AP Physics-B
Ms. Knestrick, 641-4960 ex. 3107, Room B107
email: kknestrick@natomas.k12.ca.us
Natomas High School’s Mission Statement
We’re all learning
Course Description
The class will meet Monday through Friday for 58 minutes each day. We will explore the
basics of physics: motion, Newton’s laws, work, momentum, energy, power, waves,
thermodynamics & fluids, electricity & circuits, sound, light, optics, magnetism, nuclear
physics, and quantum mechanics. The course emphasizes a comprehensive understanding of
physics concepts and principles as well as problem solving and critical thinking skills. The
course utilizes guided inquiry and student-centered learning to foster the development of
critical thinking skills.
Main Text: James S. Walker , Physics AP* Edition, Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2007, Third Edition
Supplement text: The People's Physics Book, 3rd Edition, 2006, scipp.ucsc.edu/outreach/index2.html
Grade Policy
Course Content
Homework
Lab work/Projects
Test & Quizzes
Classwork (notes)
10%
30%
50%
10%
“Do not permit what you cannot do to interfere with what you can do.” John Wooden
Academic Expectations
Homework: Will be assigned daily and will be stamped on the due date and collected at the
end of the chapter.
Tests: Will follow each major unit. Test will use released AP test questions and the Spring
Final will be given before AP test and will be a full length AP test that will be on a
Saturday.
Quiz or Test: Will be given almost every Friday. Before the AP test, quizzes and tests will
be given more often.
Notes and Lab Reports: Must be done neatly and completely to be accepted. Labs must be
in a lab notebook. Most labs will be presented in an inquiry based method where I give
the students the equipment to use, the objective of the lab, and it is up to the students to
figure out the procedures and method to solve the problem presented by the lab. The labs
need to have an objective, equipment, procedure, data, calculations, graphs, results of
calculation and interpretation of graphs, and conclusion. The labs were either during the
unit that it relates to or after the unit. Once a month there is a 2 hour lab after school.
Labs
1. Torque Lab: balancing a 50 cm ruler with masses
2. Rotation Lab: Pigs flying
3. Wave lab: transverse and longitudinal waves uses long springs and different harmonics
4. Sound and harmonics lab: use large graduated cylinder, water, and five different tuning
forks. Finding speed of sound.
5. Resistors in series and parallel: creating different circuits and measuring voltage and
amperage.
6. Ohm’s law: using various resistors, volt meters, amp meters, and a power source.
7. Laws of reflection and refraction: using lasers and a flat mirror and different shape prisms
8. Candle lab: candle on a rule with various lenses and mirrors with a screen to find the
image.
AP Physics
Units
Unit Kinematics
Unit Newton's Laws
Unit Circular Motion
Unit Work, Energy,
and Power
Unit Rotational
Motion & Angular
Momentum
Unit Waves
Unit Thermodynamics
Unit Fluids
Unit Electricity &
Magnetism
Unit Sound & Light
Unit Nuclear Physics
Topics and Concepts Covered
Introduction to units, dimensions, scalars and vectors
One dimensional motion
Two dimensional and projectile motion
Newton's Laws of motion: equilibrium (Fnet = 0)
Force, weight, friction, inclined plane, and Hooke's Law
Centripetal forces, uniform circular motion and circular
orbits, Newton's law of gravity
Conservation of energy
Conservation of mechanical energy: kinetic and potential
energy, work and power
Rotational motion (static, kinematic, & dynamic) and
Torque, linear and angular momentum
Impulse and conservation of linear momentum
Simple Harmonic motion, simple pendulum
Mass on a spring and wave motion
Heat, temperature, thermal expansion, ideal gas laws,
PV diagrams, heat transfer, heat engines, kinetic model,
1st and 2nd law of thermodynamics, and entropy
Fluids dynamics, Bernoulli's Principles, buoyant force,
Continuity equation, Archimedes principles, Pascal’s
Principles, specific gravity, density, hydrostatic pressure
Electrostatics, Coulomb's law, electric field, current, DC
and RC circuits, conservation of charge, power,
electromagnetism, electric potential energy,
Electric potential, batteries, resistors(series and parallel),
capacitors, Ohm’s law, dielectrics, Gauss’s Law,
Faraday’s Law and Lenz’s Law, magnetic field
magnetic force on current, flux, and induction
Transverse and longitudinal waves, sound properties,
standing waves, Doppler effect, duality of light, thin film
Snell’s law, law of reflection, lenses, mirrors, total internal
reflection, interference, diffraction, energy levels of atoms,
photoelectric effect, momentum of photons, superposition,
wave propagation, electromagnetic spectrum, dispersion
Compton’s scattering, x-rays, nuclear reactions, atomic
energy levels, wave-particle duality, half-life
nuclear force, chemical: mass, symbol, number
E = mc2 and particle physics
Review for AP Test
Test May 13