Download Advanced Placement Physics (12) Pre-requisite Algebra II

AP Physics Syllabus
Course Description
This course is equivalent to the first two semesters of physics in college and is designed
to prepare the student for the AP Physics “B” Exam. Taking the AP Exam is not required
to enroll in the class, but it is encouraged since students have the ability to earn college
credit by doing well on the exam. As such, the class will move quickly and students will
need to work hard to master the subjects. The course will give students an introduction to
five content areas in physics: Newtonian mechanics, fluid mechanics and thermal
physics, electricity and magnetism, waves and optics, and atomic and nuclear physics.
Classroom activities will include teacher lecture, classroom discussion, group work, and
student-designed lab experiments.
Course Outline
NEWTONIAN MECHANICS
Unit One: Kinematics in One Dimension – 8 days
Content/ Skills Taught: Define distance, calculate speed, and explain what is meant by a
scalar quantity. Define displacement, calculate velocity, and explain the difference
between a scalar and a vector quantity. Explain the relationship between acceleration and
velocity and perform graphical analyses of acceleration. Explain and apply the constant
acceleration kinematic equations to physical situations, including free fall.
Major Assignments and Assessments: Students will be assigned problem sets from the
textbook as both homework and group work. These problem sets will assess the extent to
which students have mastered the content and skills taught. Students will study
uniformly accelerated motion by designing and conducting an experiment. A list of
equipment will be supplied to students: grooved inclined plane, meterstick, a glass
marble, steel marble, stopwatch, and graph paper. Students will then write a lab report
that includes the purpose, procedure, data collection, data analysis, error analysis (when
appropriate), and conclusions. A test will also be administered to determine the extent to
which the content and skills taught were mastered.
Unit Two: Kinematics in Two Dimensions – 7 days
Content/ Skills Taught: Analyze motion in terms of its components and apply the
kinematic equations to the components of motion. Add and subtract vectors graphically
and analytically. Determine relative velocities through vector addition and subtraction.
Analyze projectile motion to determine position, time of flight, instantaneous velocity ,
and range.
Major Assignments and Assessments: Students will be assigned problem sets from the
textbook as both homework and group work. These problem sets will assess the extent to
which students have mastered the content and skills taught. Students will study projectile
motion by designing and conducting an experiment. A list of equipment will be supplied
to students: ramp assembly, C clamp, plumb bob, meterstick, carbon paper, and graph
paper. Students will then write a lab report that includes the purpose, procedure, data
collection, data analysis, error analysis (when appropriate), and conclusions. A test will
also be administered to determine the extent to which the content and skills taught were
mastered.
Unit Three: Force and Motion – 9 days
Content/ Skills Taught: Relate force and motion and explain what is meant by a net or
unbalanced force. State and explain Newton’s three laws of motion and apply them to
physical situations. Describe inertia and its relationship to mass. Distinguish between
weight and mass. Identify action-reaction force pairs. Utilize free body diagrams while
applying Newton’s three laws of motion and explain the concept of translational
equilibrium. Explain the causes of friction and determine the magnitude of friction using
coefficients of friction.
Major Assignments and Assessments: Students will be assigned problem sets from the
textbook as both homework and group work. These problem sets will assess the extent to
which students have mastered the content and skills taught. Students will study motion
caused by a constant force by designing and conducting an experiment. A list of
equipment will be supplied to students: air track, glider, scale, thread, pulley, various
masses, and graph paper. Students will then write a lab report that includes the purpose,
procedure, data collection, data analysis, error analysis (when appropriate), and
conclusions. A test will also be administered to determine the extent to which the content
and skills taught were mastered.
Unit Four: Work and Energy – 9 days
Content/ Skills Taught: Define mechanical work and compute work done in various
situations. Differentiate between work done by a constant or variable force and compute
the work done by a spring force. Explain the work-energy theorem and apply it to
physical situations. Explain how potential energy depends on position and compute
values of gravitational and elastic potential energy. Distinguish between conservative
and nonconservative forces and explain their effect on the law of conservation of energy.
Define power and describe mechanical efficiency.
