GLEN RIDGE
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Curriculum
Guide
Course Title: Advanced
Placement Physics B
Subject: Science
Grade Level: 12
Department/School: Science
/ High School
Duration: Full
Year
Number of Credits: 6.00
Prerequisite: Physics Honors
with a grade of “B” or higher, teacher recommendation and completion of summer
assignment
Elective or Required: Elective
Author: Michael Dancho
Date Submitted: Summer 2004
Course Description
This fast-paced AP Physics course
is designed for a highly motivated student with strong mathematical ability who
intends to take the Advanced Placement
Physics B examination which is
administered by The College Board each year during the month of May. Currently, this course is a second-year
continuation of the Physics Honors course. Analytical methods involving
first-year college-level mathematics are emphasized throughout this
non-calculus course. As with most
physics courses, the understanding of basic principles and the development of
related problem solving skills are major components of this course!
The major
goal of this course is to prepare the student for the AP Physics B examination.
This course follows topics specifically outlined by The College Board. The course content will be modified as
The College Board publishes changes in the suggested curriculum.
Laboratory work suggested by The College Board for AP Physics B is performed and is designed to illustrate or to apply the physics principles studied.
This course will:
The
Our students will use the scientific method to understand and respond to questions about science, technology, and societal and world problems. Students will be challenged and encouraged to take risks and to develop critical thinking skills as they apply to real-world experiences.
Curriculum Description
Currently, the AP Physics B course is a continuation of the Physics Honors course. Therefore, this course actually begins where the material studied during the previous year’s Physics Honors course ends. This is the expected order of topics for study:
§
Fluid Mechanics
and Thermal Physics (6 weeks)
§ Atomic and Nuclear Physics (6 weeks)
§ AP Physics B Curriculum Review (18 weeks)
§
the AP Physics B Examination in May
§
Rotational Motion involving Rigid Bodies (5/6 weeks)
A. Kinematics
1. Motion in One Dimension
a) Students should understand the general
relationships among position, velocity, and acceleration for the motion of a
particle along a straight line so that given a graph of one of the kinematic
quantities, position, velocity, or accelerations, as a function of time, they
can recognize in what time intervals the
other two are positive, negative, or zero, and can identify or sketch a graph
of each as a function of time.
b) Students should understand the special case
of motion with constant acceleration so that they can:
(1) Write down expressions for velocity and
position as a function of time, and
identify or sketch graphs of these quantities.
(2) Use the equations v = vo + a t, s = so
+ vo t + ½ a t2, and
v2
= vo2 + 2a (s-so) to solve problems involving
one-dimensional motion with constant acceleration.
2. Motion in Two Dimensions
a) Students should know how to deal with
displacement and velocity vectors so they can:
(1) Relate velocity, displacement, and time for
motion with constant velocity.
(2) Calculate the component of a vector along a
specified axis, or resolve a vector into components along two specified
mutually perpendicular axes.
(3) Add vectors in order to find the net
displacement of a particle that undergoes successive straight-line
displacements.
(4) Subtract
displacement vectors in order to find the location of one particle relative to another, or calculate the
average velocity of a particle.
(5) Add or subtract velocity vectors in order to calculate the velocity change or average acceleration of a particle, or the velocity of one particle relative to another.
b) Students should understand the motion of
projectiles in a uniform gravitational field so they can:
(1) Write down expressions for the horizontal and
vertical components of velocity and position as functions of time, and sketch
or identify graphs of these components.
(2) Use these expressions in analyzing the motion
of a projectile that is projected above
level ground with a specified initial velocity.
1.
Static
Equilibrium (First Law)
a)
Students should be able to analyze situations in which
a particle remains at rest, or moves with constant velocity, under the
influence of several forces.
2.
Dynamics of
a Single Particle (Second Law)
a)
Students should understand the relation between the
force that acts on a body and the resulting change in the body’s velocity so
they can:
(1)
Calculate, for a body moving in one direction, the
velocity change that results when a constant force F acts over a specified time interval.
(2)
Determine, for a body moving in a plane whose velocity
vector undergoes a specified change over a specified time interval, the average
force that acted on it.
b) Students should understand how
(1) Draw a
well-labeled diagram showing all real forces that act on a body.
(2)
Write down the vector equation that results from
applying
c) Students should be able to analyze
situations in which a body moves with specified acceleration under the
influence of one or more forces so they can determine the magnitude and
direction of the net force, or of one of the forces that makes up the net
force, in situations such as the following:
(1)
Motion up and down with constant acceleration (in an
elevator, for example).
(2)
Motion in a horizontal circle (e.g. , mass on a
rotating merry-go-round, or a car rounding a banked curve).
(3)
Motion in a vertical circle (e.g. mass swinging on the
end of a string, cart rolling down a curved track, rider on a ferris wheel).
d)
Students should understand the significance of the
coefficient of friction so they can:
(1)
Write down the relationship between the normal and
frictional forces on a surface.
(2)
Analyze situations in which a body slides down a rough
inclined plane or is pulled or pushed across a rough surface.
(3) Analyze static situations involving friction to determine under what circumstances a body will start to slip, or to calculate the magnitude of the force of static friction.
3.
Systems of
Two or More Bodies (Third Law)
a)
Students should understand
b)
Students should be able to apply
c)
Students should know that the tension is constant in a
light string that passes over a massless pulley and should be able to use this
fact in analyzing the motion of a system of two bodies joined by a string.
C.
Work,
Energy, and Power
1. Work and Work-Energy Theorem
a) Students should understand the definition of
work so they can:
(1)
Calculate the work done by a specified constant force
on a body that undergoes a specified displacement.
(2)
Relate the work done by a force to the area under a
graph of force as a function of position, and calculate this work where the
force is a linear function of position.
