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Contemplanda

Science

Physics of the Universe

A full-year physics course in the California three-course model, from motion and forces to earthquakes, nuclear clocks, and the origin of the universe.

9 units · 71 lessons · 463 practice items · 187 videos

Physics of the Universe starts with motion: how position, velocity, and acceleration describe the world, how forces explain it, and how momentum and energy keep the books in a collision. You practice against the physics itself, drawing free-body diagrams, reading and sketching motion graphs, and working collision problems the course grades step by step. The mathematics stays at the algebra 1 level, and every quantitative tool is taught before it is used.

Later units follow the California storyline outward: gravity and electric forces acting at a distance, circuits and the power grid, nuclear processes read as clocks for Earth's history, seismic waves used as messengers from Earth's interior, and stars, redshift, and the evidence for the Big Bang. Readings stand alone, most problems carry hints, and practice deals randomized questions from skill pools until each idea holds.

Syllabus

Every published lesson in this course, by unit.

1Forces and motion18 lessons
  1. 1Position, velocity, and speed
  2. 2Acceleration
  3. 3Representing motion: graphs and models
  4. 4Constant acceleration and free fall
  5. 5Vectors and projectile motion
  6. 6Forces and free-body diagrams
  7. 7Newton's first law and equilibrium
  8. 8Newton's second law from data
  9. 9Newton's third law
  10. 10Friction and real surfaces
  11. 11Spring forces and Hooke's law
  12. 12Momentum
  13. 13Impulse and collision forces
  14. 14Conservation of momentum
  15. 15Inelastic collisions and energy accounts
  16. 16Elastic collisions
  17. 17Engineering: design a safer collision
  18. 18Newton's laws in Earth's crust
2Forces at a distance9 lessons
  1. 1Uniform circular motion
  2. 2Gravitational force and fields
  3. 3Orbits and satellites
  4. 4Kepler's laws and the solar system
  5. 5Electric charge and Coulomb's law
  6. 6Electric fields
  7. 7Magnets and magnetic fields
  8. 8Electromagnetic forces and materials
  9. 9Comparing the field forces
3Energy5 lessons
  1. 1Kinetic energy
  2. 2Work and energy transfer
  3. 3Potential energy
  4. 4Conservation of energy and energy accounting
  5. 5Power and the electric bill
ExamSemester 1 final exam1 lesson
  1. 1Semester 1 final
4Electricity and energy resources7 lessons
  1. 1Electric current and resistance
  2. 2Series and parallel circuits
  3. 3Electric power and brightness
  4. 4Currents and magnetism: Ørsted to induction
  5. 5Generators, motors, and power plants
  6. 6Renewable energy: resources, costs, trade-offs
  7. 7Engineering: build and refine an energy converter
5Matter, nuclear processes, and Earth history11 lessons
  1. 1Density and the layered Earth
  2. 2Pressure and the atmosphere
  3. 3Buoyancy and convection
  4. 4Atoms and the nucleus
  5. 5Radioactive decay and half-life
  6. 6Fission and nuclear power
  7. 7Fusion and E=mc²
  8. 8Radiometric dating: reading rock clocks
  9. 9Seafloor spreading and plate tectonics
  10. 10Earth's formation and early history
  11. 11Building and destroying Earth's surface
6Waves and electromagnetic radiation11 lessons
  1. 1Oscillations and simple harmonic motion
  2. 2The pendulum: timekeeping and measuring gravity
  3. 3Energy in oscillation
  4. 4Wave anatomy: v = fλ
  5. 5Sound and waves in media
  6. 6Seismic waves and Earth's interior
  7. 7Wave behavior: reflection, refraction, interference
  8. 8The electromagnetic spectrum
  9. 9EM radiation and matter: ionizing vs non-ionizing
  10. 10Wave or particle? The photoelectric effect
  11. 11Analog to digital: information in waves
7Stars and the origins of the universe8 lessons
  1. 1The Sun: fusion in the core
  2. 2Space weather and the Sun-Earth connection
  3. 3Spectra: fingerprints of the elements
  4. 4Classifying stars: the H-R diagram
  5. 5Spinning up: angular momentum in a collapsing cloud
  6. 6Stellar life cycles and the origin of the elements
  7. 7Redshift and the expanding universe
  8. 8The Big Bang: three lines of evidence
ExamSemester 2 final exam1 lesson
  1. 1Semester 2 final