6 replies to this topic

[SomeDude]

Its redundant to give additional info of this but. What do we do in it? Do we apply any math in it (in physics you do but are you taught like you're in math class)? Or do we just like learn simple Newtonian Mechanics?

[SoLR]

SomeDude, on 05 September 2010 - 12:43 AM, said:

Its redundant to give additional info of this but. What do we do in it? Do we apply any math in it (in physics you do but are you taught like you're in math class)? Or do we just like learn simple Newtonian Mechanics?

I'm not sure how freshman regular physics is, since I took AP physics b which is a double period class, but I can tell you this. Math is applied up to trig/adv. algebra. You're expected to know all the math, you won't be taught any. Newtonian mechanics is the next thing that you learn, right after vectors, but there are many more topics after that as well. I won't say much else since regular & AP are a bit different, but I think I've answered almost all of your questions.

[SomeDude]

SoLR, on 05 September 2010 - 01:28 AM, said:

I'm not sure how freshman regular physics is, since I took AP physics b which is a double period class, but I can tell you this. Math is applied up to trig/adv. algebra. You're expected to know all the math, you won't be taught any. Newtonian mechanics is the next thing that you learn, right after vectors, but there are many more topics after that as well. I won't say much else since regular & AP are a bit different, but I think I've answered almost all of your questions.

Thanks :D. Another question, will we be reading only from Newton, or we learn from Galileo and others. My prediction for the first week (second I should say) is that we're most likely going to be taught laws of motions.

[SoLR]

SomeDude, on 05 September 2010 - 02:12 AM, said:

Thanks :D. Another question, will we be reading only from Newton, or we learn from Galileo and others. My prediction for the first week (second I should say) is that we're most likely going to be taught laws of motions.

What you learn is broken down into sections - i.e: newtonian mechanics, magnetism, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, etc. You don't really learn anything based on what one physicist discovered. Although the laws of motions are as basic as physics gets, it really depends on the teacher. Plus being a regents class you're not really rushing, so it's common to see teachers devote days on problem solving strats, adding, subtracting, dividing, & multiplying vectors, etc. Also, in my class we didn't learn all laws at once, whether its laws of motions, keplers laws, thermo laws, etc - it was 1 law at a time followed by examples & lots of practice before we moved on.

[Becca95]

SomeDude, on 05 September 2010 - 02:12 AM, said:

Thanks :D. Another question, will we be reading only from Newton, or we learn from Galileo and others. My prediction for the first week (second I should say) is that we're most likely going to be taught laws of motions.

I was in Freshman physics, and my freshman physics teacher told me he will remain teaching freshman, and he's awesome and you will learn a lot from him throughout the year. The first week was mostly him teaching us laws of motion and as well as some of the formulas to use, since physics is mostly Adv Algebra/Trig and everyone in the class was in geometry, we did spend more time then the juniors on the formulas throughout the year.

[ironlak]

i got my physics class in wikipedia

[Bleh]

I was in freshman physics too and it's pretty basic. First you brush up on math (about a week). Then you get into the rest of the fundamentals - mechanics (gravity and stuff), electricity, waves, and modern physics (might be missing something in that list). It's mainly Newton, but your teacher might mention a few more physicists throughout the year (don't remember learning anything about Galileo). Pretty easy stuff, just skim the textbook, do a few questions, review, practice a bit, and you'll be fine. If you're really interested, you should definitely try for ap physics junior year.