| 1. | Relate a drawing of a sine curve to the crests, troughs, amplitude and wavelength of a wave. Identify the phase relationship between various pairs of points on a drawing of a sine curve. |
| 2. | Describe the relation between the frequency and the period of a wave. and relate the speed of a wave to the frequency and wavelength. |
| 3. | Describe what it is that travels when a wave moves outward from a vibrating source. |
| 4. | Explain that the speed of a wave depends on the properties of the medium such as its density and temperature. |
| 5. | Distinguish
between a transverse wave, a longitudinal wave, and a torsional wave.
Describe the oscillation pattern of water waves. |
| 6. | Distinguish between constructive and destructive interference. Apply the superposition principle to draw the pattern which results from the interference of two wave pulses. |
| 7. | Describe the Doppler effect for sound and relate it to the blue and red shifts for light and describe the conditions for a shock wave to occur and relate this to the wake of a boat and the sonic boom. |
| 8. | Discuss resonance as the phenomenon which occurs when the frequency of forced vibrations on an object matches the object's natural frequency. |
| 9. | Relate the phenomenon of shedding vortices and resonance to the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows bridge. |
| 1. | Relate the pitch of a sound to frequency and the amplitude of a sound to loudness. |
| 2. | Describe what happens to a medium when sound moves though it. Compare the transmission of sound through air with transmission through solids, liquids, and a vacuum. |
| 3. | Given the speed of sound in air and the time between seeing
the lightning and hearing the thunder, calculate the distance to a
lightning strike. |
| 4. | Describe and give examples of forced resonance. |
| 5. | Describe the conditions for beats and compute the beat frequency. |
| 6. | Describe how destructive interference can be used to reduce noise. |
| 1. | Identify the connection between the type of charge on an object and the type of interaction (attractive, repulsive, or none) with other objects. |
| 2. | Describe the method of charging by friction, identify the result of frictional charging, and explain frictional charging in terms of the conservation of charge and the direction of electron flow. |
| 3. |
Describe the method of contact charging, identify the result
of contact charging, and explain contact charging in terms of the
conservation of charge and the direction of electron flow. |
| 4. | Describe the grounding process and explain grounding in terms of the direction of electron flow. |
| 5. | Describe the conditions for beats and compute the beat frequency. |
| 6. |
Apply an understanding of the charging by induction method to describe the results of the demonstration in which a single sphere becomes charged by induction. |
| 7. |
Use Coulomb's law in order to predict the effect of varying charge or distance upon the force between objects. Use Coulomb's law to calculate the electric force between two objects if given their charges and distance of separation. |
| 6. | Define electric field and recognize the variables which effect (and do not effect) the electric field intensity at a given location. Use the concept of electric field lines to predict the electric field lines about a point charge or a configuration of point charges. |
| 1. | Describe the conditions for flow of electric charge. |
| 2. | Describe the factors that determine the resistance of a wire. |
| 3. | Relate the amount of current in a circuit to the
voltage impressed across the circuit and the resistance of the circuit. |
| 4. |
Explain why wet skin increases
the likelihood of receiving a damaging electric shock when a faulty
electrical device is touched. |
| 5. | Distinguish between direct current and alternating current. |
| 6. | Relate the electric power used by a device to current and
voltage. |
| 1. | Describe magnetic forces as arising from moving charges or
spinning electrons and explain permanent magnets in terms of alignment
of magnetic domains.. |
| 2. | Apply the concepts of magnetic field and magnetic field lines
to situations involving permanent magnets and to those involving moving
charges. |
| 3. | Predict the direction of the force on a charge which is
moving through and relative to a magnetic field. |
| 4. |
When given information regarding
the way in which the magnetic flux is changing, predict the direction
of the current induced in the loop. |
| 4. | Explain and compare the construction and the operation of
motors and generators. |
| 5. | Describe the source of Earth's magnetic field and discuss the
changes in the magnetic field that have occurred over time. Relate the
aurora borealis to the Earth's magnetic field. |
| 1. | Describe the relation between light, radio waves, microwaves, and X-rays . |
| 2. | Explain what happens when light enters and travels through a substance and how the frequency of the light affects what happens . |
