Physics PAP Syllabus Outline 2013-2014
Instructor: Claire Sauder
(in association with the Campus Grading Guidelines)
I. Description of Course
Physics is the science that deals with matter, energy, motion, and force. The five general areas studied include:
1. Newtonian mechanics
2. Thermal physics
3. Electricity and magnetism
4. Waves and optics
5. Atomic and nuclear physics
PAP Physics
First Semester Second Semester
Safety Torque
1-Dimensional Motion Impulse Momentum
Vectors Thermal Energy
1 & 2-Dimensional Forces Waves Sound
Universal Gravitation & Circular Motion Light, Mirrors, & Lenses
Work, Power, & Energy Electrostatics
Torque Current & Circuits
Electromagnetism
Modern Physics
II. Objectives: including Enduring Understanding, topics, and resources with textbook and online links
Topic: Introduction to Physics, Measurement, and Units
• People need a common language if we expect to communicate with each other.
• Words often have one meaning in everyday language and another, more specific meaning, in science.
• Models are a way to simplify our understanding of something that is too extreme to be studied under normal conditions.
• No experiment can ever be called a failure.
• The laws and theories of science are not “written in stone.”
Topic: One-Dimensional Kinematics
• An understanding of the concepts of motion broadens everyone’s lives.
• Words often have one meaning in everyday language and another, more specific meaning, in science.
• Motion can be depicted visually, most usefully through graphs.
• The slope and shape of a graph have meaning.
Topic: Free Fall
• Words often have one meaning in everyday language and another, more specific meaning, in science.
• The slope and shape of a graph have meaning.
• All objects in free fall experience the same acceleration.
• Velocity is motion, and acceleration is how motion changes.
• Free fall motion is symmetric about the midpoint.
Topic: Vectors and Newton’s Laws
• Words often have one meaning in everyday language and another, more specific meaning, in science.
• Vector addition is commutative.
• An object’s motion in one dimension can be treated independently of its motion in other dimensions.
• The slope and shape of a graph have meaning.
• An understanding of inertia, mass, and force broaden our everyday lives.
• Newton’s three Laws of Motion:
1. An object tends to maintain its current state of motion unless acted upon by an outside force.
2. The net force on an object determines its acceleration.
3. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. (Forces come in equal and opposite pairs that occur at the same time.)
• The motion of any object can be described as either equilibrium or not equilibrium.
• Friction is always present (we do not live in a perfect world).
Topic: Impulse and Momentum
• Law of Conservation of Momentum: The vector sum of all moments in a closed system is conserved.
Topic: Two-Dimensional Kinematics
• The slope and shape of a graph have meaning.
• An object’s motion in one dimension can be treated independently of its motion in other dimensions.
• All objects in free fall experience the same acceleration.
• Velocity is motion, and acceleration is how motion changes.
• Free fall motion is symmetric about the midpoint.
Topic: Work and Energy
• Words often have one meaning in everyday language and another, more specific meaning, in science.
• Law of Conservation of Energy: In general, energy cannot be created or destroyed – only transferred from one object to another or changed from one form to another.
• Mechanical energy is conserved when gravity (a conservative force) drives the system and friction is eliminated.
• Work done by, or against, gravity (or any conservative force) is path-independent.
• Objects have potential energy when they are in position or location that they do not “want to be.”
• Friction is always present (we do not live in a perfect world).
Topic: Circular Motion and Universal Gravitation
• Circular motion can be observed in all facets of nature; the properties we study in the classroom can be applied to all scales, from the smallest (atoms) to the largest (planets and stars).
• Law of Universal Gravitation: All objects attract all other objects with a force that depends on their masses and the distance of separation.
• Objects create gravitational fields; other objects interact with those fields.
• Gravity, though experienced every day in a very basic manner, is still not fully understood in terms of how it relates to the other fundamental interactions.
Topic: Vibrations, Waves, and Sound
• For a phenomenon to be considered a wave, it must exhibit all four of the defining properties:
reflection, refraction, diffraction, and interference.
• We encounter waves and wave-like phenomenon in many facets of our lives.
• The speed of a wave is determined by the medium through which it travels.
Topic: Light
• For a phenomenon to be considered a wave, it must exhibit all four of the defining properties:
reflection, refraction, diffraction, and interference.
• The speed of light is the ultimate speed limit in the Universe; as objects approach the speed of
light, space and time change around them.
• Light is the only thing we see.
• Light has a dual nature – it exhibits the properties of waves, but it sometimes acts like a
particle.
