05 Projectile Motion - Open Educational Resources / Open Source Physics @ Singapore

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02 Newtonian Mechanics

Mechanics. Each topic in mechanics is built around real-world contexts to deepen learners’ understanding of motion, forces, and energy. Learners will sharpen their quantitative and analytical skills as they bridge real-world observations and theory by conducting investigations and experiments to study the mechanics of systems. Think about how gravity affects the vertical motion but not the horizontal motion of a thrown ball. In collisions, careful consideration of before and after allows us to model and extract information about the dramatic and short-lived impact event. Why does Earth maintain a circular orbit around the Sun? Is there acceleration when moving with constant speed? In H2 Physics, learners encounter oscillatory perturbations from stable equilibrium, which also recalls the regularity and pattern of circular motion. In H3 Physics, learners unlock possibilities for modelling rigid bodies by realising the analogy between translational and rotational motion.

Within the framework of classical Newtonian mechanics, forces are but one-half of the story. The complementary lens of energy is like adding audio to video – it might technically be possible to figure out what happens without the sound but it is so much more pleasant with audio on. In many cases, analysing energy rather than forces is simpler because energy is a scalar while force is a vector – and in some cases the energy analysis paints a good picture of what we are interested to know about the system.

Organising the topics in this manner, as opposed to having physics concepts presented in the all-familiar kinematics-dynamics-forces-moments sequence, has its own advantage; students can first establish a strong understanding in static mechanics. Through these topics, students learn to describe how things move. This lays a good foundation for them to then explore why things move the way they do (i.e. dynamics), or extend their learning to 2-dimensional kinematics (i.e. projectile motion in Chapter 5).

Big Ideas 0 Computer Models use reasonable approximations to simplify real-world phenomena in order to arrive at useful ways to explain or analyse systems 1. The study of motion involves first studying an idealized system in which complicating factors (like friction) are absent and then transferring this understanding to a real physical process. Analysis of the motion of an object is performed using free-body and vector diagrams, graphical analysis as well as mathematical formulae. 2. There are four fundamental forces in nature: gravitational and electromagnetic forces (which are responsible for our everyday experiences) and strong nuclear and weak forces (which operate only at the sub-atomic scale). Gravitational force (a very weak attractive force between two masses) is very long range and is responsible for the interaction between celestial objects in the Universe as well as the Earth’s gravitational pull on us. Electromagnetic force (a very strong force between two charged objects) is very short range and is responsible for all inter-atomic forces of attraction and repulsion e.g. electrostatic forces, contact forces (normal force, friction, fluid resistance) and magnetic forces. 3. When any two bodies in the Universe interact, they can exchange energy. The law of conservation of energy states that in any closed system (including the Universe), the total quantity of energy remains fixed - energy is transferred from one form to another but none is lost or gained. Many forms of energy can be considered to be either kinetic (motion) energy or potential (stored) energy.4. Newton’s three laws of motion and his law of universal gravitation have been successfully applied to explain and predict the motion of terrestrial and celestial objects. Newton’s laws further show that it is possible to express natural phenomena in terms of a few special rules or laws that can be expressed in mathematical formulae. 5. When any two bodies in the Universe interact, they can exchange momentum. The law of conservation of momentum states that in any closed system (including the Universe) the total quantity of momentum is invariant - momentum can be transferred from one body to another (by an impulse) but none is lost or gained. 6. Many kinds of motion in nature are periodic motions or oscillations. The ideas from a type of oscillation known as simple harmonic motion is applied to explain many physical situations such as waves, sound, alternating electric currents, and light.

Here is the data from the 3. Mechanics section organized into a clean Markdown table with your links:

Topic	SLS Module	H1	H2	H3
05. Projectile Motion	Projectile Motion- Misconceptions	✔️	✔️
06. Collisions	Collisions and Momentum	✔️	✔️
07. Circular Motion	Centripetal Force Causes Circular Motion (Lesson 1/3)	✔️	✔️
	Describing Circular Motion (Lesson 2/3)	✔️	✔️
	Expressions for Centripetal Acceleration (Lesson 3/3)	✔️	✔️
08. Gravitational Fields	Gravitational Force (Lesson 1/5)	✔️	✔️
	Gravitational Fields (Lesson 2/5)		✔️
	Gravitational field strength (Lesson 3/5)		✔️
	Calculating gravitational field strength (Lesson 4/5)		✔️
	Gravitational Potential and Potential Energy (Lesson 5/5)		✔️
	Gravity (Community lesson)	✔️	✔️
09. Oscillations	Simple Harmonic Motion (Lesson 1/5)		✔️
	Kinematics of Simple Harmonic Motion (Lesson 2/5)		✔️
	Dynamics of Simple Harmonic Motion (Lesson 3/5) - Dynamics		✔️
	Energy in Simple Harmonic Motion (Lesson 4/5)		✔️
	Damped and Forced Oscillations (Lesson 5/5)		✔️

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Mass Weight Density

Details: Written by Loo Kang Wee; Parent Category: 02 Newtonian Mechanics; Category: 03 Mass Weight Density; Published: 14 December 2015; Created: 14 December 2015; Last Updated: 18 January 2025; Hits: 12096

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Details: Written by Wei Chiong; Parent Category: 02 Newtonian Mechanics; Category: 07 Circle; Published: 22 May 2018; Created: 22 May 2018; Last Updated: 22 March 2025; Hits: 12044

Details: Parent Category: 02 Newtonian Mechanics; Category: 07 Circle; Published: 09 September 2015; Created: 09 September 2015; Last Updated: 26 December 2024; Hits: 7115

Details: Parent Category: 02 Newtonian Mechanics; Category: 07 Circle; Published: 09 September 2015; Created: 09 September 2015; Last Updated: 26 December 2024; Hits: 8846

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Details: Written by Loo Kang Wee; Parent Category: 02 Newtonian Mechanics; Category: 07 Circle; Published: 20 August 2015; Created: 20 August 2015; Last Updated: 03 January 2025; Hits: 19766

Details: Written by Loo Kang Wee; Parent Category: 02 Newtonian Mechanics; Category: 07 Circle; Published: 20 August 2015; Created: 20 August 2015; Last Updated: 18 January 2025; Hits: 15974

Details: Written by Loo Kang Wee; Parent Category: 02 Newtonian Mechanics; Category: 07 Circle; Published: 20 August 2015; Created: 20 August 2015; Last Updated: 18 January 2025; Hits: 14187

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Details: Written by Loo Kang Wee; Parent Category: 02 Newtonian Mechanics; Category: 08 Gravity; Published: 30 July 2024; Created: 30 July 2024; Last Updated: 14 August 2024; Hits: 5149

Gravity

Details: Written by Z. Darren Tan; Parent Category: 02 Newtonian Mechanics; Category: 08 Gravity; Published: 16 October 2020; Created: 16 October 2020; Last Updated: 01 April 2025; Hits: 6327

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Details: Written by Fremont; Parent Category: 02 Newtonian Mechanics; Category: 08 Gravity; Published: 02 May 2018; Created: 02 May 2018; Last Updated: 02 March 2025; Hits: 6472

Gravity

Details: Written by Loo Kang Wee; Parent Category: 02 Newtonian Mechanics; Category: 08 Gravity; Published: 19 April 2016; Created: 07 September 2015; Last Updated: 19 December 2024; Hits: 22976