IB Physics

Course Description

Grade(s): 11-12                        Level: IB SL                        Credit(s): 2 in Science

Pre-requisite(s): Geometry, Algebra 2, General Physics

The general goals of this two-year course are to help the students learn some basic laws of nature and understand the physical phenomena explained by them, and to provide students with the basic skills necessary for solving related application problems.

The first year of the course will start with a review of the material learned in 10th grade Physics, with special emphasis on the mathematical tools needed to gather, process and analyze experimental data correctly, and a detailed treatment of the basic operations with vectors.  After this review, the main concepts of linear kinematics, dynamics, and circular motion are analyzed.  A brief study of fluid mechanics follows, and the study of wave motion and sound related phenomena complete the course.

The second year of the course will start with the study of kinetic theory, heat, and thermodynamics.  After this, we will work with the concept of electric charge and its conservation; Coulomb's Law will be analyzed and applied to problems in one and two dimensions, requiring the use of vectors.  A detailed treatment of the concept of electric field and potential difference follows, and then electric energy and D. C. circuits are discussed.  Magnetic phenomena and some of its applications complete our treatment of electromagnetic phenomena.  The course ends with an introduction to modern physics.