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Atom Education: Physics 101

The instructor has published 65% of this course.Last updated on 2026-08-04

Learn the physics behind everyday motion — from a dropped ball to a car collision — in one focused course. Six chapters, worked examples, and a full set of practices, quizzes, tests, and a final exam take you from zero to a solid grasp of classical mechanics.

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About

About

About the Course

Atom Education: Physics 101 is a self-contained introductory physics course for anyone with basic algebra and no prior physics background. Across six core chapters, you'll build a working understanding of kinematics, Newton's laws of motion, work and energy, momentum and collisions, and waves and simple harmonic motion — the same foundation taught in college Physics 101 courses. Every chapter is built around worked examples you solve step by step, not just definitions to memorize. Once you've read a chapter, you'll reinforce it with ungraded practice problems, check your understanding with a short quiz, prove mastery on a unit test, and finish the course with a comprehensive final exam. By the end, you'll be able to describe and predict motion, analyze the forces behind it, and apply the great conservation laws of energy and momentum to real situations.

Instructor

About the Instructor

Rahul Awasthi

I’m a student and independent researcher with an interest in law, public policy, and education. I created this textbook to make legal concepts easier to understand for students and self-learners who want a clear starting point in law without unnecessary complexity.

Material

Course Material

  • Introduction

  • Welcome to Atom Education: Physics 101

  • How This Course Is Organized

  • What Is Physics?

  • The Scientific Method

  • Units and Measurement

  • The International System of Units (SI)

  • Unit Prefixes

  • Unit Conversion

  • Significant Figures

  • Scalars and Vectors

  • How to Get the Most Out of This Course

  • Kinematics: Describing Motion

  • Position, Distance, and Displacement

  • Speed and Velocity

  • Acceleration

  • The Kinematic Equations (Constant Acceleration)

  • Worked Example 1: Braking Car

  • Worked Example 2: Time to Stop

  • Free Fall

  • Worked Example 3: Dropped Ball

  • Motion in Two Dimensions: Projectile Motion

  • Worked Example 4: Launched Projectile

  • Key Takeaways

  • Forces and Newton’s Laws of Motion

  • What Is a Force?

  • Newton’s First Law: Inertia

  • Newton’s Second Law: F = ma

  • Weight vs. Mass

  • Newton’s Third Law: Action and Reaction

  • Common Types of Forces

  • Free Body Diagrams

  • Worked Example 1: Box on a Frictionless Floor

  • Worked Example 2: Box with Friction

  • Worked Example 3: Block on an Incline

  • Worked Example 4: Two Blocks Connected by a String (Atwood-style)

  • Key Takeaways

  • Work, Energy, and Power

  • Work

  • Kinetic Energy

  • The Work-Energy Theorem

  • Worked Example 1: Work-Energy Theorem

  • Potential Energy

  • Conservation of Mechanical Energy

  • Worked Example 2: Roller Coaster

  • Worked Example 3: Compressed Spring Launching a Block

  • Worked Example 4: Sliding with Friction

  • Power

  • Worked Example 5: Power of a Motor

  • Key Takeaways

  • Momentum and Collisions

  • Linear Momentum

  • Impulse and the Impulse-Momentum Theorem

  • Worked Example 1: Impulse from a Bat

  • Conservation of Momentum

  • Types of Collisions

  • Worked Example 2: Perfectly Inelastic Collision

  • Worked Example 3: Elastic Collision

  • Center of Mass

  • Key Takeaways

  • Waves, Sound, and Simple Harmonic Motion

  • Simple Harmonic Motion (SHM)

  • Key Quantities in Periodic Motion

  • Period of a Mass-Spring System

  • Period of a Simple Pendulum

  • Worked Example 1: Spring Period

  • Worked Example 2: Pendulum Length

  • Waves: The Basics

  • Wave Quantities

  • The Wave Equation

  • Worked Example 3: Wave Speed

  • Sound Waves

  • Worked Example 4: Distance to a Lightning Strike

  • The Doppler Effect

  • Worked Example 5: Doppler Shift

  • Key Takeaways

  • Practices

  • Practice: Units and Measurement

  • Practice: Kinematics

  • Practice: Forces and Newton’s Laws

  • Practice: Work, Energy, and Power

  • Practice: Momentum and Collisions

  • Practice: Waves, Sound, and SHM

  • Quizzes

  • Quiz 1: Units and Measurement

    2 attempts allowed

  • Quiz 2: Kinematics

    2 attempts allowed

  • Quiz 3: Forces and Newton’s Laws

    2 attempts allowed

  • Quiz 4: Work, Energy, and Power

    2 attempts allowed

  • Quiz 5: Momentum and Collisions

    2 attempts allowed

  • Quiz 6: Waves, Sound, and SHM

    2 attempts allowed

  • Tests

  • Test 1: Kinematics and Forces

    1 attempt allowed

  • Test 2: Work, Energy, Power, Momentum, and Collisions

    1 attempt allowed

  • Test 3: Waves, SHM, and Cumulative Review

    1 attempt allowed

  • Final Exam

  • Physics 101 Final Exam

    1 attempt allowed

  • Closing

  • Congratulations

  • What You’ve Learned

  • Where to Go Next

  • A Final Note

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