| 3. | Describe the conditions for a) solar and b) lunar eclipses and distinguish between the umbra and the penumbra of a shadow. Describe the relative positions of the light source, the object, and the screen to produce maximum and minimum penumbra. |
| 4. |
Explain the difference between
opaque and transparent materials and explain what makes metals shiny. |
| 5. |
Distinguish between the rods and
cones of the eye and between their functions. |
| 1. | Explain why black and white are not colors in the sense that red and green are. |
| 2. | Describe why the interaction of light with atoms or molecules of a material differs for different frequencies. |
| 3. | Describe what factors determine whether a material will reflect, transmit, or absorb light of a particular color. |
| 4. | Explain how color television screens are able to display pictures in full color even though the television tube produces only spots of red, green, or blue light. |
| 5. | Define complementary colors and give examples of pairs. |
| 6. | Distinguish between color mixing by subtraction and color mixing by addition and predict the results of different color combinations.. |
| 1. | Given the direction of light striking a reflective surface, predict the path of the reflected light. |
| 2. | Explain the formation and location of an image formed by a
plane mirror. Use this knowledge to locate the image, to predict
whether one person can see another in a mirror, and to determine the
distance between and object and its image. |
| 3. | Distinguish between diffuse and specular reflection and relate these concepts to the glare produced by headlights of oncoming traffic when the pavement is wet. |
| 4. |
Identify what refraction is, explain the conditions which produce refraction, and identify the angle of incidence and the angle of refraction. |
| 5. | Relate the direction which light bends (towards or away from the normal)to the relative speed of light in, to the indices of refraction of, and to the optical density of the two media. |
| 6. |
Identify the two pre-requisites
for the occurence of total internal reflection and apply these to
determine whether or not it could occur in any given situation. Define
critical angle and use the concept of critical angle to predict whether
total internal reflection will occur. |
| 7. | Describe the conditions for a rainbow and explain its formation. |
| 8. | Describe the conditions for a mirage and expain its formation. |
| 1. | Identify examples of diffraction. |
| 2. |
Describe the conditions for visible diffraction of waves. |
| 3. |
Describe the conditions for visible bright and dark fringes of light caused by interference. |
| 4. |
Explain the causes of the bright and dark bands that appear when monochromatic light is reflected from a thin material. Explain the causes of colors that shine from soap bubbles, or gasoline slicks on a wet surface. |
| 5. |
Cite evidence that light waves are transverse. |
| 6. | Explain why polaroid sunglasses are helpful in cutting sun glare from horizontal surfaces such as water and roads. |
| 7. | Explain and cite examples of the phenomenon of parallax. Explain the role of binocular vision in depth perception and 3-D viewing. |
| 1. |
Identify the 3 basic building blocks that make up an atom and tell where in the atom each is found. Cite evidence for the existence of atoms. |
| 2. |
Discuss the relative sizes of the nucleus and the atom and where most of the mass of the atom is found. Relate this to the idea that the atom is mostly empty space. |
| 3. |
Distinguish between atomic number and atomic mass number. |
| 4. |
Distinguish between ion and isotope and give examples of each. |
| 5. |
Distinguish between matter,
antimatter, and dark matter. |
| 1. | Describe the relation between light, radio waves, microwaves, and X-rays . |
| 2. | Explain what happens when light enters and travels through a substance and how the frequency of the light affects what happens . |
| 3. | Describe the conditions for a) solar and b) lunar eclipses and distinguish between the umbra and the penumbra of a shadow. Describe the relative positions of the light source, the object, and the screen to produce maximum and minimum penumbra. |
| 4. |
Explain the difference between
opaque and transparent materials and explain what makes metals shiny. |
| 5. |
Distinguish between the rods and
cones of the eye and between their functions. |
| 1. | Describe the role of neutrons in causing and sustaining nuclear fission. |
| 2. | Explain how nuclear fission can be controlled in a reactor. |
| 3. | Distinguish between a breeder reactor and a uranium-based fission reactor. |
| 4. | Predict, from a graph of mass per nucleon vs. atomic number,
whether
energy would be released if a given nucleus split via fission into
fragments. Explain the importance of the element with atomic number 26. |
| 5. | Distinguish between nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. |
| 6. | Describe the advantages of fusion over fission as a source of power. |
| 7. | Describe the current problems associated with using fusion as a source of power. |