Force and Translational Dynamics
Nine topics on what makes things accelerate. The system's center of mass as the moving thing, how to draw the forces acting on a body, Newton's three laws that link force to motion, the specific laws for gravity, friction, and springs, and what changes when motion bends into a circle.
Topics
Equations For every problem in this unit
Center of mass
$\vec{x}_{\text{cm}} = \dfrac{\sum m_i\, \vec{x}_i}{\sum m_i}$
System acceleration
$\vec{a}_{\text{sys}} = \dfrac{\sum \vec{F}}{m_{\text{sys}}} = \dfrac{\vec{F}_{\text{net}}}{m_{\text{sys}}}$
Gravitational force
$|\vec{F}_g| = G\, \dfrac{m_1 m_2}{r^2}$
Friction force (max)
$|\vec{F}_f| \leq |\mu\, \vec{F}_N|$
Spring force
$\vec{F}_s = -k\, \Delta\vec{x}$
Centripetal acceleration
$a_c = \dfrac{v^2}{r}$
Pythagorean
$a^2 + b^2 = c^2$
Sine, opp / hyp
$\sin\theta = \dfrac{a}{c}$
Cosine, adj / hyp
$\cos\theta = \dfrac{b}{c}$
Tangent, opp / adj
$\tan\theta = \dfrac{a}{b}$
Unit 2 tools
Challenge bank
60 open-ended problems.
Read the question, work it out, then flip the card to compare your reasoning to the worked solution. Mark each card so you can return to the ones that still bite.
Question
Tap card to reveal explanation
Worked solution
Tap card to return to question
Nothing here yet.
Switch to All, work through some cards, and tag them as Got it or Revisit.
Cumulative assessment
Test the unit.
Twenty mixed items pulled from across all 9 topics. Identifies which misconceptions still bite when you cannot see which topic the question came from.
20questions
9topics
21codes covered