Course overview
AP Physics 1 builds a connected model of physical systems using experiments, representations, and algebraic reasoning. The course starts with motion, adds interactions with forces, develops conservation laws for energy and momentum, extends those ideas to rotational systems, then applies them to oscillations and fluid behavior.
Syllabus
- 01→
Kinematics
Describe motion in one and two dimensions using position, velocity, acceleration, graphs, and algebraic relationships.
- 02→
Force and Translational Dynamics
Use free-body diagrams and Newton's laws to predict how interactions change the motion of objects and systems.
- 03→
Work, Energy, and Power
Track energy transfers and system changes using work-energy ideas, conservation principles, and power.
- 04→
Linear Momentum
Use momentum, impulse, and conservation laws to analyze one-dimensional collisions, rebounds, and forces acting over short time intervals.
- 05→
Torque and Rotational Dynamics
Extend force ideas to rotation using torque, rotational inertia, angular acceleration, and equilibrium conditions.
- 06→
Energy and Momentum of Rotating Systems
Use rotational kinetic energy and angular momentum conservation to model spinning and rolling systems.
- 07→
Oscillations
Model periodic motion with restoring forces, energy exchange, and system parameters that set period and frequency.
- 08→
Fluids
Analyze fluid behavior with pressure, buoyancy, continuity, and energy ideas in static and moving fluids.