AP PHYSICS B COURSE OUTLINE

1) a. VECTORS At the end of the topic, students should be able to:

Define vector and scalar and give examples of each quantity Use vector algebra (addition, subtraction, law of sines and cosines,

Pythagorean theorem) to determine the resultant (or an unknown vector) Resolve a vector into components Use trigonometry to determine the angle a vector makes with respect to a

given axis and determine which quadrant in which the vector is Use the components method to determine the resultant (or an unknown

vector) in a problem containing more than two vectors Define equilibrant and determine the equilibrant force in equilibrium

questions Add vectors using graphical methods Properly convert units using the factor-label method

1) b. KINEMATICS At the end of the topic, students should be able to:

Define distance, displacement, speed, velocity and acceleration and distinguish between the scalar and corresponding vector quantity

Use the kinematics equations to calculate the relationship between various quantities (velocity, time, displacement, acceleration etc) for single body problems

Utilize a coordinate axis to describe frames of reference Use the kinematics equations for multiple interval problems or problems

involving more than one moving body simultaneously Analyze the motion of a freely falling body (with an without air resistance) Understand the relationship between gravitational forces and fields and

derive an expression for the acceleration due to gravity Analyze the motion of a body thrown vertically downward or upward and

be able to calculate quantities such as hang time, maximum height, instantaneous velocities etc.

2) a. PROJECTILE MOTION At the end of the topic, students should be able to:

Describe the motion of a horizontal projectile Describe the motion of a projectiles fired at an angle Use the kinematics equations to calculate quantities such as range, hang

time, instantaneous velocities etc for various projectile problems Use trigonometry and vector algebra to determine the angle of a projectile

at a given point in time State the similarities and difference between horizontal projectiles and

those launched at an angle Understand which angles will produce maximum range, hang time, height Explain how changing a projectile’s launching angle or velocity will affect

range, time etc. Use the concept of equal range pairs to determine what two angles will

result in the same range for a projectile

2) b. GRAPHICAL ANALYSIS OF MOTION At the end of the topic, students should be able to:

Analyze displacement-time graphs qualitatively and quantitatively Differentiate between directions of travel and indicate turning points of a

moving body Calculate average and instantaneous velocities using slopes Differentiate between the distance traveled and the displacement State which motions have a zero or non-zero acceleration Create corresponding velocity and acceleration graphs from a given

displacement graph Analyze velocity-time graphs qualitatively and quantitatively Calculate the uniform acceleration of a body using slopes Calculate the distance traveled (or displacement) by taking the area under

the graph Calculate average and instantaneous velocities Relate the direction of motion to sections of the graph above and below

the x-axis Create corresponding displacement and acceleration graphs from a given

velocity graph Analyze acceleration-time graphs qualitatively and quantitatively Recognize graphs representing uniform and non-uniform accelerations Create corresponding velocity and displacement graphs from a given

acceleration graph

3) DYNAMICS

At the end of the topic, students should be able to: Define force, inertia, tension and normal force Distinguish between mass and weight and calculate each value Differentiate between static and translational/kinetic equilibrium State and apply Newton’s Laws of Motion Draw and label free body diagrams Solve single body problems including one or multiple forces, forces at

angles, inclined planes and/or pulleys Solve problems involving systems of connected bodies (such as Atwood’s

machine) Identify contact forces and be able to calculate the magnitude and

direction of contact forces on multiple body systems Understand the concept of apparent weight and be able to calculate the

apparent weight of a body in motion Apply Newton’s Laws to static equilibrium problems and calculate the

tension in strings or ropes in both symmetrical and asymmetrical situations Apply Newton’s Laws to boom and chain problems Distinguish between static and kinetic friction and state which factors

affect (and do not affect) the amount of friction present Apply Newton’s Laws to various friction problems and explain how the

motion of a body changes when friction and/or air resistance is taken into account

4) CIRCULAR MOTION At the end of the topic, students should be able to:

