Mr. Brown's AP Physics C (Mechanics)

Course Details

AP Physics C (Mechanics) consists of a full high school academic year of work that is comparable to a one semester physics courses taught in colleges and universities. The Physic C course ordinarily forms the first part of the college sequence that serves as the foundation in physics for students majoring in engineering or the physical sciences. The sequence is parallel to or is preceded by mathematics courses that include calculus.

Textbook

Halliday, David, Robert Resnick and Jean Walker, Fundamentals of Physics (5th Ed.), 1997, New York: John Wiley and Sons.

Philosophy

Advanced Placement Physics C is primarily concerned with preparing the student for the Advanced Placement Examination in Physics C (Mechanics) administered each May by the College Board by developing the students' understanding of the concepts of physics and providing experiences with its methods and applications. Strong emphasis is placed on solving a variety of challenging problems, many requiring calculus.

The teaching and learning of physics in this course will center on the scientific method of inquiry. Demonstrations will be used to introduce topics and stimulate thought about physical phenomena. These demonstrations are intended to lead to classroom discussion. Specific questions related to the demonstration will be posed and students will be guided to find solutions using various physical principles (Newton’s laws, conservation of energy, etc.). Whenever possible, results will be verified through further demonstration. Laboratory investigations will focus on making observations (measurements), organizing observations in such a way as to make sense of them (organizing data in tables, plotting data graphically, finding curves of best-fit, etc.), developing theories based on observation and then testing those theories by further experimentation. An in depth analysis of errors and uncertainties (both random and systematic) will be emphasized. Written reports are required for each laboratory investigation.

It is expected that all students who take this AP course will seek college credit, advanced placement, or both, from institutions of higher learning by sitting for and passing the Advanced Placement Examination. Students will keep a notebook of all laboratory reports as evidence of their laboratory experience.

Objectives

In this course, basic knowledge of the discipline of physics is emphasized, including its theories, techniques and generalizing principles. The student’s ability to ask physical questions and obtain solutions to physical questions using intuition, experimentation and formal logic is developed through a variety of problem solving opportunities. The overall goal is to foster students’ appreciation, curiosity, creativity and reasoned skepticism of the physical world and the way it works.

1. Students should be able to read, understand and interpret physical information presented in verbal, mathematical and graphical form.

2. Students should be able to describe and explain the sequence of steps in the analysis of a particular physical phenomenon or problem, including:

Describe the idealized model to be used in the analysis, including simplifying assumptions where necessary.
State the principles or definitions that are applicable.
Specify relevant limitations on applications of these principles.
Carry out and describe the steps of the analysis, verbally or mathematically.
Interpret the results or conclusions, including discussion of the particular cases of special interest.

3. Students should be able to use basic mathematical reasoning – arithmetic, algebraic, geometric, trigonometric or calculus, where appropriate – in a physical situation or problem.

4. Students should be able to perform experiments and interpret the results of observations, including making an assessment of experimental uncertainties.

Class Content

The rest of the class content will be housed on a Learning Management System (LMS) hosted by Power School Learning. Access to this site is limited to those that are currently in the class. If you wish to gain access to the course please email me.