Video Lectures for Physics 121

San Francisco State University

These lectures are video files that show the lecture I normally would presented in class, with audio accompanyment. You can view them at any time you wish, not just class time. You may also pause and go back.

A .pdf version of each lecture can also be found on the class website under: Lecture Notes
In addition to each video lecture, some links to videos are also included. These videos relate to the content of the lecture, and should be watched. Most of them simulate fun demonstrations that I would have done in class.

Introduction to Professor McCarthy
Introduction to Physics 121

Week 1

  • Lecture 1 LINKS: Electrostatics
  • Lecture 2 LINKS: Dr. McCarthy's solution to question in Lecture 2 Part A , Part B
    Problem-solving presentations by "Step by Step Science" (These are optional, but very useful):

    Week 2

  • What's up, Week2
  • Lecture 3 LINKS: Van de Graff generator , 3D Electric Field.
  • Lecture 4 LINKS: Static Electricity at Gas Station!

    Week3

  • What's up, Week3
  • Lecture 5 LINKS: 3 Charges: Voltage
  • Lecture 6 LINKS: 3 Charges: Energy

    Week 4

  • What's up, Week 4
  • Lecture 7 LINKS: What is Current?
  • Lecture 8 LINKS: Series and parallel circuits--Conceptual . Series and parallel--with calculations

    Week 5

  • Midterm 1 Review
  • What's up, Week 5
  • Lecture 9

    Week 6

  • What's up, Week6
  • Lecture 10 LINKS: Magnetic Fields , Magnetic Compass , Crookes' Tube: Magnetic Force
  • Lecture 11 LINKS: Right Hand Rule, Magnetic Bottlecaps!

    Week 7

  • What's up, Week7
  • Lecture 12 LINKS: Jumping Wire, Simple Electric Motor, Oersted's Experiment, Magnetic Induction , Homemade Speakers
  • Lecture 13 LINKS: Lenz' Law , Magnetic Breaking , Light from Magnets, Electricity Drum! , Falling Ring (Solving HW problem) , OPTIONAL: Veritasium Lenz' Law ,

    Week 8

  • What's up, Week8
  • Lecture 14 LINKS: Induction Cooking , Electric Generators , Optional: Hydro-electric Power Plant ,
  • Lecture 15 LINKS: Electric Toothbrush! , Antenna makes EM waves, Speed of light from a chocolate bar

    Week 9

  • What's up, Week9
  • Lecture 16 LINKS: How to see Infrared Light , Doppler effect. , Doppler Problem Solved!! , OPTIONAL: Doppler effect in the Space
  • Lecture 17 LINKS: Flat Mirrors , Law of Reflection , Flat vs Convex Mirrors , Concave Mirror , Ray Tracing , NEW! Concave Mirror Problem Solved! ,

    Week 10

  • What's up, Week10
  • Lecture 18 LINKS: Snell's Law , Refraction & Total Internal Reflection , How to make something Invisible!

    Second MIDTERM EXAM due October 28

  • Review Sheet & Instructions
  • Practice Problems involving Right hand rule

    Week 11

  • What's up, Week11
  • Lecture 19 LINKS: Prisms
  • Lecture 20 LINKS: Constructive & Destructive Interference , Double Slit @ SFSU , Double Slit Problem Solved! , Veritasium: "The original double slit" ,

    Week 12

  • What's up, Week12
  • Lecture 21 LINKS: Single Slit
  • Lecture 22 LINKS: Slow Clock , Time Dilation Problem Solved! , OPTIONAL: Fast Muons live longer OPTIONAL: Relativity Cartoon ,

    Week 13

  • What's up, Week13
  • Lecture 23 LINKS: E = m c 2 , OPTIONAL: How do PET scans work? ,
  • Lecture 24 LINKS: Discovery of Gravity Waves , Proof that electrons are waves. ,
    Thanksgiving Break

    Week 14

  • What's up, Week14
  • Lecture 25 LINKS: Single Slit @ SFSU , and a related experiment by Veratasium: Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle , Quantum Tunnelling ,
  • Lecture 26 LINKS: Nuclear Radiation , Nuclear Fission Reaction Problem , (Optional) Nuclear Reactors, in a nutshell ,

    Week 15

  • Final Exam Review