Explain the characteristics of uniform circular motion Define centripetal force and acceleration, tangential velocity, period and

frequency Derive alternate equations for centripetal force and acceleration from

kinematics equations Draw and label vectors representing the centripetal force, acceleration and

velocity on a body moving in a circle Solve various circular motion problems involving horizontal circles, vertical

circles, the conical pendulum, banked and unbanked curves Define gravitational force and solve problems involving two or more bodies Derive an expression for the acceleration due to gravity and calculate the

value of “g” at a given point in a planet’s gravitational field Derive an expression for the orbital velocity of a satellite and calculate the

orbital velocity needed for a satellite to move in a stable, circular orbit at a given altitude

Understand Kepler’s Third Law of Motion (Law of Periods) and utilize this law to calculate the orbital radius or period of a satellite or planet

Derive Kepler’s Third Law from centripetal force and gravitational force equations

5) a. ENERGY At the end of the unit, students should be able to:

Define work and power and solve various problems using the corresponding equations

Calculate the amount of work done from the area under a force versus displacement graph

Understand the relationship between joules and kilowatt-hours Define potential (gravitational and elastic), kinetic, mechanical and total

energy Use the work-energy theorem to relate the amount of work done on a

body to its change in potential and/or kinetic energies Use the principle of conservation of energy in various problems Qualitatively describe how potential, kinetic and mechanical energies

change for a body moving in an elliptical path (planetary model)

5) b. SIMPLE HARMONIC MOTION At the end of the topic, students should be able to:

State the characteristics of simple harmonic motion Define restoring force, amplitude and equilibrium position Apply the principle of conservation of energy to an oscillating simple

pendulum Derive an expression for the height of a pendulum in terms of length and

angle Derive expressions for the restoring force and tangential acceleration and

understand that both quantities are non-uniform during oscillations Calculate the period and frequency of an oscillating pendulum Calculate the tension in a pendulum’s string at various points in the

oscillation Describe and apply Hooke’s Law to various spring problems Calculate the spring constant from the slope of a force versus stretch

graph Calculate the amount of work done to stretch the spring as the area under

a force versus stretch graph Apply the principle of conservation of energy to an oscillating horizontal or

vertical spring Calculate the period and frequency of an oscillating spring Develop displacement, velocity and acceleration graphs for an oscillation

body and identify when each quantity is maximum/minimum or zero Sketch the potential, kinetic and mechanical energy lines/curves on an

axis which has energy as a function of displacement Calculate the amplitude, period and frequency of an oscillating body from

an equation involving sine and/or cosine functions and sketch the corresponding graph

6) a. MOMENTUM At the end of the topic, students should be able to:

Define impulse and momentum

Utilize the impulse-momentum theorem to various problems Calculate the impulse (and change in momentum) as the area under a

force versus time graph Derive the impulse momentum theorem from Newton’s second law of

motion Use the principle of conservation of momentum in various problems

including recoil problems, objects pushed apart by a spring etc. State the conditions/criteria for completely inelastic collisions and solve

various completely inelastic collision problems in one and two dimensions State the conditions/criteria for inelastic collisions and solve various

inelastic collision problems in one and two dimensions State the conditions/criteria for elastic collisions and solve various elastic

collision problems Understand the principle of conservation of angular momentum and

calculate the angular momentum of a body moving in a curved path

6) b. Torque At the end of the unit, students should be able to:

Define torque, axis of rotation, lever arm, center of mass and line of action Calculate the torque of a given force about an axis of rotation Differentiate between clockwise and counterclockwise rotations State the two conditions for rotational equilibrium and apply these

conditions to solving various rotational equilibrium problems Determine the balance point for both uniform and non-uniform bodies

7) HEAT & TEMPERATURE At the end of the unit, students should be able to:

Define temperature, internal energy and heat

Covert temperatures between Kelvin and Celsius degrees Understand and apply the mechanical equivalence of heat Define specific heat capacity and relate the amount of heat

added/removed from a substance to a change in temperature Use the principle of conservation of energy to calculate the amount of

energy lost due to friction and determine the resulting change in temperature

Calculate the specific heat of a substance from a heating or cooling curve Apply the equation for linear expansion to various problems Explain heat transfer by conduction and use the equation for rate of heat

transfer to various problems State which factors affect the rate of heat transfer State Boyle’s Law, Charles’s Law and Gay Lussac’s Law Use the combined gas law to solve various problems involving changes in

pressure, volume and/or temperature Use the ideal gas law to solve various problems involving pressure,

volume and temperature Relate the number of moles of gas to the number of molecules present or

the amount of mass of a gas present State the assumptions of the Kinetic Theory Calculate the average kinetic energy of a gas sample at a specific

temperature Understand that the average kinetic energy of gas molecules is

independent of the mass of the gas Calculate the root mean square speed of gas molecules at a specific

temperature Kinetic theory: Average kinetic energy and root mean square speed

8) THERMODYNAMICS State the Zeroth and First laws of thermodynamics Derive an expression for change in internal energy from the average

kinetic energy equation

Apply the first law of thermodynamics to various problems involving heat, work and change in internal energy

