deriving the equations of motion

By , December 30, 2008 8:11 pm

I’ve been looking through the results of the traffic light survey we did at the end of unit 1 of the higher course.  The learning outcome that most people were unhappy about was the derivation of the equations of motion.

I put together a handout that outlines where the 3 equations come from, starting with a simple velocity-time graph.  Let me know if you think your understanding of this outcome would benefit from the video treatment I have used in your homework solutions.

Standard Grade half-life calculations

By , December 28, 2008 3:35 pm

For those of you preparing for S Grade prelims straight after the Christmas holidays, I have added a 6 page summary on radioactivity & half-life calculations with worked examples and extra questions (with answers) for you to try.

You’ll find the pdf file containing all this radioactive goodness in the Health Physics section of the Standard Grade revision page.

equations of motion – projectile motion

By , December 9, 2008 12:24 am

How to separate out the horizontal and vertical motion of a projectile and apply the equations of motion.

equations of motion – combining up & down vertical motion

By , December 9, 2008 12:23 am

This is an example showing the importance of adopting a sign convention at the start of your problem.

equations of motion – final velocity

By , December 9, 2008 12:21 am

An example illustrating how to determine the final velocity of an object when initial velocity, acceleration and distance are known.

equations of motion – initial velocity

By , December 9, 2008 12:19 am

This example shows how to find the initial vertical velocity of an object if its maximum height (apex) is known.

equations of motion example – finding “g”

By , December 9, 2008 12:18 am

In this problem, experimental data is used to obtain a value for “g”, acceleration due to gravity.

equations of motion – worked examples

By , December 9, 2008 12:16 am

I’ve had a request to post some worked examples of the equations of motion. I’ve done these quickly as handwritten examples with red pen down the side to explain what I have done at each step. I’ll post them as 5 different blog entries so that iTunes will pick up all the pdf files – you only get one file per blog post on iTunes.

If you want any extra practice at these, you have the P&N problem booklet at home. Alternatively, you could be adventurous and look at the blue text book end of chapter questions or even a past paper – you have completed Unit 1 after all!

Higher HW download has been fixed

By , December 5, 2008 4:02 pm

Sara pointed out this afternoon that there was a problem with the iTunes HW I put online last night.  I think the file was currupted when I uploaded it because it wouldn’t work for me either!

I have sent it up to the server again and it seems to work on both mac and pc.  Can you delete the old one from your iTunes library if you downloaded it last night or this morning and try again.  Please leave a comment if it still won’t work for you.

Higher HW – gas laws and electric fields

By , December 5, 2008 3:54 pm

Here is your HW covering the end of unit 1 and the start of unit 2. This exercise is slightly longer (7 questions) so that you won’t have to do any HW over the Christmas holidays. Make sure you hand in your answers no later than Monday 15th December.

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