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Philhour

"Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the life-long attempt to acquire it." — Albert Einstein

AP Physics C (2°) 1st Quarter 2005-06

Most recent update October 14, 2005 11:37 AM

Schedule

• Friday, August 26th: Introduction to course
  • Day 1
    • Introductions
    • Vector addition through the parallelogram method and through the tip-to-tail method
    • Derivatives as instantaneous slope
    • Reading HW: Ch 1 (you may skim parts you are already comfortable with) and read my AP Physics C prep site
    • HW: Do Ch 1 Discussion Questions (DQ) #s 11 & 12; Multiple Choice Questions (MC) #s 7 & 10; Problems (P) #s 26, 42 & 64 (due Day 2 of week after next) (HW Packet A)

• Week of Monday, August 29th: Speed, velocity and acceleration
  • Day 1
    • HW Questions
    • Position and displacement vectors // distance as a sum of absolute values of displacement vectors
    • Instantaneous and average velocity vectors // speed as absolute value of a vector
    • Reading HW: Read Examples 2.1 & 2.2; Table 2.2; Figures 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.7 & 2.9 (go back and read the text if you are confused)
    • HW: Ch 2 DQ #s 2 & 3; MC #s 8 & 13; P #s 50 & 104; due Day 3 of next week (HW Packet A)
  • Day 2
    • HW Questions
    • Vector addition through components
    • Relative velocities
    • Example: the boat problem
    • Reading HW: Read Examples 2.6, 2.9, 2.10, 2.12 & 2.15; Figures 2.15, 2.16, 2.18, 2.26, 2.44; Core Material and Study Guide' on p. 59 (again, read the portions of the text you need to if you are confused)
    • HW: Ch 2 P #s 82, 122, 127, 135 (HW Packet A)
  • Day 3
    • HW Questions
    • Acceleration and Big Three Equations through calculus and energy conservation
    • Example: the Well Problem
    • Reading HW: Read Examples 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.11, 3.12; Figures 3.1, 3.2, 3.4, 3.8, 3.9
    • HW: Ch 3 MC 1, 2, 3, 4; P #s 11, 16, 28, 45, 69; due Day 3 of next week (HW Packet A)
  • Day 4
    • HW Questions
    • Quiz covering material through Day 3; 50% individual, 50% group quiz
    • Reading HW: Read Examples 3.13, 3.14, 3.15, 3.16; Figures 3.12, 3.13, 3.14, 3.15, 3.17, 3.18, 3.24; Core Material and Study Guide for Ch 3
    • HW: Ch 3 P #s 63, 85, 106, 111, 130 (you will need to do a maxima/minima problem using a derivative) (HW Packet A)

• Week of Tuesday, September 6th: Speed, velocity and acceleration (note that Monday is a holiday and Friday we have mass)
  • Day 1 (Activity schedule Tue)
    • Homework & Quiz Questions (quizzes returned)
    • Projectile motion practice problems
    • HW: Ch 3 P #s 114, 121, 138, 141 (this will involve doing an anti-derivative to get from v(t) to x(t)) (HW Packet A)
    • Reading HW: None
  • Day 2 (Activity schedule Wed) QUIZ corrections due
    • Lab activity: range finder -- walk the graph
    • HW: Ch 3 P #s 36, 44 (this is tricky ... you will write a logical equation about the length of the rope then take two derivatives), 89, 92 (HW Packet B)
    • Reading HW: None
  • Day 3 (Activity schedule Thu)   Homework Packet A Due! (not including material from the night before)
    • Lab activity: photo gates
    • Reading HW: Read Ch 4 Figures 4.1, 4.5, 4.7 (!), 4.10, 4.13, 4.15, & 4.16; Read Ch 4 Examples 4.1, 4.2, 4.5, 4.7, 4.8; Ch 4 Table 4.1
    • HW: Ch 3 P #s 94, 95, 113 (you need to derive this on your own), 119 (very good exam trick), 127 (mmm .... math!) (HW Packet B)
    • Optional HW: Newton's Laws Review Packet (Hewitt Conc. Dev.) -- to be handed out in class
    • Please bring $$$ for 2nd period on FRIDAY to donate to charity in response to Hurricane Katrina.

