AP Physics C E&M Syllabus
Textbook: Tipler, Paul A. Physics for Scientists and Engineers. 4th ed. New York: W. H. Freeman. 1999. ISBN 1-57259-673-2 Supplemental Material: University of Texas Homework Service (hw.utexas.edu) – This is an online homework service that has a large database of physics problems, including those associated with several standard textbooks and old physics AP test questions Course Overview: This class is part of a year long AP Physics C class that covers both the Mechanics and E&M tests. Class meetings are every other day for 90 minutes. This course is designed to prepare students for the AP Physics C E&M test. Students should expect to have homework each night as well as occasionally finishing labs outside of class. All students are strongly encouraged to take the AP exam. Students are required to be concurrently enrolled in an AP Calculus class. Calculus concepts are used throughout the course. Early in the year, students are introduced to some calculus concepts they need in this course that they haven’t yet learned in their calculus classes. As they learn more in their calculus classes we review topics from earlier in the year to facilitate more complete understanding. The course consists of 6 units with an assessment at the end of each unit. The E&M portion of the course is begun before the end of the first semester and is completed early enough to allow for at least a week of review before the AP test. Most units have one or more associated labs. There is approximately one lab every two weeks. This amounts to 20% of class time being spent on lab (5 class periods per 2 weeks, one devoted to lab). Lab time consists of pre-lab discussion, data collection, data analysis and write-up, and lab quizzes. In most cases, labs are designed to be open-ended. The students are given materials and a goal, and they have to figure out what data to collect and what procedures to follow. Rather than answer their questions, the instructor asks the students questions to guide them in a beneficial direction while allowing the ideas to come from the student. Whenever possible, a similar procedure is followed during class lectures where student questions are answered in such a way as to lead the class to the answer, rather than tell them the answer. At appropriate times during the course students are given old AP questions in addition to their homework. In class, students look at the grading guidelines and grade their own solution to the problem.
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Assessments consist of a multiple choice section and a free response section and are approximately 75-90 minutes long. Free response questions include, but are not limited to, previously released AP problems. Course Outline:
Electricity and Magnetism
Unit 1: Electrostatics (2 weeks) a. Charge and Coulomb's Law b. Electric field and electric potential (including point charges) Unit 2: Continuous Charge Distributions (2.5 weeks) a. Gauss's Law b. Fields and potentials of other charge distributions Unit 3: Conductors, capacitors, and dielectrics (3 weeks) a. Electrostatics with conductors b. Capacitors 1. Capacitance 2. Parallel Plate 3. Spherical and cylindrical c. Dielectrics Unit 4: Electric Circuits (2.5 weeks) a. Current, resistance, power b. Steady-state direct current circuits with batteries and resistors only c. Capacitors in circuits 1. Steady state 2. Transients in RC Circuits Unit 5: Magnetic Fields (2.5 weeks) a. Forces on moving charges in magnetic fields b. Forces on current-carrying wires in magnetic fields c. Fields of long current-carrying wires d. Biot-Savart law and Ampere's Law Unit 6: Electromagnetism (2 weeks) a. Electromagnetic induction (including Faraday's Law and Lentz's Law) b. Inductance (including LR and LC circuits) c. Maxwell's equations
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Labs: Students are typically given one class period to complete their labs. Work is done in small groups with as little instructor guidance as possible. When the students have problems the instructor guides their inquiries with questions and hints. The goal is for the student to reason out and discover the answer to their own questions. Data collection and lab write-ups are kept in an organized lab notebook which is turned in and graded after each lab. Students create their own data tables, and construct graphs by hand. They can verify their graphs or check properties of their graphs (intercepts, slope, etc.) using a graphing calculator. Lab List:
Topic Electric Fields Notes Virtual Lab. Facilitates understanding of how charges effect electric fields. Electric Fields Drawing Electric Fields Using conductive paper and metallic ink pens, students will draw electrodes of various shapes, measuring and tracing the electric field around them. Capacitance Capacitor Construction Students construct and test capacitors from cups and foil. (open ended) Inductance Induction in a Slinky Observing induced current in a slinky. Circuits Series and Parallel Circuits Students construct various circuits and explore their properties. (open ended) Circuits RC Circuits Students build an RC circuit and find the time constant. (open ended) Electromagnetism Electromagnet Construction Create and test an electromagnet made from coiling wire around a nail. (open ended) Circuits Organic Resistance Measuring resistance through a hot dog. Electromagnetism Electric Motor Construction Given a power source, wire, and a magnet, students will construct a working motor. (open ended) Title Electric Field Hockey
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