Monday, May 28, 2007

Comments

Please post your comments and suggestions in the comments provision made in this post.

About the Blog

This blog is the record my relearning Physics for supporting my daughter in her class XI and XII and in her competitive examinations - JEE/AIEEE/BITSAT/CEE. Now we are having integrated M.Sc courses also.

I plan to post in the blog my plan for the study, the books I plan to use, completed study sessions, summaries of the lessons studied, difficult points encountered, interesting problems identified, practice sets, answers to practice sets, ideal study plans, and learning strategies, and suggestions for maintaining the commitment to the learning plan.

I am posting my similar experience of relearning Chemistry in www.iit-jee-chemistry.blogspot.com, and of relearning Mathematics in www.iit-jee-maths.blogspot.com.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

My Chemistry Blog

I am also studying Chemistry. I am posting my experiences in my chemistry blog www.iit-jee-chemistry.blogspot.com.

I bought a JEE 2007 Chemistry book by TMH. I so far studied the lessons in the portion of Physical Chemistry and Inorganic Chemistry(yesterday). I want to read Organic Chemistry today.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

IIT JEE Syllabus Physics

JEE Physics Syllabus

General: Units and dimensions, dimensional analysis; least count, significant figures; Methods of measurement and error analysis for physical quantities pertaining to the following experiments: Experiments based on using vernier calipers and screw gauge (micrometer), Determination of g using simple pendulum, Young's modulus by Searle's method, Specific heat of a liquid using calorimeter, focal length of a concave mirror and a convex lens using u-v method, Speed of sound using resonance column, Verification of Ohm's law using voltmeter and ammeter, and specific resistance of the material of a wire using meter bridge and post office box.

Mechanics: Kinematics in one and two dimensions (Cartesian coordinates only), projectiles; Circular motion (uniform and non-uniform); Relative velocity.

Newton's laws of motion; Inertial and uniformly accelerated frames of reference; Static and dynamic friction; Kinetic and potential energy; Work and power; Conservation of linear momentum and mechanical energy.
Systems of particles; Centre of mass and its motion; Impulse; Elastic and inelastic collisions.

Law of gravitation; Gravitational potential and field; Acceleration due to gravity; Motion of planets and satellites in circular orbits.
Rigid body, moment of inertia, parallel and perpendicular axes theorems, moment of inertia of uniform bodies with simple geometrical shapes; Angular momentum; Torque; Conservation of angular momentum; Dynamics of rigid bodies with fixed axis of rotation; Rolling without slipping of rings, cylinders and spheres; Equilibrium of rigid bodies; Collision of point masses with rigid bodies.
Linear and angular simple harmonic motions.

Hooke's law, Young's modulus.

Pressure in a fluid; Pascal's law; Buoyancy; Surface energy and surface tension, capillary rise; Viscosity (Poiseuille's equation excluded), Stoke's law; Terminal velocity, Streamline flow, Equation of continuity, Bernoulli's theorem and its applications.

Wave motion (plane waves only), longitudinal and transverse waves, Superposition of waves; progressive and stationary waves; Vibration of strings and air columns. Resonance; Beats; Speed of sound in gases; Doppler effect (in sound).

Thermal physics: Thermal expansion of solids, liquids and gases; Calorimetry, latent heat; Heat conduction in one dimension; Elementary concepts of convection and radiation; Newton's law of cooling; Ideal gas laws; Specific heats (Cv and Cp for monatomic and diatomic gases); Isothermal and adiabatic processes, bulk modulus of gases; Equivalence of heat and work; First law of thermodynamics and its applications (only for ideal gases). Blackbody radiation: absorptive and emissive powers; Kirchhoff's law, Wien's displacement law, Stefan's law.

Electricity and magnetism: Coulomb's law; Electric field and potential; Electrical Potential energy of a system of point charges and of electrical dipoles in a uniform electrostatic field, Electric field lines; Flux of electric field; Gauss's law and its application in simple cases, such as, to find field due to infinitely long straight wire, uniformly charged infinite plane sheet and uniformly charged thin spherical shell.
Capacitance; Parallel plate capacitor with and without dielectrics; Capacitors in series and parallel; Energy stored in a capacitor.

