MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
This is the first in a 3-part series of courses that parallels the second-semester mechanics course taught at Harvey Mudd College. Part 1 explores the concepts of momentum, force, and energy, and how these properties define the motion of objects at everyday speeds. Part 2 examines angular motion, and Part 3 examines wave motion. This course is an invitation to develop your problem-solving skills and to learn how to apply mathematics to all sorts of problems of the physical world. Learning the rules that govern how stuff moves in the world around us is exciting; using those rules to predict correctly something that you haven’t observed means that you really understand something. It‘s a great feeling.
What Should I Know Before we Start?
You need not have taken physics before, but we assume that you have studied mathematics, up to and including a first course in calculus. You may be taking a calculus course concurrently with this course; that should be a good strategy. We will introduce important calculus ideas and methods as the need arises and provide examples.
There is a Mathematics Diagnostic Test that you can take at the beginning of this course to ensure that your mathematics background will set you up for success in this course.
What you'll learn
- The basic physics of how objects move
- The concepts of momentum, force, and energy
- How these properties define the motion of objects at everyday speeds
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.