PHYS108 - Foundations of Physics

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Unit rationale, description and aim

Physics is an important tool for gaining a better understanding of the world. Scientists require knowledge of physics to understand the ever growing and changing medical health, technology and other industries. School science teachers also need to have a good understanding of physics because of the way it underpins other sciences.

In this unit students will develop skills in using the language, logic and laws of physics to describe and explain physical phenomena. This will be done through a conceptual understanding of four unifying themes: motion, forces, energy, waves) in introductory physics. These themes will then be applied to sound, heat, light, electricity, electromagnetism, atom and nucleus and the cosmos. The unit will also give students extensive opportunities to develop their laboratory skills. In particular, they will undertake a small research project in which you develop a research question, design an experiment, collect and interpret data and publish their results to a wider audience. As the unit takes a conceptual approach to learning, any senior high school mathematics is sufficient background for the unit.

The principles of physics are foundational for much of science, and the aim of this unit is to explore these principles both as an end in themselves as well as for their applications in other contexts.