Electric current: Ohm's law; Series and parallel arrangements of resistances and cells; Kirchhoff's laws and simple applications; Heating effect of current.
Biot-Savart law and Ampere's law, magnetic field near a current-carrying straight wire, along the axis of a circular coil and inside a long straight solenoid; Force on a moving charge and on a current-carrying wire in a uniform magnetic field.
Magnetic moment of a current loop; Effect of a uniform magnetic field on a current loop; Moving coil galvanometer, voltmeter, ammeter and their conversions.
Electromagnetic induction: Faraday's law, Lenz's law; Self and mutual inductance; RC, LR and LC circuits with d.c. and a.c. sources.

Optics: Rectilinear propagation of light; Reflection and refraction at plane and spherical surfaces; Total internal reflection; Deviation and dispersion of light by a prism; Thin lenses; Combinations of mirrors and thin lenses; Magnification.
Wave nature of light: Huygen's principle, interference limited to Young's double-slit experiment.

Modern physics: Atomic nucleus; Alpha, beta and gamma radiations; Law of radioactive decay; Decay constant; Half-life and mean life; Binding energy and its calculation; Fission and fusion processes; Energy calculation in these processes.
Photoelectric effect; Bohr's theory of hydrogen-like atoms; Characteristic and continuous X-rays, Moseley's law; de Broglie wavelength of matter waves.


Source: http://www.iitjee.org/iit-jee-syllabus.html

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Study 23 may 2007

I studied 3 section in chapter 6 of Halliday. These sections deal with friction, static friction, kinetic friction and drag force exerted on solids by fluids. The next section in on friction in angular motion.

Purpose of Key Points

After we read or study a chapter, we have to identify key points in such a manner that if we think of a key point another 10 sentences associated with this key point should come out of us. One of the ideas is that brain stores every thing that we are reading or hearing, but a retrieval mechanism has to be put in place by us. Hence by attaching key points to some chunks of information and thinking about those key points more frequently will be a mechanism to tap knowledge that we are acquiring over a period of time in various subjects.

Physics Chapters from Halliday – Chapter 1- Key points

Chapter 1 Measurement

Physics is based on measurement.

We measure each physical quantity in its own units, by comparison with a standard. The unit is a unique name we assign to measures of that quantity – for example meter (or M) for the quantity length.

Physicists specified seven physical quantities as base quantities.

We define all other physical quantities in terms of these base quantities and their standards (called base standards).

Changing Units: by chain-link method

In this method, we multiply the original measurement by a conversion factor which is equal to unity.

Example: 2 hour * (60 minutes/ 1 hour) = 120 minutes

In the units hour and hour get cancelled leaving 120 minutes as the answer. The value of 60 minute/1 hour is equal to one in common units.

Standard for length

Current one defined by 17th General Conference on Weights and Measures: The meter is the length of the path traveled by light in a vacuum during a time interval of (1/299 792 458) of a second.

The time interval was chosen so that the speed of light c is exactly

C = 299 792 458 m/s

Standard for Time

The 13th General Conference on Weights and Measures in 1967 adopted a standard second based on the cesium clock:

‘One second is the time taken by 9 192 631 770 oscillations of the light (of a specified wave length) emitted by a cesium-133 atom)

Standard for Mass

The SI standard of mass is a platinum-iridium cylinder kept at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures near Paris and assigned, by international agreement, a mass of 1 kilogram.

A second mass standard

It is the carbon-12 atom, which, by international agreement, has been assigned a mass of 12 atomic mass units (u).

The relation between amu and kg is

1 u = 1.6605402*10^-27 kg

A difficult problem: I tell my daughter to identify the difficult problems and make a note of it beside the problem. Many problems can be solved by direct application of formulas. But some problems cannot be solved by direct application of the formulas we know at that point to time. That is because, a new point or issue or interpretation is required in that problem. We have to revise this problem along with the formulas and concepts to capture the new idea introduced in this problem.

Sample problem 1-4 in the 6th edition is one such problem. The problem is to find out the radius of earth with a wrist watch and meter stick.

