Foundation with Physics

The University of Wolverhampton provides a great choice of Foundation degrees. Physics is one of the disciplines you can study and is a great choice, given how fundamental and multidisciplinary is the material you will encounter there.

Physics is the science of understanding, interpretating and engineering the physical universe. To do so, it relies on a broad set of other disciplines: from pure mathematics which describes fundamental physical laws - to experimental physics, providing both tests of the theory and further insights by systematic explorations or merely trials and errors.

The 3AP004 module, Foundation Physics, will introduce the various ways of thinking of a physicist through a combined in-class/laboratory investigation of two of the key notions of physics, namely, conservation of energy and oscillations and waves. These will be illustrated from their manifestation in a range of disciplines, including optics, mechanics and electromagnetism.

The emphasis will be on the phenomenology rather than on abstract and sophisticated models. The course is a good introduction to important notions used throughout the scientific spectrum and will provide adequate preparation for more in-depth studies, including for our BSc (Hons) Physics.

Module content

Introduction to Physics, historical overview, force and energy, the conservation of energy, time and distance, motion, Newton's laws, conservation of momentum, vectors, work, the harmonic oscillator, resonances, transients, optics, the principle of least time, rays and waves, lenses, sounds, waves, beats, modes, harmonics, waves in fluids and solids, electromagnetic waves.