AP Physics B Course Syllabus

Name of School: Johns Creek High School

Name of Teacher: Tim Maley

Academic Year: 2009-2010

Course Goals and Overview

The AP Physics B course is a first-year physics course for advanced high-school students. The course is designed to be equivalent to a year-one college physics survey course. The course emphasizes development of critical thinking skills through solving a variety of physics problems focused on Newtonian Mechanics, Electricity & Magnetism, Wave Motion & Optics, and Atomic & Nuclear Physics. The AP Physics B curriculum has incredible breadth and depth. Students in the course are strongly encouraged to form study groups with other AP Physics B students to work through assigned problems outside of class hours. The course also includes a hands-on laboratory component similar to the experience the students will gain in a college-level physics course.

By the end of the course, each student should possess the skills to

·  Mathematically analyze problems by applying reasoning skills developed over the course.

·  Design and conduct experiments to qualitatively and quantitatively analyze phenomena of the world around us.

·  Understand the connections of physics to other disciplines and societal issues

General Curricular Requirements

Content requirement emphasizes:

1.  Newtonian Mechanics

2.  Electricity & Magnetism

3.  Waves & Optics

4.  Atomic & Nuclear

Time Requirement

1.  At least 250 minutes per week, based on a 55-minute class session 5x/week, 180 sessions.

2.  A minimum of one lab per unit or major subject.

3.  Students should spend at least 5 hours a week in individual/group study outside of the classroom.

School Resource Requirements

·  A college-level physics textbook for the teacher and each student

o  Text: Physics, Walker; 3rd Ed. Pearson Ed/Prentice Hall, 2007

·  Access to the AP Physics Teacher’s Guide and the AP Physics B Released Exams (College Board).

·  Access to materials, equipments, and time adequate to conduct college-level physics investigations.

Student Resource Requirements

·  Scientific calculators are required, graphing calculators are strongly recommended.

Grading Policy:

There will be five different types of assignments for this class: recommended problems, free response problem sets, labs, unit tests, and a final exam. Recommended problems will be given for each topic/unit, some as daily homework and some as review problems prior to each unit test. The daily homework will not be collected for a grade, but it is to your advantage to work through the problems prior to the next class session. Free response assignments cover problems concerning the current and past units. These assignments are to be completed outside regular school-hours and turned in for a grade. The format for lab reports and the lab notebook will be given in another hand out prior to the first laboratory experiment. Students will need to keep their reports in a composition book. Tests are cumulative and will be given at the end of each unit. The final grade for the course will be determined using the following scale and weights.

Scale Weights

A 90 - 100 Class & Lab Work 30%

B 80 - 89 Tests 50% C 70 - 79 Final 20%

F 0 - 69

General Course of Study

Unit / Text Chapter(s) / % of the AP Physics B Exam / Approximate Timeline
Unit 1: Kinematics (Velocity and Acceleration) / 1-3 / 7% / 3 weeks
Unit 2: Dynamics (Forces) / 4 / 9% / 2 weeks
Unit 3: Centripetal Force, Universal Gravitation, Torque / 4-5 / 4% / 2 weeks
Unit 4: Momentum, Work, Energy, Power
/ 6-7 / 9% / 3 weeks
Unit 5: Fluids, Simple Harmonic Motion (Springs & Pendulums)
/ 10-11 / 12% / 2 weeks
Unit 6: Thermal
/ 12-15 / 9% / 2 weeks
Unit 7: Electrostatics and Electric Potential
/ 18-19 / 9% / 2 weeks
Unit 8: Current Electricity (DC current and RC circuits)
/ 20 / 7% / 2 weeks
Unit 9: Magnetism
/ 21 / 4% / 2 weeks
Unit 10: Electromagnetism
/ 22 / 5% / 2 weeks
Unit 11: Wave Motion and Sound
/ 16-17 / 5% / 1 weeks
Unit 12: Light and Optics
/ 24-26 / 5% / 2 weeks
Unit 13: Wave Diffraction and Interference
/ 27 / 5% / 1 weeks
Unit 14: Atomic and Nuclear Physics
/ 29-32 / 10% / 3 weeks
Course Review (for the AP Physics B exam)
/ ~4 weeks

Specific Course Objectives / Percentage on the AP Physics B Exam

I.  Newtonian mechanics (35%)

  1. Kinematics (including vectors, vector algebra, components of vectors, coordinate systems, displacement, velocity, and acceleration) (7%)
  2. Motion in one dimension
  3. Motion in two dimensions, including projectile motion

