Topics Overview: simple harmonic motion (including spring-mass systems, simple pendula and damped oscillations), mechanical waves, standing waves and resonance, electric charge, fields and force, magnetic fields and force, motion of charged particles in electric and magnetic fields, current and potential difference, cells and EMF, electrical power and resistance, series and parallel circuits, forces on current-carrying wires (all students); further simple harmonic motion (phase angle and energy functions), electric potential and potential energy functions, equipotential surfaces and electric field as a potential gradient, magnetic flux and Faraday’s law, Lenz’s law, rotating coils in uniform magnetic fields (HL only).
Detailed list of IB syllabus understandings and related guiding questions
Suggested Future Physics Contexts: vibration modelling, suspension systems, avoiding resonant vibrations, noise reduction, DC/Servo motors, batteries and their associated circuits, regenerative braking (HL).
Skills in the study of physics to be explicitly taught: understand how to accurately measure the following to an appropriate level of precision: electric current, electric potential difference, sound intensity. Appreciate when and how to reduce electrical resistance.
Possible labs/activities to facilitate development of skills: period vs mass for a spring-mass oscillator and/or period vs length for a simple pendulum, measuring the speed of sound (various methods), spreadsheet model of damped simple harmonic motion, using the PhET Charges and Fields simulation to verify the inverse square variation of Coulomb force with distance, measuring resistivity experimentally, current-voltage curves of various components, internal resistance of a cell.
HL: torsional springs, oscillating/falling magnets in solenoids.
Linking questions that can be answered during this unit:
How does the application of a restoring force acting on a particle result in simple harmonic motion?
How can circular motion be used to visualise simple harmonic motion?
How do travelling waves allow for a transfer of energy without a resultant displacement of matter?
How can the understanding of simple harmonic motion apply to the wave model?
How can the length of a wave be determined using concepts from kinematics?
What happens when waves overlap or coincide?
What is the relationship between resonance and simple harmonic motion?
How can resonance be explained in terms of conservation of energy?
How does damping affect periodic motion?
How does the amplitude of vibration at resonance depend on the dissipation of energy in the driven system?
Where do the laws of conservation apply in other areas of physics?
How are the fields in other areas of physics similar to and different from each other?
How are the properties of electric and magnetic fields represented?
How are electric and magnetic fields like gravitational fields?
How can conservation of energy be applied to motion in electromagnetic fields?
What causes circular motion of charged particles in a field?
How can the orbital radius of a charged particle moving in a field be used to determine the nature of the particle?
How can knowledge of electrical and magnetic forces allow the prediction of changes to the motion of charged particles?
How does the motion of a mass in a gravitational field compare to the motion of a charged particle in an electric field?
What are the benefits of using consistent terminology to describe different types of fields?
What are the advantages of cells as a source of electrical energy?
Which other quantities in physics involve rates of change?
How does a particle model allow electrical resistance to be explained?
What role does the molecular model play in understanding other areas of physics?
What are the parallels in the models for thermal and electrical conductivity?
How do collisions between charge carriers and the atomic cores of a conductor result in thermal energy transfer?
How can the heating of an electrical resistor be explained using other areas of physics?
How can rotation lead to the generation of an electric current?
How can the phase change of water be used in the process of electricity generation?
How are efficiency considerations important in motors and generators?
How does rotation apply to the motion of charged particles or satellites in orbit?
How does a torque lead to simple harmonic motion? (HL)
Faraday’s law of induction includes a rate of change. Which other areas of physics relate to rates of change? (HL)