Mechanics
"Mechanics (Greek: μηχανική) is the area of physics concerned with the motions of physical objects, more specifically the relationships among force, matter, and motion (Wikipedia)"
- Mechanics plays an essential role is in physics. It covers motion, forces, and simple machine. Though there are different curriculum, the content are mostly same in AP and IB physics, but orders might be change.
Mechanics in IB Physics
- Motion
- Distance and displacement
- Speed and velocity
- Acceleration
- Graphs describing motion
- Equations of motion in uniform acceleration
- Projectile motion
- Fluid resistance and terminal velocity
- Momentum and impulse
- Newton's second law expressed in terms of rate of change of momentum
- Impulse and force–time graphs
- Conservation of linear momentum
- Simple Machine
- Efficiency
- Velocity ratio
- Forces
- Newton's Law and application of Newton's Law
- Objects as point particles
- Free-body diagrams
- Translational equilibrium
- Newton's laws of motion
- Work, energy, and power
- Kinetic energy
- Gravitational potential energy
- Elastic potential energy
- Work done as energy transfer
- Power as rate of energy transfer
- Principle of conservation of energy
Students who do not take IB
- For students who do not take IB, each subtopic in mechanics is tested as a separate chapter. For example, in AP Physics 1, motion in 1D and motion in 2D are two separate units. If you are studying for AP physics 1 and 2, the sequence of syllabus might be different, but the content itself are the same. Please look into each subtopic of mechanics if you are studying high school physics or AP physics.
In the chapter of mechanics, lectures are made based on each subtopic, so both AP and IB students are able to study for their exams. For more practice problems, please go to each subtopic's web page
Textbook for IB Physics
Lectures For Mechanics
Motion in 1D
Motion in 2D
Forces and Newton's Laws
Momentum and Impulse
Work, Energy, and Power
Mechanics Challenging Problems
- This section contains incredibly challenging questions, allowing students who are passionate about physics to learn knowledge beyond textbooks and exercise their skills. If you want to solve more complex problems, please go to each subtopic's tricky problems section. Each subtopic includes an area that provides students some hard physic questions, so if you are interested in physics, do not hesitate to do those problems.
Elevator Challenge
- The first problem of elevator challenge problem combines free-fall motion and force analysis. The data in the file are recorded by an application called Physics Toolbox. TgF in the file equals to the ratio of upward force over downward force. Calculate the number of floor is the distance interval between each floor remains constant and has a value of 4.3 meters.