All students planning to take PHS 111 in the spring semester must receive an adequate score on the Physics Placement Test or take PHS 101 in the fall semester. The principles of mechanics and fluids. Covers vectors, motion, and Newton's Laws, the Conservation Laws, gravitation, work and energy, and concepts of fluids.
Applied trigonometry is taught when needed.
Topics include Coulomb's Law, electric field, potential, current, resistance, magnetic fields, inductance, DC circuits, AC circuits, reflection, refraction, lenses, interference, diffraction, polarization, and atomic and nuclear relationships. The study of particle kinematics and dynamics, work and energy, conservation laws of energy and linear momentum, rotational kinematics and dynamics, conservation of angular momentum, and simple harmonic motion. Calculus is used throughout the course. Topics covered are charge and matter, Gauss' Law, electrical potential, capacitors and dielectrics, current and resistance, magnetic field, Ampere's Law, Faraday's Law, inductance, electromagnetic oscillations, alternating current, and electromagnetic waves. An introduction to wave theory and optics with major emphasis on modern physics.