syllabus.doc

(1)

AP Physics ‘B’

The Advance Placement Physics B is algebra-based course in general Physics. Its syllabus is designed by

the College Board. It is equivalent introductory algebra-based university level physics course. This course

will be covered in two semesters. The emphasis in the course is on understanding of the concepts and

skills at using the concepts and formulae to solve problems. Laboratory work will be covered as an

integral part of this course.

Text book

;

Physics: Principles with Applications. Sixth Edition by Douglas C. Giancoli ISBN 0-13-184661-2Prentice Hall, 2005.

Online homework assignments can be found at:

http://www.masteringphysics.com/

. Students will create an

account with the course number: FrancisAPPhysics2013.

Grading policy;

Tests 70%

Tests are given at the end of each unit. The format of each test is 70% free response and 30% multiple choice with many of the questions referring to experiments that the students have performed in class or historic experiments. Quizzes, homework and labs 30%

There are about two quizzes per unit; they are generally factual in nature, and are given to reinforce the definitions of terms and ideas. Homework is given almost every school day, and is analyzed the day after it’s given. The questions are given from the textbook, from teacher-generated questions, from previous AP questions, and from recent college tests.



Laboratory;

Students are expected to keep a lab notebook. The notebook is formally checked at the end

of each semester, and is part of the student’s final grade.

Syllabus;

Unit 1. Kinematics;

The students will understand…

 that, in this unit, we will not fully understand length and time although we can measure them.

 displacement, velocity and acceleration, and analyze their related graphs ( area, slope) and use their related equations.

 vectors and scalars.

 how to apply the above to analyze and solve problems involving applications such as the kinematics of projectiles, elevators.

Experiments;

1.Graphing (s/t, v/t and a/t) the motion of a toy car.

2.Predicting the landing position of a ball bearing that falls off table with known speed and angle

Unit 2. Forces;

 that, in this unit, we will not fully understand inertia, although we can measure it.

 Newton’s 1st_{law, and be able to tell what any object will do if acted upon by a zero net force.}  what inertia is, and that mass is its measure.

 the 2nd_{and 3}rd_{law and their ability to predict to motion of masses for all net forces that act upon them.}

Understand, through the 2nd_{law, the meaning of force.}  the difference between mass and weight.

 that friction, tension and weight are forces.

 Hooke’s law and related graphs.

(2)

1.Atwood’s machine; open ended. Find the mass of a house key using two known masses, a pulley, timer, string, and meter stick. No levers allowed.

2. Finding the coefficients of kinetic and static friction using an inclined plane; open ended.

Unit 3. Energy and Momentum ( I teach these in the same unit, as many students get the two confused…. Teaching them in the same unit gives me greater opportunity to differentiate them)

 that, in this unit, we will not fully understand the meaning of mass, energy, or momentum, although we will be able to measure them.

 the meaning of the work done by a constant force, energy, kinetic energy, potential energy, efficiency and power.

 conservation of energy.

 Gravitational potential energy.

 Potential energy of a spring.

 how to analyze (area, slope) and relate between force-displacement, KE-t, PE-t, a-t, graphs.

 how to calculate the momentum of a mass

 conservation of momentum

 that work is scalar and momentum is a vector.

 the difference between elastic and inelastic collisions.

 that the area under a force-time graph is change momentum.

 solve diverse related problems in one and two dimensions. Experiments;

1. Predicting and finding speeds of cart on ‘roller coaster’

2. predicting and finding velocities of carts after collisions on air track and air table. 3. Finding the spring constant of spring (open ended)

Unit 4. Things moving in a circle, and related topics. The students will understand…

 that, in this unit, we will not fully understand the meaning of gravity, although we can to measure it.

 Centripetal force and acceleration; applied to small objects on the end of a string in space and moving in horizontal and vertical circles in a gravitational field. Applied to cars turning corners around banked and unbanked roads, airplanes banking in flight, passengers in roller coasters etc…. finding tensions, normal forces, minimum speeds etc.

 Torque, rotational equilibrium, slipping and toppling.

 That centripetal force is the net force towards the center of a circle, and not a force in its own right.

 How to find the attractive force between two uniform spherical masses, and find the period and speed of a satellite, the gravitational field strength caused by a planet at a point outside it, the radius of orbit of a geosynchronous satellite.