A special edition of sixth edition of Halliday, Resnick and Walker published by Wiley is available for less than Rs.500 for Indian Students.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Physics advanced books for download

http://rapidshare.com/files/7675703/Benjamin_Crowell_-_Conservation_Laws.pdf

http://rapidshare.com/files/7676002/Benjamin_Crowell_-_Electricity_And_Magnetism.pdf

http://rapidshare.com/files/7676128/Benjamin_Crowell_-_Newtonian_Physics.pdf

http://rapidshare.com/files/8216597/Benjamin_Crowell_-_Vibrations_and_Waves.pdf

http://rapidshare.com/files/7676215/A_guided_tour_of_mathematical_physics.pdf

http://rapidshare.com/files/7677323/Introduction_to_Number_Systems_and_Logic_Circuits.pdf

http://rapidshare.com/files/7677678/Physics_-_Classical_Mechanics.pdf

http://rapidshare.com/files/7677721/Physics_-_Optics.pdf

http://rapidshare.com/files/7677873/Physics_-_Principles_of_Modern_Physics.pdf

http://rapidshare.com/files/8216679/Radiant_Energy_Book.pdf

A Mother's advice to others

http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Successful_Preparation_for_IIT_JEE-47972-1.html

My son used following Books-

Physics-
Fundamentals Of Physics -Resnick and Halliday (Reference Book).
Concepts of Physics - HC Verma

Problems in Physics -
I E Irodov (Must solve problems)

Mathematics-
Co-ordinate geometry, Plane trigonometry,Vectors- S L Loney (These were Olympiad Books),
IIT-JEE-Maths- Tata Mc-grow-Hill
IIT mathematics -M.L.Khanna ( After finishing Tata my son referred this)

Chemistry-
IIT Chemistry -OP Agarwal (My son finished this book by Nov.of XIIth)
Organic Chemistry-Morrison and Boyd (Reference Book after studying OP)



Remarks by Narayana Rao


I recommend  HC Verma for Physics, Books by RD Sharma for Mathematics and Books by Jauhar for Chemistry. My blogs are built on the materials from these books supplemented by information from other sources.

Physics Recommended Books

I came across the following as recommended books.

S.No. Author/Publisher Name of the Book
1 H.C. Verma Concepts of Physics Vol I and II
2 I.E. Irodov Problems in General Physics
3 Halliday, Resnick & Fundamentals of Physics
Walker
4 Sears and Zemansky University Physics
5 Nelkon and Parker Advanced Level Physics
6 A.A Pinsky Problems in Physics
7 S.S Krotov Aptitude Test Problems in Physics
8 L.A. Sena A collection of questions and Problems in Physics
9 V.Zubov & V.Shalnov Problem in Physics
10 S.L Loney Elements of Dynamics Part I & II
11 S.L. Loney Dynamics of a Particle & of Rigid Bodies
12 R.P. Feynman The Feynman Lectures on Physics vols 1 & 2
13 Chen, Min Physics Problems w/solutions
14 Tipler Physics Vols I & II

I have gone through H C Verma and Now I am going through Halliday, Resnick and Walker. I shall post my summary of Halliday et al. chapterwise in future.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Study Tips for Physics

I found these tips in the site given below. Many of them make good sense

Study Tips for Introductory Physics Students
Compiled and edited by Dan Styer, Oberlin College Physics Department;
http://www.oberlin.edu/physics/dstyer/StudyTips.html;
last updated 21 May 1997.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This World Wide Web page gives tips that Oberlin College Physics faculty have found useful for their students, particularly for students in introductory physics courses. If you have suggestions, please inform the compiler.

Following these tips and suggestions will take more time and effort than does a casual reading of the text, but they will pay off in a savings of time when you do the problems, in a better understanding of physics, and in increased confidence on exams.

