Standards

Questions
  1. How can forces be acting on an object without changing the object's motion?
  2. Why do equal but opposite action and reaction forces not cancel?
  3. What factors can be measured to determine the amount of energy associated with an object?
  4. What are the most common forms of energy in our physical world?
  5. What makes an energy form renewable or nonrenewable?
  6. What makes some forms of energy hard to measure?
  7. Why is 100 percent efficiency impossible in an energy transformation?
  8. How does the law of conservation of energy help us solve problems involving complex systems?
  9. Scientists or engineers often say energy is “lost.” Is there a word that might be better than “lost?” Why?


Standards
  1. Newton’s laws of motion and gravitation describe the relationships among forces acting on and between objects, their masses, and changes in their motion – but have limitations.
  2. Energy exists in many forms such as mechanical, chemical, electrical, radiant, thermal, and nuclear, that can be quantified and experimentally determined
  3. When energy changes form, it is neither created not destroyed; however, because some is necessarily lost as heat, the amount of energy available to do work decreases


Relevance
  1. Newton's laws are used in a variety of design processes such as vehicle safety, aerospace, bridge design and interplanetary probes.
  2. An understanding of forces leads to safer building designs such as earthquake-safe buildings.
  3. Forces present in the earth lead to plate tectonics.
  4. Society and energy providers must conduct a cost-benefit analysis of different ways to provide electricity to our society.
  5. An understanding of energy transformations is necessary when designing clean energy systems that convert any type of energy into electricity such as wind generators and solar cells.
  6. There are advantages and disadvantages to using various energy sources such as gasoline, diesel, ethanol, hydrogen, and electricity as transportation fuel.
  7. Politics plays a role in shaping energy policy such as balancing conflicting stakeholder needs. Energy plays a role in living systems and Earth’s systems. For example, cells convert sugar to ATP and then to energy, energy inside the earth drives plate tectonic phenomena such as earthquakes and volcanoes, and energy from the Sun drives weather. 
  8. Incremental strides have been made in improving the efficiency of different forms of energy production and consumption. For example, today’s engines are much more efficient than those from 50 years ago, and batteries are more powerful and last longer than those from just a few years ago.
  9. Different technologies such as light-emitting diodes, compact fluorescent lights, and incandescent light bulbs have different efficiencies and environmental impacts.


Outcomes
  1. Gather, analyze and interpret data and create graphs regarding position, velocity and acceleration of moving objects
  2. Develop, communicate and justify an evidence-based analysis of the forces acting on an object and the resultant acceleration produced by a net force
  3. Develop, communicate and justify an evidence-based scientific prediction regarding the effects of the action-reaction force pairs on the motion of two interacting objects
  4. Examine the effect of changing masses and distance when applying Newton's law of universal gravitation to a system of two bodies Identify the limitations of Newton’s laws in extreme situations
  5. Develop, communicate, and justify an evidence-based scientific explanation regarding the potential and kinetic nature of mechanical energy
  6. Use appropriate measurements, equations and graphs to gather, analyze, and interpret data on the quantity of energy in a system or an object
  7. Use direct and indirect evidence to develop predictions of the types of energy associated with objects
  8. Identify different energy forms, and calculate their amounts by measuring their defining characteristics
  9. Use direct and indirect evidence to develop and support claims about the conservation of energy in a variety of systems, including transformations to heat
  10. Evaluate the energy conversion efficiency of a variety of energy transformations
  11. Describe energy transformations both quantitatively and qualitatively
  12. Differentiate among the characteristics of mechanical and electromagnetic waves that determine their energy Examine, evaluate, question, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media to investigate energy conservation and loss

Unit 2-Intro to Physics Links