Physics Part 1

Physics.

by Willis Eugene Tower and Charles Henry Smith and Charles Mark Turton and Thomas Darlington Cope.

PREFACE

In the preparation of this text, the _pupil_, his experience, needs, and interests have been constantly kept in mind. The order of topics, ill.u.s.trations, and problems have been selected with the purpose of leading the _pupil_ into a clear understanding of the physical phenomena continually taking place about him.

The recommendations and conclusions reached by the "New Movement in the Teaching of Physics" have been incorporated into the book as a whole.

These conclusions indicate that the most efficient teaching in physics involves a departure from the quant.i.tative, mathematical methods of presentation that were in general use a dozen or more years ago, toward a method better adapted to the capabilities, interests, and requirements of the young people in our physics cla.s.ses.

The older methods are effective with a portion of the student body which has the greater mathematical ability and training, but they discourage a large majority of the pupils who are not gifted or prepared for severe mathematical a.n.a.lysis. For this reason, many of the more difficult mathematical demonstrations often given in physics texts are omitted.

Most of the problems involve only the units employed in practical every-day measurements.

The portions of Mechanics that are ordinarily so difficult for the average pupil are not taken up until he has covered considerable ground with which he is more or less familiar and not until he has become somewhat accustomed to the methods of study and the technical terms of the subject.

The pupil comes to the study of physics with a great number of experiences and impressions of physical phenomena continually occurring about him. In recognition of this fact, it has been thought best to consider first the explanation of common things well known to all pupils, such as the diffusion of gases, evaporation of liquids, expansion of bodies when heated, and capillary action. Since the molecular theory of matter is now supported by so many conclusive evidences, we have not hesitated to make free use of it in the early chapters. The applications of this theory are extremely helpful in explaining every-day phenomena. Our experience shows that beginners in physics understand and apply this theory without difficulty.

The ill.u.s.trations and drawings have been selected from a pedagogical rather than a spectacular point of view. Practically all of them are new. The problems and exercises have been selected for the distinct purpose of ill.u.s.trating the principles taught in the text and for their practical applications.

Many direct applications to common every-day experiences are given in order to connect the subject matter with the home environment and daily observation of physical phenomena. Some phenomena are mentioned without detailed explanation as it is felt that the presentation of these subjects in this manner is better for this grade of student than a complete a.n.a.lysis.

Some of the special features of the text may be briefly summarized as follows:

(A) _Simplicity of presentation_ is emphasized. The methods of attack, the ill.u.s.trations and examples employed in developing the subjects are particularly adapted to beginners in physics.

(B) The text is divided into some _seventy-seven sections_, each containing material enough for one recitation.

(C) Each of these sections is summarized by a list of _important topics_ which point out to the pupil the principles and subject matter requiring most careful attention. The lists of important topics are also of a.s.sistance to the teacher in a.s.signing recitations.

(D) The _problems and practical exercises_ emphasize physical principles as distinguished from mathematical training. A list of exercises is placed at the end of the several sections. They are in sufficient number to permit testing at many points and of a choice of problems by teachers.

The authors wish to express their appreciation for suggestions and helpful criticisms to many who have read the text in ma.n.u.script or proof. Especially to Professor A. P. Carman of the University of Illinois and his a.s.sociate, Professor F. R. Watson, who have gone carefully over the whole text; and to Mr. Chas. M. Brunson, Scott High School, Toledo, Ohio, Mr. Frank E. Goodell, North High School, Des Moines, Iowa, and to Mr. Walter R. Ahrens, Englewood High School, Chicago, for a.s.sistance in reading the proofs. Also to Mr. W. H.

Collins, Jr., Bowen High School, Chicago, who supervised the preparation of drawings for the diagrams and figures; and to many firms and individuals that have courteously furnished material for ill.u.s.trations.

WILLIS E. TOWER.

CHARLES H. SMITH.

CHARLES M. TURTON.

ON THE STUDY OF PHYSICS

When a pupil begins the study of Physics he has in his possession many bits of knowledge which are fundamental in the science. He has learned to throw a ball and can tell how a thrown ball moves. He has drawn out nails with a claw hammer. He has seen wood float and iron sink. He has sucked liquids up through straws. In his mother's kitchen, he sees water as ice, liquid, and steam. On a wintry day he reads the temperature on a thermometer. He sees sparks fly from car wheels when the brakes are applied. He has played with a horseshoe magnet, and has found the north by means of a compa.s.s. The telephone, the electric light and the motor he sees, and perhaps uses, many times a day. He dresses before a mirror, focuses his camera, watches the images at a moving picture show, and admires the colors of the rainbow. He has cast stones into water to watch the ripples spread, has shouted to hear the echo, and perhaps plays some musical instrument. These, and a thousand other things, are known to the intelligent and normal boy or girl who has reached the age at which the study of Physics is properly begun.