General tips
Keep up with the course. Once you fall behind it is very difficult to catch up. If you ignore this advice and do fall behind (it happens to the best of us sometimes), and if you cannot manufacture the time to do a thorough job of catching up, then skim the passed-over course material for its most important points and move on to a thorough study of the current course material. Attempting a thorough study of last week's material usually results in being one week behind for the entire semester.
Do the reading before attending the lectures. This way way you won't need to take notes on everything the lecturer says, because you will already understand some of the material and you will know that some of it is treated well in your textbook. If you follow this advice, then you can use the lecture for what lecture is good at: asking questions, following the demonstrations, discovering how this week's material fits into the overall structure of the course, and gaining a conceptual understanding of the material under study. At the same time you can use the text for what text is good at: presenting derivations and sample problems, and getting the details right.
Devote a little time to studying physics each day, rather than a large amount of time once a week: this allows the material to sink in.
Make some friends in the course and work through the material in small groups. Use these groups for discussion, problem suggestions, and companionship. Throw ideas into the group's "pot" as well as drawing ideas from it. Do not use your study group as a crutch.
Attend the course's conference sessions to learn informal techniques that are not well-taught through the lecture method.
Do not memorize. In almost all cases, the temptation to memorize indicates a simple a lack of understanding. In the words of Charles Misner: "The equation F = ma is easy to memorize, hard to use, and even more difficult to understand."
Tips regarding reading
Read aggressively. The amount of reading assigned in a physics course will be far less than the amount of reading assigned in a literature or a sociology course, but the reading is much denser and your teacher expects you to read it thoroughly, thoughtfully, and critically. Read with pencil and paper in hand, and follow the algebra yourself. Keep a list of questions and of points that you don't understand.
Take notes in your book. Mark the most important points and record why they are important. The act of deciding what is important is the first step in turning reading from passive page-turning into active, aggressive--and rewarding--penetration. (Some students take notes by highlighting with a yellow marker. This is all right, but don't fall into the trap of highlighting everything in your book!)
Examine the sample problems carefully.
If the reading is too dense, try skimming it once to get an overview of what's going on, then coming back and reading in detail the second time.
The active, aggressive reading advocated here is very time-consuming. Reserve it for the most important parts of your textbook. You might be able to get your teacher to list for you the most important sections, or you might have to decide for yourself.
Tips regarding lectures
Listen aggressively. What you get out of lecture is proportional to what you put into it. If you follow the lecture, think about the material, ask questions, and care about what's going on, then lecture will be an active, productive learning experience for you. If you sit slumped in your seat, then lecture will give you a backache and little more.
Come to lecture armed with questions for your teacher, developed from doing your reading.
Some students are used to rewriting their lecture notes or taping lectures and then listening to them twice. We discourage such practices, not because they are useless, but because they are less profitable than other practices advocated here. (In particular, taping a lecture does not record the all-important blackboard display.)
On the other hand, many students do find it useful to review each lecture by making a simple list of the most important topics, and also a different list of the puzzling aspects that need clarification. This review can be done through your notes or in your memory or with your study group, but it is best done soon after the lecture.
Tips regarding problems
Do the reading and listen to the lectures before attempting the problems.
Do not put off the problems until the night before they are due. In particular, take a stab at the problems before conference sessions, so that you can ask well-formulated questions there.
Read the problem carefully to make sure you understand what is being asked.
Do not rush into solving a problem. Instead, first formulate a strategy for solving the problem. Usually this is as simple as classifying the problem according to its method of solution. Is it a "constant acceleration" problem? A "work-energy" problem? A "Gauss's law" problem?
If you find yourself writing pages of words or working reams of algebra, then you are off on the wrong track. Stop, reread the problem, think, reformulate your strategy, and then start over again from the beginning.
Think of the problems as mystery stories. How would Sherlock Holmes approach this problem?
Don't search through your book for "the right equation". You will not be able to solve your problem by finding an appropriate equation and then plugging numbers into it. No self-respecting college-level teacher would assign such a problem.
If the final answer called for in the question is a number, then you will ultimately have to plug numbers into an equation. But even in such cases it is almost always easier and less error-prone to keep the quantities as symbols until the very end. (For one thing, it is easier to do algebra with the symbol "m" than with the value "2.59 kg".)
Sometimes the problem statement will give you more information than is needed to answer the question. Sometimes it will give you less information than is needed, and ask you not for an answer but for a list of the unknown information required to find an answer. Sometimes the problem will be a short narrative from which you need to extract relevant information. Students often find such problems exasperating, but in fact they develop an important problem-solving skill called building a mathematical model. Problems that arise in the world outside of your textbook usually come with more or less data present than needed to solve the problem. The ability to recognize which data are needed and which are irrelevant is an important practical skill.
Review your problem solutions when they are returned (or when model solutions are handed out). Why did you make the mistakes you did? How could you have avoided them? This review should be quick (after all, you have new material piling up) but five or ten minutes spent in this review can save hours by preventing similar mistakes in the future.
More suggestions are available in the page Solving Problems in Physics.
Tips regarding lab work
Skim the lab instructions before coming to lab. You won't be able to understand things fully without the equipment in front of you, but you'll get a general overview that will serve you well and ultimately save you time.
Don't be afraid to fiddle with lab equipment unless you have been specifically warned away from it. Many students are reluctant to play with electrical equipment because they're afraid of being shocked. Unless you are told otherwise, the stuff used in lab won't hurt you.
Tips regarding exams
Keep up with the course. Don't cram at the last minute.
Get a good night's sleep. Even if you ignored the advice above and have to cram, limit cramming in favor of sleep.
Prepare a one-page summary of the material being examined.
Don't memorize. Your teacher expects you to work with ideas and solve problems, not plug numbers into equations.
Bring to the exam a calculator (fully charged) and several pens or pencils (sharpened).
As you read an exam problem, place a check mark beside the given data and underline the unknown quantity to be found. This will help you prepare a strategy and help you avoid answering a question that is similar to but different from the one that is asked.
Make a sketch or graph to familiarize yourself with the situation. Make sure you understand the problem before plunging in.
Weaknesses
If you need help with mathematical background, consult either Arthur Beiser, Essential Math for the Sciences (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1969) or Daniel Kleppner and Norman Ramsey, Quick Calculus (Wiley, New York, 1985).
Guard against the two most common failings: reliance on memorization and on "plug and chug" problem technique.