Use the equation W = -PΔV for isobaric problems and interpret isobaric graphs

State the relationship between heat and change in internal energy for isochoric processes and interpret isochoric graphs

Use molar heat capacities for various isobaric and isochoric problems Derive an expression for change in internal energy from the first law of

thermodynamics using molar heat capacities Calculate heat, work, change in internal energy and absolute temperature

from PV diagrams and sketch PV diagrams from given information Relate the amount of work, heat and change in temperature during

thermodynamic processes that are cycles State the difference between a heat engine and a refrigerator and relate

the devices to PV diagrams Calculate work, heat or change in internal energy during isothermal and

adiabatic processes and interpret the corresponding PV diagrams State the second law of thermodynamics and apply it to heat engines Calculate the efficiency of a heat engine and relate the amount of work

done to its input and output energies Explain the Carnot Cycle and calculate the efficiency of a Carnot engine Interpret a Carnot cycle as a PV diagram including isothermal and

adiabatic processes

9) FLUID DYNAMICS At the end of the topic, students should be able to:

Define pressure as force per unit area

Distinguish between gauge/fluid pressure and absolute pressure and apply these principles to various situations including barometer and manometer problems

State Pascal’s principle and solve various problems including hydraulic lifts

Apply Archimede’s Principle to completely submerged objects and calculate the buoyant force on a such objects

Apply Archimede’s Principle to floating (partially submerged) objects and calculate the buoyant force on a such objects

Draw and label free body diagrams for problems involving submerged or floating objects and be able to calculate tensions, apparent weight and accelerations using Newton’s Laws and kinematics equations

Apply the equation of continuity to moving fluids and relate it to the concept of flow rate

Use Bernoulli’s Equation to relate the flow speed, pressure and elevation of a moving fluid

Derive Torricelli’s theorem from Bernoulli’s equation and calculate the exit velocity of a liquid leaking from a tank

10) ELECTROSTATICS At the end of the topic, students should be able to:

State the behavior of electric charges

Understand the charge is quantized and convert between coulombs and elementary charges

Explain methods of charging including polarization, conduction and induction and understand the concept of grounding

Solve various conservation of charge problems and determine the direction of charge transfer and convert the charge transferred to elementary charges

Apply charging concepts to various electroscope problems Use Coulomb’s Law to determine the force of attraction or repulsion

between two or more charges and relate the net force to the particle’s acceleration using Newton’s Laws

Sketch electric field diagrams and calculate the magnitude of the electric field strength at a given point in space

Derive an expression for the electric field around a point charge from Coulomb’s Law

Calculate the electric field intensity between a pair of parallel plates and sketch the electric field between the plates

Understand the relationship between electrostatic force and field Explain Millikan’s Oil Drop Experiment and state the important conclusions

derived from the experiment Calculate the electric potential energy between a pair of point charges and

convert this energy between joules and electronvolts Apply the concept of electric potential energy to Bohr models of the atom

and calculate the ionization energy of such atoms Define electric potential and sketch equipotential lines around point

charges and parallel plates Indicate locations of high and low potential energy for a charge in an

electric field State that potential difference is the work done per unit charge to move a

charge between two points in an electric field and indicate areas of high and low potential

Calculate the net electric potential of a point charge or system of point charges and determine the amount of work done to move a charge from one point to another

Define capacitance and state which factors affect the capacitance of a capacitor

Solve various capacitor problems involving charge, capacitance, potential difference and (stored) energy

11) CURRENT ELECTRICITY At the end of the topic, students should be able to:

Define voltage, current and resistance Understand the difference between conventional current and electron flow

Use Ohm’s Law to solve various problems and calculate the resistance of a conductor from a voltage versus current graph

