GENERAL PHYSICS I (PHY 2020)

Prince George's Community College

Fall 2026

 
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NEWS

  • Wednesday, Nov. 4: Mock Exam 2 and solutions
  • Monday, November 9: Exam 2 The exam will cover the material in Chapters 14-27 of the course notes (except chapter 25 on simple machines)
  • Wednesday, Nov. 11: The College is OPEN on Veteran's Day. Regular class.
  • Friday, Nov. 13: Doomsday! (According to this paper published in 1960)
  • Monday, Nov. 16: Homework #6 due, 6:00 pm
  • Wednesday, Nov. 18: Regular class
  • Monday, Nov. 23: Homework #7 due, 6:00 pm
  • Wednesday, Nov. 25: No class (Thanksgiving break)
  • Monday, Nov. 30: Last lecture; discuss Final Exam
  • Wednesday, Dec. 2: No class -- exam week
  • Monday, Dec. 7: FINAL EXAM, 6:00 pm
  • If you're interested in an internship with NASA, see this link: NASA Internships

To Learn More

To learn more about classical mechanics, I suggest:
  • An Introduction to Advanced Dynamics by S.W. McCuskey (Addison-Wesley, 1962). A clear and readable intermediate text, at about the college junior level.
  • Mechanics (3rd ed.) by Keith R. Symon. Another standard junior-level intermediate mechanics text.
  • Classical Mechanics by Herbert Goldstein (3rd ed.) (Addison-Wesley, 2001). The standard graduate-level text on advanced mechanics.

For some fun physics-related reading for the winter break, I suggest:
  • The Science of Interstellar by Kip Thorne and Christopher Nolan. Thorne is a well-known physicist who was involved in making the movie Interstellar from its beginning. In this book he and film director Nolan describe the physics shown in the movie.
  • Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku. A noted physicist discusses the possibility of time travel, force fields, invisibility cloaks, transporters, etc.
  • The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean. A very entertaining collection of stories surrounding the periodic table of the elements.
  • Mr. Tompkins in Paperback (and an updated version, The New World of Mr. Tompkins) by George Gamow. A famous Russian physicist wrote these stories of a world in which the speed of light is just 30 mph so relativistic effects are visible, and more stories of a world where Planck's constant is so large that quantum effects are visible.

Here's an interesting article on the physics of skipping stones from Physics Today: Water-Skipping Stones and Spheres

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Contact Information

Dr. David G. Simpson:
 

http://www.pgccphy.net/2020

Webmaster: Dr. David G. Simpson
Page last updated: November 5, 2026.