Physics (lab)

Mr. Brad Herron

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Physics describes the most fundamental rules that govern creation, and learning these rules opens up a whole new and exciting way to understand the interactions all around us.

 

Physics looks at how things happen, the reason things happen and explains it. No other science does this. Chemistry deals with the results of things happening and biology deals with the why things can happen, but physics deals with the how things happen. Physics states that there must exist fundamental rules that govern how things work and it is the physicist’s job to uncover those rules and apply formulas to them.

 

Fundamentally, physics is not about big machines or advanced technology—it is about people trying to find out how the world works and discovering the “laws of nature”. Physics is applied mathematics. In physics, we’ll take the tools (Algebra, Vectors, Calculus, Differential Equations, etc.) that you’ve learned math classes and apply them to real world problems. Physics is about the nature of basic things such as motion, forces, energy, matter, heat, sound, light and the composition of atoms. In this rigorous course we’ll cover a wide range of physics topics, including Newtonian mechanics, rotational motion and gravitation, atomic theory, and states of matter in the first semester; and thermodynamics, wave motion, light, magnetism, and electric currents in the second semester.

 

Sometimes physics gets a bad reputation, as being one of the hardest sciences you’ll take in high school. This can be true, however, together we’ll break down each concept and simplify them. We’ll explore each topic, learn critical thinking skills along the way and use hands-on lab techniques to get you thinking like a physicist.
(Algebra I prerequisite, Algebra II co-requisite)

 

REQUIRED MATERIALS

• Conceptual Physics, Prentice Hall by Paul Hewitt (C. 2009), ISBN# 9780133647495. Used start at $32.67 on Amazon (https://amzn.to/2vjRF0J)

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COURSE LAB FEE

• $50 for lab supplies (payable with tuition on August 1)