Year 12 Physics Preparation 2014

Textbooks
The book used for Year 12 Physics is
Olesnicky, A and Lawrence, N. Physics PES Key Ideas Parts 1 and 2, Second Edition
It is recommended that you purchase the SASTA revision guide for test and exam revision questions.
Course Outline
You can download this from the SACE website.
http://www.sace.sa.edu.au/subjects/stage-2/sciences/physics
Other Equipment
Please make sure that you have access to a scientific calculator/graphics calculator and a ruler every
lesson.
Skill Preparation
Complete the exercises on the following pages before the beginning of the 2014 school year.
Scientific Notation and Significant Figures
A. Watch the following video. Pause it to read the text if necessary.
http://tiny.cc/virtualnerd
B. Practice converting into and out of scientific notation using the following website.
http://janus.astro.umd.edu/astro/scinote/
Complete 5 questions correctly in a row.
C. Go back to the website in Part B. Click on the Practice: Multiply/Divide button or the Practice:
Add/Subtract. Complete the calculations using a calculator. Remember to use the EXP button on
your calculator to enter the power of ten. e.g 2.4 10-23 would be entered as 2.4E-23.
Complete 5 questions correctly in a row in each section.
D. Read pages 2 and 3 on the following website (the URL will bring up page 2).
http://www.chem.sc.edu/faculty/morgan/resources/sigfigs/sigfigs2.html
E. Complete the quiz on the following page and check your answers.
http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/story.php?title=elementary-mathssignificant-figuresquickrevision
F. Memorise these values.
Speed of light
Charge of an electron

3 108 m.s-1
1.6 10-19 C

Units
A. Complete the table below by writing the standard units which should be used in Physics when working
with the quantities listed. You may have to look in a text book or on the internet to refresh your
memory.
Quantity

Quantity symbol

Unit

Unit symbol

metre

displacement
time
velocity
mass
acceleration
momentum
angle
energy
force
electric charge
electric current
voltage
frequency
wavelength

B. Convert the values below to the units indicated using a graphics calculator. Remember to use
scientific notation. The information to the right may help you.
3.4 mm
17 cm
387 g
50 km.h-1
9.7 m
520 nm
6.7 x 10-7 m
25 C
2.5 x 108 eV
200 MeV
3.6 x 108 eV
7.2 x 10-16 J

m
m
kg
m.s-1
m
m
nm
C
J
eV
MeV
eV

(1 eV = 1.6

J)

Graphing
Remember that all graphs must have:
A title
Axes labels
Axes units
Appropriate axes scales Carefully plotted points
A trend line
- drawn in the general shape of the graph
- not dot to dot
- extends back to the y axis
When asked to graph data, the first variable goes on the y axis and the second variable on the x axis.
e.g. a distance vs time graph has distance on the y axis and time on the x axis.
Usually, the independent variable is on the x axis and the dependent variable is on the y axis. Make
sure that you check that the variables are on the correct axes when using Excel. A. Graph V versus I in
Excel. Include a trend line and set it to pass through the origin.
Voltage (V)

Current (A)

1.5

0.01

0.02

4.5

0.03

0.04

7.5

0.05

0.06

B. Graph the following data in Excel. Include a trend line and that intercepts the y axis.
Frequency
(1014 Hz)

Maximum Kinetic
Energy (10-19 J)

6.2

2.56

5.3

2.00

4.2

1.31

3.5

0.90

1.9

0.45

Answers to UNITS PART B

1. 3.4 10-3 m
2. 0.17 m
3. 0.387 kg
4. 13.89 m.s-1
5. 9.7 10-6 m
6. 5.2 10-7 m

7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

670 nm
2.5 10-5 C
4 10-11 J
2 108 eV
360 MeV
4.5 eV

Graphing Tips
The layout tab will give you access to all the labelling menus.

To add a trendline, right click on one of the plotted points.

Use the forecast settings and the tick boxes at the bottom to alter the trend line.