Summer Assignment: AP Physics

Advanced Placement students are expected to familiarize themselves with the eight topics for this course by engaging with the following linked PhET Simulators and taking personal notes on each topic.  Your notes will not be collected for a grade, however familiarizing yourself with the basics over the summer will make it much easier to understand lessons during the school year.  Consequences for not taking notes this summer may include falling behind, requiring extra study time during the school year, and ultimately poor test performances.

Each Simulator will allow students to perform virtual experiments by manipulating variables then observing various responses.  Note: some simulators will require accessing via personal Google accounts because the District Google  accounts blocks some formats.

Instructions: Click on each of the following links, perform simulated experiments of your own design, then take notes on observations in your notebook.  It is suggested to spend between 20 to 45 minutes on each simulator and add notes, images, and graphs in your notebook to record what you learned.

• Unit 1: Kinematics - Vectors, Linear Motion, Curvilinear Motion, Projectile Motion.

• Unit 2: Forces - Newton's Laws, Friction, Elastic Forces, Gravitational Forces.

• Unit 3: Work, Energy, Power - Conservation of Mechanical Energy.

• Unit 4: Linear Momentum - Collisions & Conservation of Linear Momentum. 

• Units 5 & Unit 6: Torque, Rotational Dynamics, Energy & Momentum or Rotating Systems - Rotational Motion, Angular acceleration, Net Torque, Kepler's Laws. 

• Unit 7: Oscillations - Springs, Pendulums.

• Unit 8: Fluids - Buoyancy, Fluid Pressure & Flow.