ten-Question Syllabus (Semester I)
Q1: What is time?
Q2: How to describe a dynamical system?
Q3: Do forces always appear in pairs?
Q4: Is energy always conserved?
Q5: How does a rotating top maintain its balance?
Q6: Are black holes black?
Q7: Is pressure in liquids a scalar, a vector or a tensor?
Q8: What is propagating in traveling waves?
Q9: How is thermal equilibrium reached?
Q10: How to quantify uncertainty in a statistical system?

Class Lectures

Week 1
Course introduction
What is time?

Week 2
Lorentz transformation
How to describe a dynamical system?

Week 3
Newton's second law
教師節

Week 4
Do forces always appear in pairs?
Center of mass

Week 5
國慶日
Is energy always conserved?

Week 6
Conservative force and potential energy
How does a rotating top maintain its balance?


Week 7
Moment of inertia
Coriolis effect

Week 8
midterm (Q1-Q5)
midterm 2 discussions

Week 9
Are black holes black?
Gravity and spacetime curvature

Week 10
Is pressure in liquids a scalar, a vector or a tensor?
Hagen-Poiseuille equation

Week 11
What is propagating in traveling waves?
Wave equation

Week 12
Wave equation 2
Sound waves

Week 13
How is thermal equilibrium reached?
Heat and the first law of thermodynamics

Week 14
Heat and the first law of thermodynamics 2
How to quantify uncertainty in a statistical system?

Week 15
Entropy and the second law of thermodynamics
thermal and information entropy

Week 16
final (Q6-Q10)
final discussions