(3)
Use the scalar product operation to calculate the work
performed by a specified constant force F
on a body that undergoes a displacement in a plane.
b)
Students should understand the work-energy theorem so
they can:
(1)
Calculate the change in kinetic energy or speed that
results from performing a specified amount of work on a body.
(2)
Calculate the work performed by the net force, or by
each of the forces that makes up the net force, on a body that undergoes a
specified change in speed or kinetic energy.
(3)
Apply the theorem to determine the change in a body’s
kinetic energy and speed that results from the application of specified forces,
or to determine the force that is required to bring the body to rest in a
specified distance.
2. Conservative Forces and
Potential Energy
Students
should understand the concept of potential energy so they can:
(1)
Write an expression for the force exerted by an ideal
spring and for the potential energy stored in a stretched or compressed spring.
(2)
Calculate the potential energy of a single body in a
uniform gravitational field.
3. Conservation of Energy
Students should understand conservation
of energy so they can:
(1)
Identify situations in which mechanical energy is or is
not conserved.
(2)
Apply conservation of energy in analyzing the motion
of bodies that are moving in a
gravitational field and are subject to constraints imposed by strings or
surfaces.
(3) Apply conservation of energy in analyzing the motion of bodies that move under the influence of springs.
4. Power
a)
Students should understand the definition of power so
that they can:
(1)
Calculate the power required to maintain the motion of
a body with constant velocity (e.g., to move a body along a level surface, to
raise a body at a constant rate, or to overcome friction for a body that is
moving at constant speed).
(2)
Calculate the work performed by a force that supplies
constant power, or the average power supplied by a force that performs a
specified amount of work.
D.
Systems of
Particles, Linear Momentum
1.
Impulse and
Momentum
Students should understand
impulse and linear momentum so they can:
(1)
Relate mass, velocity, and linear momentum for a moving
body, and calculate the total linear momentum of a system of bodies.
(2)
Relate impulse to the change in linear momentum and the
average force acting on a body.
2.
Conservation
of Linear Momentum, Collisions
Students should understand linear
momentum conservation so they can:
(1)
Identify situations in which linear momentum, or a
component of the linear momentum vector, is conserved.
(2)
Apply linear momentum conservation to determine final
velocity when two bodies that are moving along the same line, or at right
angles, collide and stick together, and calculate how much kinetic energy is
lost in such a situation.
(3)
Analyze collisions of particles in one and two
dimensions to determine unknown masses or velocities, and calculate how much
kinetic energy is lost in a collision.
E. Circular Motion and Rotation
1.
Uniform
Circular Motion
Students should understand the
uniform circular motion of a particle so that they can:
(1)
Relate the radius of the circle and the speed or rate
of revolution of the particle to the magnitude of the centripetal acceleration.
(2)
Describe the direction of the particle’s velocity and
acceleration at any instant during the motion.
(3)
Determine the components of the velocity and
acceleration vectors at any instant, and sketch or identify graphs of these
quantities.
2.
Angular Momentum
(of a particle) and Its Conservation
Students should understand
angular momentum so they can:
(1) Recognize the conditions under which the law of conservation is applicable and relate this law to one- and two-particle systems such as satellite orbits.
3.
Torque and
Rotational Statics
a)
Students should understand the concept of torque so
they can:
(1)
Calculate the magnitude and sense of the torque
associated with a given force.
(2)
Calculate the torque on a rigid body due to gravity.
b)
Students should be able to analyze problems in statics
so they can:
(1)
State the conditions for translational and rotational
equilibrium of a rigid body.
(2)
Apply these conditions in analyzing the equilibrium of
a rigid body under the combined influence of a number of coplanar forces applied
at different locations.
F.
Oscillations
1.
Students should
understand the kinematics of
simple harmonic motion so they can:
a)
Sketch or identify a graph of displacement as a
function of time, and determine from such a graph the amplitude, period, and
frequency of the motion.
b)
Write down an appropriate expression for displacement
of the form A sin w
t or A cos w t to describe the motion.
c)
Identify points in the motion where the velocity is
zero or achieves its maximum positive or negative value.
d)
State qualitatively the relation between acceleration
and displacement.
e)
Identify points in the motion where the acceleration is
zero or achieves its greatest positive or negative value.
f) State qualitatively the relation between
frequency and period.
g) State how the total energy of an oscillating
system depends on the amplitude of the motion, sketch or identify a graph of
kinetic energy or potential energy as a function of time, and identify points
in the motion where this energy is all potential
or all kinetic.
h) Calculate the kinetic and potential energies
of an oscillating system as functions of time, sketch or identify graphs of
these functions, and prove that the sum of the kinetic and potential energy is
constant.
2.
Students should
be able to apply their knowledge of simple
harmonic motion to the case of a mass on a spring, so they can apply the expression for the period of oscillation
of a mass on a spring.
3.
Students should
be able to apply their knowledge of simple
harmonic motion to the case of a pendulum, so they can
a)
Apply the expression for the period of a simple
pendulum.
b)
State what approximation must be made in deriving the
period.
G. Gravitation
1.
Students should
know Newton’s Law of Universal
Gravitation so they can:
a) Determine
the force that one spherically symmetrical mass exerts on another.
b) Determine the strength of the gravitational field at a specified point outside a spherically symmetrical mass.
2.
Students should
understand the motion of a body
in orbit under the influence of
gravitational forces so they can:
a) For
a circular orbit:
(1)
Recognize that the motion does not depend on the body’s
mass; describe qualitatively how the velocity, period of revolution, and
centripetal acceleration depend upon the radius of the orbit; and derive
expressions for the velocity and period of revolution in such an orbit.
b) For
a general orbit:
(1)
Apply conservation of angular momentum to determine the
velocity and radial distance at any point in the orbit.
(2) Apply angular momentum cons