Narrabundah College

IB Learner Profile

Attributes addressed in this unit:

Inquirers, Knowledgeable, Thinkers, Communicators, Principled, Open-Minded, Caring, Risk-Takers, Balanced and Reflective.

COURSE: PHYSICS (T)

UNIT: 2B; ENERGY TRANFER AND WAVES
SESSION: 3

YEAR: 2016

0.5 STANDARD UNIT

CLASS/TEACHER: 126_3 Mary Adams, 221_3 Ross Beatty, 428_3 Liam Kirwan,
527_3 Ross Beatty and Liam Kirwan.

SPECIFIC UNIT GOALS

This unit should enable students to:
understand the concepts involved in simple harmonic motion and apply this knowledge to the motion of a swinging

pendulum and a vibrating mass attached to a spring;

describe waves in two dimensions including the concepts of wave fronts and rays
understand the concepts of wave propagation, reflection, superposition and two phase interference and apply this to
situations involving water and sound waves;
discuss factors affecting the frequency of the note emitted by a vibrating string or air column and solve problems involving
the fundamental and harmonic resonances of standing waves
describe and explain the Doppler effect, hearing, loudness and pitch;
apply conceptual and practical skills in relevant physics investigative activities wherever possible .

CONTENT

Simple harmonic motion; Hookes Law and elastic potential energy, and the relationship between displacement,
velocity and acceleration.
Mechanical waves; periodicity and the mathematical description of a wave, boundary conditions for a string,
superposition and standing waves, longitudinal standing waves, vibrations of organ pipes, forced oscillations and
resonance, damping and the importance of critical damping.
Interference phenomena
Acoustic phenomena; hearing, sound waves, intensity, intensity level and loudness. Doppler Effect and
applications

ASSESSMENT ITEMS
Item
Mini Test
Practical Work
Final Test
TOTAL

Weighting
10%
30%
60%
100%

Due
Monday Week 4
Throughout the unit
Week 8 or 9

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA (from Course Documents):

Students will be assessed on the degree to which they demonstrate: knowledge and understanding, critical thinking,
investigative skills, communication skills and effective work practices

ASSESSMENT POLICY

There are a number of ACT Board of Senior Secondary Studies (BSSS) requirements that students must meet to be assessed in a unit and be awarded
scores and/or grades. These requirements also ensure consistent procedures across the college and the system. Notably these include minimum
attendance and completion of assessment task requirements. There are also detailed penalties for late or plagiarised work. Assessments are subjected
to rigorous moderation procedures within the college to ensure comparability of marking and, at the end of Year 12, college marks are scaled to allow
comparability across the ACT system. Grades are allocated on the basis of student performance against set criteria that are available in course
framework documents. Students are encouraged to consider carefully the marks and feedback given on assessments and, if there are issues with
marking, the college has open and transparent appeals procedures.
Further details of these assessment policies and procedures are located on the colleges website under the Students tab
http://www.narrabundahc.act.edu.au.

PLANNER SESSION 3 2016

WEEK
Week 1
(Sept 12-16)

Week 2
(Sept 19-23)

TOPICS COVERED

Assessment Items
NOTES

Hookes Law; concept of restoring force; energy stored

in a spring; energy transfer in a spring; simple harmonic
motion; equations governing SHM for displacement,
velocity and acceleration; simple pendulum.
Graphs describing simple harmonic motion including
displacementtime, velocitytime, accelerationtime and
accelerationdisplacement
The significance of the negative sign.
SCHOOL HOLIDAYS SEPT 24 - OCT 9

Week 3
(Oct 10-14)

Week 4
(Oct 17-21)

Week 5
(Oct 24-28)
Week 6
(Oct 31-Nov 4)
Week 7
(Nov 7-11)

Week 8
(Nov 14-18)

Mechanical Waves: transverse and longitudinal; nature

of wave propagation (movement of individual particles);
Sketching and interpreting displacementdistance
graphs and displacement time graphs for transverse
and longitudinal waves; wave pulses and travelling
waves; difference between wavefront and ray; concepts
of reflection, refraction and diffraction of waves; velocity
of a wave on a wire/string; superposition of waves; two
source interference of waves; path difference and
conditions for constructive and destructive interference;
standing waves (pipes and strings): two closed/open
ends, one closed/one open end; resonance; damped
oscillations.
Equation of a wave: displacement (students should
understand the difference between boundary conditions,
and be able to use, the sine and cosine forms of
equation), velocity and acceleration; phase constant,
wavenumber and angular frequency; use of wave
equation; superposition of waves with the same
amplitude.
Sound: loudness and intensity, decibel scale and the
ear.
Doppler effect: moving source and stationary observer,
stationary source and moving observer, moving source
and moving observer
The use of Doppler effect in radars, and in medical
physics, and its significance for the red-shift in the light
spectra of receding galaxies

Minitest Monday
UN Day 21st Oct

Test week Nov 17-23

Revision
Week 9
(Nov 21-25)
Week 10
(Nov 28-Dec 2)

Feedback day Dec 1

Assessment Week Student Free.
Work experience and Vocational Placement