FUNDAMENTALS OF PHYSICS AND MACHINES

Module FISICA

The student is required to achieve the following educational objectives:

- know how to apply dimensional analysis;

- know how to apply vector math to real-world problems;

- be able to solve problems relating to kinematics and dynamics of rigid bodies;

- know the fundamentals of electromagnetism and physics of fluids;

The course (3 CFU) includes 7 hours of lectures and 28 hours of other activities, primarily guided exercises.

Lectures and exercises are mainly conducted using PowerPoint presentations, which will be provided to the students after the lesson.

1 – Introduction

State of a physical system and physically meaningful quantities; Elements of statistics and error theory.

2 – Vector calculus

Reference frames and coordinate systems; Vectors as geometric entities; Vectors in physics and their use in two- and three-dimensional space; Component decomposition; Unit vectors; Vector addition; Dot product and cross product; Multiplication of a vector by a scalar; Applications.

3 – Mechanics

Description of the motion of a body; Reference frames; Principle of inertia; Newton’s second law; Newton’s third law; Conservation of momentum; Force fields; Work done by a force; Work–energy theorem; Conservative fields; Potential; Conservation of mechanical energy.

4 – Fluid mechanics and electromagnetic phenomena

Properties of fluids; Fluid statics; Ideal fluids and Bernoulli’s theorem; Electric charges and Coulomb’s law; Electric fields and their sources; Gauss’s law.

All lecture notes and other materials will be provided in class.