Unit 1 Kinematics (and Pre-Unit: Vectors)

● Vectors start at a point called the origin, and are quantities with both magnitude and direction
○ You can add vectors by putting them in any order as long as vector tails
are matched with vector heads. Do not ignore negative signs
○ Using SOHCAHTOA or pythagorean theorem you can
solve for magnitudes for vectors to separate it into x and y vectors
○ X and y vectors can be represented by i and j which
you can find the vector by the equation C + B = A.

○ A and B are vectors

that need to be separated into their x and y vectors. Once you
have Ax and Ay and the respective vector components for B, you can add them and
subtract them using these equations.
■ Once you have A+Bx and A+By you can use the
pythagorean theorem to find Magnitude of A+B.
■ To find the angle use
tangent-1
● Kinematics
○ Displacement is the net distance;
In Distance versus time graphs,
aka position-versus time graphs
Δ𝑥
● You can find velocity by 𝑣 = Δ𝑡
, therefore y/x .
● Acceleration equals change in velocity divided by change
in time; Acceleration can change if
velocity or direction is changing. In
Velocity versus time graphs, the slope
represents acceleration, and the area
represents the displacement.
● Projectile motion, free fall equations
all follow the Boyfriend (BF) Big Five
equations shown to the right. Make
sure you memorize these, it makes life much easier.
● To find the instantaneous velocity simply find the slope between the two
points and your result is the instantaneous velocity
Unit 2 Dynamics
● A system is any object or collection of objects. Objects can be on a small scale such as
protons/neutrons or the quarks inside them. When a system’s internal structure is irrelevant to the
problem, it can be regarded as an object as well, meaning that large scale systems such as cars or
planets can be regarded as objects when their inner workings are unimportant.
● Forces represent interactions that can affect the acceleration of different objects by pushing or
𝑚
pulling it. They are represented with Newtons (N) which is 𝑘𝑔 · 2 .
𝑠
○ Note that 𝑘𝑔represents the mass, the amount of matter in an object, rather than weight.
Weight itself is the force of gravity and can be found with𝑤 = 𝑚𝑔.
𝑚
■ 𝑔is gravitational acceleration, about 9. 81 2 on Earth. You can generally just use
𝑠
10.
● Contact forces include normal forces, tension, and friction.
○ When an object is touching a surface, the surface exerts a contact
force on the object and the component of this is perpendicular to the
object. This is called normal force.
○ Tension is what is pulling on an object, from an intermediary, for
example a rope, that needs to be factored in with gravity to find certain
values.
○ There are two main types of friction, Kinetic and static friction,
represented with mu µ
● Newton’s First Law: An object will continue in its state of motion unless compelled to change by
a force impressed upon it. That means an object can maintain its constant velocity without net
force required. This is called the Law of Inertia, where it can be measured when there is a greater
or less inertia.
● Newton’s Second Law: Acceleration is directly proportional to the strength of the total (or net)
force, and is inversely proportional to the object’s mass (m). Use Fnet= ma
● Newton’s Third Law: For every action there is an equal
and/or opposite reaction
● Pulleys are devices that change the direction of tension
forces in the cords that slide over them. Pulley systems
multiply the force by however many strings pull on them.
Use F = ma, and know which forces are affecting the
system whether it is friction, gravity or otherwise. If it is a
block and a pulley with another block in suspencion. You
know there is friction with the weight of the hanging block.
First define your coordinate plane, Up is positive, and right
is positive. In this case it would be Ft - Ff = Ft - Fw
● Inclined Planes are basically forces at an angle. The way to
solve this is to draw a triangle with one force vertical and one force horizontal. Using that you can
find horizontal and vertical components
Unit 3 Gravitational and Circular Motion
● A vector field gives a function of position of the value of a quantity described by a
vector.
○ So what? Well, take the Earth. Gravity is a vector since it has a magnitude and direction
and it is PULLING us IN to the surface of the Earth, depicted as the image to the left.
○ We can determine so much from a vector field: the direction and how big the force is.
● Gravitational forces are exerted at all scales and dominate at the largest distances and
mass scales.
○ The gravitational force is a LARGE force present in ALL situations that CANNOT be
neglected!
○ Take a free-falling tennis ball, for instance. When you draw a free-body diagram, you
draw mg. Are there any other forces acting on the tennis ball? Sure! There’s air
resistance, for example; however, that force is so small that it is neglected, because it
doesn’t really make that big of a difference compared to gravity.
● Gravitational forces describe the interaction of one object with mass with another object with
𝑚1𝑚2
mass. It is always attractive and can be quantified with the equation 𝐺 2 . In a narrow range of
𝑟
heights above Earth’s surface, the local gravitational field, g, is approximately constant.
○ Anything that has mass exerts a gravitational force. Even you, but it isn’t that big.
○ Let’s breakdown this equation:
● G is a value that is ALWAYS constant! Do not confuse little g with BIG
G. According to the formula chart, it is around 6.67*10-11 m3/kg*s
● m1 is the mass of one of the objects. It does not really matter which
object.
● m1 is the mass of the other object. It does not really matter which object.
● R2 is the DISTANCE between the two objects. This equation reflects an
inverse square law: the bigger the distance, the smaller the force of
attraction!
○ Do not treat this equation as the acceleration of gravity!
This equation is used to calculate the FORCE of gravity, as in this equation is EQUAL to
mg. Therefore, to find acceleration due to gravity (g), you must divide by the mass of the
object!

