AP® Physics C:Electricity and Magnetism

Course Overview

AP Physics C: Electricity and magnetism is an introductory calculus-based college physics course. Students develop an understanding of physics by developing models of physical phenomena through inquiry-based investigation. Students build their understanding of physical models as they explore and solve problems on the following topics:

1. Charge, Fields, and Gauss’s Law
2. Electric Potential
3. Conductors and Capacitors
4. Circuits
5. Magnetic Fields and Electromagnetism
6. Electromagnetic Induction

College Course Equivalencies:

AP Physics C: Electricity and magnetism is equivalent to the second course in a calculus-based introductory college physics course sequence.

Prerequisites:

Students should have taken or concurrently taken calculus. Students should have taken AP Physics C: Mechanics, AP Physics 1, or another mechanics-based physics course prior to taking AP Physics C: Electricity and magnetism.

Course Content

The AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism course framework provides a clear and detailed description of the requirements necessary for student success. It outlines what students must know, be able to do, and understand, with a focus on covering the essential principles, theories, and processes of physics. The framework also encourages teaching approaches that help students think more broadly about the physical world, thereby preparing them to make interdisciplinary connections.

Units

The course content is organized into commonly taught instructional units. These units are arranged in a logical sequence, which is typical in many college courses and textbooks. The six units in AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism, along with their corresponding weight in the multiple-choice section of the AP exam, are listed on the following page. The suggested pacing on the Course at a Glance page provides guidance on how to cover the required course content and conduct progress checks. The recommended number of class periods is based on a schedule of five 45-minute classes per week or one semester with daily 90-minute classes. While these suggestions are made to assist in planning, teachers have the flexibility to adjust the pacing of the course based on the needs of their students, alternative schedules (such as block scheduling), or the school’s academic calendar.

This table organizes the content, topics, and exam weightings for each unit in the AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism Exam:

Unit	Description	Topics May Include	On The Exam
Unit 8: Electric Charges, Fields, and Gauss’s Law	You’ll begin your study of the electric force with an exploration of electric charges.	– Coulomb’s Law – Electric fields due to point charges or combinations of charges – Electric Flux and Gauss’s Law – Electric fields of charge distributions	15%–25% of multiple-choice score
Unit 9: Electric Potential	You’ll continue your study by analyzing forms of energy that occur when electric charges interact.	– Electric potential – Electric potential due to point charges and uniform fields – Electric potential due to configurations of charge – Energy conservation when electric charges interact with each other or electric fields	10%–20% of multiple-choice score
Unit 10: Conductors and Capacitors	You’ll explore how electric charge can move through an object and the factors that affect the way charge moves.	– Electrostatics with conductors – Capacitors – Dielectrics	10%–15% of multiple-choice score
Unit 11: Electric Circuits	You’ll build on your knowledge of electrical components to investigate the nature of electric circuits and explore current, resistance, and power.	– Current and resistance – Current, resistance, and power – Steady-state direct-current circuits with batteries and resistors only – Gauss’s Law	15%–25% of multiple-choice score
Unit 12: Magnetic Fields and Electromagnetism	You’ll begin your exploration of magnetism by learning how magnetic fields are generated, how they behave, and how they relate to electricity.	– Forces on moving charges in magnetic fields – Forces on current-carrying wires in magnetic fields – Fields of long current-carrying wires – The Biot-Savart Law and Ampère’s Law	10%–20% of multiple-choice score
Unit 13: Electromagnetic Induction	You’ll build on what you’ve learned about charges, currents, and electric and magnetic fields to explore electromagnetic forces and their properties.	– Electromagnetic induction (including Faraday’s Law and Lenz’s Law) – Inductance (including LR circuits)	10%–20% of multiple-choice score

Science Practices

The table below lists the scientific practices that students should develop in the AP Physics C: Electricity and magnetism course. These practices form the basis for many of the tasks on the AP Physics C: Electricity and magnetism exam. The unit guides that follow embed these practices throughout the course, providing teachers with a way to integrate the practices into the course content with enough repetition that students are prepared to apply these scientific practices when they take the AP Physics C: Electricity and magnetism.

Practice 1

Creating representations 1
Create representations that describe physical phenomena.

Skills:

1.A Create graphs, tables, charts, or diagrams to represent physical situations.

1.B Create quantitative graphs with appropriate scale and units, including plotting data.

1.C Create qualitative diagram sketches that represent the characteristics of a model or the behavior of a physical system.

Practice 2

Mathematical routines 2

Perform analysis to derive, calculate, estimate, or predict.

Skills:
2.A Derive symbolic expressions from known quantities by selecting and following logical mathematical paths.

2.B Calculate or estimate unknown quantities with units of known quantities by selecting and following logical computational paths.

2.C  Compare physical quantities between two or more scenarios or at different times and places within a single scenario.

2.D Use functional dependencies between variables to predict new values ​​or factors of change in physical quantities.

Practice 3

Scientific questioning and argumentation 3
Describe experimental procedures, analyze data, and support claims.

Skills:

3.A  Create experimental procedures appropriate to a given scientific question.

3.B  Apply appropriate laws, definitions, theoretical relationships, or models to make claims.

3.C Justify or support claims using evidence from experimental data, physical representations, or physical principles or laws.

Laboratory Requirement and Lab Notebooks

Laboratory Requirement ：This course requires 25% of instructional time to be spent in hands-on laboratory work with an emphasis on inquiry-based investigations that provide students with opportunities to demonstrate fundamental physical principles and apply scientific practices. Inquiry-based laboratory experiences support the AP Physics C: Electricity and magnetism course and AP Course Review course requirements by providing students with opportunities to engage in scientific practices as they design experimental plans, make predictions, collect and analyze data, apply mathematical routines, develop explanations, and communicate their work. Colleges may require students to present laboratory materials from AP science courses before awarding college credit for laboratory work, so students should be encouraged to keep their lab notebooks, reports, and other materials.

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