Physics is an exciting subject, providing insight into the world around us. It has been developed by some of the greatest minds through the ages, with brilliant breakthroughs even in the last few years. Physics challenges our imaginations with concepts that range from tiny inter-molecular particles to huge things like entire solar systems. Physicists jobs lead to great discoveries, like computers and lasers, that lead to technologies which change our lives. It is fascinating how much we already know about how the Universe behaves, yet mindboggling how much we don't.
Our aim as a department is to provide students with opportunities to have a clearer understanding of motion, energy, electricity, magnetism and the laws that govern the physical universe. Studying Physics enables students to develop their analytical and problem-solving skills. Physics concepts challenge students to be curious and to ask the question 'how do things happen?' We take the mathematical tools that students have learnt and apply them to real world problems. There is an emphasis on developing investigative skills in order to confidently complete a number of required practicals throughout KS4 and 5. From cancer treatment to tackling climate change, gaming to robotics and artificial intelligence, physics and physicists are on the front line, helping to shape the future. At a time when jobs are changing, physics offers a vast and expanding range of career paths. Therefore we aim to not only learn the content and skills needed for examinations and further study, but to encourage our students to be critical and creative thinkers and problem solvers.
https://filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/physics/specifications/AQA-7407-7408-SP-2015.PDF
Key questions/concepts
How does the thermal conductivity of a material affect the rate of energy transfer through it by conduction?
What is infrared radiation?
What is meant by black body radiation?
How is the temperature of the Earth affected by the balance of absorbed and emitted radiation?
What is meant by the specific heat capacity of a substance?
Which energy resources need to be developed to meet people's energy needs in the future?
Timeframe
Key vocabulary
Wider reading
What is transferred when objects become charged?
What determines the size of an electric current?
What is meant by potential difference?
What is Ohm's law?
How does the current and p.d differ in series and parallel circuits?
What is the difference between direct and alternating current?
How are power and energy related?
How do you measure the density of a solid object or a liquid?
Why are gases less dense than solids and liquids?
How does increasing the temperature of a substance affect its internal energy?
What is meant by latent heat as a substance changes its state?
How does a gas exert pressure on a surface?
Why does the pressure of a gas change when its volume is changed at constant temperature?
What is a radioactive substance?
What types of radiation are given out from a radioactive substance?
How was the nuclear model of the atom established?
What is meant by the half-life of a radioactive source?
How do you choose a radioactive isotope for a particular job?
What are the differences between nuclear fission and fusion?
?Wider reading
Which types of waves are transverse and which are longitudinal?
What is the relationship between the speed, wavelength and frequency of a wave?
How can the behaviour of waves be used to explain reflection and refraction?
How do we use the different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum?
Why are UV, X-rays and gamma rays dangerous?
What is the difference between a concave and a convex lens?
How was our Solar System formed?
What are the stages in the life of a star?
What force keeps planets and satellites moving along their orbits?
What is meant by the red-shift of a light source?
What evidence is there that the Universe was created by a Big Bang?
What is the difference between a scalar and vector quantity?
What is a resultant force?
What is the moment of a force?
How do levers act as force multipliers?
What is the centre of mass of an object?
Be able to identify whether the turning force on an object will turn it clockwise or anticlockwise?
How can a parallelogram of forces find the resultant of the two forces?
What is meant by resolution of a force?
A diagram that shows the forces acting on an object without any other objects or forces shown
What is the difference between speed and velocity?
What does the gradient on a distance-time graph represent?
How is the acceleration of an object calculated?
How is acceleration or deceleration represented on a velocity-time graph?
How is distant travelled calculated from a velocity-time graph?
What is Newton's Second Law of Motion?
What does terminal velocity mean?
What does the stopping distance of a vehicle depend on?
What is conservation of momentum?
What happens to the total momentum of two objects when they collide?
What affects the force of impact when two objects collide?
How does the extension of a spring change when a force is applied?
What is meant by pressure?
What does the pressure in a liquid depend on?
Why does the atmosphere exert a pressure?
What is meant by an upthrust on an object in a fluid?
What does the pressure in a fluid depends upon?
What is induced magnetism?
What is the pattern of the magnetic field around a straight wire carrying a current and in and around a solenoid?
What can electromagnets be used for?
What is Fleming's left hand rule?
What is the generator effect?
How is an ac generator constructed and operated?
What are transformers used for?
Why are transformers used in the National Grid?
Describe what is inside an atom.
What is the strong nuclear force?
What is meant by the term 'photon'?
What happens when a particle and it's antiparticle meet?
What are the different types of particle interactions?
What is the weak nuclear force?
What are strange particles?
Why do we classify particles as hadrons or leptons?
What are quarks and be able to explain how we know they exist?
What are the conservation rules for particle interactions?
What is the photoelectric effect?
What is meant by the term ionisation of an atom?
What is meant by the term excitation of an atom?
Why do atoms emit characteristic line spectra?
Why do we say photons have a dual nature?
Describe a physics test that can distinguish between transverse and longitudinal waves
How can you calculate the frequency of a wave from its period?
What causes waves to refract when they pass across a boundary?
What is diffraction?
How can two waves combine to produce reinforcement?
What are the necessary conditions for the formation of a stationary wave?
Be able to compare the frequencies of higher harmonivs with the first harmonic frequency.
To be able to interpret waveforms on an oscilloscope.
Be able to state Snell's law
Relate refractive index to the speed of light waves
To be able to state the conditions for total internal reflection
To be able to describe the Young's double slit experiment
Describe the roles of diffraction and interference when producing Young's fringes
Be able to compare the single slit diffraction pattern with the pattern of Young's fringes
Explain why a diffraction grating diffracts monochromatic light in certain directions only
To be able to define a vector quantity.
