AP+Physics

Beginning in 2014-2015 AP Physics B will be replaced with AP Physics 1 and 2. This is the curriculum framework for AP Physics 1 from the CollegeBoard. There are 6 Big Ideas which comprise the bulk of the curriculum.

a system determines many properties of the system. || **Essential Knowledge 1.A.1**: A system is an object or a collection of objects. Objects are treated as having no internal structure.
 * **Big Idea** || **Enduring Understanding** || **Essential Knowledge** ||
 * **Big Idea 1**: Objects and systems have properties such as mass and charge. Systems may have internal structure. || **Enduring Understanding 1.A:** The internal structure of

determined by the properties and interactions of their constituent atomic and molecular substructures. In AP Physics, when the properties of the constituent parts are not important in modeling the behavior of the macroscopic system, the system itself may be referred to as an object. || a property of an object or system that affects its interactions with other objects or systems containing charge. || **Essential Knowledge 1.B.1**: Electric charge isconserved. The net charge of a system is equal to the sum of the charges of all the objects in the system.
 * Essential Knowledge 1.A.5**: Systems have properties
 * || **Enduring Understanding 1.B**: Electric charge is

of electric charge. Neutral objects or systems contain equal quantities of positive and negative charge, with the exception of some fundamental particles that have no electric charge.
 * Essential Knowledge 1.B.2**: There are only two kinds

unit of charge that can be isolated is the electron charge, also known as the elementary charge. || have properties of inertial mass and gravitational mass that are experimentally verified to be the same and that satisfy conservation principles. || **Essential Knowledge 1.C.1**: Inertial mass is theproperty of an object or a system that determines how its motion changes when it interacts with other objects or systems.
 * Essential Knowledge 1.B.3**: The smallest observed
 * || **Enduring Understanding 1.C**: Objects and systems

the property of an object or a system that determines the strength of the gravitational interaction with other objects, systems, or gravitational fields.
 * Essential Knowledge 1.C.2**: Gravitational mass is

have properties of inertial mass and gravitational mass that are experimentally verified to be the same and that satisfy conservation principles. || macroscopic properties that result from the arrangement and interactions of the atoms and molecules that make up the material. || **Essential Knowledge 1.E.2**: Matter has a propertycalled resistivity || space. Field models are useful for describing interactions that occur at a distance (long-range forces) as well as a variety of other physical phenomena. || **Essential Knowledge 2.A.1**: A vector field gives, asa function of position (and perhaps time), the value of a physical quantity that is described by a vector. || gravitational force of magnitude mg to be exerted on the object in the direction of the field.
 * Essential Knowledge 1.C.3**: Objects and systems
 * || **Enduring Understanding 1.E**: Materials have many
 * **Big Idea 2:** Fields existing in space can be used to explain interactions. || **Enduring Understanding 2.A**: A field associates a value of some physical quantity with every point in
 * || **Enduring Understanding 2.B**: A gravitational field is caused by an object with mass. || **Essential Knowledge 2.B.1**: A gravitational field gat the location of an object with mass m causes a

caused by a spherically symmetric object with mass is radial and, outside the object, varies as the inverse square of the radial distance from the center of that object. || characteristics when considered by observers in inertial reference frames || **Essential Knowledge 3.A.1**: An observer in a particular reference frame can describe the motion of an object using such quantities as position, displacement, distance, velocity, speed, and acceleration.
 * Essential Knowledge 2.B.2**: The gravitational field
 * **Big Idea 3**: The interactions of an object with other objects can be described by forces. || **Enduring Understanding 3.A**: All forces share certain common

vectors.
 * Essential Knowledge 3.A.2:** Forces are described by

object is always due to the interaction of that object with another object.
 * Essential Knowledge 3.A.3**: A force exerted on an

force on a second object, the second object always exerts a force of equal magnitude on the first object in the opposite direction. || acceleration of an object interacting with other objects can be predicted by using a = F/m || **Essential Knowledge 3.B.1**: If an object of interest interacts with several other objects, the net force is the vector sum of the individual forces.
 * Essential Knowledge 3.A.4**: If one object exerts a
 * || **Enduring Understanding 3.B**: Classically, the

useful tools for visualizing forces being exerted on a single object and writing the equations that represent a  physical situation.
 * Essential Knowledge 3.B.2**: Free-body diagrams are

result in oscillatory motion. When a linear restoring force is exerted on an object displaced from an equilibrium position, the object will undergo a special type of motion called simple harmonic motion. Examples should include gravitational force exerted by the Earth on a simple pendulum, mass-spring oscillator. || distance) forces or contact forces. || ** Essential Knowledge 3.C.1: ** Gravitational force describes the interaction of one object that has mass with another object that has mass.
 * Essential Knowledge 3.B.3**: Restoring forces can
 * || **Enduring Understanding 3.C:** At the macroscopic level, forces can be categorized as either long-range (action-at-a