State which factors affect the resistance in a wire or conductor and analyze such problems quantitatively

Calculate the amount of electrical energy used or power developed in a device

Properly use voltmeters and ammeters to make voltage and current readings, read resistance color codes and understand the purposes of switches and fuses

Draw schematic diagrams of circuits using appropriate symbols Quantitatively analyze series and parallel circuits and calculate voltage,

current, equivalent resistance etc for each type of circuit Explain how adding or removing a device from a series or parallel circuit

changes (or doesn’t change) voltage, current and resistances remaining in the circuit

Apply Ohm’s Law in the analysis of combination circuits Define EMF, terminal voltage and internal resistance Calculate the terminal voltage of a battery given the EMF and internal

resistance of a circuit State and apply Kirchhoff’s first and second rules to complex circuit

systems Calculate the total capacitance of capacitors in both series and parallel

and determine the charge, voltage and energy stored in each capacitor Analyze RC circuits and solve various problems involving resistance,

current, voltage and charge in these circuits

12) MAGNETISM At the end of this topic, students should be able to:

Define magnetic force and magnetic field list the units of magnetic field strength

Sketch magnetic fields around a single bar magnet or pair of bar magnets Explain the difference between geographic and magnetic poles around the

Earth Calculate the magnitude of the magnetic force on a charged particle and

determine the direction of the force using the right hand rule Quantitatively state the relationship between charge, velocity, magnetic

field strength, radius and acceleration of a charged particles moving through a magnetic field

Calculate the magnitude of the magnetic force on a current carrying straight wire in a magnetic field and determine the direction of the force using the right hand rule

Calculate the magnitude and direction of the force between two parallel current carrying wires

Calculate the magnitude of the magnetic field intensity around a current carrying wire (or combination of wires) and determine its direction using the right hand rule

Determine the direction of the magnetic field at the center of a current carrying loop using the right hand rule

Calculate magnetic flux and state when it is at a maximum and minimum Explain the electromagnetic induction experiments by Faraday and Henry

and describe the important conclusions of these experiments Use Faraday’s Law to calculate induced EMF and state which factors

affect induced EMF Use Lenz’s Law to determine the direction of the induced current in a loop

or straight wire Calculate the induced EMF in a straight wire or loop and relate it to current

and resistance

13) WAVES 1 At the end of the topic, students should be able to:

Explain wave motion and define pulse, periodic, mechanical, transverse, longitudinal waves and give examples of each

Define wave characteristics such as phase, wavelength, amplitude, period, frequency and speed and identify these characteristics on a wave diagram

Apply the equation v = λf to various wave problems involving light, sound and other waves

Describe wave propagation in both light to heavy medium and heavy to light medium situations with respect to incident, transmitted and reflected pulses and their amplitudes, speeds and orientations

Describe the relationship between amplitude and energy for mechanical waves

List the types of radiations of the electromagnetic spectrum and state the characteristics shared by these types of radiations

Compare and contrast light and sound waves and describe what factors affect the speed of sound

Calculate the wave intensity at a certain distance from a wave source Explain the Doppler effect and calculate the apparent frequency of a

sound wave due to the relative motion between the source and an observer

State and apply the principle of superposition and state whether the interference pattern produced is constructive or destructive

Sketch the resultant wave form produced by two interfering waves and state their phase difference

Define standing waves, nodes and antinodes and explain the formation of beats

Calculate the velocity of waves on a string and state which factors affect the velocity

Understand the relationship between wavelength, speed and frequency for strings of various lengths and harmonics

Sketch the standing wave patterns produced for several harmonics on a string

Calculate the frequency for various harmonics in both open and closed tubes and relate the frequency to wavelength and speed

Explain how temperature affects the speed and frequency of sound waves Sketch the standing wave patterns produced for several harmonics in

open and closed tubes

14) WAVES 2 At the end of the unit, students should be able to:

Define reflection, normal, incident ray, reflected ray, angle of incidence and angle of reflection

Apply the Law of Reflection in various problems, and sketch and label ray diagrams illustrating the process of reflection

Define refraction and use the indices of refraction to calculate the speed of light in different materials

Apply Snell’s law to describe qualitatively and quantitatively how light behaves as it passes from one medium into another and sketch and label ray diagrams illustrating the process of refraction

