Advanced Physics 1 Lab Manual
The following is a complete list of lab activities from PASCO's Advanced Physics 1 Lab Manual. Each lab has three versions available for download: a structured lab, a student designed lab, and a guided inquiry lab. You may preview and download these editable student handouts or export them using the chalkboard icon. These activities include AP/IB-alignment details, SPARKvue and Capstone data files, and Teacher Resources that can be accessed by creating or signing in to a PASCO educator account.
Grade Level: Advanced Placement
Subject: Physics
Student Collection Files
| Materials and Equipment List | 380.03 KB | |
| Advanced Physics 1 Lab Manual Intro | 1.40 MB |
Teacher Collection Files
Sign In to your PASCO account to access teacher files and sample data.
Activities
01) Graphing Motion
Students measure the position and velocity of a cart on a track to determine the relationship between position, velocity, and acceleration versus time graphs.
02) Newton's Second Law
Students use a Smart Cart to determine the relationship between a system’s mass, acceleration, and the net force being applied to the system.
03) Atwood's Machine
Students use a photogate and pulley system to determine the mathematical relationship between the acceleration of an Atwood’s machine, the difference between its two masses, and the sum of those two masses.
04) Coefficients of Friction
Students use a Smart Cart to determine the static and kinetic friction coefficients between two contacting surfaces.
05) Two-Dimensional Motion: Projectiles
Students use a photogate and mini launcher to measure the variables that affect the two-dimensional motion of a projectile launched horizontally, and then use those variables to accurately predict and test the projectile's horizontal range.
06) Conservation of Mechanical Energy
Students use a Smart Cart and dynamics system to explore how the kinetic energy, gravitational potential energy, and total mechanical energy of a cart/earth system changes as the cart rolls down an inclined track.
07) Work and Kinetic Energy
Students use a Smart Cart and dynamics system to investigate the relationship between the change in kinetic energy of an object experiencing a non-zero net force and the work done by that net force on the object, and then use their data to establish a measurement-based relationship between work and kinetic energy.
08) Conservation of Momentum
Students use two Smart Carts and a dynamics system to demonstrate that linear momentum and kinetic energy are conserved in an elastic collision, and linear momentum is conserved but kinetic energy is not conserved in an inelastic collision.
09) Momentum and Impulse
Students use a Smart Cart and dynamics system to investigate the relationship between the change in momentum of a cart undergoing a collision and the impulse imparted to the cart to change its momentum, and then use their data to establish a measurement-based relationship between change in momentum and impulse.
10) Rotational Dynamics
Students use a rotary motion sensor to determine the mathematical relationship between torque, rotational inertia, and angular acceleration of a rotating object.
11) Rotational Statics
Students use the Smart Cart force sensor and tension protractors to demonstrate that the sum of the forces acting on an object in static translational equilibrium is equal to zero, and the sum of the torques acting on an object in static rotational equilibrium is equal to zero.
12) Periodic Motion: Mass and Spring
Students use a Smart Cart to determine the physical properties of a vertical mass and spring system that affect its period of oscillation, and then use their data to support a mathematical model relating period, mass, and spring constant.
13) Simple Pendulum
Students use a photogate and pendulum to determine the physical properties of a simple pendulum that affect its period, and then use their data to support a mathematical model relating period to pendulum arm length.
14) Resonance and Standing Waves
Students use a resonance air column, tuning forks, and the principles of resonance and standing waves for a pipe with one closed end to experimentally determine a value for the speed of sound in air.
15) DC Circuits
Students use a voltage sensor, a current sensor, and an AC/DC electronics laboratory to construct simple resistor circuits with resistors in series or in parallel, or both (with at most one parallel loop of resistors), to demonstrate the validity of Kirchhoff's loop rule (conservation of energy), and Kirchhoff’s junction rule (conservation of charge).
