Physics Timeline
Forces and Motion
 Distance, Time, Speed and Velocity
o Variables, units (examples), how to measure, measuring practice
 Rulers, stopwatches, calculators
o ‘4 steps’ to solving problems
-----Quiz---- Acceleration
o Direction, fraction dropping, stoplight activity, ‘speed each second’ practice
o Gravity (g) and terminal velocity
 Force- push or pull
o Mass vs. weight. “the amount of ‘stuff’”. Newtons unit. Slanted books mass pull w/
spring scales. Book push with probeware.
o Net force- practice sheet. Balanced vs. unbalanced. Tug O War.
-----Quiz---- Newtons Laws
o 1st- ‘Object in motion tends to stay in motion…’
 ‘Frictionless’. Zero force = zero acceleration not zero velocity
nd
o 2 - ‘F=ma’
 Shopping cart full of bricks. Practice problems.
rd
o 3 - ‘Equal and opposite forces…’
 Force subscripts- Fcar on wall – practice sheet
 Why is there acceleration if all forces are always opposed?
 The forces act on different things!
-----Quiz---- Circular Motion
o Centripetal force (Fc ) always points toward center of curvature
o Fc is always perpendicular to tangential velocity (vt) – practice sheet
o Gravitational force (Fg) always points toward center of mass – practice sheet
o If net force (Fc and/or Fg)on same side as vt, = acceleration, opposite side = deceleration,
perpendicular = no acceleration
-----Test----Energy and Momentum
 Potential energy equation
o Determined by mass and height
 Mass vs. weight!
 Practice problems.
 Kinetic energy equation
o Determined by mass and speed/velocity
 Speed buggy measure and calc
 Practice problems.
-----Quiz---- Conservation of energy
o Total mechanical energy = PE + KE = always conserved (lie)
o Falling object problems.
-----Test-----

Momentum
o ‘Mass in motion’. Practice problems.
 Conservation of momentum
o Collisions
 Elastic- ‘objects separate after collision’- problems.
 Type of collision, not a kind of material!
 billiards
 Inelastic- ‘ objects combine/attach/stick/join after collision’- problems
 Train cars, magnets, gum, clay, mud, arrow, bullet
-----Quiz---------Test----Thermodynamics
 Work- transfer of energy through use of force
o Must move a distance or no work done (pushing on a wall, pinkie on table)
o Joules unit
o Power is rate of work- Watts unit.
-----Quiz---- Thermal energy (heat) as KE of molecules
o States of matter, temperature scales F, C and K. 273 degree shift. Absolute zero.
o Heat transfer is always hot to cold unless outside work is performed. – heat boxes sheet
 Heat engines
o High temp energy [in], low temp energy and work [out]. Total energy in = total energy out
o Steam engine, car engine, humans.
-----Quiz---- Entropy- measure of disorder
o Sticks activity. High/low entropy states- examples: silverware drawer, jar of pennies,
perfume bottle, relative entropies of different energy forms (“fits in a bucket = ordered”).
o Time increases entropy of a system
 ‘Whatever happens if you wait = the one with more entropy’
 Rocks to sand, ice to water, coal/electricity to heat
-----Test----Waves
 Wave parts vocabulary. Crest, Trough, Amplitude, Midpoint/Equilibrium line
o Draw and label parts. “paper pull’ activity.
 Wave speed calculations (v, λ, f, T).
o String/washer pendulums. Newton’s cradle. Measure λ, T : Calc f, v
-----Quiz---- Transverse vs Longitudinal- Label crest/trough/amplitude for each
o Slinkys. Dominoes. Rope. Wave tape(straws). ‘The Wave’ around class. ‘line bump’.
Water ripples. Sound. Light.
o Mediums. Wave direction vs medium direction. Perpendicular/Parallel.
 Mediums and effect on wave speed.
o Speed of light in vacuum, speed of sound in vacuum. Hot/Cold effect. States of matter
effect.
-----Quiz---- EM Spectrum, examples of each, order by energy/wavelength/frequency, sourch and detector,
materials/ways to block signal
-----Test---- Wave properties
o Interference- xylophone beats, combining waves sheet/blocks, transparency dot strips
o Diffraction- Spectroscopes with different light sources (candle, blacklight, colored light,
element tubes
o Refraction- ruler/beaker/water activity, flashlight rainbow, prisms
o Doppler effect- buzzer in ball, radar gun, train, siren, tuning fork by ear
 Different than change in amplitude!
o Polarization- ropes in quadrat, polarizing film squares? [transverse only]
-----Quiz---------Test----Electricity and Magnetism
 Electric circuits
o Building simple circuits of wires, batteries, bulbs, resistors (& capacitors)- Springboards
w/ 9V batteries
o Diagrams- straight sides, right angle corners
o Series and Parallel circuits- effect on voltage and therefore intensity of light bulb
o Short circuits (waste energy), Fuses (steel wool wires)
 Ohm’s Law- V = IR
o Measure some, calc others
-----Quiz---- Electrostatics
o Charge- positive and negative, attraction/repulsion
 Conduction and Induction of charges
 Induction- balloon affects: water stream, cans, confetti
o Discharge- lightning, Van de Graf generator, ball wand, snake wand, shocks
-----Quiz---- Magnetism
o North and South, attraction/repulsion, Domains, magnetizing a nail, 3D filings & cow
magnet, ‘magic’ tricks/anti-gravity
o Induction- how refrigerator magnets work
-----Quiz---- Fields
o Magnets cause current, Current causes magnetism
 Make electromagnets, effect of coils, effect of more voltage
o Right-hand rule
-----Test----Review semester topics
-----Final-----