Course
AP Physics 2
Algebra-based second-year physics: fluids, thermodynamics, electricity and magnetism, optics, and modern physics. Eight units, one folder each.
Units
Fluids
Density, pressure with depth, buoyancy and Archimedes, continuity, Bernoulli.
Thermodynamics
Ideal gases, kinetic theory, thermal expansion, specific heat, PV diagrams, the first and second laws, entropy. Includes a lab.
Electric Force, Field, and Potential
Charge, Coulomb’s law, electric fields and field lines, potential and potential energy, conductors.
Electric Circuits
Resistivity, Ohm’s law, series and parallel, Kirchhoff’s rules, capacitors, RC behavior.
Magnetism and Electromagnetic Induction
Magnetic fields, force on moving charges and wires, magnetic flux, Faraday’s and Lenz’s laws.
Geometric Optics
Reflection, refraction, Snell’s law, total internal reflection, mirrors and lenses, ray diagrams.
Waves, Sound, and Physical Optics
Wave properties, superposition, standing waves, double-slit interference, diffraction, thin films.
Modern Physics
Photons and the photoelectric effect, atomic energy levels and spectra, nuclear decay, mass–energy.
This unit list follows the redesigned AP Physics 2 course framework (the one with fluids as Unit 1 and thermodynamics as Unit 2). Some teachers still teach the older ordering, and some reorder units to fit the school year. If your class numbers them differently, the content is the same — only the labels move.
How to use these notes
- Read the unit page first. It gives the study order and the formula sheet in one screen.
- Work the topic pages in order. Each one ends with worked examples — try them before opening the solution.
- Do the lab. The AP exam asks experimental-design questions, and having actually taken the data makes those questions much easier.
- Come back to the formula sheet and check you can say what each symbol means and when the equation applies. That, not memorization, is what the free-response section tests.