Study+Guide

__ **Unit 9: Electrostatic Forces** __

1) Check your understanding of the following concepts:


 * How does the Van de Graf generator work? Why were people experiencing different intensities of shocks?
 * What are electric fields and what causes them?
 * How Coulumb's Law works and how forces and charges are related
 * How does lightning form?!
 * Why can atoms never touch?
 * The principles of electrostatic levitation and what forces are involved in levitating an object electrostatically.
 * The concepts of volume charge density and surface charge density. How can you figure out the number of electrons if given a certain charge density.

1) This was a fairly mathematical unit so be prepared to know how the equations work and which forces are set equal to each other in different circumstances.

2) Review the videos if you're foggy on the van de graf or how lightning forms. We saw several videos that are still on the unit page.

3) Really understand how to calculate surface and volume charge densities and how you use that information in other equations.


 * Unit 10: Electrical Systems **

1) Check your understanding of the following concepts:


 * How do batteries work? What do they provide?
 * What is electron drift and how is related to current.
 * Resistance and heat.
 * Know Ohm's Law and how all the variables affect each other in different electrical circuits. You may be asked questions related to any of the circuit labs we did.
 * The difference between series and parallel circuits. How do you calculate the RIV tables for each?
 * What is a capacitor, how do they work, and why do they only provide a current for a short amount of time. Know of some examples of capacitors that are used in real life.
 * What is power and energy? How do you calculate them?
 * The difference between AC and DC currents and some knowledge of the Edison/Tesla feud. How can magnets induce an AC current?

1) This unit was mostly lab-based so hopefully you remember how all that circuits worked and what some of the symbols looked like. In particular, what is voltage drop and how is it affected by current and resistance.

2) Expect questions that focus on the main points of the labs. Those should still be in your notes.

3) How do you figure out how much it costs to watch your favorite television show or leave your lights on overnight? (power/energy equations)


 * Unit11: Atomic Structure **

1) Check your understanding of the following concepts:


 * The history of the development of our current atomic model.
 * What is the Standard Model and how is current research working to increase our knowledge of it?
 * Compare/contrast the Standard Model with our classical understanding of the atom.
 * What was the "quantization" of the atomic model and how does probability play into it?
 * What IS quantum mechanics?
 * What role does Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle play in explaining quantum tunneling, why the laser spread in our lab, and why atoms don't collapse in on themselves due to electrostatic attraction between the nucleus and electrons.
 * What is the Large Hadron Collider and how does it work?

1) This was a conceptual unit but we did work with Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle quite a bit. Understand how it works (both versions) and what it really means. What kind of "uncertainty" is it?

2) Dates are not important for the development of the atomic model but names, discoveries, and order is.


 * Unit 12: Relativity **

1) Check your understanding of the following concepts:


 * What is relativity and who came up with it?
 * What happens as you approach the speed of light?
 * What happens as you near a large source of gravity?
 * Understand how relativistic effects factor in to research at places like the LHC.

1) We blended a little bit of relativity in with Atomic Structure but it's really it's own unit. So, if you can't find the formulas, check your notes from the previous unit.

2) Understand the exponential relationships in relativity and how you really need to be VERY close to the speed of light or close to a REALLY big mass to experience time dilation.However, that doesn't mean it's a minor phenomenon in the universe.

3) Understand which perspective is connected to which variable in the relativity equations. Understand scenarios where relativistic effects are apparent or important.