AP Physics Summer Assignment

Welcome to Advanced Placement (AP) Physics. AP Physics is a challenging course that deeply covers many topics. We need to master some of the less challenging material before the beginning of school in August. Otherwise, we will not have enough time to complete the course before the AP test in the beginning of May. If you allot the time and energy, you will be able to master this content during the summer. So, please plan your time accordingly. I would recommend completing the first chapter during June while documenting the amount of time it takes. After completing the first chapter in June, you can make a schedule to determine how much time you will need to complete the next three chapters. The following work needs to be completed by class on the first day of school.

We will be thoroughly covering ideas from http://www.physicsclassroom.com/ website. In particular, we will be covering all lessons from the following chapters: 1-D Kinematics; Newton's Laws; Work, Energy and Power; and Momentum and Its Conservation.

Specifically complete the following.

1. From the http://www.physicsclassroom.com/ website, select “Physics Tutorial”. Read and Take Notes on Lessons 1-6 of 1-D Kinematics while completing the “Checks for Understanding”. From the http://www.physicsclassroom.com/ website, select “Review Session”. Complete and check exercises #1-50 of 1-D Kinematics. For details about completing the exercises, see the below note **.

2. From the http://www.physicsclassroom.com/ website, select “Physics Tutorial”. Read and Take Notes on Lessons 1-4 of Newton's Laws of Motion while completing the “Checks for Understanding”. From the http://www.physicsclassroom.com/ website, select “Review Session”. Complete and check exercises #1-60 of Newton's Laws of Motion. For details about completing the exercises, see the below note **.

3. From the http://www.physicsclassroom.com/ website, select “Physics Tutorial”. Read and Take Notes on Lessons 1-2 of Work, Energy and Power while completing the “Checks for Understanding”. From the http://www.physicsclassroom.com/ website, select “Review Session”. Complete and check exercises #1-45 of Work, Energy and Power. For details about completing the exercises, see the below note **.

4. From the http://www.physicsclassroom.com/ website, select “Physics Tutorial”. Read and Take Notes on Lessons 1-2 of Momentum and Its Conservation while completing the “Checks for Understanding”. From the http://www.physicsclassroom.com/ website, select “Review Session”. Complete and check exercises #1-72 of Momentum and Its Conservation. For details about completing the exercises, see the below note **.

** Note about exercises: You are expected to show your work. For example, in a problem that deals with a formula, you should always write down the original formula, show substitution of values and algebraic manipulation, then state the final answer with correct units. Solutions are provided on http://www.physicsclassroom.com/. You are expected to use the solutions to check your answer. For long term retention of the material, copying the solutions from the website is ineffective. To be successful in AP Physics, you will need to be a thinker, not a scribe. While it is fine to work with other members of your class, your exercises (and notes) should not match a classmate's paper word-for-word. Obviously, simple calculations might appear exactly as on a classmate's paper. In the event that your answers are obviously copied straight from a classmate's paper, this is considered plagiarism and will result in a zero for all parties involved.

If you have any questions and concerns, feel free to contact me at dslambright@gmail.com. I do spend several weeks “off-the-grid” during the summer months. Therefore, it might be days or weeks before I can respond.

Thank you,

Mr. Lambright