Major Assignments and Assessments: Students will be assigned problem sets from the
textbook as both homework and group work. These problem sets will assess the extent to
which students have mastered the content and skills taught. Students will study power
output by designing and conducting an experiment. A list of equipment will be supplied
to students: meterstick, scale, stopwatch, and a long flight of stairs. Students will then
write a lab report that includes the purpose, procedure, data collection, data analysis,
error analysis (when appropriate), and conclusions. A test will also be administered to
determine the extent to which the content and skills taught were mastered.
Unit Five: Momentum and Collisions – 7 days
Content/ Skills Taught: Compute linear momentum and the components of linear
momentum. Relate impulse, kinetic energy, and momentum. Explain the conditions for
the conservation of linear momentum and apply it to physical situations. Describe the
conditions for elastic and inelastic collisions and apply these conditions to physical
situations.
Major Assignments and Assessments: Students will be assigned problem sets from the
textbook as both homework and group work. These problem sets will assess the extent to
which students have mastered the content and skills taught. Students will study elastic
and inelastic collisions by designing and conducting an experiment. A list of equipment
will be supplied to students: air track, two gliders, scale, two photogates, spring, and
magnet. Students will then write a lab report that includes the purpose, procedure, data
collection, data analysis, error analysis (when appropriate), and conclusions. A test will
also be administered to determine the extent to which the content and skills taught were
mastered.
Unit Six: Circular Motion and Gravitation – 9 days
Content/ Skills Taught: Define units of angular measure and show how angular measure
is related to arc length. Describe and compute angular velocity and explain its
relationship to tangential velocity. Explain why there is a centripetal acceleration during
constant or uniform circular motion and compute centripetal acceleration. Define angular
acceleration and analyze rotational kinematics. Describe and apply Newton’s law of
gravitation. Explain the relationship between Newton’s law of gravitation and the
acceleration due to gravity. Apply the general formula for gravitational potential energy.
State and explain Kepler’s laws of planetary motion and describe the motion and orbits of
satellites.
Major Assignments and Assessments: Students will be assigned problem sets from the
textbook as both homework and group work. These problem sets will assess the extent to
which students have mastered the content and skills taught. Students will study
centripetal force by designing and conducting an experiment. A list of equipment will be
supplied to students: racket ball with string and clip attached, plastic tube, hooked mass
set, scale, stopwatch, safety goggles, and graph paper. Students will then write a lab
report that includes the purpose, procedure, data collection, data analysis, error analysis
(when appropriate), and conclusions. A test will also be administered to determine the
extent to which the content and skills taught were mastered.
Unit Seven: Rotational Motion and Equilibrium – 4 days
Content/ Skills Taught: Distinguish between pure rotational and pure translational
motion of a rigid body and state the conditions for rolling without slipping. Define
torque and apply the conditions for mechanical equilibrium.
Major Assignments and Assessments: Students will be assigned problem sets from the
textbook as both homework and group work. These problem sets will assess the extent to
which students have mastered the content and skills taught. A test will also be
administered to determine the extent to which the content and skills taught were
mastered.
FLUID MECHANICS and THERMAL PHYSICS
Unit Eight: Solids and Fluids – 7 days
Content/ Skills Taught: Distinguish between stress and strain and use elastic moduli to
compute dimensional changes. Explain the pressure-depth relationship and state Pascal’s
principle and describe how it can be used in practical applications. Relate the buoyant
force and Archimedes’ principle and tell whether an object will sink or float based on
relative densities. Identify the simplifications used in describing ideal fluid flow and use
the continuity equation and Bernoulli’s equation to explain the common effects.
Major Assignments and Assessments: Students will be assigned problem sets from the
textbook as both homework and group work. These problem sets will assess the extent to
which students have mastered the content and skills taught. Students will study
Archimedes’ principle by designing and conducting an experiment. A list of equipment
will be supplied to students: spring scale, digital scale, string, various masses, and
displacement cup with tube attached. Students will then write a lab report that includes
the purpose, procedure, data collection, data analysis, error analysis (when appropriate),
and conclusions. A test will also be administered to determine the extent to which the
content and skills taught were mastered.
Unit Nine: Temperature – 7 days
Content/ Skills Taught: Distinguish between temperature and heat. Explain how a
temperature scale is constructed and convert temperatures from one scale to another.
