Physics I Workbook For Dummies Cheat Sheet

If you get stumped working on physics formulas, take a deep breath, and recheck your work. Go through these common physics-problem issues to make sure you have avoided them:

• Mixing units

• Expressing the answer in the wrong units

• Swapping radians and degrees

• Getting sines and cosines mixed up

• Failing to treat vectors as vectors

• Neglecting latent heat

• Getting the Direction of Forces Wrong

• Getting the signs wrong in Kirchhoff’s loops
• Adding resistors incorrectly

Physics constants, like the mass of a proton or speed of light, are physical quantities with fixed numerical values. This list contains the most common physics constants:

• Avogadro’s Number: N_A = 6.022 × 10²³ mol^–1

• Boltzmann’s constant: k = 1.380 × 10^–23 J/K

• Coulomb’s constant: k = 8.99 × 10⁹ N–m²/C²

• Gas constant: R = 8.314 J/(mol–K)

• Gravitational constant: G = 6.672 × 10^–11 N–m²/kg²

• Speed of light: c = 2.997 × 10⁸ m/s

• Charge of electron: e = 1.602 × 10^–19 C

• Mass of proton: m_p = 1.672 × 10^–27 kg

• Mass of electron: m_e = 9.109 × 10^–31 kg

Physics is packed with formulas and equations. This comprehensive list, arranged by topic, represents essential physics equations you need to keep handy when you’re dealing with physics formulas.