College Prep Physics Syllabus

Text: Physics: (Serway & Vaughn)

1^st Semester

· Motion in One Dimension (Chapter 2)

Displacement, speed and velocity, acceleration, graphical analysis, falling objects

· Vectors and 2-D motion (Chapter 3)

Manipulating vectors, scalars, component and resultant vectors, projectile motion

· Newton's Laws and Forces (Chapter 4)

1st, 2nd, and 3rd laws, mass, weight, friction, net forces, inclined planes

· Work, Power, and Energy (Chapter 5)

Work, power, potential and kinetic energy, conservation of energy

· Momentum and Collisions (Chapter 6)

Momentum and impulse, conservation of momentum, inelastic and elastic collisions, explosions, center of gravity

· Circular Motion (Chapter 7)

Angular velocity and acceleration, rotational and linear motion, centripetal acceleration and force

· Planetary Motion (Chapter 8)

Law of universal gravitation, Kepler’s laws

Departmental Midterm

2^nd Semester

· Relativity (Supplementary Materials)

Special and general relativity, time dilation, space-time, black holes

· Fluids in Motion (Chapter 9)

Density, pressure, buoyancy, Bernoulli’s principle

· Waves (Chapter 12)

Simple harmonic motion

· Sound (Chapter 13)

Resonance, musical instruments, beats, ear

· Electromagnetic Radiation (Chapter 14)

Light, color

· Optics (Chapters 15 & 16)

Reflection, refraction, lenses, mirrors, interference, diffraction

· Electric Forces and Electrostatics (Chapter 17)

Electric charge, Coulomb’s law, electrostatics

· Current electricity and DC circuits (Chapters 19 & 20)

Current, resistance, voltage, AC/DC, simple circuits, household electricity