AP Physics 2 (2023-2024)

Course Description (2023-2024)

AP Physics 2: Algebra-Based Course Overview AP Physics 2 is an algebra-based, introductory college-level physics course. Students cultivate their understanding of physics through inquiry-based investigations as they explore these topics: fluids; thermodynamics; electrical force, field, and potential; electric circuits; magnetism and electromagnetic induction; geometric and physical optics; and quantum, atomic, and nuclear physics. 

The AP Physics 2 course and exam require a variety of quantitative skills. As you develop these skills throughout the course, refer to the Quantitative Skills in the AP Sciences guide.

This AP Physics 1 course is equivalent to the second semester of a typical introductory, algebra-based physics course.

Organized around Big Ideas:

Students explore principles of fluids, thermodynamics, electricity, magnetism, optics, and topics in modern physics. The course is based on seven big ideas, which encompass core scientific principles, theories, and processes that cut across traditional boundaries and provide a broad way of thinking about the physical world. The following are the big ideas:

•  Big Idea 1: Objects and systems have properties such as mass and charge. Systems may have internal structure. 

• Big Idea 2: Fields existing in space can be used to explain interactions. 

• Big Idea 3: The interactions of an object with other objects can be described by forces.

• Big Idea 4: Interactions between systems can result in changes in those systems.

• Big Idea 5: Changes that occur as a result of interactions are constrained by conservation laws.

• Big Idea 6: Waves can transfer energy and momentum from one location to another without the permanent transfer of mass and serve as a mathematical model for the description of other phenomena. 

• Big Idea 7: The mathematics of probability can be used to describe the behavior of complex systems and to interpret the behavior of quantum mechanical systems.