 How to predict the period of a light spring and a pendulum.

 Conservation of energy and the spring and pendulum.

 The relationship between period and frequency,

 The relationship between the velocity, frequency and wavelength of a wave. Experiments;

1. Predicting period of ball on string moving in horizontal circle. 2. Finding coefficient of static friction using mass on turntable.

3. quick expt. Predicting the angle at which a box will slip, and topple, on an inclined plane ( coeff of static friction known)

4. ‘dry lab’ of Cavendish expt.

Unit 5. Fluid Mechanics;

 Atmospheric pressure, absolute pressure, gauge pressure.

 The pressure of a fluid.

 Pascal’s principle

 Buoyant force and floating, sunk and vertically acceleration of masses in fluids.

 Archimedes principle.

(3)

 How to apply the above to problems involving pressure, energy, velocity, and depth in fluids. Experiments;

1. Finding density of a solid mass by displacing a liquid and a scale ( 10 minute expt)

2. Predicting and finding the exit velocity of a liquid coming from a hole in a bottle. (open ended)

Unit 6.Temperature, Heat, Kinetic theory and Thermal Physics; The students will understand…

 The thermal equivalence of heat.

 Thermal equilibrium.

 Definition of temperature.

 How to find the linear thermal expansion of a solid.

 Conduction, convection and radiation (inc. ‘black body’)

 What an ideal gas is, and the ideal gas laws.

 The Kelvin scale and absolute zero.

 Average translational energy of molecules and temperature

 1st_{Law of thermodynamics, and isobaric, isothermal, and isochoric processes, and the related work done, with}

the aid of PV diagrams.

 2nd_{law of thermodynamics, it’s implications.}  Heat engines and the Carnot cycle and efficiency. Experiments;

1. Finding the coef of linear expansion using metal rod, drinking straw, needle, candle and method of mixtures.

Unit 7. Electrostatics;

 that, in this unit, we will not fully understand the meaning of charge, although we will be able to measure it.

 The nature of charge, its conservation, and attraction/repulsion.

 Conductors and insulators.

 Coulombs law

 That electric field strength is ‘ the force per unit charge’

 How to represent an E-field using lines of force

 That electric potential is the work done in moving unit charge form infinity to the point considered, and that v at infinity is zero.

 That potential gradient is electric field strength, and how to find V at dist r form center of a sphere.

 That E inside a conductor is zero, and why, and that V inside a conductor is the same as at the surface.

 That equi-potential surfaces connect points of the same potential and why they must cross lines of force normally.

 That E is a vector and V is scalar.

 How to find the energy stored in the field is changed by moving two charges relative to each other.

 Millikan’s oil drop expt.

 Electron gun.

 Electron deflection using two parallel charged plates.

Experiments;

1. Investigation of E field using mineral oil and grass seeds.

2. finding the charge on two pith balls by relating their coulomb force to their weight

Unit 8. Electric Circuits;

 that current is the flow of charge, and conventional current. Charge passing per second.

 that potential difference, EMF and Voltage

 the relationship between voltage across, and the current through, a conductor, and how resistance is defined from this relationship. Ohm’s law, and V-I graphs.

 Electric power.

 The voltmeter and the Ammeter.

 Simple series circuits and associated resistance formulae.

 Simple parallel circuits and associated resistance formulae.

 Combined circuits.

 Internal resistance of cells

(4)

 What a capacitor is and what it can do.

 How to find the charge, and energy stored, on a capacitor, and V-Q graph. Experiments;

1. Ohm’s law

2. Determining the contents of a circuit in a ‘black box’ from the behavior of lamps can be seen and switched on and off..

Unit 9 Magnetism;

 That a magnetic field is made by any moving charge

 The nature of a permanent magnet, and why the magnetic poles are named N and S, and that a compass is a permanent magnet

 How to draw magnetic field lines around a permanent magnet or two.

 Calculate the magnetic force on a charge moving through a uniform magnetic field using the right hand rule

 How to calculate the magnetic force on a current carrying wire in a magnetic field.

 How to calculate the magnetic forces on loops of wire, and the resulting torque.

 Crossed E-fields and B-fields, and Thompson’s exit.

 How to find B and its direction at a distance form a long straight current carrying wire.