the interaction of one object that has an electric charge with another object that has an electric charge.
 * Essential Knowledge 3.C.2:** Electric force results from

the interaction of one object touching another object, and they arise from interatomic electric forces. These forces include tension, friction, normal, spring (Physics 1), and buoyant (Physics 2). || object can change the momentum of the object. || **Essential Knowledge 3.D.1:** The change in momentum of an object is a vector in the direction of the net force exerted on the object.
 * Essential Knowledge 3.C.4:** Contact forces result from
 * || **Enduring Understanding 3.D:** A force exerted on an

of an object occurs over a time interval. || object can change the kinetic energy of the object. || **Essential Knowledge 3.E.1:** The change in the kinetic energy of an object depends on the force exerted on the object and on the displacement of the object during the interval that the force is exerted. || object can cause a torque on that object. || **Essential Knowledge 3.F.1:** Only the force component perpendicular to the line connecting the axis of rotation and the point of application of the force results in a torque about that axis.
 * Essential Knowledge 3.D.2**: The change in momentum
 * || **Enduring Understanding 3.E:** A force exerted on an
 * || **Enduring Understanding 3.F:** A force exerted on an

torque along any axis will cause a rigid system to change its rotational motion or an object to change its rotational motion about that axis.
 * Essential Knowledge 3.F.2:** The presence of a net

object can change the angular momentum of an object. || are considered fundamental. || **Essential Knowledge 3.G.1**: Gravitational forces are exerted at all scales and dominate at the largest distance and mass scales || those systems. || **Enduring Understanding 4.A:** The acceleration of the center of mass of a system is related to the net force exerted on the system, where a = F/m || **Essential Knowledge 4.A.1:** The linear motion of a system can be described by the displacement, velocity, and acceleration of its center of mass.
 * Essential Knowledge 3.F.3:** A torque exerted on an
 * || **Enduring Understanding 3.G**: Certain types of forces
 * **Big Idea 4:** Interactions between systems can result in changes in

to the rate of change of velocity with time, and velocity is equal to the rate of change of position with time.
 * Essential Knowledge 4.A.2**: The acceleration is equal

on each other are due to interactions between objects in the systems. If the interacting objects are parts of the same system, there will be no change in the center-of-mass velocity of that system. || other objects or systems can change the total linear momentum of a system. || **Essential Knowledge 4.B.1:** The change in linear momentum for a constant-mass system is the product of the mass of the system and the change in velocity of the center of mass.
 * Essential Knowledge 4.A.3:** Forces that systems exert
 * || **Enduring Understanding 4.B:** Interactions with

momentum of the system is given by the product of the average force on that system and the time interval during which the force is exerted. || objects or systems can change the total energy of a system. || **Essential Knowledge 4.C.1:** The energy of a system includes its kinetic energy, potential energy, and microscopic internal energy. Examples should include gravitational potential energy, elastic potential energy, and kinetic energy.
 * Essential Knowledge 4.B.2:** The change in linear
 * || **Enduring Understanding 4.C:** Interactions with other

sum of kinetic and potential energy) is transferred into or out of a system when an external force is exerted on a  system such that a component of the force is parallel to  its displacement. The process through which the energy  is transferred is called work. || on a system by other objects or systems will change the  angular momentum of the system. || **Essential Knowledge 4.D.1**: Torque, angular velocity, angular acceleration, and angular momentum are  vectors and can be characterized as positive or negative  depending upon whether they give rise to or correspond  to counterclockwise or clockwise rotation with respect to  an axis.
 * Essential Knowledge 4.C.2:** Mechanical energy (the
 * || **Enduring Understanding 4.D:** A net torque exerted

of a system may change due to interactions with other objects or systems.
 * Essential Knowledge 4.D.2:** The angular momentum

momentum is given by the product of the average torque and the time interval during which the torque is exerted. || constrained by conservation laws. || **Enduring Understanding 5.A:** Certain quantities are conserved, in the sense that the changes of those quantities in a given system are always equal to the transfer of that quantity to or from the system by all possible interactions with other systems. || **Essential Knowledge 5.A.1:** A system is an object or a collection of objects. The objects are treated as having no internal structure.
 * Essential Knowledge 4.D.3:** The change in angular
 * **Big Idea 5:** Changes that occur as a result of interactions are

all circumstances, energy, charge, linear momentum, and angular momentum are conserved. For an isolated or a closed system, conserved quantities are constant. An open system is one that exchanges any conserved quantity with its surroundings.
 * Essential Knowledge 5.A.2:** For all systems under

either a force exerted by objects outside the system or the transfer of some quantity with objects outside the system.
 * Essential Knowledge 5.A.3:** An interaction can be

a system and its environment is a decision made by the person considering the situation in order to simplify or otherwise assist in analysis. || is conserved || **Essential Knowledge 5.B.1:** Classically, an object can only have kinetic energy since potential energy requires an interaction between two or more objects.
 * Essential Knowledge 5.A.4:** The boundary between
 * || **Enduring Understanding 5.B:** The energy of a system

