A Level Physics Edexcel (Pearson)

A Level Physics Edexcel

Dates Available

• Week 1: Monday 25 March – Friday 29 March
• Week 2: Monday 1 April – Friday 5 April
• Week 3: Monday 8 April – Friday 12 April

Boards

Edexcel (Pearson) A 9PHO – not suitable for those studying Edexcel Salters Horners approach

Length of Course

40 hours

Times

9am to 6pm daily

The course examines key topic areas and extensive use will be made of previous exam questions to illustrate relevant principles. The course will focus on exam technique and relating principles to applications.

The course will cover the following:

Topic 1: Working as a Physicist

• Quantities and Units
• Vectors and Scalars
• Measurements
• Implications of scientific knowledge

Topic 2: Mechanics

• Motion in a straight line, SUVAT (constant acceleration) equations, projectile motion, freefall
• Force diagrams, terminal velocity, moments and couples, conservation of energy, kinetic energy, gravitational potential energy, power and efficiency

Topic 3: Electrical Circuits

• Charge, Current, Kirchoff’s first law, energy, power and resistance
• Circuit components and symbols, I-V characteristics, resistance
• Resistor combinations, analysing circuits, internal resistance, potential dividers, sensing circuits

Topic 4: Electrical Circuits

• Springs and Hooke’s law, elastic potential energy, Stress-strain and the Young modulus
• Density and pressure, Archimedes principle

Topic 5: Waves and the Particle Nature of Light

• Progressive waves, wave properties, refraction and reflection, superposition and interference, Young’s double slits, stationary waves
• Lenses, ray diagrams, magnification, pulse-echo techniques
• Photons, the photoelectric effect, wave-particle duality, the electronvolt

Topic 6: Further Mechanics

• Newton’s second law, Linear Momentum, Impulse, Collisions
• Circular motion, centripetal force and acceleration

Topic 7: Electric and Magnetic Fields

• Electric Fields, potentials, energy, Coulomb’s law, particles in electric fields
• Magnetic fields, currents, particles in magnetic fields, induction, transformers
• Charging and discharging capacitors, energy storage and uses
• Alternating currents, root-mean-square values

Topic 8: Nuclear and Particle Physics

• Atoms, antimatter, the Standard Model, E=mc2
• Particle accelerators, scattering, particle tracks

Topic 9: Thermodynamics

• Temperature, specific heat capacity and specific latent heat, matter, absolute zero
• Kinetic theory of gases
• Black body radiation, Stefan-Boltzmann law, Wien’s law

Topic 10: Space

• Distances, parallax, Doppler shift, Hubble’s law and the evolution of the Universe
• Life cycle of stars, Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, spectra

Topic 11: Nuclear Radiation

• Radiation, nuclear decay equations
• Nuclear reactions, binding energy, fission and fusion

Topic 12: Gravitational Fields

• Fields, potentials, energy, Newton’s laws and planetary motion

Topic 13: Oscillations

• Simple harmonic motion, resonance, damping

The practical endorsement is not explicitly covered on this course, however relevant experiments and techniques will be discussed where appropriate throughout. Synoptic exam questions will be discussed through the course.