AP Physics C: Mechanics
Have you ever thought about why you feel the downward pull of Earth but not an upward pull from the Moon? Why throwing a heavy rock forward pushes you backward? Or why the end of a stick swings down faster than a rock that is dropped? In AP Physics C: Mechanics, you’ll explore concepts such as motion, gravitation, momentum, and rotation using conceptual explanations and calculus-based mathematics.
Unit 1 Kinematics
You’ll begin your study of motion and the quantities associated with the motion of an object: position, velocity, acceleration, and time.
Unit 2 Force and Translational Dynamics
You’ll investigate Newton’s laws of motion, which describe the relationship among moving objects and the forces acting on them.
Unit 3 Work, Energy, and Power
You’ll learn to define and calculate work, energy, and power and become familiar with the principle of conservation as a foundational model of physics.
Unit 4 Linear Momentum
You’ll be introduced to the concepts of impulse and momentum, and the conservation of linear momentum.
Unit 5 Torque and Rotational Dynamics
You’ll gain an in-depth comprehension of rotational motion by investigating torque and rotational statics, kinematics, and dynamics.
Unit 6 Energy and Momentum of Rotating Systems
You’ll explore the energy and momentum of an object rotating around an axis and you’ll connect those concepts to their linear analogs.
Unit 7 Oscillations
You’ll use all the tools, techniques, and models you’ve learned in previous units to analyze a new kind of motion: simple harmonic motion.