These pages from the same source are also interesting.
http://www.oberlin.edu/physics/dstyer/WhyHowProblems.html
http://www.oberlin.edu/physics/dstyer/SolvingProblems.html

JEE papers 2007

I completed studying first 5 chapters from Halliday, Resnick.
I just searched the net for papers of JEE 2007.
http://www.amity.edu/aice/01-IIT%20Mains-2007%20(PCM)%20(Paper-I)%20Final.pdf has paper I.
http://www.amity.edu/aice/02-IIT%20Mains-2007%20(PCM)%20(Paper-II)%20Final.pdf has paper II.

http://www.time4education.com/IITJEE07-Analysis.asp has a very good analysis for the structure of the paper and also solved papers.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

ICSE Results

My responsibility to study has increased as my daughter got 95 percent her X class. I have to put in that extra effort to relearn the subjects and help her to some extent.

Yesterday, I wrote that I am yet to study a full chapter in Halliday. Today, I completed the 1st chapter and by end of the day I shall complete at least 5 chapters.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Halliday, Resnick, Walker

I went to a bookshop opposite IIT Bombay and asked for a book on Physics. He showed me the book by Halliday, Resnick and Walker. The book looked ok for IIT JEE syllabus and I bought the book. I am yet to read even a chapter fully, even though I looked at some topics as needed. Yesterday I came across a blog post in http://vivekspace.wordpress.com/2007/04/15/catch-them-young/ with the statement "Expectant mothers should perhaps throw away their copies of Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care and start reading Fundamentals of Physics by Halliday, Resnick and Walker." This means the book is worthy reading for IIT JEE preparation.

I can start doing a serious study of the book. Also in the same blog post, there is a suggestion by a trainer, that students should take IX and X subjects seriously as they are a foundation for IIT JEE preparation. The reason that I am posting revision notes for X class material is clear, I hope. The revision notes was actually prepared for X class examination. I am now making a soft copy of the same and posting it for the use of all who need it.

Try this link for downloading the good book on Physics

Fundamentals_of_Physics

X-revision Upthrust in Fluids; Floatation and Archimedes’ Principle

When body is immersed in a liquid, the liquid exerts an upward force on the body. This force is called the upthrust or buoyant force.

