Professional Documents
Culture Documents
ISBN: 978-1-26-427501-4
MHID: 1-26-427501-3
The material in this eBook also appears in the print version of this
title: ISBN: 978-1-26-427500-7, MHID: 1-26-427500-5.
TERMS OF USE
Introduction
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Diagnostic Quiz
Getting Started: The Diagnostic Quiz
Diagnostic Quiz Questions
Diagnostic Quiz Answer Explanations
Chapter 1 Fluids
Questions 1–57
The AP Physics 2 exam is not for the faint of heart…. There are deep
conceptual problems, challenging symbolic mathematical questions,
laboratory design scenarios, and thought-provoking questions that
require you to justify your answers in scientific detail. These are all
skills that can be mastered with practice. You want to get good at AP
Physics 2 and pass the AP exam? Just like anything else, it takes
preparation and persistence. This book is designed to give the extra
training necessary to excel on the exam. These are the same
questions that I use with my own students to help them defeat the
AP Physics 2 exam.
First, use this book to review each content section as you cover it
in your AP Physics 2 class. This will help to deepen your knowledge
of each subject area with added practice AND improve your class
grade at the same time. Second, use this book as a review of the
course content as you prepare for the exam. Just remember that
understanding AP Physics takes time and effort. The universe was
not created in a day and it certainly cannot be understood in a one-
night cram session. You simply cannot learn physics overnight, so
don’t start studying May 1st. Give your brain some time to digest
how it all fits together.
Two very important points:
Here are some inspirational quotes to help you get started on your
climb to enlightenment:
If you work your way through this book, I promise you will improve
and do better on the exam. Seriously … I promise!
With this realization, I wrote this book for myself and other AP
Physics 2 teachers. The questions in this book are an integral part of
my own lesson plans. Everything on the pages that follow is material
I use with my own students to build their skill and prepare them for
the exam in May. For each content area, there are skill-building
questions followed by AP-style questions. There are enough AP-style
questions to create two complete multiple-choice practice exams and
over four complete free-response practice exams.
Every single College Board AP Physics 2 learning objective (LO) is
covered. Most LOs are addressed in multiple ways from different
angles. In most of the questions I have asked students to WRITE
OUT THEIR EXPLANATION. This cannot be emphasized enough.
Many students fail the exam simply because they don’t have enough
practice writing in “physics speak” and organizing their thoughts
logically. Please make your students write in class. Make them
logically defend their thoughts in writing. Then, have them read and
critique what other students have written. This book has paragraph-
length response questions, laboratory design questions, multiple
correct questions, qualitative-quantitative transition questions,
ranking tasks, etc. In short, it has everything you need to help your
students improve on the exam.
I hope you enjoy the book and that it serves you and your
students well!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I’d like to thank the great Mite Munce and spell check without which
this would not be possible.
Thank you to Kern for field-testing these questions with his own
students and checking me for errors because everybody makes
mistakes.
But most of all thanks to my family who put up with me
sequestered in the office for weeks on end writing this ridiculous
beast. They are the best even when I am the worst.
Diagnostic Quiz
GETTING STARTED: THE
DIAGNOSTIC QUIZ
Good luck!
DIAGNOSTIC QUIZ QUESTIONS
(B)
(C)
(D)
17. A student looks at a key through a lens. When the lens is 10
cm from the key, what the student sees through the lens is
shown in the figure. The student estimates that the image is
about half the size of the actual key. What is the approximate
focal length of the lens being used by the student?
(A) −10 cm
(B) −0.1 cm
(C) 0.3 cm
(D) 3.0 cm
(B)
(C)
(D)
1. (Chapter 1: Fluids)
(C) Static fluid pressure is given by the equation
2. (Chapter 1: Fluids)
(D) Using the conservation of mass/continuity equation, we see
that the water must be slower at the hydrant than when exiting the
nozzle:
(B) We can see from the PV diagram that the volume doubles
while the pressure stays the same. Using the ideal gas law
, we can see that the temperature needs to increase. This
is accomplished with a hot-water bath.
(C) Using the ideal gas law , we can see that the
temperature remains constant because the PV value is the same at
states B and C. This means that the internal energy of the gas
remains the same, that is, . We also know that the
(E) Adding mass to the platform will compress the gas. Only
process BC shows the gas being compressed. Process AB shows
expansion, and process CA has a constant volume.
(F) States B and C have the same temperature and therefore will
have the same distribution. State A has a lower temperature than
states B and C. Therefore, the distribution for state A will have a
peak at a lower speed:
The distributions represent the same quantity of gas, and the areas
under the curves should be the same. Therefore, the peak of the
state A distribution should be higher than for states B and C.
Electric field vectors point away from the positive charges and
inward toward negative charge.
(B) (Most positive) A > D > B > C (most negative). The electric
field vectors that point away indicate positive charge, and the
vectors that point inward are negative charge. To gauge the size of
the charge, simply look at the electric field vectors at a given
distance from the object. The field vectors that are the longest for a
given distance will indicate the strongest charge.
(C) Upward toward charge A. The electron is negative and will
receive a force in the opposite direction of the electric field.
(F) The electric field vector will point directly left. Electric field
vectors are always perpendicular to equipotential lines and point
toward decreasing voltage.