Is anyone else struggling with mechanics (1 Viewer)

[.ben]

i'm finding it really difficult doin it from cambridge. does it get any harder?

also any tips?

 

[vafa]

Jim coroneos taught mechanics well in his book.Try that.

 

[.ben]

Ok i'll see if i can get those. so chambridge is counted as a harder book?

 

[Riviet]

Which part of mechanics are you struggling in? Resisted or circular motion or both?

 

[STx]

hmmm, try Patel, its not too hard for a start, imo

 

[toadstooltown]

Yeah, I'm not liking mechanics either. It's the teacher's worst topic and it was for questions like this that I dropped physics =P
Teacher's just advised me to skip the mechanics questions in exams unless they're pretty easy 'cause then I can focus on acing the first 4 questions or so. I'm okay with all the other topics.

 

[ianc]

physics is nothing compared to this stuff (at least not the hsc course)

Yeah what I found best was to look at examples with worked solutions, and understood why stuff was happening, eg what forces to equate, etc. After that, its just algebra; nearly always the d/dx(v²/2) comes into it.

Although, I think it is more important to get to grips with the easy stuff - integration, complex nos, graphs and volumes - because these dont require nearly as much work

 

[YBK]

Yeah, I'm not liking mechanics either. It's the teacher's worst topic and it was for questions like this that I dropped physics =P
Teacher's just advised me to skip the mechanics questions in exams unless they're pretty easy 'cause then I can focus on acing the first 4 questions or so. I'm okay with all the other topics.

hmmmm, it's a shame to just 'skip' the mechanics question based on a quick judgement on if it's easy or not...

sometimes they're REALLY easy... they're often pretty good do-able questions. I think it's one of the easier and more interesting topics.. although I did screw up my mechanics topic test (16/30 stupid mental blank), i think the topic is okay.

Hmmm.. do you have Terry Lee's book? It explains mechanics, especially banked track motion really well...

if you understand the concepts behind it, then the problems merely become algebraic.

 

[Riviet]

Resisted motion shouldn't be as hard as circular motion-type questions in terms of the range of difficulty and variation that they can ask you. Doing many questions greatly increases your confidence and understanding in the topic.

 

[PF]

cambridge? is that arnold? arnold's mechanics is quite do-able but CORONEOS mechanics? are u serious? that's easy? omg i cant read any of the coroneos stuff - that big white + blue book right? coroneos questions are impossible .... arnold is the easy simple stuff - altho that's just my personal opinion.... does anyone else find coroneos to hard to read?

 

[Rax]

Fitzpatrick is pretty standard, some of the projectile motion questions can get a bit tricky.

But seriously, Mechanics is probably my favourite topic, I woudnt just auto skip anything.

Resisted Motion is really good for the marks, most of it is just Integration with a bit of thinking on the side.

But Practice sure does make it easier......so do lots of practice

 

[.ben]

I think the problem for me is that i don't do physics and i don't really understand the tension, forces, friction etc involved.

e.g. like why does tension act toward a particle, shouldn't it be away (by common sense)

and they usually don't teach newton's laws etc tehy just assume you know it so it kidna makes it hard.

 

[YBK]

I think the problem for me is that i don't do physics and i don't really understand the tension, forces, friction etc involved.

e.g. like why does tension act toward a particle, shouldn't it be away (by common sense)

and they usually don't teach newton's laws etc tehy just assume you know it so it kidna makes it hard.

hmmmm, you could ask your maths teacher to explain it. Mine sure knows her physics . I don't think you're placed in any disadvantage if you're not doing physics. It's hard to see even a slight resemblance with this and physics, if anything you would've learnt heaps of this stuff in yr 10 science too. But your teacher should explain the whole tension thing. If you look at the diagrams, the tension always goes outwards... i've never seen one with the tension going to the centre...

think of reaction force. If you push against a desk, the desk will push back. Reaction force is opposite to the original force

 

[.ben]

ok i read all the texts books and asked my teacher and i kind of understand all the theory now. it's just doing the questions, i get stuck on every second questoin

 

[housemouse]

You dont need to do physics to do well in this section.

I failed physics in year 11, and dropped it and mechanics doesnt phase me at all.

 

[.ben]

It's getting a bit better. Banked track with friction is still stubborn. ANyone know how to do those train questions wit the wheels etc.

 

[haque]

what type u mean? like for every banked question draw the forces like mg acting vertically down, Normal reaction force at right angles to the surface and resultant Mv^2/r horizontally and remember friction is always against the motion-so if the train is moving slowly to stop it slipping down the friction acts up the plane and vice versa.

 

[Riviet]

ANyone know how to do those train questions wit the wheels etc.

Got any specific examples?

 

[gamecw]

nope its actually my best topic in 4u.. prbly coz its the only topic dat i actually studied.. i find it really easy now..

 

[gamecw]

and yea, i started off with cambridge too, it was ok.. its all pretty easy once u get the concept of motion.. just do a few more questions maybe..