What is upthrust or buoyant force?
The upward force exerted on a body by the fluid in which it is submerged is called the upthrust or buoyant force

Effect of upthrust: It is due to the upthrust that the weight of the body immersed in a liquid appears to be less than its actual weight.

The upthrust has the following two properties
(i) Larger the volume of the body submerged in the liquid, greater is the upthrust.
(ii) More the density of the liquid greater is the upthrust.

Bodies of average density greater than that of liquid, sink in it while bodies of average density smaller than that of liquid float on it.

What is Archimedes’ Principle?
Archimedes’ principle states that when a body is immersed partially or completely in a liquid, it experiences an upthrust, which is equal to the weight of the liquid displaced by it.

What is density?
Te density of a substance is defined as its mass per unit volume.

The relative density of a substance is the ratio the density of the substance to the density of water at 40C.

What is the principle of floatation?
According to the principle of floatation, the weight of a floating substance is equal to the weight of the liquid displaced by its submerged part.

What is a hydrometer?
A hydrometer is an instrument which is used for measuring the relative density of a liquid (heavier or lighter than water) directly and hence to test the purity of a liquid.

The length of the hydrometer immersed is inversely proportional to the density of the liquid in which it is placed.

X-revision Pressure in Fluids; Atmospheric Pressure

What is a fluid?
A substance which can flow is called a fluid. All liquids and gases are thus fluids.

What is thrust?
The force acting normally on a surface is called the thrust.

What is pressure?
The thrust on unit area of the surface is called the pressure.

One pascal is defined as the pressure exerted on a surface of area of 1 m2 by a force of 1 N acting normally on it.

A fluid contained in vessel exerts pressure at all points and in all directions.

Total pressure in a liquid at a depth h = Atmospheric pressure + pressure due to liquid column.

What is Pascal’s law?
Pascal’s law states that the pressure exerted anywhere in a confined liquid is transmitted equally and undiminished in all directions throughout the liquid.

What is a barometer?
An instrument used to measure the atmospheric pressure is called a barometer.



Decrease in atmospheric pressure with altitude is due to the following two factors;

(i) decrease in height of air column which produces a linear decrease in the atmospheric pressure.
(ii) decrease in density of air which makes the decrease in atmospheric pressure less rapid.

X revision - Machines

What is machine?A machine is a device by which we can either overcome a large resistive force at some point by applying a small force at a convenient point and in a desired direction or by which we can obtain a gain in speed.

The energy lost in overcoming the force of friction between the moving parts of a machine is the most common type of loss of energy in it.

In actual practice, the mechanical advantage of for all practical machines is always less than velocity ratio as velocity ratio as efficiency is less than 1.

what is a lever?
A lever is a rigid, straight or bent bar which is capable of turning about a fixed axis.

The mechanical advantage of lever is equal to the ratio of the length of its effort arm to he length of its load arm.

For class I levers, the mechanical advantage and velocity ration can be have any value greater than 1, equal to 1 or less than 1.

The mechanical advantage of and velocity ration of class II levers are always more than 1.

The mechanical advantage of and velocity ration of calls III levers are always less than 1.



What is an inclined plane?

An inclined plane is sloping surface that behaves like a simple machine whose mechanical advantage is always greater than 1.

What is fixed pulley?
A pulley which has is axis of rotation fixed is called a fixed pulley.


A pulley whose axis of rotation is not fixed in position or space is called a movable pulley.

In a block and tackle system, the effort gets multiplied n times, where n is the total number of pulleys in the system.

In block and tackle system, the pulleys in the lower block should be as light as possible and the friction in pulleys should be minimized by the use of lubricants.

X-revision Work, Energy and Power

Work
Work is said to be done only when the force applied to a body makes the body move (i.e., there is a displacement of the body).

What is the amount of work done by a force?
The amount of work done by a force is equal to the product of the force and the displacement of the pint of application of the force in the direction of force.

If a force acts on a body and the body does not move, no work is done.

