Physics

• SI units and measurement: SI units, prefixes, significant figures and measuring instruments.
• Uncertainty and errors: Random and systematic errors, uncertainty and error bars.
• Forces: Pushes, pulls, friction, balanced and unbalanced forces.
• Weight and mass: W = m g, and gravity on other planets.
• Springs and Hooke’s law: Stretching springs, the spring constant and elastic energy.
• Moments and levers: Turning effects, levers, gears and balancing.
• Pressure: Pressure on surfaces, in liquids and in gases.
• Newton’s laws of motion: Inertia, F = ma and equal and opposite forces.
• Momentum: Momentum, impulse and collisions.
• Circular motion: Centripetal force and angular speed.
• Speed: Speed, distance–time graphs and average speed.
• Velocity and acceleration: Velocity–time graphs, acceleration and the area under a graph.
• Equations of motion: SUVAT equations, free fall and vertical projectiles.
• Energy stores and transfers: Energy stores, transfers, conservation and efficiency.
• Kinetic and potential energy: KE = ½mv², GPE = mgh and swapping between them.
• Work, power and efficiency: Work done, power and efficiency calculations.
• Energy resources: Fossil fuels, nuclear and renewable resources, pros and cons.
• Conduction, convection and radiation: How heat moves, insulators and conductors.
• Specific heat capacity and latent heat: Energy to heat things up and to change state.
• Gas laws: Pressure, volume and temperature of gases, and absolute zero.
• Current, voltage and resistance: Current, potential difference, resistance and V = IR.
• Series and parallel circuits: Circuit symbols, series and parallel rules.
• Static electricity: Charging by friction, attraction, repulsion and electric fields.
• Electrical power and energy: P = IV, kilowatt-hours, the cost of electricity and the mains.
• Resistivity and internal resistance: Resistivity, e.m.f. and internal resistance.
• Capacitors: Storing charge, energy and charging curves.
• Magnets and magnetic fields: Poles, attraction, repulsion and field lines.
• Electromagnets and motors: Fields around wires, electromagnets, the motor effect and F = BIL.
• Electromagnetic induction: Generators, dynamos and transformers.
• Sound: Vibrations, pitch, loudness, echoes and how we hear.
• Wave properties: Wavelength, frequency, amplitude and v = fλ.
• The electromagnetic spectrum: Radio waves to gamma rays: uses and dangers.
• Superposition and diffraction: Interference, standing waves, diffraction and the Doppler effect.
• Light and reflection: Light travels in straight lines, shadows and mirrors.
• Refraction and lenses: Bending light, Snell’s law, total internal reflection and lenses.
• Colour: White light, prisms, filters and why things look coloured.
• Particles and states of matter: Solids, liquids and gases, and changes of state.
• Density: Density = mass ÷ volume, floating and measuring density.
• Atoms and isotopes: Protons, neutrons, electrons, isotopes and models of the atom.
• Radioactivity and half-life: Alpha, beta and gamma, decay equations and half-life.
• Fission and fusion: Nuclear power, fusion in stars and E = mc².
• Photons and the photoelectric effect: Light as particles, energy levels and spectra.
• The solar system: The Sun, planets and moons, day and night, seasons and phases of the Moon.
• Gravity and orbits: Gravity, orbits, satellites and light years.
• Stars, galaxies and the Big Bang: The life cycle of stars, red shift and the expanding universe.