Weston High School

Massachusetts Grade 9/10 Physics MCAS Review

Background

A skier at Mt. Wachusett is propelled forward by the gravitational field of the earth.

The terms 'potential' and 'kinetic' energy are used to create a mathematical model that predict's an object's motion in a field.

The high school Introductory Physics standards address the following topics:

• Motion and Forces;
• Conservation of Energy and Momentum;
• Heat and Heat Transfer; Waves;
• Electromagnetism;
• Electromagnetic Radiation.

In an introductory physics high school course, students recognize the nature and scope of physics, including its relationship to the other sciences. Students learn about basic topics such as motion, forces, energy, heat, waves, electricity, and magnetism. They learn about natural phenomena by using physical laws to calculate quantities such as velocity, acceleration, momentum, and energy.

Students learn about the relationships between motion and forces through Newton’s laws of motion. They study the difference between vector and scalar quantities and learn how to solve basic problems involving these quantities.

Students learn about the conservation of energy and momentum and how these are applied to everyday situations. They learn about heat and how thermal energy is transferred throughout the different phases of matter. Students extend their knowledge of waves and how they carry energy. Students gain a better understanding of electric current, voltage, and resistance by learning about Ohm’s law. They also gain knowledge about the electromagnetic spectrum in terms of wavelength and frequency.

- from Massachusetts Frameworks

Story about the physicist Richard Feynman, discussing his father:

‘See that bird?’ he says. ‘It’s a Spencer’s warbler. (I knew he didn’t know the real name.) ‘Well, in Italian, it’s a Chutto Lapittida. In Portuguese, it’s a Bom da Peida. In Chinese it’s a Chung-long-tah, and in Japanese it’s a Katano Takeda. You can know the name of that bird in all the languages of the world, but when you’re finished, you’ll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird. You’ll only know about humans in different places, and what they call the bird. So let’s look at the bird and see what it’s doing - that’s what counts!

Since his childhood he developed a habit of not taking any thing granted, to question everything, to go after the bottom of any mysteries. Here again he was helped by his father. Feynman later recalls that on being asked about the odd behaviour of ball left lying in a playing wagon, his father replied: "That, nobody knows. The general principle is that things which are moving tend to keep on moving, and things which are standing still tend to stand still, unless you push them hard. This tendency called ‘inertia’, but nobody knows why it’s true."

-Subodh Mahanti, at http://www.vigyanprasar.gov.in/dream/april99/AprilArticle.htm