 How to find the magnetic force between two parallel current carrying wires, one of which is very long.

 Ampere’s law and Lenz’s law

 How to find the EMF induced in loops of wire that are simply moving through a field, and those that are rotating in it, in loops whose area is changing, and in static loops and straight wires in which B is changing at a constant rate, and in long straight wires that are moving a constant speed through a uniform magnetic field.

 Use Lenz’s law, Ampere’s law, Ohm’s law and Newton’s laws to relate B, v, R ,induced EMF in order to determine the power output of one side of a wire loop cutting B-field at a constant rate.

Experiments;

1. Make a very simple ‘paper clip’ permanent magnet DC motor. 2. Make a very simple ‘rail-gun’.

Unit 10 Waves and Sound; The students will understand…

 The characteristics of transverse and longitudinal waves.

 The reflection of waves from fixed and free ends, and the law of reflection.

 How to relate wave velocity, frequency and wavelength.

 Introduction to refraction, diffraction, and polarization.

 Understand interference, and so understand how interference can result in beats and standing waves.

 Understand how sounds can be produced by strings and columns of air, and how to predict the fundamentals and their overtones, and the difference between ‘noise’ and ‘music’, also loudness and amplitude.

 The Doppler effect, and how to use it to predict the frequency heard by moving and stationary listeners.

 The production of electromagnetic waves, and the electromagnetic spectrum.

 Young’s slits expt, diffraction grating, and single slit diffraction patterns, and how to predict the position of maxima and minima in a screen.

 Thin film interference and be able to predict maxima and minima in various thickness of media ( parallel and non-parallel interfaces) sandwiched between various media.

Experiments;

1. Construct a one tube or one string instrument and predict the fundamental wavelength and frequency produced in air.

2. Find the wavelength of a red laser beam using a diffraction grating.

Unit 11 Geometric optics;

 The rectilinear propagation of light, and the pinhole camera

 Refractive index of one medium relative to another.

 How to predict the path of light through various interfaces and plane mirrors set at various angles to each other.

(5)

 How refraction makes lenses ‘work’.

 How images are formed by thin lenses and spherical mirrors, the lens maker’s equation, and how to predict the size, position, orientation and nature of an image.

 Magnification.

 Two lens systems such as the refracting telescope and a simple microscope.

 Critical angle and total internal reflection. Experiments;

1. Finding the refractive index and critical angle of flint glass right triangular prism using a ray-box, pins, ruler, protractor.

2. Finding the focal length of a lens using parallel rays of light and by image formation.

Unit 12 Modern Physics;

 Assumptions made about the atom before Planck, Thompson, Millikan and Rutherford.

 Recap Thompson’s and Millikan’s expt, and the basics of waves.

 The photon and E= hf

 eV and the Joule.

 The photoelectric effect; work function, threshold frequency, stopping potential, KE of ejected electron, and their inter-relation.

 How to find Planck’s const, the threshold frequency and the work function from an energy-frequency graph.

 How atomic spectra are produced.

 How to calculate energy emitted or absorbed when electron changes energy level.

 Production and detection of X-rays.

 The Compton effect.

 The Davisson-Germer experiment.

 DeBroglies eqn. and the dual nature of light and matter.

 The structure of the nucleus, and the properties it’s constituents.

 Apply E= mc2, and understand it’s effect upon the world politically, societally, and economically

 Alpha, beta and gamma radiation; their absorption, detection, production, speeds.

 Simple nuclear transformations

 The basics of fission and fusion.

Labs

Labs are generally open-ended. Students are given an objective, e.g. “Determine the coefficient of static friction of wood on wood”, and standard materials – string, ruler, protractor, mass set, light pulley, etc. Students are allowed to create their own experimental design, but ultimately most of the lab designs must lead to the collection of data that can be analyzed through graphical methods.

Students must graph by hand using a ruler and graph paper, but are encouraged to check their work with a spread- sheet or statistical functions on their graphing calculators. Students work in pairs, but each student must submit a lab report which is turned in the day after the conclusion of each activity, then graded and returned. The report design and format is left up to the student, but generally each report should include:

 a statement of the problem,

 an hypothesis,

 a discussion or outline of how the procedure will be carried out,

 the data recorded,

 a discussion or outline of how the data was analyzed, and

 a conclusion including error analysis and topics for further study.