Ontario, Canada · Curriculum spine
Grade 12
65 concepts across 1 subject. Codes follow the ministry's own expectation numbers; where a course is broken into bites (chapter.bite), each bite names the expectations it covers.
Physics (SPH4U)
The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12: Science, 2008 (Revised), SPH4U pp. 193–206; unit order from the Bishop Ryan CSS course outline (2025) · 65 concepts
Chapter 16
Chapter 1 · Moving in two directions
Unit 1 · Dynamics. Arrows for motion, things that fly, and who is really moving.
- 1.1Coming to StudioWhere is it, how fast, which wayPosition, velocity and acceleration are three different questions. Warm-up: everything Grade 11 needed, rebuilt.
- 1.2Coming to StudioArrows that addA vector is an arrow with a length and a direction. Add two arrows tip to tail.
- 1.3Coming to StudioSplitting an arrowAny arrow is an across part plus an up part: components, with sin and cos.
- 1.4Coming to StudioDrop it or throw it, same landing timeThe sideways motion and the falling are two separate stories that share a clock.
- 1.5Coming to StudioLaunch at an angleRange, height and time of flight come from splitting the launch arrow.
- 1.6Coming to StudioWho is moving?Relative velocity: walking on a train, a boat crossing a river.
Chapter 26
Chapter 2 · Forces make it happen
Unit 1 · Dynamics. Every push and pull, drawn and added.
- 2.1Coming to StudioNewton's three laws, one sittingThings keep doing what they are doing unless pushed; F = ma; pushes come in pairs. Warm-up.
- 2.2Coming to StudioDraw every push and pullThe free-body diagram: gravity, normal, applied, tension, friction.
- 2.3Coming to StudioFriction: grip vs slideStatic and kinetic friction, the coefficient, and why grip beats slide.
- 2.4Coming to StudioThe tilted worldOn an incline gravity splits into into-the-slope and down-the-slope.
- 2.5Coming to StudioTwo things tied togetherPulleys and connected masses: one system, one acceleration.
- 2.6Coming to StudioThe elevator and the truckApparent weight; inertial and non-inertial frames of reference.
Chapter 37
Chapter 3 · Going in circles
Unit 1 · Dynamics. Turning is accelerating.
- 3.1Coming to StudioTurning is acceleratingCentripetal acceleration points at the centre: a = v²/r.
- 3.2Coming to StudioRound and round: period and frequencyT and f, and a = 4π²r/T² derived in words.
- 3.3Coming to StudioFlat circlesA car on a curve, a banked turn, the spin cycle, a tether ball.
- 3.4Coming to StudioLoops and bucketsVertical circles: the roller-coaster loop and the bucket of water that does not spill.
- 3.5Coming to StudioThe force that isn't thereCentrifugal force is your frame moving, not a real push.
- 3.6Coming to StudioPhysics you can measureVideo analysis of a ride or a tether ball: measure T and r, find the force.
- 3.7Coming to StudioDynamics changed the worldTrebuchets, race cars, centrifuges, satellites, wind turbines: the good and the bad.
Chapter 47
Chapter 4 · Work and energy
Unit 2 · Energy and Momentum. Energy moves around but never disappears.
- 4.1Coming to StudioWork is a push that moves somethingW = Fd cos θ; carrying a bag on the flat is zero work. Warm-up.
- 4.2Coming to StudioEnergy of motionKinetic energy and the work–energy theorem.
- 4.3Coming to StudioEnergy stored in heightGravitational potential energy; conservation on a roller coaster.
- 4.4Coming to StudioWhere the energy hidesFriction turns motion into heat; efficiency.
- 4.5Coming to StudioSprings rememberHooke's law and elastic potential energy.
- 4.6Coming to StudioBack and forth foreverSimple harmonic motion: spring, pendulum, and the link to circular motion.
- 4.7Coming to StudioBungee, bouncing ballEnergy in two dimensions and in a simulated lab: test conservation.
Chapter 56
Chapter 5 · Momentum
Unit 2 · Energy and Momentum. Mass in motion, and why airbags work.
- 5.1Coming to StudioMass in motionMomentum p = mv and impulse FΔt = Δp; why airbags and crumple zones work.
- 5.2Coming to StudioWhat goes out must equal what came inConservation of momentum in one dimension: collisions, explosions, recoil.
- 5.3Coming to StudioBouncy or stickyElastic and inelastic collisions: where the energy went.
- 5.4Coming to StudioOff-centre hitsCollisions in two dimensions: the pool table and the air table.
