Physics Crossword Puzzle - AP2 Atomic and Nuclear Physics

Physics Crossword Puzzle - AP2 Atomic and Nuclear Physics by The Lessons of Phyz © Dean Baird

This series of physics crossword puzzles is intended for advanced physics students. Topical terms constitute the core of the word list. Unlike the first series, there are no "words all high school students should know" vocabulary terms. Fill-in terms lean toward physics and science, but sometimes wander into pop culture or randomness.

1. GENERAL

I created this crossword puzzle for use in my AP Physics classes. Because I was using crossword creator software, I chose to build as robust a crossword as possible. The more crosses, the better. The fewer blank spaces on the grid, the better. The physics topic vocabulary served as the core of the word list. I added “fair-game” words and abbreviations to fill the gaps. While competing crosswords might have 20-30 words with a few dozen crosses, this one has over 100 words with over 150 word crosses.

2. PRINTABLE PDFS

The “Print” documents are PDFs meant to be photocopied (2-sided) and distributed to students. A “Word List” PDF document is included if you wish to post it or distribute it to students. (I was using this with AP Physics students, so I opted not to.)

• AP2 Atomic+Nuclear Print 00 is a clean puzzle with no squares completed as hints.
• AP2 Atomic+Nuclear Print 05 has 5% of the squares prefilled as hints. The squares selected for filling was a random selection made by the software.
• AP2 Atomic+Nuclear Print 10 has 10% of the squares prefilled as hints. The squares selected for filling was a random selection made by the software.

I leave it to you to decide which version to use with which of your courses.

3. UPLOADABLE HTML FILES (OPTIONAL)

If it suits your inclination, tech-savviness, resources, and use case, you may upload the included quantum folder to an online webspace server. When you do so and provide the consequent URL to students, they can access and attempt to solve the puzzle online. The online version works best with a desktop or laptop screen. It is not optimized for mobile. Here’s the URL to a different puzzle so you can experience what an online version plays like:

https://phyz.org/crosswords/01_Motion/

Again, this high-tech option is available but not required. Many will opt to use only the print versions.

4. ANSWER KEY

The answer key document shows

• the completed grid,
• the answers corresponding to each the Horizontal and Vertical clues

5. PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

I used this with AP Physics 2 students who had completed grade-level Physics or AP Physics 1. Terms from topics covered in those courses were allowed into the grid. At the point of implementation, students had also covered fluids, thermodynamics, electricity, and magnetism, and optics.

6. WORD LIST [bold = topical term]

ABSORPTION, ADIABAT, AIR, ALPHA, AM, ATOMIC, AU, BA, BETA, BOB, BOHR, CAFFEINE, CARNOT, CD, CHAIN, CHARGE, CONE, CRITICAL, CURIE, CURRENT, DATING, DEBROGLIE, DEFECT, DENSITY, DISH, DOC, DUALITY, EDUCATOR, EFFECT, EGGS, EINSTEIN, ELECTRON, ELSA, EMF, EMISSION, ENERGY, EPA, EV, FIELD, FISSION, FL, FLUX, FM, FORCE, FREQUENCY, FUNCTION, FUSION, GA, GAMMA, GROUND, HALF, HEAT, HERTZ, HF, HOOKE, IMPULSE, INDEX, INERTIA, INTERNAL, INTO, IONIZE, IPO, IR, IVF, JUNCTION, KINETIC, LAPTOP, LEVER, LIGHT, LIVING, LOI, MOMENTUM, MOON, MRNA, MUFFIN, NA, NET, NEUTRON, NSF, NUCLEON, NUCLEUS, NUMBER, OHM, OPEN, PAIRS, PERIOD, PHI, PHOTOELECTRIC, PHOTON, PITH, PLANCK, POTENTIAL, PRESSURE, PROOF, PROTON, PSI, QUANTUM, RADIAN, RAY, REFLECT, REFRACT, REPEL, RUN, SHM, SNELL, SPRING, STRONG, TAU, TEN, TENSION, TIME, TOE, TORQUE, TWO, URL, UV, VOLTAGE, VOLUME, WATT, WAVELENGTH, XX