Describe the ideal gas law and explain how it is used to determine absolute zero.
Calculate the thermal expansion of solids and liquids. Relate kinetic energy and
temperature and explain the process of diffusion.
Major Assignments and Assessments: Students will be assigned problem sets from the
textbook as both homework and group work. These problem sets will assess the extent to
which students have mastered the content and skills taught. A test will also be
administered to determine the extent to which the content and skills taught were
mastered.
Unit Ten: Heat – 7 days
Content/ Skills Taught: Distinguish between the various units of heat and define the
mechanical equivalent of heat. Describe specific heat and explain how the specific heats
of substances are obtained from calorimetry. Compare and contrast the three phases of
matter and relate latent heat to phase changes. Describe the three methods of heat
transfer and give practical and environmental examples of each.
Major Assignments and Assessments: Students will be assigned problem sets from the
textbook as both homework and group work. These problem sets will assess the extent to
which students have mastered the content and skills taught. Students will study the
specific heat of a liquid by designing and conducting an experiment. A list of equipment
will be supplied to students: scale, masses, thermometer, body of known material,
Styrofoam cup, and a liquid. Students will then write a lab report that includes the
purpose, procedure, data collection, data analysis, error analysis (when appropriate), and
conclusions. A test will also be administered to determine the extent to which the content
and skills taught were mastered.
Unit Eleven: Thermodynamics – 7 days
Content/ Skills Taught: Define thermodynamic systems and states of systems and
explain how thermal processes affect such systems. Explain the relationship among
internal energy, heat and work as expressed by the first law, and analyze various thermal
processes. State and explain the second law of thermodynamics in several forms and
explain the concept of entropy. Explain the concept of a heat engine and compute
thermal efficiency and explain the concept of a thermal pump and compute coefficient of
performance. Explain how the Carnot cycle applies to heat engines, compute the ideal
Carnot efficiency, and state the third law of thermodynamics.
Major Assignments and Assessments: Students will be assigned problem sets from the
textbook as both homework and group work. These problem sets will assess the extent to
which students have mastered the content and skills taught. A test will also be
administered to determine the extent to which the content and skills taught were
mastered.
ELECTRICITY and MAGNETISM
Unit Twelve: Electric Charge, Forces, and Fields – 6 days
Content/ Skills Taught: Distinguish between the two types of electric charge, state the
force law that operates between charged objects, and understand and use the law of
charge conservation. Distinguish between conductors and insulators, explain the
operation of an electroscope, and distinguish among charging by friction, conduction,
induction, and polarization. Understand Coulomb’s law and use it to calculate the
electric force between charged particles. Understand the definition of the electric field
and plot electric field lines and calculate electric fields for simple charge distributions.
Major Assignments and Assessments: Students will be assigned problem sets from the
textbook as both homework and group work. These problem sets will assess the extent to
which students have mastered the content and skills taught. A test will also be
administered to determine the extent to which the content and skills taught were
mastered.
Unit Thirteen: Electric Potential, Energy and Capacitance – 6 days
Content/ Skills Taught: Understand the concept of electric potential difference and its
relationship to electric potential energy and calculate electric potential differences and
electric potential energies. Explain what is meant by an equipotential surface, sketch
equipotential surfaces for simple charge configurations, and explain the relationship
between equipotential surfaces and electric fields. Define capacitance and explain what it
means physically, and calculate the charge, voltage, electric field, and energy storage for
parallel-plate capacitors. Find the equivalent capacitance of capacitors connected in
series and in parallel and calculate the charges, voltages, and energy storage of individual
capacitors in series and parallel configurations.
Major Assignments and Assessments: Students will be assigned problem sets from the
textbook as both homework and group work. These problem sets will assess the extent to
which students have mastered the content and skills taught. A test will also be
administered to determine the extent to which the content and skills taught were
mastered.