• Week of Monday, September 12th: Newton's Laws (week 1 of 4)
  • Day 1
    • HW Questions
    • Newton's Laws: forces as vector quantities; breaking forces into components practice problems
    • HW: Ch 4 Discussion Question #s 1, 9, 10; MC # 2; P #s 8, 9, 10 (HW Packet B)
    • Reading HW: Read Ch 4 Figures 4.23, 4.24, 4.25, 4.27, 4.38; Read Ch 4 Examples 4.9, 4.10, 4.11; Read 'Suggestions on Problem Solving' on p. 167
  • Day 2
    • HW Questions
    • Newton's Laws: a = F / m vs. F = dp/dt
    • HW: Ch 4 P #s 14 (leave as variables), 18, 20, 34, 44 (HW Packet B)
    • Reading HW: Read Ch 4 Examples 4.12 (including Table 4.6), 4.13, and 4.14; read Core Material & Study Guide
  • Day 3
    • HW Questions
    • Newton's Laws Laboratory Day 1/2
    • HW: Ch 4 Disc. #s 4, 15; MC #s 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 21 (HW Packet C)
    • Reading HW: None
  • Day 4   Homework Packet B Due!
    • HW Questions
    • Newton's Laws Laboratory Day 2/2
    • HW: Write-up laboratory results. Important: you are to choose the best of the two experiments and write it up in detail. Be sure to check out the lab write-ups at my hall of fame for a guide. Last year I found that many of the lab-writeups were "C" level at the start of the year and only got to "A" level near the end. Try to hit the ground running with a high grade by being verbose, accurate, and complete. Imagine giving the lab to yourself 6 months ago. Would you, as you were 6 months ago, be able to follow and describe exactly how the experiment went. Include all relevant parameters that the you would need. Include a data table or some other way of organizing the important data. Include a portion where you formally write-up the solution to the equations that you are experimenting with. Include in your conclusion some discussion of experimental error. If you make a claim of 'human error' be sure to explain why the human who made the error didn't just correct it. Include a sketch or photo of the experiment to help your reader visualize what went on. (turn in on the same day as HW Packet C, but do not staple with HW)
    • For exam Monday: be able to do all problems in Homework Packs A and B and all the problems on the quiz from last week.

• Week of Monday, September 19th: Newton's Laws week 2 of 4
  • Day 1
    • First major exam: on all material so far
    • HW: Ch 4 P #s 11, 28, 84, 86, 87 (HW Packet C)
    • Reading HW: Read Ch 4 sections 1, 2 & 3 and the Core Material & Study Guide at the end of the chapter
  • Day 2
    • Two-body systems and inclined planes (no friction yet); third-law reaction forces
    • HW: Ch 4 P #s 96, 113, 115, 118 (HW Packet C)
    • Reading HW: Read Ch 5 sections 4, 5 & 6
  • Day 3
    • Friction (static and kinetic); inclined plane and two-body systems with friction
    • HW: Ch 4 P #s 51, 85, 108, 122 (HW Packet D)
    • Reading HW: Read Ch 5 sections 7 & 8 and the Core Material & Study Guide at the end of the chapter
  • Day 4   Homework Packet C Due! (turn in lab today, but do not staple it to HW)
    • In-class practice problems from last year's Newton's Law Quiz and Test
    • HW: Ch 4 P #s 131, 132, 133, 136, 137 (HW Packet D)
    • Reading HW: Read the first two sections of Ch 5 (intro, 5-1 and 5-2); read these in their entirety -- this can be a very difficult topic; read the Core Material & Study Guide at the end of the chapter
    • And briefly check out the chaos pendulum (chaos, or nonlinear behavior, happens when a small change in initial conditions (say, you hold the thing at 31.5 degrees instead of 31.7 degrees, leads to huge changes in final outcomes (the path of the pendulum is totally different) ... the classic example is the butterfly beating his wings in Brazil and this small change in pressure leads to a totally different storm system somewhere else.)

