Assumption College English Program
Mr. Stephen Dobosh’s
E P - M 4 P h y s i c s C l a s s w o r k / H o m e w o r k P a c k e t
Chapter 1: The Science of Physics
Section 1: What is Physics?
Section 2: Measurements in Experiments
Section 3: The Language of Physics
Student’s Name ……………………..…………………..…… EP-M …./…. ID #………….. Register #……
Much of the material within this packet is drawn from the course textbook Holt Physics that each of you have purchased. This content is copyrighted © 2012 by Holt McDougal, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without prior written permission of the copyright owner.
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FA 1.1: What is Physics? SC30101 – Foundation Physics No. _____ , Name _______________________________ Date ___________
Formative Assessment 1.1 (p. 9)
1. Name the major areas of physics.
2. Identify the area of physics that is most relevant to each of the following situations. Explain your
reasoning.
a. a high school football game
b. food preparation for the prom
c. playing in the school band
d. lightning in a thunderstorm
e. wearing a pair of sunglasses outside in the sun
3. What are the activities involved in the scientific method?
4. Give two examples of ways that physicists model the physical world.
5. Critical Thinking Identify the area of physics involved in each of the following tests of a
lightweight metal alloy proposed for use in sailboat hulls:
a. testing the effects of a collision on the alloy
b. testing the effects of extreme heat and cold on the alloy
c. testing whether the alloy can affect a magnetic compass needle
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Making Conversion Factors
Create conversion factors in a “power of 10” format for the following:
Example: µg to g _106 µg_ or _10-6 g__ 1 g 1 µg
1. mL to L ______________ or ______________ 1 mL 1 L
2. nL to L ____ 1 nL_____ or _____ 1 L______
3. µg to g ____ 1 µg_____ or ______1 g______
4. cm to m ______________ or ______________
1 cm 1 m 5. km to m ______________ or ______________
1 km 1 m 6. nL to L ____ 1 nL_____ or ______1 L_____ 7. byte to Gbyte ______________ or ______________
1 b 1 Gb 8. s to ms ____ 1 s______ or _____ 1 ms_____ 9. Mton to ton ______________ or ______________
1 Mton 1 ton 10. dam to m ______________ or ______________
1 dam 1 m
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Ch 1.1 Pr A: Measurements in Experiments SC30101 – Foundation Physics No. _____ , Name _______________________________ Date ___________
Practice A (p. 15)
Metric Prefixes
1. A human hair is approximately 50 µm in diameter. Express this diameter in meters.
2. If a radio wave has a period of 1 µs, what is the wave’s period in seconds?
3. A hydrogen atom has a diameter of about 10 nm.
a. Express this diameter in meters.
b. Express this diameter in millimeters.
c. Express this diameter in micrometers.
4. The distance between the sun and Earth is about 1.5 x 1011 m. Express this distance with an SI
prefix and in kilometers.
5. The average mass of an automobile in the United States is about 1.44 x 106 g. Express this mass
in kilograms.
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Significant Figures Practice Worksheet
How many significant figures do the following measurements have?
1) 1234 m _____ 2) 0.023 J _____ 3) 890 kg _____ 4) 91010 K _____ 5) 9010.0 K _____ 6) 1090.0010 s _____ 7) 0.00120 km/h _____ 8) 3.4 x 104 m/s _____ 9) 9.0 x 10-3 N _____ 10) 9.010 x 10-2 J/s _____ 11) 0.00030 kW _____ 12) 1020010 Js _____ 13) 780. mm _____ (note, this notation is atypical) 14) 1000 mA _____ 15) 918.010 Ms _____ 16) 0.0001 ms-2 _____ 17) 0.00390 ly _____ (non-SI unit) 18) 8120 mi _____ (non-SI unit) 19) 7.991 x 10-10 in _____ (non-SI unit) 20) 72 ft _____ (non-SI unit)
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FA 1.2: Measurements in Experiments SC30101 – Foundation Physics No. _____ , Name _______________________________ Date ___________
Formative Assessment 1.2 (p. 20) 1. Which SI units would you use for the following measurements?