Unit Fourteen: Electric Current and Resistance – 7 days
Content/ Skills Taught: Summarize the basic features of a battery and explain how a
battery produces a direct current in a circuit. Define electric current, distinguish between
electron flow and conventional current, and explain the concept of drift velocity and
electric energy transmission. Define electrical resistance and explain what is meant by an
ohmic resistor, summarize the factors that determine resistance, and calculate the effect
of these factors in simple situations. Define electric power, calculate the power delivery
of simple electric circuits, and explain joule heating and its significance.
Major Assignments and Assessments: Students will be assigned problem sets from the
textbook as both homework and group work. These problem sets will assess the extent to
which students have mastered the content and skills taught. Students will study resistors
and Ohm’s law by designing and conducting an experiment. A list of equipment will be
supplied to students: multimeter, rheostat, two #6 dry cells, switch, connecting wire,
junction clips, and 3 resistance spools. Students will then write a lab report that includes
the purpose, procedure, data collection, data analysis, error analysis (when appropriate),
and conclusions. A test will also be administered to determine the extent to which the
content and skills taught were mastered.
Unit Fifteen: Basic Electric Circuits – 5 days
Content/ Skills Taught: Determine the equivalent resistance of resistors in series,
parallel, and series-parallel combinations and use equivalent resistances to analyze simple
circuits. Understand the physical principles that underlie Kirchhoff’s circuit rules and
apply these rules in the analysis of actual circuits.
Major Assignments and Assessments: Students will be assigned problem sets from the
textbook as both homework and group work. These problem sets will assess the extent to
which students have mastered the content and skills taught. Students will study resistors
in series and parallel by designing and conducting an experiment. A list of equipment
will be supplied to students: various resistors, switch, multimeter, four #6 dry cells,
junction connectors, and connecting wires. Students will then write a lab report that
includes the purpose, procedure, data collection, data analysis, error analysis (when
appropriate), and conclusions. A test will also be administered to determine the extent to
which the content and skills taught were mastered.
Unit Sixteen: Magnetism – 8 days
Content/ Skills Taught: State the force rule between magnetic poles and explain how the
magnetic field direction is determined with a compass. Define magnetic field strength in
terms of the force exerted on a moving charged particle and determine the magnetic foce
exerted by a magnetic field on such a particle. Understand the origin of the magnetic
field and calculate its strength for simple cases, and use the right-hand force rule to
determine the direction of the magnetic field from the direction of the current that
produces it. Explain how ferromagnetic materials enhance external magnetic fields, how
permanent magnets are produced and how permanent magnetism can be destroyed.
Calculate the magnetic force on a current-carrying wire and the torque on a currentcarrying loop and explain the concept of a magnetic moment for such a loop. Define
magnetic flux and explain how induced emfs are created by changing magnetic flux, and
calculate the magnitude and predict the polarity of an induced emf.
Major Assignments and Assessments: Students will be assigned problem sets from the
textbook as both homework and group work. These problem sets will assess the extent to
which students have mastered the content and skills taught. A test will also be
administered to determine the extent to which the content and skills taught were
mastered.
WAVES and OPTICS
Unit Seventeen: Vibrations and Waves – 8 days
Content/ Skills Taught: Describe simple harmonic motion and relate energy and speed in
such motion. Understand the equation of motion for SHM and explain what is meant by
phase and phase differences. Describe wave motion in terms of various parameters and
identify different types of waves. Explain various wave properties and resulting
phenomena. Describe the formation and characteristics of standing waves and explain
the phenomena of resonance.
Major Assignments and Assessments: Students will be assigned problem sets from the
textbook as both homework and group work. These problem sets will assess the extent to
which students have mastered the content and skills taught. Students will study the
motion of a simple pendulum, factors that determine the period, and its relationship to the
acceleration due to gravity by designing and conducting an experiment. A list of
equipment will be supplied to students: metal sphere, long string, verniewr caliper,
stopwatch, meterstick, and pendulum clamp and support. Students will then write a lab
report that includes the purpose, procedure, data collection, data analysis, error analysis
(when appropriate), and conclusions. A test will also be administered to determine the
extent to which the content and skills taught were mastered.
Unit Eighteen: Geometrical Optics: Reflection and Refraction of Light – 7 days
Content/ Skills Taught: Define and explain the concepts of wave fronts and rays.
Explain the law of reflection and distinguish between regular and irregular reflections.
