//02.prep
Workshop prep
Twenty minutes or less.
Week 2 — Motion in 1D and Relative Motion in 1D. Pick a mode. Start a timer. That's it.
Pick a mode
The shortest path to walking in prepared.
Timer
5:00
//content
5-minute version
Three threads. One sentence each.
- Workflow. Model -> Visualise -> Solve -> Assess. Picture first, equation second.
- SUVAT. Know 3 of ? Pick the equation that doesn’t contain the variable you don’t care about.
- Relative motion. — switching frames can collapse a hard problem into one line.
Open the cheatsheet quiz, do 3 questions, close it. You’re prepped enough for the warm-up.
20-minute prep plan
| Time | Action |
|---|---|
| 0–5 min | Skim the cheatsheet — the SUVAT picker table and the sign-convention drill. |
| 5–10 min | Rewrite one lecture example (Frisbee or Braking motorist) on paper, longhand, with the sketch first. |
| 10–15 min | Take the cheatsheet quiz. Track which questions you slip on. |
| 15–20 min | Read the matching section in the in-depth note for whatever you slipped on. |
What to revise first
Most students slip on two specific things in this week:
- Sign errors. are vectors. If you write for an upward-thrown rock with “up” positive, the rock won’t fall. Fix the axis on the sketch before you substitute.
- Skipping the sketch. If your working has and in it but no picture, you don’t know which is which. The lecturer (slide 9): “this is where you should be spending your time.”
Key formulas
Likely workshop tasks
| Task type | What the setup usually looks like |
|---|---|
| Single-stage SUVAT | Known 3 of , find one of the remaining two |
| Free fall | Vertical motion, $ |
| Multi-stage motion | Split at points where changes (e.g. mini-golf slopes, ball into water) |
| Relative motion | Two moving objects, “find the velocity relative to…” — pick the convenient frame |
Mistakes to avoid
- Treating as automatically negative. The sign is set by your axis choice.
- Using SUVAT when isn’t constant. Split into stages first.
- Taking only the positive square root without checking physical context.
- Skipping unit conversion (km/h m/s by dividing by ; cm m by ).
- Forgetting to assess — does the final number make sense as a speed, height, or time?
Mini self-test
Try these without notes. Eight minutes total.
- A ball is dropped from . How fast is it moving when it hits the ground? How long did it take?
- A car at brakes at . How far does it travel before stopping?
- Two trains approach head-on, one at east and one at west. What is the speed of the second train as measured from the first?
Answers:
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| 1 | (downward); |
| 2 | |
| 3 | closing (i.e. in the first train’s east-positive frame) |
Done checklist
- Read the cheatsheet’s SUVAT picker table.
- One lecture example copied longhand with sketch + sign convention.
- Cheatsheet quiz attempted.
- Mini self-test attempted.
- Pen, paper, calculator with
km/h-m/sconversion comfortable.
That’s it. Close the laptop.
Source files used
EGD102-Physics/Lecture2_CTP1.pdfEGD102-Physics/EGD102 - Lecture2 - Notes.pdfEGD102-Physics/Tutorial 2.pdf