Ontario Grade 12 SPH4C Physics (Grade 12, College Preparation)
Chapters: 6
1. A. Scientific Investigation Skills and Career Exploration
A1 Scientific Investigation Skills · A2 Career Exploration
- The Scientific Method – The scientific method is the careful way scientists find out how the world works. Observe something, ask a testable question, make a hypothesis (a clear, testable guess), test it with a fair experiment (change one variable, measure one, keep the rest the same), repeat and record data, analyse it, draw a conclusion and share it so others can check. Results that fail the test are useful too: they send you back to a new hypothesis.
2. B. Motion and its Applications
B1 Relating Science to Technology, Society, and the Environment · B2 Developing Skills of Investigation and Communication · B3 Understanding Basic Concepts
- Environmental Stewardship: Caring for the Planet as We Use Technology – Environmental stewardship means using the Earth's resources carefully so they last, and fixing harm where we can. Every product, from a phone to a hospital machine, has a life cycle: raw materials, making, transport, use and end of life. Each stage uses energy and makes waste. Good stewards keep products longer, choose efficient machines, follow the waste hierarchy (refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, then dispose), send e-waste to proper recyclers and support laws and company practices that protect nature. Technology can harm the environment, but it can also help: solar panels, LEDs and smart sensors cut waste.
- Motion: Distance, Speed, Velocity, Acceleration and Graphs – An object is in motion when its position changes with time. Distance is the full path length (a scalar); displacement is the straight gap from start to finish with a direction (a vector). Speed = distance ÷ time; velocity = displacement ÷ time. Acceleration = change in velocity ÷ time. The slope of an s–t graph gives velocity, the slope of a v–t graph gives acceleration, and the area under a v–t graph gives the distance. For uniform acceleration: v = u + at, s = ut + ½at², v² = u² + 2as.
3. C. Mechanical Systems
C1 Relating Science to Technology, Society, and the Environment · C2 Developing Skills of Investigation and Communication · C3 Understanding Basic Concepts
- Environmental Stewardship: Caring for the Planet as We Use Technology – Environmental stewardship means using the Earth's resources carefully so they last, and fixing harm where we can. Every product, from a phone to a hospital machine, has a life cycle: raw materials, making, transport, use and end of life. Each stage uses energy and makes waste. Good stewards keep products longer, choose efficient machines, follow the waste hierarchy (refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, then dispose), send e-waste to proper recyclers and support laws and company practices that protect nature. Technology can harm the environment, but it can also help: solar panels, LEDs and smart sensors cut waste.
- Data Analysis – Data analysis means turning raw data into answers. It follows a cycle: ask a question, collect data, clean it (remove errors, repeats and blanks), organise and transform it, analyse it with summaries such as mean, median, range and patterns, show it with a good chart, and draw a careful conclusion. Watch for outliers, small samples and bias, and remember that a correlation between two things does not prove that one causes the other. Data must also be stored safely and used with permission.
- Work, Energy and Power – Work is done when a force moves an object: W = F × s, measured in joules (J). Energy is the ability to do work. A moving body has kinetic energy ½mv²; a raised body has potential energy mgh. Energy is never made or destroyed, only changed from one form to another. Power is how fast work is done: P = W ÷ t, in watts. Simple machines like levers and pulleys let a small effort move a big load.
4. D. Electricity and Magnetism
D1 Relating Science to Technology, Society, and the Environment · D2 Developing Skills of Investigation and Communication · D3 Understanding Basic Concepts
- Force on a Current-Carrying Conductor, Motor and Induction – A wire carrying current inside a magnetic field feels a push. The push is biggest when the wire is at 90° to the field and zero when it is parallel. Fleming's left-hand rule gives its direction. A motor uses this push to spin a coil; a generator does the reverse and makes current by moving a coil or magnet.
5. E. Energy Transformations
E1 Relating Science to Technology, Society, and the Environment · E2 Developing Skills of Investigation and Communication · E3 Understanding Basic Concepts
- Energy Transformations: How Energy Changes Form in Devices and Power Stations – Energy exists in many forms (chemical, kinetic, gravitational, elastic, electrical, thermal, light, sound, nuclear). Devices change one form into others. Energy is never made or destroyed, so input energy = useful output + wasted energy. Efficiency = useful output ÷ input × 100 %. Power = energy ÷ time. Power stations differ a lot in efficiency, cost and pollution, and we choose between renewable and non-renewable sources.
6. F. Hydraulic and Pneumatic Systems
F1 Relating Science to Technology, Society, and the Environment · F2 Developing Skills of Investigation and Communication · F3 Understanding Basic Concepts
- Pressure in Fluids and Pascal's Law – A fluid (liquid or gas) pushes on every surface it touches. Pressure is this normal force per area, P = F/A. Because of gravity, the fluid above a point has weight, so pressure grows with depth: P = P₀ + ρgh. Points at the same depth in a still liquid have the same pressure, whatever the vessel's shape. Pascal's law says an extra pressure applied to an enclosed fluid reaches every point equally. The hydraulic lift and brakes use this: a small force on a small piston becomes a big force on a big piston, F = f × A/a.