Your AP Physics 2 Resource Center
Overview of AP Physics 2
AP Physics 2 stands for Advanced Placement Physics 2. It is a college-level course offered by the College Board to high school students who wish to explore deeper into the world of physics. This course extends the topics of Physics 1, covering fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, electricity, magnetism, optics, and quantum physics. The course is rigorous and requires a foundational understanding of the concepts taught in Physics 1. It further challenges students with advanced problems and lab experiments to deepen their understanding of the physical world.
Course content
Unit 2: Thermodynamics
You’ll study heat, temperature, and thermal energy in contexts such as heat engines, heat pumps, and refrigerators.
- Thermodynamic systems
- Pressure, thermal equilibrium, and the Ideal Gas Law
- Thermodynamics and forces
- Heat and energy transfer
- Thermodynamics and collisions
- Probability, thermal equilibrium, and entropy
Unit 3: Electric Force, Field, and Potential
You’ll begin your study of electromagnetism by getting familiar with fundamental concepts such as electric charge and electric forces.
- Electric systems and charge
- Charge distribution: Friction, conduction, and induction
- Electric permittivity
- Electric forces and free-body diagrams
- Gravitational and electromagnetic forces
- Electric charges and fields
- Conservation of electric energy
Unit 4: Electric Circuits
You’ll continue to examine the behavior of charged particles to learn about the components of a circuit, the path that an electric current travels on.
- Definition and conservation of electric charge
- Resistivity and resistance
- Resistance and capacitance
- Kirchhoff’s loop rule
- Kirchhoff’s junction rule and the conservation of electric charge
Unit 5: Magnetism and Electromagnetic Induction
You’ll build on your knowledge of electrostatic forces and fields to explore the relationships between moving electric charges—electric currents—and the magnetic forces and fields they generate.
- Magnetic systems
- Magnetic permeability and magnetic dipole moment
- Vector and scalar fields
- Monopole and dipole fields
- Magnetic fields and forces
- Forces review
- Magnetic flux
Unit 6: Geometric and Physical Optics
You’ll be introduced to the different ways of thinking about and modeling electromagnetic waves, or light.
- Waves
- Electromagnetic waves
- Periodic waves
- Refraction, reflection, and absorption
- Images from lenses and mirrors
- Interference and diffraction
Unit 7: Quantum, Atomic, and Nuclear Physics
You’ll be introduced to the concepts of modern physics and learn how these new models can resolve the conflicts and questions that Newtonian physics could not answer.
- Systems and fundamental forces
- Radioactive decay
- Energy in modern physics (energy in radioactive decay and E=mc2)
- Mass–energy equivalence
- Properties of waves and particles
- Photoelectric effect
- Wave function and probability
Exam Date
AP Physics 2 Exam
Will be conducted on
Fri, May 17, 2024 | 12 PM Local
AP Physics 2 Exam Guide
Struggling with your AP Physics 2 Exam prep? Having trouble understanding concepts like electric and magnetic fields or thermodynamics and fluid dynamics. AP Physics 2 Exam had a passing rate of 69.7% in 2022. The difficulty rating of the AP Physics 2 Exam by class alumnae is 6.5 out of 10, making it the sixth most challenging AP Exam. Don’t worry, as this AP Physics 2 Exam guide has everything you need to succeed in this AP exam. With practice questions, tips, and strategies to help you optimize your studying, you’ll be on your way to earning a top score in no time. So, let’s get started and prepare to crush the AP Physics 2 exam!
Explore more in AP Physics 2
AP Physics 2 Course Resources
AP Physics 2 Course
The College Board website offers a variety of extra resources to help AP Physics 2 students succeed on the exam. These resources include the AP Physics 2 Course at a Glance, the AP Physics 2 Course and Exam Description, the AP Physics 2 Scoring Guidelines, AP Physics 2 Equations Tables, and more. To help students prepare for the AP Physics 2 exam, we have provided links to these extra resources below.
Link
AP Physics 2: Algebra-Based Course and Exam Description
This is the core document for this course. Unit guides clearly lay out the course content and skills and recommend sequencing and pacing for them throughout the year. The CED was updated in the summer of 2020 to include scoring guidelines for the example questions.
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