AP Physics 2 case studies
AP Physics 2 · Put your knowledge to work in context.
AP Physics 2: Algebra-Based is a College Board course and exam covering thermodynamics, electric force and field, electric circuits, magnetism and electromagnetism, geometric optics, waves and physical optics, and modern physics. It is designed as the equivalent of a second-semester introductory college physics course, so it suits students who have already completed AP Physics 1 or a comparable introductory course and who have taken or are concurrently taking precalculus. The course emphasizes hands-on laboratory investigation alongside conceptual understanding, and the exam rewards skills such as building representations of physical phenomena, deriving and estimating quantities, and designing and analyzing experiments. The exam is hybrid digital: multiple-choice questions are completed in the Bluebook testing app and free-response answers are handwritten in paper booklets that are returned for scoring. The AP Physics 2 case studies are 5 cases and about 2,373 words.
1Cooling a Sealed Rigid Tank
A rigid, insulated steel tank of fixed volume 0.020 m³ holds 0.50 mol of a gas modeled as ideal and monatomic. Its initial temperature is 600 K.
470 words, about 2 min2Two Charges and a Test Point
Two point charges sit on the x-axis: q₁ = +6.0 μC at x = 0 and q₂ = −2.0 μC at x = 0.30 m. A third charge q₃ = +1.0 μC is to be placed somewhere on the x-axis.
501 words, about 3 min3Bulbs in a Mixed Circuit
Three identical incandescent bulbs, each with resistance 12 Ω when lit, are connected to an ideal 9.0 V battery. Bulb A is in series with a parallel combination of bulbs B and C.
488 words, about 2 min4A Wire, a Compass, and a Loop
A long straight horizontal wire runs north–south and carries 4.0 A toward the north. A small compass is placed 0.050 m directly below the wire.
443 words, about 2 min5A Lens, a Screen, and a Claimed Image
A converging lens of focal length 15 cm is used to project an image of a small illuminated arrow onto a screen. The arrow is placed 25 cm from the lens.
471 words, about 2 min