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Head First Physics
book

Head First Physics

by Heather Lang
September 2008
Beginner content levelBeginner
942 pages
26h 16m
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Head First Physics

Appendix B. Equation Table: Point of Reference

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It’s difficult to remember something when you’ve only seen it once. Equations are a major way of describing what’s going on in physics. Every time you use equations to help solve a problem, you naturally start to become familiar with them without the need to spend time doing rote memorization. But before you get to that stage, it’s good to have a place you can look up the equation you want to use. That’s what this equation table appendix is for - it’s a point of reference that you can turn to at any time.

Mechanics equation table

Equations of motion

“No displacement”

v = v0 + at

“No final velocity”

x = x0 + v0t + ½at2

“No time”

v2 = v02 + 2a(x - x0)

Forces

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Work and energy

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Circular Motion

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Gravitation

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Simple Harmonic Motion

Force and spring constant

Fs = -kxv

Elastic potential energy of a spring

Us = ½kx2

Standard SHM equations take one of these forms for x, v and a (depending on ititial conditions)

x = x0sin(ωt)

x = x0cos(ωt)

Angular frequency for mass on a spring ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780596102371Supplemental ContentErrata Page