Undergraduate - UnitPHS1080 - Foundation physics

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2014 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered, or view unit timetables.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Science
Organisational Unit	School of Physics
Offered	Clayton First semester 2014 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Kavan Modi

Synopsis

The unit introduces fundamental principles of physics of importance to engineering, and their applications. Topics include: Newtonian mechanics - forces, momentum, work and energy; torque and equilibrium; electricity - emf, Ohms Law, series and parallel resistors, power, capacitor and time constant; magnetism - force on currents and moving charges in magnetic fields, flux induced emf, DC motor and ideal transformer; basic wave properties, light and sound, superposition, standing waves; modern physics - photon model of light, wave model of particles, model of electrons in atom, emission and absorption of light; measurement, analysis, and written communication.

Outcomes

On completion of this unit students will be able to:

Explain and understand concepts taught in the unit such as force, energy, work, and wave propagation;

Apply their knowledge to solve problems related to these concepts;

Evaluate and appraise novel situations in terms of mechanics, electric and magnetic fields, and waves;

Execute experiments involving simple apparatus and analyse, interpret and evaluate the results arising from them;

Present and communicate results of others and one's own experimentations in a scientific form.

Assessment

Test: 8%
Quizzes/Assignments: 7%
Practical work: 25%
Exam (3 hours): 60%
Students must achieve a pass mark in the practical work to achieve an overall pass grade.

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Kavan Modi

Workload requirements

Three hours of lectures, three hours of practical (compulsory) and six hours of private study per week

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Astronomy and astrophysics
Atmospheric science
Materials science
Physics

Prohibitions

Year 12 Physics, PHS1031, BMS1031