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9th Grade Content Standards For Physics Covered in Physical Science    

• Explain how an object's kinetic energy depends on its mass and its speed (KE=1/2 mv2).
• Demonstrate that near Earth's surface an object's gravitational potential energy depends upon its weight (mg where m is the object's mass and g is the acceleration due to gravity) and height (h) above a reference surface (PE=mgh).
• Trace the transformations of energy within a system (e.g., chemical to electrical to mechanical) and recognize that energy is conserved. Show that these transformations involve the release of some thermal energy.
• Explain how thermal energy exists in the random motion and vibrations of atoms and molecules. Recognize that the higher the temperature, the greater the average atomic or molecular motion, and during changes of state the temperature remains constant.
• Demonstrate that thermal energy can be transferred by conduction, convection or radiation (e.g., through materials by the collision of particles, moving air masses or across empty space by forms of electromagnetic radiation).
• Demonstrate that motion is a measurable quantity that depends on the observer's frame of reference and describe the object's motion in terms of position, velocity, acceleration and time.
• Demonstrate that any object does not accelerate (remains at rest or maintains a constant speed and direction of motion) unless an unbalanced (net) force acts on it.
• Explain the change in motion (acceleration) of an object. Demonstrate that the acceleration is proportional to the net force acting on the object and inversely proportional to the mass of the object (Fnet=ma. Note that weight is the gravitational force on a mass).
• Demonstrate that whenever one object exerts a force on another, an equal amount of force is exerted back on the first object.
• Demonstrate the ways in which frictional forces constrain the motion of objects (e.g., a car traveling around a curve, a block on an inclined plane, a person running, an airplane in flight).
• Use historical examples to explain how new ideas are limited by the context in which they are conceived; are often initially rejected by the scientific establishment; sometimes spring from unexpected findings; and usually grow slowly through contributions from many different investigators (e.g., atomic theory, quantum theory, Newtonian mechanics).
• Describe advances and issues in physical science that have important, long-lasting effects on science and society (e.g., atomic theory, quantum theory, Newtonian mechanics, nuclear energy, nanotechnology, plastics and ceramics and communication technology).

(Waves will be covered in Earth Science)