Explain refraction in terms of Snell’s law and the index of refraction, and give examples
of refractive phenomena. Explain dispersion and some of its effects.
Major Assignments and Assessments: Students will be assigned problem sets from the
textbook as both homework and group work. These problem sets will assess the extent to
which students have mastered the content and skills taught. Students will study Snell’s
law by designing and conducting an experiment. A list of equipment will be supplied to
students: semi-circular optical box, straight pins, ruler, cardboard, polar coordinate
paper, water, and ethanol. Students will then write a lab report that includes the purpose,
procedure, data collection, data analysis, error analysis (when appropriate), and
conclusions. A test will also be administered to determine the extent to which the content
and skills taught were mastered.
Unit Nineteen: Mirrors and Lenses – 6 days
Content/ Skills Taught: Describe the characteristics of plane mirrors and explain
apparent right-left reversals. Distinguish between converging and diverging spherical
mirrors, describe images and their characteristics, and determine these image
characteristics from ray diagrams and the spherical mirror equation. Distinguish between
converging and diverging lenses, describe images and their characteristics, and find
image characteristics by using ray diagrams and the thin-lens equation.
Major Assignments and Assessments: Students will be assigned problem sets from the
textbook as both homework and group work. These problem sets will assess the extent to
which students have mastered the content and skills taught. Students will study the focal
length of convex lenses by designing and conducting an experiment. A list of equipment
will be supplied to students: optical bench with light source and sliding mounts, several
convex lenses, metal plate with slit in the form of an arrow, screen, and a meterstick.
Students will then write a lab report that includes the purpose, procedure, data collection,
data analysis, error analysis (when appropriate), and conclusions. A test will also be
administered to determine the extent to which the content and skills taught were
mastered.
Unit Twenty: Physical Optics: Wave Nature of Light – 6 days
Content/ Skills Taught: Explain how Young’s experiment demonstrated the wave nature
of light and compute the wavelength of light from experimental results. Describe how
thin films produce colorful displays and give some examples of practical applications of
thin-film interference. Define diffraction and give some examples of diffractive effects.
Major Assignments and Assessments: Students will be assigned problem sets from the
textbook as both homework and group work. These problem sets will assess the extent to
which students have mastered the content and skills taught. Students will study
diffraction by designing and conducting an experiment. A list of equipment will be
supplied to students: various diffraction gratings, diffraction grating holder, He-Ne laser,
and a meterstick. Students will then write a lab report that includes the purpose,
procedure, data collection, data analysis, error analysis (when appropriate), and
conclusions. A test will also be administered to determine the extent to which the content
and skills taught were mastered.
ATOMIC and NUCLEAR PHYSICS
Unit Twenty-One: Quantum Physics – 8 days
Content/ Skills Taught: Understand the equivalence of mass and energy. Define
blackbody radiation and use Wien’s law and understand how Planck’s hypothesis paved
the way for quantum ideas. Describe the photoelectric effect, explain how it can be
understood by assuming that light energy is carried by particles, and summarize the
properties of photons. Understand how the photon model of light explains scattering of
light from electrons (Compton effect) and calculate the wavelength of the scattered light
in the Compton effect. Understand how the Bohr model of the hydrogen atom explains
atomic emission and absorption spectra, calculate the energies and wavelengths of
emitted photons for transitions in atomic hydrogen, and understand how the generalized
concept of atomic energy levels can explain other atomic phenomena. Use charge and
nucleon conservation to write nuclear reaction equations, and understand and use the
concepts of Q value and threshold energy to analyze nuclear reactions.
Major Assignments and Assessments: Students will be assigned problem sets from the
textbook as both homework and group work. These problem sets will assess the extent to
which students have mastered the content and skills taught. A test will also be
administered to determine the extent to which the content and skills taught were
mastered.
Textbook used: Wilson, J. and Buffa, A. College Physics. Prentice Hall, 2000. 4th ed.
Listing of Laboratory Investigations
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Name
Each lab will require one class period to conduct the experiment. Lab reports will
be completed outside of class when necessary and turned in at the beginning of
the next class period.
Total time dedicated to lab investigations will be 14 days for the entire course.
Goals