Physics Review Topics

Things you should know from Chemistry…

SI Units (Metric System)Base Units: m,kg,L,mol,sCombination of Base Units=Derived Units(g/L)Table 2-1 pg. 17 lists metric prefixesRemember Metric System is based on

Powers of Ten!Converting….

Significant Digits/Figures

Rules:1. Nonzero digits are always significant2. Final zeros after a decimal are significant3. Embedded zeros are significant4. Placeholder zeros are NOT significant5. Do not use constants or numbers that are

not measurements (ex.1day) to decide on significant digits in a problem!

How many “sig figs” in an answer?

Adding & SubtractingRound to the

PLACE of the least precise value (one with the least digits after decimal)

Multiplying & Dividing

Round to the same number of significant digits as the least precise value (one with the least digits)

Scientific Notationm x 10n

Where 1 < m < 10 and n is an integerIf you move the decimal to the left, n is

positive and if you move the decimal to the right, n is negative

When converting to scientific notation, you take away non-significant zeros!

Arithmetic with Scientific Notation

Adding and Subtracting: Exponents must “match”…if they do not, move

decimal until they do!Multiplying and Dividing:

Exponents do not have to “match” Multiplying: add exponents Dividing: subtract exponents

Graphing2.3

This is just a quick refresher…to be completely prepared, you should read this entire section

and review the graphics

Types of Graphs:

Line Graph Reminders Independent variable

X axis Thing you are changing Time is a common ind.variable

Dependent variable Y axis Thing that changes due to

independent changing Making Graph

Labels (title and axis) Spacing of numbers

Types of Line Graphs Linear, Quadratic, and Inverse

Linear RelationshipsGraph is a straight lineRelationship between variables can be shown

in this equation: y=mx+bm=slope (rise over run) and b=y-interceptSlope can be positive or negative:

Quadratic RelationshipGraph is a parabola, the parabolic relationship

exists when one variable depends on the square of another.

y=kx2

k is a constant that shows how fast y changes with x2

Inverse RelationshipsGraph is a hyperbola, a hyperbola results

when one variable depends on the inverse of the other.

y=(k)(1/x) or xy=kWhere k is again a constant

INTERPOLATING/EXTRAPOLATING

INTERPOLATING: Reading within a set of data points

EXTRAPOLATING: Extending past given data points to make a reading