Explain the parallogram of forces
Describe the conditions under which a force produces a turning effect.
When a body in equilibrium is supported at two places, state how much force is exerted on each support.
Explain the difference between stable and unstable equilibrium
Explain what condition must apply to the turning effects of the forces
To be able to state the important principles that always apply to a body in equilibrium
Describe when it is necessary to consider velocity rather than speed.
Explain why acceleration is considered to be a vector
Discuss if objects of different masses or sizes all fall with the same acceleration
Explain why the acceleration of a projectile is always vertically downwards
Describe what effect a resultant force produces
Be able to apply Newton's 2nd Law to a variety of situations.
Explain what determines the terminal speed of a falling object or a vehicle
Distinguish between braking distance and stopping distance
Describe the force on a moving body if it is suddenly stopped, for example in a road accident
Describe what happens to the impact force if the duration of impact is reduced
Define conservation of momentum
Distinguish between an elastic collision and an inelastic collision
Describe the consequences when, after the explosion, only two bodies move apart
Define work (in the scientific sense)
State which physical quantities are involved in power
State the force that is mainly responsible for energy dissipation when mechanical energy is transferred from one store to another
Define Hooke's Law
To be able to relate stress to force and strain to extension
Describe what is meant by the Young modulus
Define tensile
Compare the deformation of other materials such as rubber and polythene with a metal wire
Define an electric current
Define potential difference
Describe what causes electrical resistance
Explain what a superconductor is
Be able to investigate the characteristics of different components
Be able to state the rules for seriea and parallel circuits
Define resistance heating
Explain why the pd of a battery in use is less than its emf
Be able to calculate the current in a variety of circuits
Describe a potential divider
Explain how we can design sensor circuits
Define angular displacement and angular speed
Determine the direction of acceleration in circular motion
Calculate the centripetal force
Identify the forces experienced when travelling around a roundabout, over a curved bridge, on a banked track
Identify the forces experienced on a variety of fairground rides
Describe the phase difference between two oscillators that are out of step
State the two fundamental conditions about acceleration that apply to simple harmonic motion
Describe how displacement, velocity and acceleration vary with time
State the conditions that must be satisfied for a mass-spring system or simple pendulum to oscillate with simple harmonic motion
Investigate the oscillations of a loaded spring and the simple pendulum
Describe how, in SHM, kinetic energy and potential energy vary with displacement
Describe the effects of damping on the characteristics of oscillations
State the circumstances in which resonance occurs
Distinguish between free vibrations and forced vibrations
Be able to demonstrate the first law of thermodynamics in action
Define and measure specific heat capacity
Explain why the temperature of a substance stays steady when it is changing state
State the experimental gas laws
State what is meant by an isothermal change
Define an ideal gas
Distinguish between molar mass and molecular mass
Describe the behaviour of a gas
Discuss what the mean kinetic energy of a gas molecule depends on
Explain what is meant by the strength of a gravitational field
Define gravitational potential
Describe how gravitational attraction varies with distance
Explain what is meant by the inverse-square law
Explain the variation of g with distance from the centre of a spherical planet or star
State the condition for a satellite to be in a stable orbit
Describe what the direction of an electric field line shows concerning a test charge
Describe how to measure, in principle, the strength of an electric field
Explain why potential is defined in terms of the work done per unit positive charge
Describe how the force between two point charges depends on the distance
State the equation that gives the electric field strength near a point charge
State the equation that gives the potential associated with a point charge
State the main similarities and differences between electric and gravitational fields
Describe in terms of electron flow what is happening when a capacitor charges up
Explain why a capacitor stores energy as it is being charged
Define the time constant of a capacitor- resistor circuit
Explain how a dielectric affects a capacitor
State the factors that the magnitude of the force on a current-carrying wire depends on
Describe what happens to charged particles in a magnetic field
Describe what happens to the direction of a magnetic force when electrons are deflected by a magnetic field
Describe what must happen to a conductor for electricity to be generated
Define the magnetic flux and the magnetic flux linkage
Relate the indiced emf in a coil to the magnetic flux linkage through it
State the two features of the output voltage waveform that change if the coil is turned faster
Explain what is meant by the rms value of an alternating current
Explain the purpose of transformers
Describe how the nucleus was discovered and explain why it was not discovered earlier
Define alpha, beta and gamma radiation and describe their properties
Describe what happens to the nucleus in a radioactive change and be able write an equation to represent this change
Define the inverse square law for gamma radiation
State the factors that determine where alpha, beta or gamma are the most dangerous
State what is meant by the activity of a radioactive isotope
Define the half-life of a radioactive isotope
Define exponential decrease
Describe how to do radioactive dating
Discuss what you can tell about radioactive isotopes from an N-Z chart
Describe how the radius of a nucleus depends on its mass number A
Describe what happens to the mass of an object when it gains or loses energy
Define binding energy
Describe how much energy is released in a fission or a fusion reaction
Explain how a nuclear reactor works
Explain how a nuclear reactor is controlled
Describe the formation of images by a converging lens
Be able to show the image formation in normal adjustment of an astronomical telescope
Discuss the relative merits of reflectors and refractors in reflecting telescopes
Appreciation of the diffraction pattern produced by a circular aperture
Explain the structure and operation of the charge coupled device
Similarities and differences between non-optical and optical telescopes
Classification of stars by luminosity, apparent magnitude, absolute magnitude, by temperature, black body radiation, Hertzprung-Russell diagram, Supernovae, neutron stars and black holes
Explain the Doppler effect, Hubbles's law and Quasars
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