To a great extent even the terms used in the science are familiar to the beginner. He speaks of the horse-power of an engine, reads kilowatt-hours from the meter in the cellar, and may know that illuminating gas costs one dollar per thousand "cubic feet." "Ampere"

and "volt" are words he frequently hears and sees.

When he takes up the study of Physics, the att.i.tude of the student toward these familiar things and words must undergo a change. Casual information about them must be changed to sound knowledge, purposely acquired. Hazy notions about the meanings of words must be replaced by exact definitions. Bits of knowledge must be built into a structure in which each fact finds its proper place in relation to the others.

The only agent which can accomplish these changes is the student himself. He must consciously and purposely seek the truth and must reflect upon it until he sees it in its relation to other truth. Upon him, and upon him alone, rests the final responsibility for the success or failure of his study.

But the student is not without a.s.sistance. In his teacher he finds a guide to stimulate, to direct, and to aid his efforts, and a critic to point out wherein his efforts have failed and wherein they have succeeded. Weights, measures, and other apparatus are furnished to enable him to answer for himself questions which have arisen in his studies.

In addition to these the student has his text book, his teacher for his hours of private study. A good text book is an inspiring teacher in print. It directs attention to things familiar to the student through long experience, and inspires him to make a closer scrutiny of them. It invites him to observe, to a.n.a.lyze, to compare, to discover likenesses and differences in behavior. It questions him at every turn. Its ever repeated challenge reads, "Weigh and consider." It furnishes him needed information that he cannot otherwise acquire. It satisfies his desire to know, "By whom, where, when, and how was this first discovered?"

The student of Physics must never forget that he is studying not pages of text but the behavior and properties of iron, water, mica, moving b.a.l.l.s, pumps, boiling liquids, compressed air, mirrors, steam engines, magnets, dynamos, violins, flutes, and a host of other things. His studies should, whenever possible, be made first hand upon the things themselves. The text is an aid to study, never a subst.i.tute for the thing studied.

It is an excellent plan for each student to select some one thing for special study, the telephone for example. By observation, experiment, and reading, he may acquire a large amount of valuable information about such a subject while pursuing his course in Physics. Every part of the science will be found to bear some relation to it.

The student who takes up the study of Physics in the way suggested will find himself at the end of a year of study in possession of much new and valuable knowledge about the physical world in which he lives. By virtue of this knowledge he will be better able to enjoy the world, to control it, and to use it.

THOMAS D. COPE.

PHILADELPHIA.

PHYSICS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION AND MEASUREMENT

(1) INTRODUCTION

=1. Physics, an Explanation of Common Things.=--Many students take up the study of physics expecting to see wonderful experiments with the "X"

rays, wireless telegraphy, dynamos, and other interesting devices.

Others are dreading to begin a study that to them seems strange and difficult, because they fear it deals with ideas and principles that are beyond their experience and hard to comprehend.

Each of these cla.s.ses is surprised to learn that _physics is mainly an explanation of common things_. It is a study that systematizes our knowledge of the forces and changes about us; such as the pull of the earth, the formation of dew, rain and frost, water pressure and pumps, echoes and music, thermometers and engines, and many other things about us with which people are more or less familiar. Physics is like other school subjects, such as mathematics and language, in having its own peculiar vocabulary and methods of study; these will be acquired as progress is made in the course.

The most useful habit that the student of physics can form is that of connecting or relating each _new idea_ or _fact_ that is presented to him to _some observation_ or _experience_ that will ill.u.s.trate the new idea. This relating or connecting of the new ideas to one's own personal experience is not only one of the best known means of cultivating the memory and power of a.s.sociation, but it is of especial help in a subject such as physics, which deals with the systematic study and explanation of the facts of our every-day experience.

=2. Knowledge--Common and Scientific.=--This leads to the distinction between _common knowledge and scientific knowledge_. We all possess common knowledge of the things about us, gained from the impressions received by our senses, from reading, and from the remarks of others.

_Scientific_ knowledge is attained when the bits of common knowledge are connected and explained by other information gained through study or experience. That is, common knowledge becomes scientific, when it is _organized_. This leads to the definition: _Science is organized knowledge_.

Common knowledge of the forces and objects about us becomes scientific only as we are able to make accurate measurements of these. That is, science is concerned not only in _how_ things work, but even more in _how much_ is involved or results from a given activity. For example, a scientific farmer must be able to compute his costs and results in order to determine accurately his net profits. The business man who is conducting his business with efficiency knows accurately his costs of production and distribution.