Main Page
Welcome to the Georgia Tech Wiki for Introductory Physics. This resource was created so that students can contribute and curate content to help those with limited or no access to a textbook. When reading this website, please correct any errors you may come across. If you read something that isn't clear, please consider revising it for future students!
Looking to make a contribution?
- Pick one of the topics from intro physics listed below
- Add content to that topic or improve the quality of what is already there.
- Need to make a new topic? Edit this page and add it to the list under the appropriate category. Then copy and paste the default Template into your new page and start editing.
Please remember that this is not a textbook and you are not limited to expressing your ideas with only text and equations. Whenever possible embed: pictures, videos, diagrams, simulations, computational models (e.g. Glowscript), and whatever content you think makes learning physics easier for other students.
Source Material
All of the content added to this resource must be in the public domain or similar free resource. If you are unsure about a source, contact the original author for permission. That said, there is a surprisingly large amount of introductory physics content scattered across the web. Here is an incomplete list of intro physics resources (please update as needed).
- A physics resource written by experts for an expert audience Physics Portal
- A wiki written for students by a physics expert MSU Physics Wiki
- A wiki book on modern physics Modern Physics Wiki
- The MIT open courseware for intro physics MITOCW Wiki
- An online concept map of intro physics HyperPhysics
- Interactive physics simulations PhET
- OpenStax algebra based intro physics textbook College Physics
- The Open Source Physics project is a collection of online physics resources OSP
- A resource guide compiled by the AAPT for educators ComPADRE
Organizing Categories
These are the broad, overarching categories, that we cover in three semester of introductory physics. You can add subcategories as needed but a single topic should direct readers to a page in one of these categories.
Resources
- Commonly used wiki commands Wiki Cheatsheet
- A guide to representing equations in math mode Wiki Math Mode
- A page to keep track of all the physics Constants
- A page for review of Vectors and vector operations
- A listing of Notable Scientist with links to their individual pages
Physics 1
Week 1
Student Content
Help with VPython
Interactions
Velocity and Momentum
Expert Content
Week 2
Student Content
Momentum and the Momentum Principle
Iterative Prediction with a Constant Force
Expert Content
- Scalars and Vectors
- Displacement and Velocity
- Modeling Motion with VPython
- Relative Motion
- Graphing Motion
- Momentum
- The Momentum Principle
- Acceleration & The Change in Momentum
- Applying the Momentum Principle
- Constant Force Motion
- Iterative Prediction of Motion
- The Momentum Principle in Multi-particle Systems
- Why Angular Momentum?
- Angular Momentum
- Net Torque & The Angular Momentum Principle
- Angular Momentum Conservation
Week 3
Student Content
Analytic Prediction with a Constant Force
Iterative Prediction with a Varying Force
Expert Content
Week 4
Student Content
Fundamental Interactions
Expert Content
Week 5
Student Content
Conservation of Momentum
Properties of Matter
Expert Content
Week 6
Student Content
Identifying Forces
Expert Content
Week 7
Student Content
Energy Principle
Expert Content
Week 8
Student Content
Work by Non-Constant Forces
Potential Energy
Expert Content
- Work Done by Non-Constant Forces
- Potential Energy
- (Near Earth) Gravitational and Spring Potential Energy
- Changes of Rest Mass Energy
- Force and Potential Energy
- Newtonian Gravitational Potential Energy
- Graphing Energy for Gravitationally Interacting Systems
- Spring Potential Energy
- Power: The Rate of Energy Change
- Dissipation of Energy
Week 9
Student Content
Multiparticle Systems
Expert Content
Week 10
Student Content
Choice of System
Thermal Energy, Dissipation and Transfer of Energy
Rotational and Vibrational Energy
Expert Content
Week 11
Student Content
Different Models of a System
Models of Friction
Expert Content
Week 12
Student Content
Collisions
Expert Content
Week 13
Student Content
Rotations
Angular Momentum
- Total Angular Momentum
- Translational Angular Momentum
- Rotational Angular Momentum
- The Angular Momentum Principle
- Angular Momentum Compared to Linear Momentum
- Angular Impulse
- Predicting the Position of a Rotating System
- Angular Momentum of Multiparticle Systems
- The Moments of Inertia
- Moment of Inertia for a cylinder
- Right Hand Rule
Expert Content
Week 14
Student Content
Analyzing Motion with and without Torque
Expert Content
Week 15
Student Content
Introduction to Quantum Concepts
Expert Content
Physics 2
Week 1
Electric field
Electric force
- Electric Force Claimed by Amarachi Eze
- Lorentz Force
Bold text====Superposition====
Dipoles
Week 2
Interactions of charged objects
Tape experiments
Polarization
Week 3
Insulators
Conductors
Charging and discharging
Week 4
Field of a charged rod
Field of a charged ring/disk/capacitor
Field of a charged sphere
Week 5
Potential energy
Electric potential
Sign of a potential difference
Claimed by Tyler Quill
Potential at a single location
Path independence and round trip potential
Week 6
Electric field and potential in an insulator
Moving charges in a magnetic field
Biot-Savart Law
Moving charges, electron current, and conventional current
Week 7
Magnetic field of a wire
Magnetic field of a current-carrying loop
Magnetic dipoles
Atomic structure of magnets
Week 8
Steady state current
Node rule
Electric fields and energy in circuits
Macroscopic analysis of circuits
Week 9
Electric field and potential in circuits with capacitors
Magnetic forces on charges and currents
Electric and magnetic forces
Velocity selector
Week 10
The Hall effect is a phenomenon that describes why charged particles collect to one side of a conductor in the presence of a magnetic field. It is used to determine the charge of a mobile particle inside a conductor.
Main Idea
The Hall Effect is a phenomenon that is created when charged particles moving through a conductor are submitted to a magnetic field. The magnetic field pushes the charged particles to one side of the conductor. This causes a buildup of charges on one side of the conductor which creates a polarization of the conductor perpendicular to the current flow. Eventually this charge will stabilize as the mobile charges will resist the magnetic field.
State, in your own words, the main idea for this topic Electric Field of Capacitor
A Mathematical Model
What are the mathematical equations that allow us to model this topic. For example [math]\displaystyle{ {\frac{d\vec{p}}{dt}}_{system} = \vec{F}_{net} }[/math] where p is the momentum of the system and F is the net force from the surroundings.
A Computational Model
How do we visualize or predict using this topic. Consider embedding some vpython code here Teach hands-on with GlowScript
Examples
Be sure to show all steps in your solution and include diagrams whenever possible
Simple
Middling
Difficult
Connectedness
- How is this topic connected to something that you are interested in?
- How is it connected to your major?
- Is there an interesting industrial application?
History
Put this idea in historical context. Give the reader the Who, What, When, Where, and Why.
See also
Are there related topics or categories in this wiki resource for the curious reader to explore? How does this topic fit into that context?
Further reading
Books, Articles or other print media on this topic
External links
Internet resources on this topic
References
This section contains the the references you used while writing this page