The amount of work done by force is zero in the following two situations:

(i) when there no displacement and (ii) when the displacement is normal to the direction of the force.

If the displacement is in a direction opposite to the force, then the work done is negative. This is usually the case when force opposes the motion or it tries to stop a moving body. The example will be friction.

1 joule of work is said to be done when a force of 1 newton displaces a body through 1 metre in its own direction.

1 erg of work is said to be done when a force of 1 dyne displaces a body through 1 cm in its own direction.

What is power?
The rate of doing work is called power.

If 1 joule of work is done in 1 second, the power is said to be 1 watt.

What is energy?
The energy of a body is its capacity to do work. Energy is a scalar quantity. Its S.I. unit of energy is joule. And the CGS unit is erg.

What is kinetic energy?

The energy possessed by a body by virtue of its sate of motion is called the kinetic energy.

The kinetic energy possessed by a moving body can be measured by the amount of work need to be done by an opposing force in bringing the body to rest from its state of motion.

What is potential energy?
The energy possessed by body by virtue of its state or position I called the potential energy.

The gravitational potential energy of a body at a height above the ground is measured by the amount of work done in lifting it up to that height against the force of gravity.

It is interesting to note that whenever mechanical energy changed to other forms, it always in form of kinetic energy and not in form of potential energy i.e., potential energy first changes to kinetic energy and then kinetic energy changes to other form.

Law of conservation of energy
According to the law of conservation of energy, energy can neither be created nor can it be destroyed. It only changes from one form to another.

X-revision Force

What is a force?

A force is that physical cause which changes or tends to change the state of rest or the state of motion of a body.

Newton’s laws of motion

First law – a body continues to be in its state of rest or of uniform motion in a straight line, unless an external force is applied on it.

Second law - the rate of change of momentum of a body is directly proportional to the force applied on it and this change takes place in the direction of force.

Third law – to every action, there is always an equal and opposite reaction.

What is linear momentum?
The linear momentum of a body is the product of the mass of the body and its linear velocity. It is a vector quantity

One dyne is that force which when acting on a body of mass 1 gramme, produces an acceleration of 1 cm s^-2(to the power of -2) in it.

One Newton is that force which when acting on a body of mass 1 kg, produces an acceleration of 1 m s^-2 in it.

The Newton and dyne are called the absolute units of force.

What is mass?
The mass of a body is the quantity of matter it contains.

The S.I. Unit of mass is kilogramme (kg).
The C.G.S. unit of mass is gramme (g).

What is weight of a body?
The force with which the earth attracts a body, is called the weight of the body on earth.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Learnng Curve

The time allotted for reading of one chapter is three hour. Therefore one reading of all 22 chapters takes 66 hours. The next reading of the chapter should take only 33 hours. Or let us say it will take 44 hours, 2 hours for the chapter. Each additional reading of the chapter should reduce the time required for a reading the chapter. My thinking is that one can bring it down to 8 hours for entire book. Students should try for this as a target.

Chemistry Book

The Chemistry Book we bought is ISC Chemistry BOOK I by R S Madan and B S Bisht by S. Chand Publishers

Purpose of the Blog

My daughter wrote x class examinations. Results are awaited. This time she and I did not take a break from the effort that we did for x examinations. We bought some books and continued our reading. She attended a bridge program for a week. They suggested books for various subjects. One of the books is Concepts of Physics, Part I by H C Verma, Bharati Bhawan publishers. Dr Verma is from Dept. of Physics, IIT Kanpur. I advised her to read a chapter a day from this book. I also promised her that I shall also read the chapter in the night to help her with some clarifications. In 22 days we completed reading 22 chapters. No doubt it is a quick reading. But we have now the confidence that we can read this portion in more detail in a comfortable manner.

As I read the material in detail, I want to post the experience of my relearning Physics. I hope some more parents take the cue from me and start relearning their earlier subjects and motivate their children.

Ganeshaya Namah

I start this blog with prayers to Ganesha. For quite some time, the first thing I try to do after coming to consciousness from sleep it to chant prayer. I believe one prayer should take care of all activities of the day. Still praying as many times as time permits would add to our fulfilment in our spiritual component of life/journey/endeavour.