• Light is not just what we can see (visible); it is a whole range of radiation.
Topic: Electrostatics
• All matter is composed of atoms.
• Atoms are incredibly small, but they have a substructure to them, so there are particles smaller than the atom.
• Atoms are mostly empty space; understanding the spatial dimensions requires a major perspective change.
• Charge is a fundamental quantity that some objects have that let them interact with other objects that have charge.
• Law of Conservation of Charge: Charge can be neither created nor destroyed – only transferred.
• There are only four fundamental interactions in the Universe: gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear, and weak nuclear; scientists are trying to find similarities among them in an attempt to unify them and simplify our studies of them.
• Objects have potential energy when they are in position or location that they do not “want to be.”
Topic: Circuits
• Electricity is a form of energy that results from the motion of electric charges.
• An understanding of electricity is what makes all of our modern conveniences possible.
Topic: Magnetism
• Fields are how objects affect the space that surrounds them.
• Opposites attract; likes repel.
• Magnets are not electrically charged, but there are connections between electricity and
magnetism.
• The Earth acts like a bar magnet.
• There are no magnetic monopoles.
• There are connections between electricity and magnetism that impact our lives on a daily basis.
Topic: Heat and Thermodynamics
• Heat is not temperature.
• Gases follow the Laws of Thermodynamics:
1. If object A is in thermal equilibrium with object B and object B is in thermal equilibrium with object C, then object A is in thermal equilibrium with object C.
2. The change in internal energy of a system is the sum of the work done on that system plus the heat added into the system.
3. In any cyclical process, the amount of heat energy added in will never be equal to the amount of work done by the process; some will always be lost to unrecoverable forms of energy. Stated another way, the entropy of a system, left to itself, will always increase.
• Gases behave in predictable manners that allow us to use them to our advantage.
Topic: Atomic and Nuclear Physics
• Light has a dual nature – it exhibits the properties of waves, but it sometimes acts like a particle.
• Particles can act like waves.
• The Universe is stranger than our everyday experience shows us.
• The nucleus of an atom stores tremendous amounts of energy.
• Mass and energy are flip sides of the same coin.
• Law of Conservation of Mass-Energy: Mass-energy can be neither created nor destroyed – only transferred from one object to another or from one form to another.
Textbook resources, whether paper or electronic, as well as instructional links will be determined by the respective teacher.
III. Grading procedures including re-teach options and retest guidelines for major grades
Lectures consistently emphasize previous concepts. Students may choose to make test corrections per teacher directive.
Students with a test grade of less than 70% may qualify for a retesting option. The dates and times of such activities are to the teacher’s discretion.
IV. Grade Repair procedures
Teachers may allow the student to utilize Grade Repair. Grade Repair is a new program being offered in Klein ISD and therefore at Klein Collins High School. The program will use the same on-line computer system as Credit Recovery, currently being used at KC. The difference with Grade Repair is the program focuses on a six-week period rather than a full semester. In the past a student had to fail the entire semester before we could put them in the on-line course system. Therefore they were making up the entire semester, hence Credit Recovery.
The opportunity to start a student in the on-line course is at the end of each six-week period. The instructional officers at KIC have divided the coursework according to our district curriculum. As the student completes the on-line coursework for a given six-week period a grade change will be completed for the student, hence Grade Repair.
What students are eligible for Grade Repair?
Any student who received a six-weeks grade of 74 or below in any of the qualified courses along with teacher approval.
In order to receive teacher approval for Grade Repair, the teacher may consider, but is not limited to, the following: the student’s ability to pass for the semester, how much effort the student made during the grading period, his/her use of retesting opportunities, and his/her completion of make-up work.
If granted Grade Repair, the teacher may seek or require the intervention of the parent and/or counselor to discuss proper academic placement.
V. EOC information with dates of EOC and online links to more information where applicable
Physics EOC will be not be given this year.
VI. Tutoring times/places for extra help and/or office hours for dual credit courses
Tutoring will be offered after school most Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons from 2:30-3:30. Students may also meet with me before school by appointment only.
VII. Test days and exemptions information
The set test days for Physics are Tuesdays and Thursdays.
VIII. Teacher contact information
Mrs. C. Sauder Room 705 Email: 832-484-5367
Email is the best option to contact me. If you would like me to call you, please email me as opposed to leaving a voice mail. My conference period is from 8:30-9:00.
IX. Required & suggested supplies
Student Laptop, Scientific calculator, Spiral with Pocket, Writing Tool
Signature______Date______
Klein ISD Curriculum and Instruction August 2013