○ Gravity is always a pulling force.

● The forces F1-on-2 and F2-on-1 act along the line that joins the bodies and form an
action/reaction pair.
● A gravitational field at the location of an object of mass m causes a gravitational force of
magnitude mg to be exerted on an object in the direction of the field.
● Gravitational mass is the property of an object or system that determines the strength of the
gravitational interaction with other objects.
○ Your weight (mg) is not only dependent on your mass, but is also dependent on the
acceleration due to gravity. This is why you might be heavier on Jupiter than on Earth.
 ○ All inertial mass is the mass of an object that always remains the same, no matter where
you are. (m) without the g.
● In circular motion, the acceleration is ALWAYS directed towards the center of the circle! The
2
𝑣
acceleration is modeled by the equation, a = 𝑟
, where v is the tangential velocity and r is the
radius of the circle.
● Critical Hint: The centripetal force is not its own separate force! It is EQUAL to the net
force acting towards the center of the circle. It can be the tension force of a string when you
swing something in a circle or the net force of the rollercoaster at the top of the cliff.
● Since you also know that velocity is equal to distance/time, using the formula for the
circumference of a circle, the tangential (linear) velocity is equal to (2ᴨr)/T.
● To wrap it all up, this unit introduced the method for calculating acceleration due to gravity (g)
and the weight of an object. This unit also introduced a new force, the centripetal force, only
present in circular motion directed towards the center of the circle. The tangential velocity of an
object moving in circular motion is always perpendicular to the radius. When solving physics
problems, always draw an FBD!
Unit 4: Energy
● A system is an object or collection of objects, treated as having no internal structure.
○ There are closed systems and open systems.
■ A closed system’s energy is always constant and conserved.
■ An open system exchanges energy with its surroundings.
○ The law of the conservation of energy states that energy MUST be conserved in all
situations. If the system is an open system, energy comes into the system in the form of
work (W).
● Work is the transfer of some quantity of energy to the objects in the system. Work is always done
by something OUTSIDE of the system in order for it to be considered work.
● Work is quantified by the equation W = Fd cos𝜭. The force (F) is the net force on the object, d is
the displacement of the object, and theta is the angle at which the force is at.
○ Keep in mind that cos𝜭 works exclusively when forces do not change as the object
moves, so that means a constant acceleration.
● While there are many types of energy, mechanical energy is the most important type of energy
discussed in AP Physics 1 and usually comes in two forms.
○ Kinetic Energy, or the energy of motion, symbolized by K.
■ Whenever an object is in motion, it has kinetic energy. This is quantified by the
1 2
equation, 𝐾 = 2
𝑚𝑣 .
○ Potential Energy, usually represented with Ug (most common form - gravitational PE)
■ First, you need to determine a zero point of gravitational potential energy.
■ Whenever an object is above this zero point, it has gravitational potential energy.
This is a conservative form of energy, meaning that the path that an object takes
does not matter.
■ This is quantified by the equation, Ug = mgh, where m is the mass, g is
acceleration due to gravity, and h is the height above the zero point.
● Still don’t get it? When I throw a ball into the air, it has kinetic energy at
first, but then after going up, it stops for a moment in the air before it
starts to fall down. It had kinetic energy at the beginning, but when it
stopped, it has no kinetic energy because its not moving. Where did the
energy go? It became potential energy in the form of Ug.
■ For objects that are farther away from the earth for example, satellites use of the
gravitational equation is required. Ug = - (Gm1m2)/r
○ Sometimes, the potential energy may not necessarily be gravitational. It could be from a
1
spring, and according to the P1 Formula Chart, Us = 2
kx2. This topic will be covered
more in Unit 6.
● The change in kinetic energy of the system can also be quantified as work done on the system.
○ The Work Energy Theorem: A system gains or loses kinetic energy by transferring it
through the environment and the system.
 ○ If you were to take an object’s kinetic energy at two positions, you would be able to
calculate the change in kinetic energy and then derive the d displacement or other
quantities through this theorem.
● The law of the conservation of energy states that the total energy in the system initially MUST
equal the total energy of the system in the final position. If not, the surroundings do work on the
system. (So an example would be, K1 + (Ug)1 = K2 + (Ug)2 + W)
● Finally, power, a quantity that measures that rate at which work is done is equal to the amount of
work done on the system divided by the time it took to perform the work. (P = W/T)