structure can have internal energy, and changes in a system’s internal structure can result in changes in internal energy. [Physics 1: includes mass-spring oscillators and simple pendulums. Physics 2: includes charged object in electric fields and examining changes in internal energy with changes in configuration.]
 * Essential Knowledge 5.B.2:** A system with internal

structure can have potential energy. Potential energy exists within a system if the objects within that system interact with conservative forces.
 * Essential Knowledge 5.B.3:** A system with internal

system includes the kinetic energy of the objects that make up the system and the potential energy of the configuration of the objects that make up the system.
 * Essential Knowledge 5.B.4:** The internal energy of a

by an external force exerted on an object or system that moves the object or system through a distance; this energy transfer is called work. Energy transfer in mechanical or electrical systems may occur at different rates. Power is defined as the rate of energy transfer into, out of, or within a system. [A piston filled with gas getting compressed or expanded is treated in Physics 2 as a part of thermodynamics.]
 * Essential Knowledge 5.B.5:** Energy can be transferred

describes conservation of energy in electrical circuits. The application of Kirchhoff’s laws to circuits is introduced in Physics 1 and further developed in Physics 2 in the context of more complex circuits, including those with capacitors. || system is conserved. || **Essential Knowledge 5.C.3:** Kirchhoff’s junction rule describes the conservation of electric charge in electrical circuits. Since charge is conserved, current must be conserved at each junction in the circuit. Examples should include circuits that combine resistors in series and parallel. [Physics 1: covers circuits with resistors in series, with at most one parallel branch, one battery only. Physics 2: includes capacitors in steady-state situations. For circuits with capacitors, situations should be limited to open circuit, just after circuit is closed, and a long time after the circuit is closed.] || a system is conserved. || **Essential Knowledge 5.D.1:** In a collision between objects, linear momentum is conserved. In an elastic collision, kinetic energy is the same before and after.
 * Essential Knowledge 5.B.9:** Kirchhoff’s loop rule
 * || **Enduring Understanding 5.C:** The electric charge of a
 * || **Enduring Understanding 5.D:** The linear momentum of

objects, linear momentum is conserved. In an inelastic collision, kinetic energy is not the same before and after the collision.
 * Essential Knowledge 5.D.2:** In a collision between

center of mass of the system cannot be changed by an interaction within the system. [Physics 1: includes no calculations of centers of mass; the equation is not provided until Physics 2. However, without doing calculations, Physics 1 students are expected to be able to locate the center of mass of highly symmetric mass distributions, such as a uniform rod or cube of uniform density, or two spheres of equal mass.] || of a system is conserved. || **Essential Knowledge 5.E.1:** If the net external torque exerted on the system is zero, the angular momentum of the system does not change.
 * Essential Knowledge 5.D.3:** The velocity of the
 * || **Enduring Understanding 5.E:** The angular momentum

of a system is determined by the locations and velocities of the objects that make up the system. The rotational inertia of an object or system depends upon the distribution of mass within the object or system. Changes in the radius of a system or in the distribution of mass within the system result in changes in the system’s rotational inertia, and hence in its angular velocity and linear speed for a given angular momentum. Examples should include elliptical orbits in an Earth-satellite system. Mathematical expressions for the moments of inertia will be provided where needed. Students will not be expected to know the parallel axis theorem. || location to another without the permanent transfer of mass and serve as a mathematical model for the description of other phenomena. || **Enduring Understanding 6.A:** A wave is a traveling disturbance that transfers energy and momentum. || **Essential Knowledge 6.A.1:** Waves can propagate via different oscillation modes such as transverse and longitudinal.
 * Essential Knowledge 5.E.2:** The angular momentum
 * **Big Idea 6:** Waves can transfer energy and momentum from one

mechanical waves require a medium, while electromagnetic waves do not require a physical medium. Examples should include light traveling through a vacuum and sound not traveling through a vacuum.
 * Essential Knowledge 6.A.2:** For propagation,

maximum displacement of a wave from its equilibrium value.
 * Essential Knowledge 6.A.3:** The amplitude is the

carried by a wave depends upon and increases with amplitude. Examples should include sound waves. || that repeats as a function of both time and position and can be described by its amplitude, frequency, wavelength, speed, and energy. || **Essential Knowledge 6.B.1:** For a periodic wave, the period is the repeat time of the wave. The frequency is the number of repetitions of the wave per unit time.
 * Essential Knowledge 6.A.4:** Classically, the energy
 * || **Enduring Understanding 6.B:** A periodic wave is one

wavelength is the repeat distance of the wave.
 * Essential Knowledge 6.B.2:** For a periodic wave, the

wavelength is the ratio of speed over frequency.
 * Essential Knowledge 6.B.4:** For a periodic wave,

of a wave depends on the relative motion of source and observer. This is a qualitative treatment only. ||
 * Essential Knowledge 6.B.5:** The observed frequency