B.  Newton's laws of motion (including friction and centripetal force) (9%)

1.  Static equilibrium (first law)

2.  Dynamics of a single particle (second law)

3.  Systems of two or more bodies (third law)

C.  Work, energy, power (5%)

1.  Work and work-energy theorem

2.  Conservative forces and potential energy

3.  Conservation of energy

4.  Power

D.  Systems of particles, linear momentum (4%)

1.  Impulse and momentum

2.  Conservation of linear momentum, collisions

E.  Circular motion and rotation (4%)

1.  Uniform circular motion

2.  Torque and rotational statics

F.  Oscillations and gravitation (6%)

1.  Simple harmonic motion (dynamics and energy relationships)

2.  Mass on a spring

3.  Pendulum and other oscillations

4.  Newton's law of gravity

5.  Circular orbits of planets and satellites

II.  Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Physics (15%)

A.  Fluid Mechanics (6%)

1.  Hydrostatic pressure

2.  Buoyancy

3.  Fluid flow continuity

4.  Bernoulli's equation

B.  Temperature and heat (2%)

1.  Mechanical equivalence of heat

2.  Specific and latent heat (including calorimetry)

3.  Heat transfer and thermal expansion

C.  Kinetic theory and thermodynamics (7%)

1.  Ideal gases

2.  Kinetic model

3.  Ideal gas law

4.  Laws of thermodynamics

5.  First law (including processes on pV diagrams)

6.  Second law (including heat engines)

III.  Electricity and magnetism (25%)

A.  Electrostatics (5%)

1.  Charge, field, and potential

2.  Coulomb's law and field and potential of point charges

3.  Fields and potentials of planar charge distributions

B.  Conductors, capacitors (4%)

1.  Electrostatics with conductors

2.  Parallel plate capacitors

C.  Electric circuits (7%)

1.  Current, resistance, power

2.  Steady-state direct current circuits with batteries and resistors only

3.  Capacitors in steady-state circuits

D.  Magnetism (4%)

1.  Forces on moving charges in magnetic fields

2.  Forces on current-carrying wires in magnetic fields

3.  Fields of long current-carrying wires

E.  Electromagnetism (5%)

1.  Electromagnetic Induction (Faraday’s/Lens’s Laws)

IV.  Waves and optics (15%)

A.  Wave motion (including sound) (5%)

1.  Properties of traveling waves

2.  Properties of standing waves

3.  Doppler effect

4.  Superposition

B.  Physical optics (5%)

1.  Interference and diffraction

2.  Dispersion of light and the electromagnetic spectrum

C.  Geometric optics (5%)

1.  Reflection and refraction

2.  Mirrors

  1. Lenses

V.  Atomic and Nuclear Physics (10%)

A.  Atomic physics and quantum effects (7%)

1.  Photons and the photoelectric effect

2.  Atomic energy levels

3.  Wave-particle duality

B.  Nuclear physics (3%)

1.  Nuclear reactions (including conservation of mass number and charge)

  1. Mass-energy equivalence

Laboratory Investigations/Demos

The following table represents the main labs/demos that are meant to provide an understanding of the major themes that will be covered in AP Physics B. Students conduct hands-on laboratory activities and write up a lab report of the lab and their results in their lab composition book. Particular attention is paid to analysis of data. Precision and accuracy are used to evaluate confidence in results. Each lab report will include the following:

·  Problem/question

·  Hypothesis

·  Experimental procedure

·  Data/observations

·  Calculations

·  Conclusion and error analysis

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Laboratory Activity
* = 1 class session
** = 2 sessions / Description
*Determining the instantaneous velocity of a cart on an incline (CBL’s) / Experimentally determining the instantaneous velocity of a cart by plotting average velocity about a point vs. delta t.
*Projectile Motion (CBL’s) / Using range calculations to predict the point of impact of a projectile.
*Motion graphs (CBL’s) / Using a motion probe and student motion to duplicate various graphs of position or velocity vs. time.
*Acceleration down an incline / Experimentally determining the value of g by timing the motion of a cart on an incline.
Law of Inertia TEACHER DEMO / Demo showing the idea of inertia
*Newton’s second law (CBL’s) / Verifying Newton’s second law by calculation the acceleration of a cart attached to a hanging mass.
*Friction (CBL’s) / Experimentally determining the value of the coefficient of friction for different surfaces
*Uniform Circular Motion / Determining the centripetal force acting on a known hanging mass (motorized airplane) undergoing uniform circular motion.
*Conservation of linear momentum / Verification of the law of conservation of momentum by analyzing explosions and collisions involving carts
*Spring Constant/Density of Fluids (a dual purpose lab) / Experimentally determining the spring constant of a spring and then using that to experimentally determine the density of a fluid by hanging various known-volume masses on the end of the spring suspended in the fluid.
*Simple harmonic motion / Verify the period of a simple harmonic oscillator by examining a mass on a spring
*Conservation of energy / Verifying the law of conservation of energy by relating the initial spring potential energy of a cart to its final gravitational potential energy
*Static electricity / Investigating the properties of charges
**Introductory circuits & Ohm’s Law / Introduction to circuits and the digital multi-meter and experimentally determining the value of resistors.
*Mapping electric fields / Using a voltmeter and conductive paper to map the electric field around a charged conductor
*Circuits / Investigation of the properties of series and parallel circuits with resistors and capacitors
*Magnetic field mapping / Mapping the magnetic field around magnets and current carrying wires
Electromagnetic Induction TEACHER DEMO / Demos showing motional emf
*Wave Properties / Using a slinky to model the wave properties of waves.
*Resonance & the Speed of Sound in Air / Experimentally determining the speed of sound in air.
*Snell’s Law / Experimentally determining the index of refraction of water
*Image formation in spherical lenses / Experimentally determining the center of curvature of different lenses.
*Diffraction of electromagnetic waves / Experimentally determining the wavelength of red, green, and blue light from the interference pattern generated by a diffraction grating

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