• Week of Monday, September 26th: Centripetal Motion and Gravity -- Newton's Laws (week 3 of 4) // Some energy
  • Day 1
    • Centripetal Motion Day 1/2
    • Math heads-up: scalar dot product of two vectors; vector cross product of two vectors
    • definition of omega; linear vs. rotational speed; omega as a vector cross product of r and v
    • Reading HW: Read Ch 5 sections 3 & 4
    • HW: Ch 5 DQ #s 1 & 3; MC #s 1, 2, 3; P #s 15, 19, 20, 23; (HW Packet D)
  • Day 2
    • Centripetal Motion Day 2/2
    • centripetal (v^2/r) vs. tangential acceleration (alpha)
    • Reading HW: Read Ch 5 sections 5 & 6
    • HW: Ch 5 MC # 4; P #s 12, 21, 22; (HW Packet D) Be sure to check out the "miscellaneous data" table on page 217
  • Day 3
    • Spacecraft orbits Day 1/2
    • Max wrote up notes on rotational motion last summer for my summer physics class. Perhaps they'll be of use to you. There are some "Big Three" type problems with it if that helps. We're not really starting rotational motion formally for a few weeks -- I just wanted to give you a heads up.
    • Newton's Universal Law of Gravity
    • Relationship between F and U (F = -dU/dr); plotting U(r); conservative force-fields vs. nonconservative force-fields
    • Reading HW: Read Ch 5 sections 7 & 8 & the core material and study guide
    • HW: Ch 5 DQ #s 7, 8; MC #s 5, 6, 7, 8, 11 (HW Packet E)
  • Day 4   Homework Packet D Due!
    • Spacecraft orbits Day 2/2
    • Here's a spacecraft orbits handout; the problems are optional and are intended to guide your reading
    • Optional reading HW: Review Chapters 3 and 4 over the next week in advance of the exam on Day 4
    • HW: Ch 5 DQ #s 11, 12; MC #s 15, 16, 17; P #s 56, 61, 79 (HW Packet E)

 

• Week of Monday, October 3rd : Newton's Laws (week 4 of 4)
  • Day 1
    • Gravitational forces inside and outside a cocentric uniformly distributed sphere
    • HW: None (HW Packet E)
  • Day 2
    • Practice test: Mixed Newton's Laws problems I
    • HW: Print out and take the Practice Gravity Quiz from last year (HW Packet E)
  • Day 3
    • Practice test: Mixed Newton's Laws problems II
    • HW: Review for exam on Day 4
  • Day 4   HW Packet E due!
    • Major exam: Newton's Laws
    • Reading HW: Read Ch 6 Introduction ("The Transfer of Energy"); read Figures 6.1, 6.2, Example 6.1, Figures 6.3, 6.4, 6.6, the material on Page 230 ("Work as a Scalar Product"), Table 6.1, Figure 6.15 (This is not a lot of reading, it just looks like it.)
    • HW: Ch 6 DQ #s 4, 6; MC # 1; P #s 5, 6, 7 (HW Packet F)

• Week of Monday, October 10th : Energy, Work, POWER!
  • Day 1
    • The relationship between potential energy and force
    • Potential and kinetic energy
    • Sample problem: escape velocity
    • Reading HW: Read Ch 6 Figures 6.16, 6.17; read material on page 247 ("Conservation of Mechanical Energy"), Figures 6.21, 6.22; "Exploring Physics on your Own" on the top of page 249; Figures 6.23, 6.24; crash photo at bottom of page 252; material on "Escape Velocity" on page 252 and Example 6.12 (This is not a lot of reading, it just looks like it.)
    • HW: Ch 6 DQ # 8; MC #s 6, 11, 16, 19; P #s 25, 46, 110 (HW Packet F)
  • Day 2    THURSDAY EVENING: ASTRONOMY STAR PARTY ... MEET AT FLAGPOLE 8:00 PM
    • HW Questions and Quiz Questions from last week
    • Work loop-the-loop problem in class
    • Reading HW: Read Ch 6 Section 6.6, including Tables 6.4 & 6.5 and Example 6.14
    • Optional reading HW for future physicists: Check out Ch 6.7 on Energy Conservation and Symmetry
    • HW: Ch 6 DQ #s 11, 12; MC #s 13, 18; P #s 118, 125, 133, 134 (HW Packet F -- note this is due on Day 3!)
  • Day 3
    • HW Packet F due
    • HW Questions and Quiz Questions from last week
    • Work the sphere on sphere problem (on page 8 of this test) in class
    • Reading HW: I know you may be having some trouble with the concept of work, force, and energy. Let's take a more basic approach: read and follow the physics classroom lesson on work and energy. This is a much simpler presentation than that in your textbook, plus there are little 'check your knowledge' things that will help. Read both of lessons 1 and 2 and answer the questions to your satisfaction.
    • HW: do this Mechanics exam from last year (including the problems we have already done -- do what it takes to score 100% on this -- I want you to know these problems inside-out) (HW Packet G)

• Week of Monday, October 17th : Midterm Week
  • Day 1
    • Review for MT Exam / go over questions on weekend's homework
    • Reading HW: go back through the whole quarter and make sure you have done all the reading that has been assigned
  • Day 2
    • HW Packet G due
    • HW: Review for MT Exam
  • Midterm Exam!

 

END OF FIRST QUARTER

Coming up: Torque & Rotation, SHM (including the GRAVITY EXPRESS TUNNEL problem)