Albany Senior High School/Coursebook/2PHY

What is this course about?
The word Physics comes from the greek word fusis meaning natural things. Physics studies natural phenomenon in the areas of mechanics, electricity, waves and nuclear physics.

Physicists are inquisitive, so you will investigate the answers to questions about events that occur in the world around you. These topics will range from parts of the atom to observations of distant galaxies, yet all the topics can be related to phenomenon that you can observe every day.

Matter and Energy
The universe is made of matter and energy At the smallest level, matter is made of elementary particles which have mass and charge. On a large scale, matter ranges from everyday objects to vast galaxy super-clusters. Energy has many different forms.

Waves carry energy Energy propagates through materials and space by means of various types of waves, for example, sound waves in air, seismic waves through the earth, electromagnetic waves, including light that may travel through materials or empty space.

Forces
There are four fundamental forces All interactions originate in four fundamental forces of nature. The force of gravity acts between all bodies and depends on their masses. The electromagnetic force acts between charged particles or between magnetic poles and is responsible for electric and magnetic fields and electric currents. The strong and weak nuclear forces operate between protons and neutrons in the nuclei of atoms, holding them together and sometimes resulting in radioactive decay.

Interactions and relationships
The universe evolves by means of interactions All interactions involve matter and energy and take place through forces, fields, and energy transformations.

Some quantities are conserved Underlying these interactions and transformations are laws of conservation – energy and charge cannot be created or destroyed. This means that overall they remain unchanged by an interaction or transformation.

Relationships

Ideas can be connected through relationships. Physicists collect data through experiment and observation and process it to understand the relationships bewteen quantities (qualitative and quantitative). Physicists use these relationships to make predictions, which is essential to physics applications such as engineering, medicine etc.

What will I learn?
Skills you will learn as a Physicist are:


 * how to think scientificaly and understand the nature of science
 * use basic laws to explain situations you observe, both qualitatively (explaining in words) and quantitatively (using formula and numerical values)
 * how to carry out an investigation and analyse trends and relationships in data that you collect
 * explain technical or biological applications of Physics in the world around you and their impact on society

What sorts of things will I do?
As a Physicist you will be

Connected

Understand how physics links to the world around you and your everyday lives. Use physics theory to explain or help understand what you see. Recognise that physics is used in areas such as sports, engineering, communication, medicine and many more...

Curious

Be a lifelong learner who has a sense of curiosity, ask questions about what you see and why things work.

These standards are required as part of the course
AS91168 is a portfolio of reports on six experiments completed during term 1 and 2. AS91169 is a project completed during terms 2 and 3. Both require students to work on these in class and in their own time. The work students submit for these assessments is to be their own work and students will be asked to sign authenticity statements to confirm this. No reassessment opportunity will be provided for AS91168 or AS91169

What do I need to be able to study L2 physics?

 * It is highly recommended that students have passed, with achieved or above, the heat internal assessment and the mechanics external exam in the level 1 Science course
 * A good understanding of the following areas of maths - measurement, calculation of area, Pythagoras, trigonometry and algebra
 * If you do not have the above you need to talk to the Teacher in charge of Physics (Rachel Cann)

Are there any recommended texts?
Copies of text books are available from the library, and will also be available to purchase from the school at the beginning of the year.


 * NCEA Level 2 Physics Study Guide, ESA Publishers, D Housden (ISBN: 978-1-927153-37-6)

To study for external examinations the following texts are recommended:


 * StudyPass level 2 Physics fold out notes and revision guide (these can be ordered through the school later in the year at a discounted price, you will be informed in class)