Honors Physics

Unit 1

Throughout this unit, students will explore one dimensional and two dimensional, projectile, motion. Beginning with evaluating the nuances of distance vs displacement and velocity vs speed, students will learn about scalars versus vectors and how they affect signs and acceleration.  Students will discover the various graphical representation of motion and will apply this knowledge to critically analyze motion graphs. Students will expand upon this prior knowledge in linear motion, to begin evaluating two-dimensional motion. Beginning with demonstrations that pose questions about two-dimensional motion, students will explore the relationship between horizontal and vertical motion of objects. Ultimately, students will be evaluating motion to determine the range (landing position), maximum height and time in the air for a given projectile. Students will be able to solve numerical word problems and extend these skills to solve for multiple physical variables.  

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing

Unit 2

Students will explore forces as being a push or a pull. They will begin by evaluating if a system of forces is balanced or unbalanced. They will be introduced to the creation of free body diagrams as a modality to analyze and survey motion in order to determine if the motion is, or is not, accelerated. Students will explore Newton's three laws of motion and apply their understanding to real life situations. With this new understanding, students will explore the principle of force of frictions as an application of Newton's Third Laws of Motion. Ultimately, students will be using these skills to help them understand the Physics of a person skydiving as well as other complex concepts like Atwood machines and inclined planes. At the end of the unit students will explore the concept of torque as well as balanced and unbalanced situations of torque and apply this knowledge in analyzing objects in static equilibrium.   

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Idea Generation, Analyzing

Unit 3

Students will explore and analyze objects that move in a circular path. This analysis is based on prior units, however, allows students to apply their reasoning and problem solving to specific real world situations with which they are familiar, such as; why they feel like they are pushed to the outside of a car when the go around a curve, why they lift off their seat at the top of a roller coaster hill and why they feel heavy at the boom of the Ferris wheel. This unit will lead them into the next unit which is the study of the motion of satellites and celestial bodies.  

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing

Unit 4

In this brief unit, students apply their knowledge of circular motion and forces to analyze the motion of man made and natural (celestial) satellites. Students will study the laws of physics that govern the motion of planets, moons and the universal law of gravitation that holds the universe together.  As a culminating experience, students will determine the mass of Neptune using the Law of Gravity and their understanding of circular motion from the prior unit.  

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing

Unit 5

Students will explore three different types of mechanical energy: kinetic energy, potential gravitational energy, and potential elastic/spring energy as well as conservation of energy, the work-energy theorem, and power. Students will begin by analyzing the three common types of mechanical energy (kinetic, potential gravitational, and potential elastic). They will analyze the transformation between these types of energy to uncover the conservation of mechanical energy and the transformation of energy from one form to another. They will continue by analyzing the transformation of work in energy and energy into work in order to uncover the work-energy theorem. Students will also engage in real-life application of this theorem as they explore mechanical energy. Students will also investigate the six types of simple machines and their advantages and disadvantages.  Students will learn how to calculate actual mechanical advantage, ideal mechanical advantage, and efficiency. Finally, they will uncover the rate the energy transfers is called power. As a part of this unit, students will also spend time looking at the importance of units and unit conversions in calculations and understanding of what units and numbers really mean.  

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing

Unit 6

This unit focuses on Newton's Third Law of Motion, specifically on the resulting change in motion on two objects when they collide, and the effect of an object exploding on the resultant pieces of the object after the explosion. Students will look at the impact of safety features in automobiles (seat belts, air bags, crumple zones) and why they are designed and how their implementation results in less force on the driver. Ultimately, students will apply their understanding of the content to analyze a car crash and present their scientifically-based conclusions in a mock trial. 

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Idea Generation

Unit 7

This unit focuses on the electric field, and the electrostatic force between charged objects.  Through this unit, students will extend their knowledge of the Field to include electric fields, and find correlations between the law of gravity and the Coulombs law of electrostatic force. Students will apply their prior knowledge of forces, motion and the atomic model of the atom to analyze situations and problem sets. This unit provides foundational knowledge for the study of electricity. 

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Collective Intelligence, Idea Generation, Analyzing

unit 8

Students will perform investigations into the behavior of series, parallel and combination electric circuits. Students will design circuits for specific behavior with a focus on an analysis of household circuitry. Electric power and the cost of electricity will be studied, in addition to AC and DC electricity. 

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Idea Generation

Unit 9

In this unit, students learn the relationship between electricity and magnetism, by exploring the impact of moving electrons has on both. In this highly interactive and lab based unit, students apply fundamentals of physics to experience how motors, generators, speakers, compasses and other real-world devices function. Students will have the opportunity to fabricate devices that take advantage of forces caused by changing magnetic fields. Students will also explore how the earth's magnetic field affects life on this big beautiful blue marble hurling through space at 67,000 mph around the sun in a solar system hurling 514,000 mph around the galaxy. 

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing

Unit 10

Properties of waves are introduced as we explore the wave velocity equation by finding the frequency and wavelength of different types of waves. Simple harmonic motion is introduced with a discussion of spring force and spring potential energy, pendulums and other oscillatory motion and how that motion relates to waves. Throughout the unit, students will apply the fundamentals of wave characteristics to different scenarios and problems. Students will integrate prior units (force, energy) and integrate this content into their analysis. This unit serves as a fundamental base for the student of sound and light. 

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing

Unit 11

Students will continue building on their prior knowledge from the previous unit, waves, and apply it to understanding musical instruments and everyday technologies like Doppler effect. Students will start by exploring the mechanics of sound in wind and stringed instruments and relate instrument design to pitch. They will continue by exploring harmonic frequencies and their relationship to the instruments' quality and timbre. Ultimately students will explore advanced topics as Doppler effect, beat frequency and sound transmission in various media. 

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Collective Intelligence

Unit 12

Students will explore electromagnetic radiation with emphasis on visible light. They will begin by exploring electromagnetic radiation and its spectrum in order to correlate frequencies and wavelengths. They will also explore the relationship between the frequency of a wave and its energy and real life applications of this principle. They will further evaluate the relationship between frequency, wavelength and speed as quantitatively described in the wave equation. They will continue exploring light and electromagnetic radiation's Law of Reflection and the principle of refraction and how it manifests in real life in terms of color mixing and polarization. Ultimately students will apply their new learning in exploring Ray diagrams for converging and diverging lens as well as for converging and diverging curved mirrors. If time allows, students will explore lenses as they relate to optical instruments and the functioning of the eye. 

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Analyzing, Collective Intelligence

Unit 13

This survey unit covers applications of areas of Modern Physics, including the Photo Electric effect, electron transitions and isotopic emission spectra, Special and General Relativity, Matter-Energy relationships, nuclear decay and fusion and a brief introduction to elementary particles (beyond the proton-neutron-electron). The majority of the unit will be student-driven as they complete and present a research project in an area of modern physics in which they are interested.  

Profile of a Graduate Capacities: Collective Intelligence, Product Creation