Physics 20

Unit 1: The Physics of Everyday Things

What physics studies and how physicists measure it: the SI system of units, significant figures and scientific notation, and reading meaning out of experimental data and graphs.

• Expressing quantities in SI units
• Precision, significant figures, and scientific notation
• Collecting data and reading graphs

Unit 2: Waves

The nature of waves as travelling energy: wave terminology, the universal wave equation, interference and superposition, and wave phenomena like reflection, refraction, diffraction, and standing waves.

• Wave terminology and periodic motion
• Solving period and frequency problems
• The universal wave equation
• Superposition and interference

• Transmission, reflection, and refraction of waves
• Diffraction, standing waves, and dispersion

Unit 3: Light

The behaviour of light: how it travels and how fast, the laws of reflection in plane and curved mirrors, refraction and Snell's law, and total internal reflection.

• How light travels: sources, shadows, and rectilinear propagation
• The inverse-square law of light intensity
• Measuring the speed of light and index of refraction

• The laws of reflection
• Plane-mirror images: real and virtual
• Drawing plane-mirror ray diagrams
• Curved mirrors: ray diagrams and equations

• Why light refracts and the laws of refraction
• Applying Snell's law
• Total internal reflection and the critical angle

Unit 4: Heat

Thermal energy explained by the kinetic molecular theory: heat versus temperature and thermal expansion, specific heat capacity and latent heat, and the laws of thermodynamics and heat exchange.

• Kinetic molecular theory, heat, and temperature
• Thermal expansion

• Specific heat capacity
• Latent heat and changes of state

• Heat exchange and the laws of thermodynamics