<p>Lake Jr. has been admitted to UMaryland-Baltimore County and plans to major in Mechanical Engineering. In contemplating his 4-year plan for the B.S., we noticed that unlike some other engineering schools, the 100-level Statics course at UMBC does not require prior completion of first year Physics. Would it nevertheless be a mistake for a Freshman to enroll in Statics without the benefit of University Physics I and II? Incidentally, he's in AB Calc now, will take Calc II this summer at the local community college, and ultimately enroll in Multivariable Calculus (Calc III) first semester Freshman year at university.</p>
<p>Here's the course Statics description from the UMBC catalog;</p>
<p>"The equilibrium of stationary bodies under the influence of various kinds of forces. Forces, moments, couples, equilibrium, trusses, frames and machines, centroids, moments of inertia, beams, friction and hydrostatics. Vector and scalar methods are used to solve problems."</p>
<p>The requirement for Statics at UMBC is Calc I.</p>
<p>For engineering statics, perhaps Physics I (with mechanics) would be helpful, but probably not Physics II (usually electromagnetism and perhaps other topics).</p>
<p>Since he will be ahead in math, he can take Physics I first semester and then be able to take statics afterward.</p>
<p>I just looked at the UMBC website. It shows statsics and physics 1 in the same semester (1st year 2nd semester) for the ME program. If it was a problem, they would have changed it.</p>
<p>All you really need to basic stuff about forces and vectors and you can learn as you go. There are pretty much three equations in statics (Fx = 0, Fy = 0, M = 0) and that is it. There’s no electricity/magnetism/thermodynamics involved</p>
<p>Beyond the physics related concepts, statics is just a lot of math. Here, it is a 200-level course with Calc I and Physics I as prerequisites. In my experience with this course, the professor went over anything that is physics related about the course (drawing free body diagrams, vector math, sum of the forces, etc.). The physics concepts become intuitive, the calculations are what makes it difficult.</p>
<p>I can see why some schools might not consider Physics I as a prerequiste, as basic equilibrium is really the only concept from physics that is required. Calculus I, though, is needed for some of the math concepts, like integrals for determining moments of inertia and centers-of-gravity.</p>
<p>Thanks all. From your responses I’ve gotten the impression he should enroll in Statics after Physics I, just to avoid any unecessary difficulty with the Statics concepts.</p>