State which wave characteristics are affected during refraction and explain why

Apply the critical angle equation to describe how light behaves when it is incident from a more to less dense medium and sketch the corresponding ray diagrams

Explain total internal reflection with respect to critical angles Calculate appropriate angles of reflection and refraction for multiple layer

problems and prism problems Define dispersion and explain how different frequencies of light behave as

they travel through a dispersive medium Define polarization and state that this process provides proof of light’s

transverse nature Analyze thin film problems and identify when phase reversals occur Calculate the thickness of a film in order to maximize or minimize reflected

light Define diffraction and state which factors affect the amount of diffraction of

a wave Differentiate between monochromatic, polychromatic and coherent light Describe Young’s double slit experiment and its importance with respect

to the wave nature of light Calculate path difference from each slit to a given maximum or minimum Compare interference patterns produced by diffraction gratings or multiple

slits to that of double slits Explain how single slit diffraction patterns differ from double or multiple slit

patterns Solve various problems involving double, multiple or single slits

15) a. MODERN PHYSICS At the end of the topic, students should be able to

Explain Bohr’s quantum theory and how it differed from previous atomic theories

State the Pauli Exclusion principle

Define photon and calculate the relationship between photon energy, frequency and wavelength

Analyze energy level diagrams and calculate the amount of energy absorbed or emitted during specific orbital transitions

Calculate the amount of energy required to ionize an atom when an electron is in a specific energy level

Identify hydrogen spectral series and state what types of radiation are emitted in each series

Analyze emission and absorption spectra for different elements and calculate the energy, frequency and wavelengths of photons creating certain spectral lines

Calculate the momentum of a photon Explain the Davisson-Germer experiment and what important conclusions

were derived from the experiment Explain the dual nature of matter and calculate deBroglie wavelengths of

particles Explain how electron standing waves illustrate the wave nature of matter

and prove that angular momentum of an electron is quantized Explain the photoelectric effect and its importance in the particle theory of

light Define work function, threshold frequency and stopping potential Solve various photoelectric effect problems and determine if and when

photoelectrons are emitted Analyze photoelectric effect graphs of kinetic energy versus frequency and

be able to calculate the threshold frequency and work function of a metal and determine an experimental value of Planck’s constant from the slope

Understand the relationship between photocurrent and the intensity of light used

Explain the Compton effect and how it applied to conservation of energy and momentum

Explain the principle of X-ray production by electrons accelerated through a potential difference

State which processes illustrate the wave or particle nature of light/matter

15) b. NUCLEAR PHYSICS At the end of the topic, students should be able to:

Define nucleus, nuclear force, isotope, antiparticles Explain how the composition of an atom is determined by its atomic

number and atomic mass

Explain the roles of the gravitational, strong and electrostatic forces in the stability of a nucleus

Use and interpret nuclear notation to identify certain particles/elements Apply Einstein’s equation of mass-energy equivalence Calculate the mass defect and binding energy of various nuclei Calculate the energy, frequency and wavelengths of photons produced

during particle annihilation processes Identify alpha, beta and gamma decay reactions, balance the

corresponding nuclear equations and state how the mass and charge numbers change during these processes

Calculate the amount of energy released during alpha and beta decays Identify fission and fusion reactions, balance the corresponding nuclear

equations and calculate the amount of energy released during each reaction

Define chain reaction Write balanced nuclear equations corresponding to various nuclear

reactions

16) OPTICS At the end of the topic, students should be able to:

Define principle axis, object distance, image distance, focal point and radius of curvature

Differentiate between real and virtual images and how they are formed Explain how mirrors form images due to the reflection of light State the characteristics of images produced by plane mirrors Use the lens-mirror equation and magnification equation for various

problems involving concave and convex mirrors and state what type of image is formed in each case

Sketch ray diagrams to locate the image produced by concave, convex and plane mirrors

Explain how lenses form images due to the refraction of light Use the lens-mirror equation and magnification equation for various

problems involving concave and convex lenses and state what type of image is formed in each case

Sketch ray diagrams to locate the image produced by concave and convex lenses

Apply the lens-mirror equation and magnification equation to multiple lens-mirror systems to determine the location of a final image

Sketch ray diagrams to locate the image produced by multiple lens-mirror systems