a. the length of a swimming pool ________________
b. the mass of the water in the pool ________________
c. the time it takes a swimmer to swim a lap ________________
2. Express the following measurements as indicated.
a. 6.20 mg in kilograms
b. 3 x 109 s in milliseconds
c. 88.0 km in meters
3. Perform these calculations, following the rules for significant figures.
a. 26 x 0.02584 ______________________
b. 15.3 ÷ 1.1 ______________________
c. 782.45 - 3.5328 ______________________
d. 63.258 734.2 ______________________
4. Critical Thinking The following students measure the density of a piece of lead three times. The
density of lead is actually 11.34 g/cm3. Considering all of the results, which person’s results were
accurate? Which were precise? Were any both accurate and precise?
a. Rachel: 11.32 g/cm3, 11.35 g/cm3, 11.33 g/cm3 ______________________
b. Daniel: 11.43 g/cm3, 11.44 g/cm3, 11.42 g/cm3 ______________________
c. Leah: 11.55 g/cm3, 11.34 g/cm3, 11.04 g/cm3 ______________________
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General Skills Worksheet
Convert the following to scientific notation in standard form
1) 43126 1)_________ 2) .0042 2)_________ 3) -700000 3)_________ 4) -.0000150 4)_________ 5) .0075 x 103 5)_________ 6) 970 x 10-4 6)_________ 7) -.000516 x 10-5 7)_________
Round the following to the number of figures shown and convert to scientific notation in standard
form 8) 634000 round to 2 figures 8)________ 9) .0345 round to 2 figures 9)________ 10) 298.76 x 10-4 round to 1 figure 10)________ 11) 8.651 round to 2 figures 11)________
Unit conversions 12) 3500 mm into km 12)_____________ 13) 22.3 meters/second into km/h 13)_____________ 14) 257 m3 into km3 14)_____________
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Indicate the number of significant figures in the number given
15) 32100.0 km 15)________ 16) 0.00123 kg 16)________ 17) 0.20040 pm 17)________ 18) 7330.0 nm 18)________ 19) 3200 kilometers 19)________ 20) 125 physics students 20)________ 21) 0.0300° 21)________
Evaluate the following using the correct number of significant figures in your answer
22) 22.5 x 3456 22)_____________
23) 33560000000 00000012
245
.
. 23)_____________
24) 125 32
34
. .
. 24)_____________
25) 550. 25)_____________
26) (1.75)2 26)_____________
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FA 1.3: The Language of Physics SC30101 – Foundation Physics No. _____ , Name _______________________________ Date ___________
Formative Assessment 1.3 (p. 25)
1. Indicate which of the following physics symbols denote units and which denote variables or
quantities.
a. C b. c c. C d. t e. T f. T
2. Determine the units of the quantity described by each of the following combinations of units:
a. kg (m/s) (1/s) b. (kg/s) (m/s2)
c. (kg/s) (m/s)2 d. (kg/s) (m/s)
3. Which of the following is the best order-of-magnitude estimate in meters of the height of a
mountain?
a. 1 m b. 10 m c. 100 m d. 1000 m
4. Interpreting Graphics Which graph best matches the data?
Volume of air (m3) Mass of air (kg)
0.50 0.644
1.50 1.936
2.25 2.899
4.00 5.159
5.50 7.096
SECTIREVIEW 5. Critical Thinking Which of the following equations best matches the data from item 4?
a. (mass)2 1.29 (volume) b. (mass)(volume) 1.29
c. mass 1.29 (volume) d. mass 1.29 (volume)2
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Chapter 1 Review SC30101 – Foundation Physics No. _____ , Name _______________________________ Date ___________
Chapter 1 Review (pp. 27-31)
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Va r i a b l e N a m i n g S y s t e m s
Quantity Conventional SUVAT Variations
position (horizontal) x
position (vertical) y
displacement (magnitude) ∆x s d
velocity (initial) vi u v
0
velocity (final) vf v
time (instant) t
time interval ∆t t
acceleration a a
