Measurements of Space and Time

Lecture Description

In this introductory lecture, Professor Lewin discuses basic units, dimensions, measurements and associated uncertainties, dimensional analysis, and scaling arguments. Further, he explains why a measurement is meaningless without knowledge of its uncertainty, using data collected by Galileo Galilei as an example. He begins to dive into dimensional analysis, reasoning that the time from an object to fall from a certain height is independent of its mass and proportional to the square root of the height from which it is dropped. He confirms this conclusion by dropping an apple from various heights.

Course Description

This course is a first-semester freshman physics class in Newtonian Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics, and Kinetic Gas Theory. In addition to the basic concepts a variety of interesting topics are covered in this course: Binary Stars, Neutron Stars, Black Holes, Resonance Phenomena, Musical Instruments, Stellar Collapse, Supernovae, Astronomical observations from very high flying balloons (lecture 35), and you will be allowed a peek into the intriguing Quantum World.

Related Resources

Transcript   |  Lecture Notes

Course Index

1. Measurements of Space and Time
2. 1-Dimensional Kinematics, Speed, Velocity, Acceleration
3. Vectors, Dot Products, Cross Products, 3D Kinematics
4. 3-D Kinematics, The Motion of Projectiles
5. Circular Motion, Centrifuges, Moving Reference Frames
6. Newton's Three Laws
7. Weight and Weightlessness
8. Friction
9. Exam-I Review
10. Hooke's Law and Simple Harmonic Motion
11. Work and Mechanical Energy
12. Resistive Forces
13. Conservative Forces and SHO
14. Satellite Orbits - Energy - Power
15. Collisions and the Center of Mass
16. Elastic and Inelastic Collisions
17. Change of Momentum, Impulse, Rockets
18. Exam Review II
19. Rotational Kinetic Energy
20. Angular Momentum
21. Torques, Oscillating Bodies
22. Elliptical Orbits
23. Doppler Shift and Stellar Dynamics
24. Rate of Change of Angular Momentum
25. Static Equilibrium
26. Elasticity of Materials
27. Pressure in a Static Fluid
28. Buoyant Force and Bernoulli's Equation
29. Exam Review
30. Other Oscillating Systems
31. Forced Oscillations and Resonance
32. Heat, Conductivity and Thermal Expansion
33. Ideal-Gas Law and Phase Transitions, Isothermal Atmosphere
34. The Wonderful Quantum World
35. X-ray Astronomy and Astrophysics