Reading Physics

Reading Physics and Your Next Reading Assignment

Being in an online course means you've accepted much of the responsibility of being your own teacher. We provide opportunities to help you in that task, and we try to keep you to a schedule. But you have to take the responsibility to learn as much as you can by studying the textbook well.

With that in mind, it's time to take a close look at how to use your textbook effectively. We've waited until now to address this topic, because some students didn't have textbooks. Open your textbook to Chapter 2 and follow along as we describe some strategies below.

On p. 19, there's an Active Example in the middle of the page. It provides an example of working with the concepts of distance and displacement. More than that, it has Your Turn problems so that you can practice using the concepts. Then you can check your answers in the back of the book. Be sure to study the Active Examples and do the Your Turn problems.

On p. 20, there's an Example problem solution. There are many of these in each chapter, and they are your guides to solving problems.

Also on p. 20, there's a Conceptual Checkpoint. These make you think about the concepts and apply them. A good thing to try is covering up the Reasoning and Discussion part and the Answer to see if you can figure it out on your own. Then check your answer against the book.

There are graphs scattered throughout the chapter. Always examine them as you read. First examine what is plotted on each axis. Then make sure you understand the situation depicted by the graph and what the graph is telling you.

On p. 31, there's a Problem Solving Note in the margin. Read it. Sound familiar?

Do you know when you're permitted to use the relationship v_av = ½(v_o + v)? If not, look at page 31. If you skim the chapter readings, you'll be likely to miss key points like this.

Did you know that the distance traveled by an object is equal to the area under its velocity-time graph? If not, you missed a fundamental relationship presented on p. 32. The text uses that relationship to prove that x = x_o + v_ot + ½at². But be careful. Something was assumed in that proof. Did you catch what it was? The shape of Figure 2-14 is a clue.

The Chapter Summaries are helpful but also look at the Problem-Solving Summaries. These lists concepts and examples related to particular types of calculations.

We've already pointed out the Conceptual Questions. You may not always be assigned these to do as homework, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't work on some of them. They test fundamental understanding of the concepts.

Reading Assignment -- Chapter 3

Your next textbook assignment is Chapter 3. The subject is vectors. The chapter present methods for working with vectors. That's something you'll be doing the rest of the year, since many physical quantities are vectors. You've already met some of them in Chapter 2. Working with vectors will need to become second nature to you. Vector operations are indispensable for doing physics. Section 6 of the chapter is optional reading. The rest is required.

About trigonometry: Since we start doing physics in 2 dimensions in Chapter 3, you'll need to start using trig functions in your work. If you need a review or feel shaky in your use of trigonometry, see this guide: Trigonometry: Math for 2-Dimensional Physics.