- 5.5Coming to StudioThe rules nobody can breakNo perpetual motion; damping; how conservation predicted the neutrino.
- 5.6Coming to StudioDesign something saferHelmets, car seats, crash-test dummies, fireworks, demolition.
Chapter 64
Chapter 6 · Gravity
Unit 3 · Fields. A pull with no touching.
- 6.1Coming to StudioA push with no touchingWhat a field is; field lines; g near Earth and far away.
- 6.2Coming to StudioEverything pulls everythingNewton's law of universal gravitation and the inverse square.
- 6.3Coming to StudioFalling foreverOrbits and satellites: v = √(GM/r), geostationary.
- 6.4Coming to StudioEscape, black holes, dark matterGravitational potential energy far from Earth; escape speed; what orbits tell us.
Chapter 74
Chapter 7 · Electric fields
Unit 3 · Fields. Charges push and pull like gravity, only stronger.
- 7.1Coming to StudioCharge and CoulombCoulomb's law and how it mirrors gravity.
- 7.2Coming to StudioMapping the invisibleElectric field strength; field diagrams for point charges and parallel plates.
- 7.3Coming to StudioVoltage is height for chargesElectric potential energy and potential; the uniform field between plates.
- 7.4Coming to StudioWeighing an electronMillikan's oil drop and Rutherford's scattering, as simulated inquiries.
Chapter 85
Chapter 8 · Magnetic fields
Unit 3 · Fields. Moving charges make and feel magnetism.
- 8.1Coming to StudioWhere magnetism comes fromFields around magnets, straight wires and solenoids; the right-hand rules.
- 8.2Coming to StudioCharges that curveForce on a moving charge F = qvB; circles; the aurora and the mass spectrometer.
- 8.3Coming to StudioWires that jumpForce on a current-carrying wire F = BIL; motors.
- 8.4Coming to StudioThree fields side by sideCompare gravity, electric and magnetic fields; the fundamental forces.
- 8.5Coming to StudioFields at workMRI, particle accelerators, credit-card strips, RFID, satellites.
Chapter 99
Chapter 9 · The wave nature of light
Unit 4 · Light behaves like ripples on a pond.
- 9.1Coming to StudioWaves in one pictureWavelength, frequency, amplitude, phase, oscillate. Warm-up.
- 9.2Coming to StudioRipples that crossDiffraction and two-source interference in water; nodal lines.
- 9.3Coming to StudioLight is a wave: Young's slitsThe double-slit pattern; Δx = λL/d in words.
- 9.4Coming to StudioOne slit, many slitsSingle-slit diffraction, gratings, and why telescopes blur.
- 9.5Coming to StudioBending and splittingRefraction, dispersion, prisms, rainbows, mirages.
- 9.6Coming to StudioColours on a soap bubbleThin-film interference: bubbles, oil slicks, CDs.
- 9.7Coming to StudioSunglasses that pick a directionPolarization: filters, reflection, LCD screens, stressed plastic.
- 9.8Coming to StudioMaking lightElectromagnetic radiation from a shaking charge: radio to X-ray.
- 9.9Coming to StudioLight we live onFibre optics, holograms on money, GPS, lasers, polarized lenses.
Chapter 106
Chapter 10 · Quantum
Unit 5 · Light comes in packets and particles wave.
- 10.1Coming to StudioThe day light broke the rulesThe glow of hot objects and Planck's energy packets.
- 10.2Coming to StudioLight knocks electrons outThe photoelectric effect: E = hf, work function, KEmax.
- 10.3Coming to StudioPhotons bounce like ballsThe Compton effect and photon momentum.
- 10.4Coming to StudioParticles that waveDe Broglie wavelength and electron diffraction.
- 10.5Coming to StudioFingerprints of atomsEmission spectra and energy levels, as a simulated inquiry.
- 10.6Coming to StudioWhat everything is made ofThe standard model: quarks, hadrons, leptons, field particles.
Chapter 115
Chapter 11 · Relativity
Unit 5 · Fast things see time and space differently.
- 11.1Coming to StudioEinstein's two promisesThe same laws for everyone; the same light speed for everyone.
- 11.2Coming to StudioMoving clocks run slowTime dilation from the light clock; muons that reach the ground.
- 11.3Coming to StudioMoving rulers shrinkLength contraction; relativistic momentum and mass.
- 11.4Coming to StudioMass is frozen energyE = mc²; nuclear power; protons in the LHC.
- 11.5Coming to StudioTwo revolutions, one centuryHow new theories changed thought and gave us MRI, PET, lasers and quantum computers.