30 April 2024

AP Physics 2 - fundamentals review #3

With three weeks to go before the AP physics exams, it's worth remembering that our students don't need MORE practice problems; rather, they need to pay careful attention to the practice problems they do.  This is my application of a John Dewey principle, that we don't learn by doing; we learn by paying attention to what we do.  

My first-year students in physics 1 are in a cycle of AP problem / quiz based on AP problem / corrections to AP problem if their quiz or problem shows they didn't get it the first time.  In AP Physics 2, which is a second-year course, students have already internalized that they must pay attention to what they do.  And, P2 students have a level of earned confidence in their skills that my 9th grade P1 folks lack.  So truly all we're doing is these daily quizzes, in-class experimental and problem solving work, and each week one take-home 25 minute "quiz" with 5 multiple choice and one free response.  Less is more when dealing with upperclasspeople in the spring.

P2 Fundamentals Review #3

21. A battery is connected to two resistors in series.  The resistors each take 20 V of voltage across them.  What is the voltage of the battery?

22. Write the first law of thermodynamics, which is an expression for the change in internal energy.

23. Two waves are initially in phase with one another.  One wave has traveled a small extra distance than the other.  Under what conditions does constructive interference occur?

24. Define the period of a wave.

25. What is the equation relating the image and object distances for a convex mirror?

26. Two light waves undergo constructive interference.  What physical effect will be observed?

27. Name two items that can produce a magnetic field.

28. A battery is connected to two resistors in series.  The resistors each take 20 mA of current through them.  What is the current provided by the battery?

29. A gas consists of molecules moving around.  What feature of these molecules’ behavior causes the macroscopic effect called pressure?

30. What is the physical quantity that means energy produced in one second?


1 comment:

  1. Thanks for putting this out there Greg! This really helps review for the exam. See you in Tampa!

    ReplyDelete