My name is Matt Nienhaus, and I am the Physics 211 tutor for the University of South Carolina. I'm a marine science major from Cincinnati, Ohio and a senior. It is my job to help assist you in understanding Physics 211 concepts and improve your problem solving ability.
Appointments with myself and other tutors can be set up on the South Carolina tutoring page, here. If you are having trouble understanding vectors, forces, kinematics, or other Physics 211 concepts, or just want extra practice, please sign up for a tutoring session or just drop in!
Physics Vocabulary:
Here is a link to a website that gives and defines many of the terms you will be using in Physics 211. If you encounter any other terms in class that you aren't familiar with and aren't on the website, remember to check your book and ask your professor first and foremost!
Practice Problems: Try and solve these without looking in your book, using just an equations sheet (as if you were solving these problems on a test). Time yourself and see how fast you can solve them correctly! I'll post answers in another update:
1) A 45 kg block is resting on a ramp at an angle of 33 degrees from the horizontal. The coefficient of static friction between the block and the ramp is 0.6. If a person tries to push the block up the ramp with a maximum applied force of 600N, is he able to move the block? (Yes/No)
What is the minimum force required to move the block up the ramp?
2) A flatbed truck is driving down the road at 35 mph. In the bed of the truck is a 30kg box with a coefficient of static friction equal to 0.3. The driver sees a stop light ahead and starts to decelerate. If the truck is 100 ft from the stop light when it hits the breaks and comes to a complete stop right at the light, does the car come to a stop without moving the box? (Yes/No)
Conservation of Energy I noticed a lot of people are having difficulty with the concept of energy, so here is a link to a helpful Powerpoint that goes into different aspects of energy.
Another helpful website is here, it gives Youtube lectures of many common physics concepts