Physics 1 tutoring online, starting from the problem.
Kinematics, dynamics, energy, collisions, rigid bodies, thermodynamics: Physics 1 is not passed by revising formulas but by learning to set up the problem. We work 1-to-1 online on exam problems, with symbols before numbers and a check of the units at every step.
Let’s start from where you are stuck now.
Who asks us for help with Physics 1.
- You know the formulas but not which one to use, or where to begin with a long text.
- You come from high school and find the use of derivatives and integrals in mechanics problems new.
- You get stuck on rigid bodies and moments, or on thermodynamics and gases.
- You are resitting and want to see where the marks are lost, step by step.
How we work on Physics 1.
- A fixed method: sketch, frame of reference, forces, principle, symbols, numbers. We repeat it until it becomes a reflex.
- The check every time: units, limiting cases and order of magnitude, the three tests that find a mistake before the marker does.
- Timed practice with a practice test and a guided review of the mistakes, before the exam.
What Physics 1 covers.
Contents change from one course and one lecturer to another: this is the structure we meet most often. Your course syllabus has the last word: in the first lesson we read it together and work on that.
- Kinematics and dynamics of a particle
- Motion in one and two dimensions, circular motion
- Newton's laws and the free-body diagram
- Friction, elastic forces and constraints
- Work and energy
- The work-energy theorem
- Conservative forces and potential energy
- Conservation of energy and power
- Momentum and collisions
- Impulse and conservation of momentum
- Elastic and inelastic collisions
- Centre of mass and systems of particles
- Rigid body
- Moment of a force and angular momentum
- Moment of inertia and the Huygens-Steiner theorem
- Pure rolling and rotational energy
- Gravitation and fluids
- The law of gravitation and gravitational potential energy
- Statics and dynamics of ideal fluids, where included
- Thermodynamics
- Ideal gases and transformations
- The first law, heat and work
- The second law, heat engines and entropy
How the exam is usually structured.
Physics 1 is usually passed with a written paper of two or three hours, sometimes with mid-course tests, and an oral that discusses the written paper and the principles. The written paper has three or four long problems divided into parts: a motion with forces, an energy balance or a collision, a rotating body, a thermodynamic transformation. The format changes from course to course; past papers are the most reliable guide.
The difference from high school physics is in the method: you work almost always with symbols, the numbers enter in the last line and the text does not say which law to use. The skill that decides the exam is choosing the right principle: forces and accelerations, or energy, or momentum.
At the oral it matters to know under what conditions each principle holds: mechanical energy is conserved only without dissipative forces, momentum only if the external resultant is zero. Whoever can say this in words also chooses better in the written paper.
Three mistakes that cost marks.
- Substituting numbers too early
With numbers from the first line you lose dimensional control and can no longer see what depends on what. A symbolic result can be checked with units and limiting cases (what happens if the mass doubles? and if the angle is zero?); a chain of decimals cannot.
- Using the wrong axis for the moment of inertia
The moment of inertia depends on the axis of rotation: the value of a cylinder about its own axis does not hold if it rotates about another point. You need the Huygens-Steiner theorem, which adds the mass times the square of the distance between the axes.
- Conserving energy where it is not conserved
In an inelastic collision momentum is conserved but kinetic energy is not; with friction mechanical energy decreases. Before writing a conservation law, ask which forces do work and whether the external resultant is zero.
An exam-style exercise, step by step.
A cylinder rolling down an incline
A homogeneous cylinder of mass and radius rolls without slipping down an incline at an angle . Let us compute the acceleration of the centre of mass.
We take the axis along the incline, pointing down. The forces are the weight, the normal reaction and the static friction , pointing up along the incline. For the motion of the centre of mass:
Friction has a moment about the centre of mass and makes the cylinder rotate. The moment of inertia of a solid cylinder is , so
Pure rolling links acceleration and angular acceleration: . Substituting gives . Putting in the first equation:
Check with the pole at the contact point: there the moment of inertia is (Huygens-Steiner) and only the weight has a moment, . From it follows that the same result.
Only now the numbers: for we get less than the of a body sliding without friction.
The result depends neither on the mass nor on the radius: it is the kind of check the oral asks for and that a symbolic expression makes immediate.
Timed Physics 1 practice test.
A test that mixes the topics of the syllabus the way a real exam sitting does, with marking and weak points. It is free and you do not need an account to try it.
Frequently asked questions about Physics 1.
How do you know where to begin in a Physics 1 problem?
With a fixed method: sketch, frame of reference, list of the forces or known quantities and only then the choice of the principle. It is the routine we train first, because on the exam sheet it pays more than any extra formula.
Do I need to be good at derivatives and integrals?
You need them, but little and in a precise form: kinematics with the derivative of position, a work as the integral of a force. If the Calculus 1 basis is shaky we review it when it is needed, inside the problems, without separate maths lessons.
Do you also cover Physics 2?
Yes: electricity, magnetism and circuits have the same structure, and the Physics 2 practice test has its own page. Physics 1 is almost always the first one and is where the method is learned.
Should formulas be learned by heart?
The few fundamental ones yes: Newton's laws, the conservation theorems, the definitions. The others are derived. Memorising too many is the most common way to mix them up, especially under time pressure.
The other exams we cover.
- Calculus 1
Limits, derivatives, integrals and series: exam-style exercises and an oral on the hypotheses of the theorems.
See the page → - Calculus 2
Several variables, multiple integrals, fields and surfaces: the sketch comes before the calculation.
See the page → - Linear algebra
Matrices, vector spaces, eigenvalues and quadratic forms: the vocabulary matters as much as the calculations.
See the page →
To revise before the lesson: kinematics and dynamics and rigid body and moment of inertia.
For the full picture go to university tutoring and the physics syllabus.
Set up the problem, then the numbers.
Message me on WhatsApp with your course and a problem that did not work out: we start from there.