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In this unit you will learn what a force is and find out about different types of forces. This will allow you to identify forces at work in your everyday life and understand the effects of forces.

This section introduces you to the realm of physics, and discusses applications of physics in other disciplines of study. It also describes the methods by which science is done, and how scientists communicate their results to each other.

Physics is a branch of science. The word science comes from a Latin word that means having knowledge, and refers the knowledge of how the physical world operates, based on objective evidence determined through observation and experimentation. A key requirement of any scientific explanation of a natural phenomenon is that it must be testable; one must be able to devise and conduct an experimental investigation that either supports or refutes the explanation. It is important to note that some questions fall outside the realm of science precisely because they deal with phenomena that are not scientifically testable. This need for objective evidence helps define the investigative process scientists follow, which will be described later in this chapter.

This video explains what polygons are.

An exploration of how the area under a force vs. position graph equals the work done by the force and solves some sample problems.

Outcomes

In this unit you will learn about:

• the concept of work
• understand that work is done by an applied force
• the concept of energy
• identify the different types of energy
• the concept of power

In this lesson you will learn about:

• the concept of work
• understand that work is done by an applied force
• the concept of energy
• identify the different types of energy
• the concept of power

What exactly is energy? How can changes in force, energy, and simple machines move objects like roller coaster cars? How can machines help us do work? In this chapter, you will discover the answer to this question and many more, as you learn about work, energy, and simple machines.

An exploration through some example problems on the concept of work.

Worked examples finding displacement and distance from position-time graphs.