I need help with AP Physics B :(

smileeLv · 11-09-2008, 06:53 PM

I'm taking AP Physics B right now in school,
and it's killing me !!

Our teacher doesn't teach at all and expects us to know everything.
I know kind of what to do in problems if it is a problem that we did for homework,
but seriously, I don't understand the material at all because we really don't learn anything in class.

I need help!!
I want to find a website or some kind of "helping tool" online that can help me to grasp the basics in AP Physics and concepts.
Does anyone know a good online course or anything that can help in a situation like this??
Thanks

dr1260liukang · 11-13-2008, 02:09 PM

I am in the same situation as you. My teacher spends the whole class on one question so we really don't learn anything. I haven't found help for the whole class, but I have used Yahoo Answers to help with any homework problems in the Math/Physics section, most people will show you how to do it and with what equations, and they usually spell it out so you can learn it. Or buy the PR Physics B book as I have heard its the best, I probably will

jaimeastorga2000 · 11-13-2008, 02:21 PM

There are always the MIT OCW lectures on Physics, but they are more like Physics C; they cover mechanics and electricity & magnetism in great depth and using calculus.

If you are interested, I compiled a list of resources for my Physics C Mechanics class a while ago and e-mailed it to everyone (let's just say we also had a "teacher" that didn't do much teaching). Part of the physics B exams is mechanics, and a lot of the resources I compiled include sections on other branches of physics, so hopefully it should help you somewhat (the online textbooks, for example, cover a lot more).

Quote:

Hello guys, gals, and hermaphrodites. It's me, Jaime! ^_^ I am sending you all this mail as promised so that you may have all the material necessary in studying for the AP Test. Since I am an infophile, I have included everything I thought could be helpful, including the videos, multiple choice and free response questions, online textbooks, and reference tables, as well as the software needed to view them. Hope this helps us all pass the exam! Good luck, people!

Necessary Software:

In order to download or stream and view professor Walter Lewin's lectures, you will need either RealPlayer or Quicktime. Because the RealPlayer videos are of slightly smaller size, provide bookmarks to various points in the lecture, and allow for streaming rather than downloading if you would prefer not to use up your hard drive space, I recommend you download, install and use RealPlayer (the same player used in class). The choice, however, is yours.

RealPlayer may be found here:

http://www.real.com/

QuickTime may be found here (Note: It is not necessary to give your e-mail address; simply clicking the button without writing anything will begin the download. You may download it in a bundle with iTunes, but it is not necessary):

Apple - QuickTime - Download

In order to view most of the provided documents, you will need Adobe Reader. If you don't have it, it is available here:

Adobe - Adobe Reader Download - All versions

In order to view some of the free responses documents, you will need something that opens the .doc file format. While this is mostly associated with Microsoft Word, that word processor isn't free, so for those of you who don't have Microsoft Office (or are not using Windows in the first place) and are unwilling to pay for it, I am providing a link to a free office suite that will open Microsoft Word documents. It is called OpenOffice, and it may be found here:

www: OpenOffice.org - The Free and Open Productivity Suite

Video Lectures By Professor Walter Lewin:

The focus of this mail and of our physics course in preparation for the exam, these are the video lectures made by professor Walter Lewin and available from MIT Open Course Ware (Free Online Course Materials | MIT OpenCourseWare). Please note that first of these lectures shows a video called "The Powers Of Ten" which was removed, apparently for copyright reasons. It may be found here YouTube - Powers of 10

The downloadable series of lectures, with the topics covered presented next to them and as given by the MIT site section "Highlights For High School" are available here:

Free Online MIT Course Materials for High School | AP Physics | Download Videos for AP Physics | MIT OpenCourseWare

Please note that lectures 12, 23, 26, and 35 are missing because they are not considered important for the AP Exam. If you wish to see them out of personal interest, or if you wish to stream rather than download the other videos mentioned above, the complete list of streamable lectures may be found here:

MIT OpenCourseWare | Physics | 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics, Fall 1999 | Video Lectures

Furthermore, if you wish not be bothered with RealPlayer or QuickTime, the lectures are available at YouTube from MIT's YouTube Channel (YouTube - MIT's Channel) as a playlist. Said playlist may be found here:

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

Finally, if any of you have iTunes and prefer to find the lectures in a podcast that will be easily transferable to your iPod, or simply enjoy the iTunes player for some reason, you may find MIT's iTunes site here. Along the included podcasts are Walter Lewin's lectures.

