SPH4U – Physics – Grade 12
This course enables students to deepen their understanding of the concepts and theories of physics. Students will explore further the laws of dynamics and energy transformations, and will investigate electrical, gravitational, and magnetic fields; electromagnetic radiation; and the interface between energy and matter. They will further develop inquiry skills, learning, for example, how the interpretation of experimental data can provide indirect evidence to support the development of a scientific model. Students will also consider the impact on society and the environment of technological applications of physics.
$450.00
*Course outline is subject to change
Overall Curriculum Expectations
By the end of this course, students will :
Scientific Investigation skills and Career Exploration
- A1 – Demonstrates scientific investigation skills (related to both inquiry and research) in the four areas of skills (initiating and planning, performing and recording, analyzing and interpreting, and communicating)
- A2 – Identify and describe careers related to the fields of science under study, and describe the contributions of scientists, including Canadians, to those fields
Dynamics
- B1 – Analyze technologies devices that apply the principles of the dynamics of motion, and assess the technologies’ social and environmental impact
- B2 – Investigate, in qualitative and quantitative terms, forces involved in uniform circular motion and motion in a plane, and solve related problems
- B3 – Demonstrate an understanding of the forces involved in uniform circular motion and motion in a plane
Energy and Momentum
- C1 – Analyze, and propose ways to improve, technologies or procedures that apply principles related to energy and momentum, and assess the social and environmental impact of these technologies or procedures
- C2 – investigate, in qualitative and quantitative terms, through laboratory inquiry or computer simulation, the relationship between the laws of conservation of energy and conservation of momentum, and solve related problems
- C3 – Demonstrate an understanding of work, energy, momentum, and the law of conservations of energy and conservation of momentum, in one and two dimensions
Gravitational, Electric, and Magnetic Fields
- D1 – Analyze the operations of technologies that use gravitational, electric, or magnetic fields, and assess the technologies’ social and environmental impact
- D2 – Investigate, in qualitative and quantitative terms, gravitational, electric, and magnetic fields, and solve related problems
- D3 – demonstrate an understanding of the concepts, properties, principles, and laws related to gravitational, electric, and magnetic fields and their interactions with matter
The Wave Nature of Light
- E1 – Analyze technologies that use the wave nature of light, and assess their impact on society and the environment
- E2 – Investigate, in qualitative and quantitative terms, the properties of waves and light, and solve related problems
- E3 – Demonstrate an understanding of the properties of waves and light in relation to diffraction, refraction, interference, and polarization
Revolutions in Modern Physics: Quantum Mechanics and Special Relativity
- F1 – Analyze, with reference to quantum mechanics and relativity, how the introduction of new conceptual models and theories can influence and/or change scientific thought and lead to the development of new technologies
- F2 – Investigate special relativity and quantum mechanics, and solve related problems
- F3 – Demonstrate an understanding of the evidence that supports the basic concepts of quantum mechanics and Einstein’s Theory of special relativity
Outline of Course Content
Students will review concepts essential to their success in the course: scientific notation, significant digits, vector operations, and fundamental mathematical tools. Principles of kinematics and free body diagrams will also be reviewed and extended. By the end of the unit, students will demonstrate and understanding of the forces involved in uniform circular motion and motion in a plane. They will have investigated forces involved in these modes of motion and have solved related problems. They will analyse technological devices that apply the principles of dynamics of motion, with particular respect to the effect of g-forces on the human body.
Students will demonstrate an understanding of work, energy, momentum. Drawing from Grade 10 concepts of the laws of conservation of energy, they will extend these ideas to conservation of momentum in one and two dimensions. Through computer simulation and other modes of inquiry they will investigate these phenomena and solve related problems. They will conduct analyses and propose improvements to technologies and procedures that apply principles related to energy and momentum, and assess the social and environmental impact of these.
By the end of this unit, students will demonstrate an understanding of the concepts, properties, principles and laws related to gravitational, electric and magnetic fields, particularly with respect to their interactions with matter. They will investigate these phenomena graphically and through use of other electronic models. They will analyse the operation of technologies that use these fields, and discuss the social and environmental impact of these technologies.
Building upon concepts developed during Grade 10, students will study light with particular respect to its wave nature. Properties of waves will be discussed in a general sense, and the principles of diffraction, refraction, interference and polarization will be investigated theoretically and through simulation. Technologies that make use of the knowledge of the wave nature of light, and their social and environmental impacts, will be discussed.
In this unit, some of the most exciting and counterintuitive concepts in physics, including Einstein’s ideas about relativity, photoelectric effect, and particle physics, will be examined. Quantum mechanics and special relativity will be investigated mathematically and related problems will be solved. In light of the revolutionary ideas studied in this unit, students will discuss how the introduction of new conceptual models can influence and change scientific thought, and lead to the development of new technologies.
The final evaluation will consist of an exam and question/answer session