AP Physics 1 — Unit 1: Kinematics
Practice questions, answers, and key terms for Unit 1, aligned to the College Board CED.
AP Physics 1 Unit 1 practice questions
A drone flies 300 m east, then 300 m back west. Its odometer reads 600 m but the GPS says it's where it started. Which reading is the scalar, which is the vector?
600 m is distance (scalar, magnitude only). The GPS net change of 0 m is displacement (vector, magnitude + direction). They split because direction reverses.
Your fitness app shows '8.2' and your friend insists that fully describes your run. What's missing if 8.2 is a velocity instead of a speed?
Direction — velocity needs it, e.g. 8.2 km/h north. Speed (scalar) is complete as just 8.2 km/h.
On a number line, a cart's velocity is written as -4 m/s with no arrow drawn over the symbol. Is the notation wrong, and what does the sign tell you?
Not wrong — in 1D the sign alone specifies direction. The negative just means the cart moves -x at 4 m/s.
Two forces along one line: +12 N and -5 N. A student adds the magnitudes to get 17 N. Where did they go wrong?
Vectors in 1D add by their signs, not their bare magnitudes. Opposite directions mean opposite signs: +12 + (-5) = +7 N.
An arrow drawn for velocity A is twice as long as the arrow for velocity B, and both point the same way. What does the doubled length encode, and what does the matching direction tell you?
Length is proportional to magnitude, so A's speed is double B's. Same arrow direction means same direction of travel. Vectors are modeled as arrows: length = magnitude, orientation = direction.
You walk 5 blocks north, then 3 blocks south to grab a coffee. A friend asks 'how far did you go' and 'how far are you from start.' Why are the two answers different?
'How far you went' = distance = 8 blocks (scalar, adds up). 'How far from start' = displacement = 2 blocks north (vector, net change of position).
A ball is tossed straight up. At the exact top of its path, a student claims 'velocity is zero, so acceleration must be zero too.' What's the flaw?
Velocity is zero at the top, but acceleration is 10 m/s² down. Gravity keeps changing the velocity, so a is never zero.
A car drives a perfect circular loop at a steady 30 m/s and returns to the start line. Speed never changed, so a student says acceleration was zero the whole lap. True?
False — velocity is a vector, so direction kept changing. Even at constant speed, the turning car was accelerating all lap.
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Key terms in Unit 1
These 12 terms show up in the Unit 1 cards. Each one links to its definition in the AP Physics 1 key-term reference.
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