MIT - iTunes U

Lecture Notes:

Lecture Notes grouped in topics corresponding to those covered by the AP Exam are also available on MIT's "Highlight For High School" section (Free Online MIT Course Materials for High School | MIT OpenCourseWare). While it is still recommended you take your own notes, these notes will enhance your understanding of the material and supplement any notes you may have taken. They are provided below:

Kinematics:
Free Online MIT Course Materials for High School | AP Physics | Kinematics | Motion in One Dimension | MIT OpenCourseWare
Free Online MIT Course Materials for High School | AP Physics | Kinematics | Motion in Two Dimensions | MIT OpenCourseWare

Newton's Laws Of Motion:
Free Online MIT Course Materials for High School | AP Physics | Newton's Laws of Motion | Static Equilibrium/1st Law | MIT OpenCourseWare
Free Online MIT Course Materials for High School | AP Physics | Newton's Laws of Motion | Single Particle Dynamics/2nd Law | MIT OpenCourseWare
Free Online MIT Course Materials for High School | AP Physics | Newton's Laws of Motion | Systems: Two or More Bodies/3rd Law | MIT OpenCourseWare

Work, Energy, & Power:
Free Online MIT Course Materials for High School | AP Physics | Work, Energy, Power | Work & Work-Energy Theorem | MIT OpenCourseWare
Free Online MIT Course Materials for High School | AP Physics | Work, Energy, Power | Forces & Potential Energy | MIT OpenCourseWare
Free Online MIT Course Materials for High School | AP Physics | Work, Energy, Power | Conservation of Energy | MIT OpenCourseWare
Free Online MIT Course Materials for High School | AP Physics | Work, Energy, Power | Power | MIT OpenCourseWare

Systems Of Particles & Linear Momentum:
Free Online MIT Course Materials for High School | AP Physics | Systems of Particles, Linear Momentum | Center of Mass | MIT OpenCourseWare
Free Online MIT Course Materials for High School | AP Physics | Systems of Particles, Linear Momentum | Impulse and Momentum | MIT OpenCourseWare
Free Online MIT Course Materials for High School | AP Physics | Systems of Particles, Linear Momentum | Conservation of Linear Momentum, Collisions | MIT OpenCourseWare

Circular Motion & Rotation:
Free Online MIT Course Materials for High School | AP Physics | Circular Motion & Rotation | Uniform Circular Motion | MIT OpenCourseWare
Free Online MIT Course Materials for High School | AP Physics | Circular Motion & Rotation | Torque & Rotational Statics | MIT OpenCourseWare
Free Online MIT Course Materials for High School | AP Physics | Circular Motion & Rotation | Rotational Kinematics/Dynamics | MIT OpenCourseWare
Free Online MIT Course Materials for High School | AP Physics | Circular Motion & Rotation | Angular Momentum & Conservation | MIT OpenCourseWare

Oscillations & Gravitation:
Free Online MIT Course Materials for High School | AP Physics | Oscillations & Gravitation | Simple Harmonic Motion | MIT OpenCourseWare
Free Online MIT Course Materials for High School | AP Physics | Oscillations & Gravitation | Mass on a Spring | MIT OpenCourseWare
Free Online MIT Course Materials for High School | AP Physics | Oscillations & Gravitation | Pendulum & Other Oscillations | MIT OpenCourseWare
Free Online MIT Course Materials for High School | AP Physics | Oscillations & Gravitation | Newton's Law of Gravity | MIT OpenCourseWare
Free Online MIT Course Materials for High School | AP Physics | Oscillations & Gravitation | Orbits of Planets & Satellites | MIT OpenCourseWare

Textbooks:

For those of you wanting an electronic text to look while you review,

Motion Mountain is probably the biggest, most professional freely available and published online textbook. For the purposes of the mechanics exam, you only care about the first part, "Galilean motion." The book may be viewed online or downloaded here:

Motion Mountain - The Adventure of Physics : The Free Physics Textbook

Light And Matter is fight behind Motion Mountain as an epic level freely available online textbook (actually, this is more like a series of books). For the purposes of the mechanics exam, you are concerned only with the first two books, "Newtonian Physics" & "Conservation Laws." The books may be viewed online or downloaded here:

Light and Matter: open-source physics textbooks

SparkNotes has either published a copy of its textbook, or else printed a copy of its webpages; I am not sure which is which. Regardless of this chicken and egg dilema, however, you may find their material helpful. Please note that their material is based on the SAT II Physics exam, not the AP Physics Exam; however, concepts are concepts. Their online textbook may be found here:

SparkNotes: SAT Physics

Reference Material:

Just so you don't have to look up while in the middle of problem solving, I have included reference material from several sources, including the school agenda and physics book. The material is available here:

As Provided In The Agenda:
Conversions: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...onversions.jpg
Equations: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...tionsFinal.jpg

As Provided By The College Board:
Equations: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4.../Mechanics.jpg

As Provided In The Honors Book:
Fundamental Constants & Physical Data: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ntsAndData.jpg

As Provided In The AP Book:
Physical Constants: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...kConstants.jpg
Conversions: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...ndAlphabet.jpg

Ramned · 11-13-2008, 03:26 PM

Read and pore over your textbooks!!

HonorsCentaur · 01-26-2010, 02:42 PM

What comes wit the AP Physics B exam?
What are the formulas and referenes included with the test?

zhangli · 04-04-2010, 03:03 PM

I used to be a physics teacher in high school in China. If anybody has problem with AP physics, send me email about your questions. I will help you. zhangliming_2004@hotmail.com