Physics C: Mechanics 2007 - 2008 Brief Description of Course AP Physics - C Mechanics is taught on an A/B block schedule over two semesters. Classes meet for 82 minutes per block. Once per week, an extended period of 120 minutes is available for laboratory work. Calculus is a pre/co-requisite for enrollment in AP Physics C Mechanics as students are expected to use both differential and integral calculus to solve many of the problems throughout the course. The use and development of critical thinking skills is key in both the curricular study as it relates to problem solving skills and to the laboratory work, especially in relation to practical lab design and research. Laboratory work constitutes approximately 25% of the available classroom time. Students are required to keep a soft bound laboratory notebook with all of their laboratory work (data colletion, research notes, and lab reports). All laboratory work involves student manipulation of equipement, such as CBLs, photogates, maglev tracks, to collect and analyze data. Where appropriate, laboratory work follows a guided inquiry apporach that afords students the opportunity to discover for themselves the relationships between various measurable quantities, and later compare their relationships to those known to exist. The overall goals of the laboratory experience are as follows: 1. to enable students to think analytically and to identify problem appropriate for research 2. to enable student to make appropriate conclusions, based on experimental evidence, and to show evidence of both reliability and valididty of data 3. to enable students to design and test their own procedure sets for certain lab work and evaluate their own planning 4. to provide students with an opportunity to do technical writing to communicate their data, results, and findings 5. to provide students with the opportunity to manipulate experimental data, and to evaluate that data during and after the experiment 6. to aford students the opportunity to evaluate source of error, examine how those sources of error could affect results, and make suggestions for improving results 7. to allow students the opportunity to make suggestions on further areas of study that could build upon or enhance the work they have completed. This mix of student-centered and guided inquiry methods in the laboratory culminates in a student created research project during the second semester. In those design labs students select their own area of study, within mechanics, and design and perform their own research project.

Unit Information Unit Name or Timeframe: Unit 1 Measurement (1 week) Content and/or Skills Taught: - units and dimensional analysis - unit conversions - significant figures Major Assignments and/or Assessments: Lab - Lab safety review and equipment practical Lab - Using Vernier Software for data analysis Unit Name or Timeframe: Unit 2 One dimensional motion (3 weeks)

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Content and/or Skills Taught: - algebraic kinematic equations - calculus based expressions and calculations for position, velocity, and acceleration - assigning values to constants of integration - free fall/constant acceleration Major Assignments and/or Assessments: Lab - Kinematic carts and accleration Lab - Acceleration due to gravity (free fall data lab) Design Lab - One dimensional motion Unit Name or Timeframe: Unit 3 Vectors and coordinate systems (2 weeks) Content and/or Skills Taught: - coordinate systems, cartesian and polar - vector and scalar quantities - mathematical operations on vectors, add/subtract and scalar multiple - unit vectors and unit vector notation Major Assignments and/or Assessments: Lab - Orienteering Unit Name or Timeframe: Unit 4 Two dimensional motion (2 weeks) Content and/or Skills Taught: - average and instantaneous values for velocity and acceleration - two dimensional motion with constant acceleration - projectile motion - derivations of range and max height equations - uniform circular motion - tangential, radial, and total acceleration - relative velocity and acceleration Major Assignments and/or Assessments: Lab - Water balloons and projectile motion Lab design - Two dimensional motion Unit Name or Timeframe: Uint 5 Laws of Motion (3 weeks) Content and/or Skills Taught: - concept of force, force units - inertial frames of reference - Newton’s Laws of Motion - 2nd law applications for single bodies - 2nd law applications for a system of particles - weight and weight vectors - 3rd law applications for single bodies - 3rd law applications for a system of particles - equilibrium and forces

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Major Assignments and/or Assessments: Lab - Coefficients of friction Unit Name or Timeframe: Unit 6 Circular Motion and Newton’s Laws Applications (2 weeks) Content and/or Skills Taught: - Uniform circular motion - Nonuniform circular motion - Motion in accelerated frames - Motion under resistive forces Major Assignments and/or Assessments: Lab - Centripetal Acceleration and Force Unit Name or Timeframe: Unit 7 Work, Power, and Energy (3 weeks) Content and/or Skills Taught: - scalar product of vectors - work done by constant and varying force - work and linerar/nonlinear springs - kinetic energy and work-energy theorem (including friction in a system) - Average and instantaneous power - conservative and nonconservative forces - gravitational and elastic potential energy - work done by nonconservative forces - general energy conservation applications - conservative forces and potential energy (calculus relations) Major Assignments and/or Assessments: Lab - Roller Coaster models and conservation of Energy Lab design - Amusement Park Physics Unit Name or Timeframe: Unit 8 Linear Momentum and Collisions (2weeks) Content and/or Skills Taught: - Linear momemtum of a particle - Linear momentum of a system of particles - Impulse and momentum - conservation of momentum - collisions (elastic/inelastic) - two dimensional collisions - center of mass calculation for objects - center of mass calculation for a system of objects - motion for a system of particles Major Assignments and/or Assessments: Lab - One dimensional collisions Lab - Analyzing two dimensional collisions Lab - Ballistic Pendulum

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Unit Name or Timeframe: Unit 9 Rotation (2 weeks) Content and/or Skills Taught: - rotation of rigid bodies about a fixed axis - angular displacement, velocity, acceleration - relationships to linear quantities - angular kinematics and dynamics - rotational energy, work, and power - moment of inertia calculations (calculus derivations) - parallel axis theorem - torque and angular acceleration Major Assignments and/or Assessments: Lab design - research topic Unit Name or Timeframe: Unit 10 Rolling Motion Content and/or Skills Taught: - rolling motion for rigid objects - total mechanical energy (potential, rotational and translational kinetic) and center of mass kinematics and dynamics - vector products and torque - Angular momentum and conservation of angular momentum Major Assignments and/or Assessments: Lab - Calculating Moments of Inertia from energy conservation Lab design - research procedure Unit Name or Timeframe: Unit 11 Static Equilibrium (2 weeks) Content and/or Skills Taught: - net force/torque and static equilibrium conditions - center of mass for irregular objects - applying conditions of equilibrium to solve problems Major Assignments and/or Assessments: Lab - Torque and Center of Gravity Unit Name or Timeframe: Unit 12 Oscillatory Motion (2 weeks) Content and/or Skills Taught: - simple harmonic motion and periodic motion - mathematical representation of simple harmonic oscillators - position, velocity, and acceleration functions for simple harmonic oscillators - mass-spring systems - energy of simple harmonic oscillators - simple pendulum and physical pendulum

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Major Assignments and/or Assessments: Lab design - research data Unit Name or Timeframe: Unit 13 Gravity and Satellite Motion (2 weeks) Content and/or Skills Taught: - law of universal gravitation - measuring the gravitational constant and calculating acceleration due to gravity - Kepler’s laws - circular and elliptical orbits - angular momentum and planetary motion - gravitational potential energy - force/energy relations - energy considerations in satellite motion - escape velocities Major Assignments and/or Assessments:

Textbooks Title:Physics: For Scientists and Engineers (Saunders Go Publisher: Harcourt Published Date: September, 1999 Author: Raymond A. Serway Second Author: Robert J. Beichner Description:

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