Academic year: 2026-27
Course: Foundation Course Science
Credits: 6
Period: First semester
Number of hours: 48
Teacher(s): Giorgio Carelli ( giorgio.carelli@unipi.it)
Language of instruction: English
Syllabus
Kinematics, dynamics and motion description.
Acceleration and velocity, graphical representation of trajectory, angular and tangent velocity, angular acceleration, simple harmonic motion.
Motion on a straight line, gravitational acceleration, free fall motion.
Simple two-dimensional motions; centripetal acceleration.
Newton laws of dynamics. Equilibrium of a rigid body (forces and torques) with applications.
Motion of the center of mass of a rigid body. Harmonic motion Period, frequency, amplitude.
Momentum, force impulse, Newton’s second law as a momentum change.
Work. Power. Kinetic Energy.
Conservative forces. Gravitation potential energy, elastic potential energy. Conservation of energy
and momentum.
Elastic and an elastic scattering (simple scattering, scattering from a wall)
Theory of Gravitation, forces and potential energy, acceleration at the surface of a planet, motion of
planets and satellites.