OCG - Physics Honors

Geometry (412201CW) or Geometry Honors (412201HW) and Algebra 2 (411501CW) or Algebra 2 Honors (411501HW). Algebra 2 or Algebra 2 Honors may be taken concurrently.

South Carolina Standards:  (List the standards students are expected to master in this course)

• Standard H.P.2: The student will demonstrate an understanding of how the interactions among objects and their subsequent motion can be explained and predicted using the concept of forces.
  • P.2A. Conceptual Understanding: The linear motion of an object can be described by its displacement, velocity, and acceleration.
  • P.2B. Conceptual Understanding: The interactions among objects and their subsequent motion can be explained and predicted by analyzing the forces acting on the objects and applying Newton’s laws of motion.
  • P.2C. Conceptual Understanding: The contact interactions among objects and their subsequent motion can be explained and predicted by analyzing the normal, tension, applied, and frictional forces acting on the objects and by applying Newton’s Laws of Motion.
  • P.2D. Conceptual Understanding: The non-contact (at a distance) interactions among objects and their subsequent motion can be explained and predicted by analyzing the gravitational, electric, and magnetic forces acting on the objects and applying Newton’s laws of motion.
• Standard H.P.3: The student will demonstrate an understanding of how the interactions among objects can be explained and predicted using the concept of the conservation of energy.
  • P.3A. Conceptual Understanding: Work is defined as the product of displacement and the force causing that displacement; this results in the transfer of mechanical energy. Therefore, in the case of mechanical energy, energy is seen as the ability to do work. This is called the work-energy principle. The rate at which work is done (or energy is transformed) is called power. For machines that do useful work for humans, the ratio of useful power output is the efficiency of the machine. For all energies and in all instances, energy in a closed system remains constant.
  • P.3B. Conceptual Understanding: Mechanical energy refers to a combination of motion (kinetic energy) and stored energy (potential energy). When only conservative forces act on an object and when no mass is converted to energy, mechanical energy is conserved. Gravitational and electrical potential energy can be modeled as energy stored in the fields created by massive objects or charged particles.
  • P.3C. Conceptual Understanding: When there is a temperature difference between two objects, an interaction occurs in the form of a transfer of thermal energy (heat) from the hotter object to the cooler object. Thermal energy is the total internal kinetic energy of the molecules and/or atoms of a system and is related to temperature, which is the average kinetic energy of the particles of a system. Energy always flows from hot to cold through the processes of conduction, convection, or radiation.
  • P.3D. Conceptual Understanding: Sound is a mechanical, longitudinal wave that is the result of vibrations (kinetic energy) that transfer energy through a medium.
  • P.3E. Conceptual Understanding: During electric circuit interactions, electrical energy (energy stored in a battery or energy transmitted by a current) is transformed into other forms of energy and transferred to circuit devices and the surroundings. Charged particles and magnets create fields that store energy. Magnetic fields exert forces on moving charged particles. Changing magnetic fields cause electrons in wires to move, creating current.
  • P.3F. Conceptual Understanding: During radiant energy interactions, energy can be transferred over long distances without a medium. Radiation can be modeled as an electromagnetic wave or as a stream of discrete packets of energy (photons); all radiation travels at the same speed in a vacuum (speed of light). This electromagnetic radiation is a major source of energy for life on Earth.
  • P.3G. Conceptual Understanding: Nuclear energy is energy stored in an atom’s nucleus; this energy holds the atom together and is called binding energy. Binding energy is a reflection of the equivalence of mass and energy; the mass of any nucleus is always less than the sum of the masses of the individual constituent nucleons that comprise it. Binding energy is also a measure of the strong nuclear force that exists in the nucleus and is responsible for overcoming the repulsive forces among protons. The strong and weak nuclear forces, gravity, and the electromagnetic force are the fundamental forces in nature. Strong and weak nuclear forces determine nuclear sizes, stability, and rates of radioactive decay. At the subatomic scale, the conservation of energy becomes the conservation of mass-energy

Required Instructional Materials and Resources: (List required materials including SDOC provided textbooks, including any fees that apply, etc.)

• Serway, Raymond A., and Jerry S. Faughn. Holt Physics. Austin, Tex.: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2002.