AP Physics 1 Summer Assignment
Skinny Notebook
Throughout the semester, we will be keeping a “skinny notebook”. A notebook with concise notes and
examples that we will make for each unit and that you will be able to bring to college as a good source
to remember things from the course.
The notebook will be handwritten and kept in a composition notebook. The first page will be a table of
contents. There will be about 50 topics all together.
Your assignment this summer is to make the first chapter of this skinny notebook. The title of the
chapter is Science Measurements and the pages will be:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
International system of units (SI)
SI prefixes
Unit analysis
Significant Figures
Problem solving
Trigonometry
You can copy the notes on the following pages into your notebook and/or find more information on the
internet that would be helpful to you on these topics.
We will discuss these topics on the first day and will use them extensively throughout the semester but
will not take time to learn these topics in depth so your goal is to understand them before we begin.
The skinny notebook for each unit (including this one) will count as a quiz grade. This summer
assignment will be collected the second day of the semester whether you take the class in the fall or the
spring.
International System of Units (SI)
Length – meter
Mass – kilogram
Time – second
Current – ampere
Temperature – Kelvin (Celsius also used sometimes oC = oK - 273)
Volume – m3
Velocity – m/s
Acceleration – m/s2
Force – Newton (kg m/s2)
Power – watt (J/s)
Energy, work – joule ( N  m )
Frequency – hertz (s-1)
Electric charge – coulomb ( A  s )
Electrical potential difference – volt (W/A)
Capacitance – farad (C/V)
Electrical resistance – ohm (V/A)
SI prefixes
1012 – Tera (T)
109 – Giga (G)
106 – Mega (M)
103 – kilo (k)
102 – hecto (h)
101 – deka (da)
Base unit
-1
10 – deci (d)
10-2 – centi (c)
10-3 – milli (m)
10-6 – micro (  )
10-9 – nano (n)
10-12 – pico (p)
mnemonic for remembering 103 through 10-3
King Henry Died By Drinking Chunky Milk
You need to know how to change between these units, for example if a problem gives you centimeters,
you must change it into meters by dividing by 100.
Unit Analysis
Can be used to help determine if you are using a correct equation. For example if you use the incorrect
formula for position x = v/2a and plug in units for each quantity (instead of numbers), you get
m = m/s / m/s2 then simplifying
m = m/s * s2/m
m=s
This is not true, therefore you know you have the formula wrong.
Significant Figures
Measured data have some degree of uncertainty or error. When calculations are done with measured
numbers, the error or measurement is propagated, or carried along, by the mathematical operations.
There significant figures give rules on how accurate you should report your result. Significant figures
should only be figured out on the final result, not interim steps.
Here are the rules:
1. All non-zero numbers are significant
2. Zeros at the beginning of a number are not significant. They merely locate the decimal point. (For
example 0.0254 has 3 significant figures)
3. Zeros within a number are significant. (For example 104.6 has 4 significant figures)
4. Zeros at the end of a number after the decimal point are significant. This is because they are only
there to tell you how accurate the number is. (For example 2705.0 has 5 significant figures)
5. Zeros at the end of number with no decimal point can go either way but we will count them as
significant. (For example 100 has 3 significant figures)
Significant figures in calculations
 Multiplication and division – leave as many significant figures as the quantity with the LEAST
amount of significant figures
 Addition and subtraction – leave as many decimal points in answer as the quantity with the
LEAST amount of decimals.
Problem Solving
Involves 3 major steps
1. Prepare
 Identify each physics principle that pertains to the situation and write it down using an acronym
(such as N2L for Newton’s Second Law)
 Include a physical representation in the form of a sketch and/or a free body diagram and/or
graph
 Identify the given quantities and unknowns
2. Solve
 Write the equations needed, and use these to solve the problem
3. Evaluate
 Assess whether the answer is reasonable (through estimation, unit analysis, etc)
Trigonometry
A right triangle has 3 sides, the hypotenuse which is across from the right angle, the opposite side which
is across the triangle from the given angle (usually called Ɵ), and the adjacent side which is next to the
given angle. These sides can be solved for using the SOHCAHTOA trig relationships.