Textbook cover for OpenStax College Physics for AP Courses, 1st edition. Textbook cover for OpenStax College Physics for AP Courses, 2nd Edition.

Choose a Chapter from OpenStax College Physics for AP© Courses

Welcome to the internet's best resource to learn physics problem solving! Three years in the making, this enormous collection demonstrates best practices for solving any type of physics problem. Each video is concise, but without skipping steps, to help get you on your way as quickly as possible. I hope you will find the help you need. Download the textbook for free from OpenStax. Best wishes with your studies!

- Shaun Dychko, B.Sc., B.Ed.

  1. Infrared Andromeda Galaxy (M31).
    Chapter 1
    Introduction: The Nature of Science and Physics
  2. American kestrel.
    Chapter 2
    Kinematics
  3. The Dragon Khan in Spain's Universal Port Aventura Amusement Park.
    Chapter 3
    Two-Dimensional Kinematics
  4. Newton’s laws of motion describe the motion of the dolphin’s path. This photo was taken at the Lisbon Zoo.
    Chapter 4
    Dynamics: Force and Newton's Laws of Motion
  5. Total hip replacement surgery has become a common procedure. The head (or ball) of the patient's femur fits into a cup that has a hard plastic-like inner lining.
    Chapter 5
    Further applications of Newton's Laws: Friction, Drag, and Elasticity
  6. This Australian Grand Prix Formula 1 race car moves in a circular path as it makes the turn. Its wheels also spin rapidly—the latter completing many revolutions, the former only part of one (a circular arc). The same physical principles are involved in each.
    Chapter 6
    Uniform Circular Motion and Graviation
  7. How many forms of energy can you identify in this photograph of a wind farm in Sandesneben, Germany?
    Chapter 7
    Work, Energy, and Energy Resources
  8. Each rugby player has great momentum, which will affect the outcome of their collisions with each other and the ground.
    Chapter 8
    Linear Momentum and Collisions
  9. On a short time scale, rocks like these in Australia's Kings Canyon are static, or motionless relative to the Earth.
    Chapter 9
    Statics and Torque
  10. The mention of a tornado conjures up images of raw destructive power. Tornadoes blow houses away as if they were made of paper and have been known to pierce tree trunks with pieces of straw. They descend from clouds in funnel-like shapes that spin violently, particularly at the bottom where they are most narrow, producing winds as high as 500 km/h. Location: Oklahoma 7 miles south of Anadarko.
    Chapter 10
    Rotational Motion and Angular Momentum
  11. The fluid essential to all life has a beauty of its own. It also helps support the weight of this swimmer.
    Chapter 11
    Fluid Statics
  12. Many fluids are flowing in this scene. Water from the hose and smoke from the fire are visible flows. Less visible are the flow of air and the flow of fluids on the ground and within the people fighting the fire. Explore all types of flow, such as visible, implied, turbulent, laminar, and so on, present in this scene.
    Chapter 12
    Fluid Dynamics and its Biological and Medical Applications.
  13. The welder’s gloves and helmet protect him from the electric arc that transfers enough thermal energy to melt the rod, spray sparks, and burn the retina of an unprotected eye. The thermal energy can be felt on exposed skin a few meters away, and its light can be seen for kilometers.
    Chapter 13
    Temperature, Kinetic Theory, and the Gas Laws
  14. (a) The chilling effect of a clear breezy night is produced by the wind and by radiative heat transfer to cold outer space. (b) There was once great controversy about the Earth’s age, but it is now generally accepted to be about 4.5 billion years old. Much of the debate is centered on the Earth’s molten interior. The discovery of radioactivity in rocks revealed the source of energy that keeps the Earth’s interior molten, despite heat transfer to the surface, and from there to cold outer space.
    Chapter 14
    Heat and Heat Transfer Methods
  15. A steam engine uses heat transfer to do work. Tourists regularly ride this narrow-gauge steam engine train near the San Juan Skyway in Durango, Colorado, part of the National Scenic Byways Program.
    Chapter 15
    Thermodynamics
  16. There are at least four types of waves in this picture—only the water waves are evident. There are also sound waves, light waves, and waves on the guitar strings.
    Chapter 16
    Oscillatory Motion and Waves
  17. This tree fell some time ago. When it fell, atoms in the air were disturbed. Physicists would call this disturbance sound whether someone was around to hear it or not.
    Chapter 17
    Physics of Hearing
  18. Static electricity from this plastic slide causes the child's hair to stand on end. The sliding motion stripped electrons away from the child's body, leaving an excess of positive charges, which repel each other along each strand of hair.
    Chapter 18
    Electric Charge and Electric Field
  19. Automated external defibrillator unit (AED)
    Chapter 19
    Electric Potential and Electric Field
  20. Electric energy in massive quantities is transmitted from this hydroelectric facility, the Srisailam power station located along the Krishna River in India, by the movement of charge—that is, by electric current.
    Chapter 20
    Electric Current, Resistance, and Ohm's Law
  21. Electric circuits in a computer allow large amounts of data to be quickly and accurately analyzed..
    Chapter 21
    Circuits and DC Instruments
  22. The magnificent spectacle of the Aurora Borealis, or northern lights, glows in the northern sky above Bear Lake near Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska. Shaped by the Earth’s magnetic field, this light is produced by radiation spewed from solar storms.
    Chapter 22
    Magnetism
  23. This wind turbine in the Thames Estuary in the UK is an example of induction at work. Wind pushes the blades of the turbine, spinning a shaft attached to magnets. The magnets spin around a conductive coil, inducing an electric current in the coil, and eventually feeding the electrical grid.
    Chapter 23
    Electromagnetic Induction, AC Circuits, and Electrical Technologies
  24. Human eyes detect these orange “sea goldie” fish swimming over a coral reef in the blue waters of the Gulf of Eilat (Red Sea) using visible light.
    Chapter 24
    Electromagnetic Waves
  25. Image seen as a result of reflection of light on a plane smooth surface.
    Chapter 25
    Geometric Optics
  26. A scientist examines minute details on the surface of a disk drive at a magnification of 100,000 times. The image was produced using an electron microscope.
    Chapter 26
    Vision and Optical Instruments
  27. he colors reflected by this compact disc vary with angle and are not caused by pigments. Colors such as these are direct evidence of the wave character of light.
    Chapter 27
    Wave Optics
  28. Special relativity explains why traveling to other star systems, such as these in the Orion Nebula, is unreasonable using our current level of technology.
    Chapter 28
    Special Relativity
  29. A black fly imaged by an electron microscope is as monstrous as any science-fiction creature.
    Chapter 29
    Introduction to Quantum Physics
  30. Individual carbon atoms are visible in this image of a carbon nanotube made by a scanning tunneling electron microscope.
    Chapter 30
    Atomic Physics
  31. The synchrotron source produces electromagnetic radiation, as evident from the visible glow.
    Chapter 31
    Radioactivity and Nuclear Physics
  32. Tori Randall, Ph.D., curator for the Department of Physical Anthropology at the San Diego Museum of Man, prepares a 550-year-old Peruvian child mummy for a CT scan at Naval Medical Center San Diego.
    Chapter 32
    Medical Application of Nuclear Physics
  33. Part of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, on the border of Switzerland and France. The LHC is a particle accelerator, designed to study fundamental particles.
    Chapter 33
    Particle Physics
  34. This galaxy is ejecting huge jets of matter, powered by an immensely massive black hole at its center.
    Chapter 34
    Frontiers of Physics