A Level Physics (OCR)

A Level Physics

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

OCR A H556 – not suitable for those studying OCR B

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:

Module 2: Foundations in Physics

• Quantities and Units
• Vectors and Scalars

Module 3: Forces and Motion

Motion

• Motion in a straight line, SUVAT (constant acceleration) equations, projectile motion, freefall

Forces in Action

• Force diagrams, terminal velocity, moments and couples, density and pressure, Archimedes’ principle

Work, Energy and Power

• Conservation of energy, kinetic energy, gravitational potential energy, power and efficiency

Materials

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

Newton’s Laws of Motion and Momentum

• Newton’s laws, linear momentum, impulse, collisions

Module 4: Electrons, Waves and Photons

Charge and Current

• Kirchoff’s first law

Energy, Power and Resistance

• Circuit components and symbols, I-V characteristics, resistance

Electrical Circuits

• Kirchoff’s laws and circuits, resistor combinations, analysing circuits, internal resistance, potential dividers, sensing circuits

Waves

• Progressive waves, wave properties, refraction and reflection, superposition and interference, Young’s double slits, stationary waves.

Quantum Physics

• Photons, the photoelectric effect, wave-particle duality

Module 5: Newtonian World and Astrophysics

Thermal Physics

• Temperature, specific heat capacity and specific latent heat, matter, absolute zero

Ideal Gases

• Kinetic theory of gases

Circular Motion

• Centripetal acceleration and force, angular velocity

Oscillations

• Simple harmonic motion, resonance, damping

Gravitational Fields

• Fields, potentials, energy, circular motion, planetary motion, Kepler’s laws

Stars

• Life cycle of stars, Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, spectra

Cosmology (the Big Bang)

• Distances, parallax, Doppler shift, Hubble’s law and the evolution of the Universe

Module 6: Particles and Medical Physics

Capacitance

• Charging and discharging capacitors, energy storage and uses

Electric Fields

• Fields, potentials, energy, Coulomb’s law, particles in electric fields

Magnetic Fields

• Fields, currents, particles in magnetic fields, induction, transformers

Particle Physics

• Atoms, antimatter, the Standard Model, decay

Radioactivity

• Radiation, nuclear decay equations

Nuclear Physics

• E=mc2, nuclear reactions, binding energy, fission and fusion

Medical Imaging

• X-rays, CAT scans, gamma camera, PET scans, Ultrasound

Module 1 Development of Practical Skills in Physics not explicitly covered on this course, however relevant experiments and techniques will be discussed where appropriate throughout.

Unifying Concepts: Synoptic exam questions will be included in the course.