General Physics I

GENERAL PHYSICS I (PHY 2020)

Prince George's Community College

Fall 2026

On Monday, October 5, we will have an optional Exam 1A. If you did not do as well as you liked on Exam 1, you may take Exam 1A on Monday. Your grade for Exam 1 is now posted on Canvas, and is not curved. Your grade for Exam 1 will be the higher of your uncurved grades for Exam 1 and Exam 1A, and those grades will then be curved. On Monday, September 8, we will go over the solutions to Exam 1 in class.
You may find the formula page for Exam 1A here .
On Wednesday, September 30, we will have a lecture in place of the lab, so that we don't lose lecture time due to Exam 1A.
Homework #4 is due at 6:00pm on Wednesday, October 7.
If you're interested in an internship with NASA, see this link: NASA Internships

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

The 2026 Nobel prize for physics has been awarded to physicist Francis Halzen (USA) “for decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin.”

Dr. David G. Simpson:

http://www.pgccphy.net/2020

Webmaster: Dr. David G. Simpson
Page last updated: Octobert 6, 2026.