Have you ever been curious as to why some objects float while others sink? Why it’s easier to balance on a bicycle when it’s moving fast? Or why it may seem like you’re moving backward when a car passes you on the highway? In AP Physics 1: Algebra-Based, you’ll learn about kinematics, dynamics, and energy through hands-on laboratory work to investigate and answer questions such as these.


Unit 1: Kinematics
You'll be introduced to the study of motion.

Unit 2: Force and Translational Dynamics
You'll revisit the concepts you worked with in Unit 1 to explore force, which is the interaction of an object with another object.

Unit 3: Work, Energy, and Power
You'll learn the definitions of and relationships between work energy, and power.

Unit 4: Linear Momentum
You'll explore the relationship between force, time, and momentum and learn to use the law of conservation of momentum to analyze physical situations.

Unit 5: Torque and Rotational Dynamics
You’ll use the tools, techniques, and models you’ve learned in previous units to analyze bodies that rotate, and what causes those rotations.

Unit 6: Energy and Momentum of Rotating Systems
You’ll explore the energy and momentum of an object rotating around an axis and you’ll connect those concepts to their linear analogs.

Unit 7: Oscillations
You’ll use all the tools, techniques, and models you’ve learned in previous units to analyze a new kind of motion: simple harmonic motion.

Unit 8: Fluids
You’ll explore the behavior and motion of materials that can change shape and analyze how that behavior interacts with other objects.