Physics Q&A by dot point

Electric current, voltage, resistance, Ohm's law $V = IR$, series and parallel circuits, electric power $P = VI$, and household electricity

Solve problems involving electrical power and energy in DC circuits, applying $P = VI = I^2 R = V^2 / R$ and electrical energy $W = P t$

Solve problems involving the exponential decay of radioactive nuclides, half-life and decay constant, and apply to radiometric dating and medical applications

Describe and distinguish between conduction, convection and radiation as mechanisms of heat transfer, with reference to everyday and industrial applications

Describe internal energy, temperature and thermal equilibrium in terms of the kinetic theory of matter, and distinguish heat from temperature

Describe nuclear fission and nuclear fusion, including the role of binding energy per nucleon, and apply mass-energy equivalence ($E = mc^2$) to estimate the energy released

Atomic nucleus, isotopes, types of radioactive decay (alpha, beta, gamma), half-life, fission and fusion

Define electric current, potential difference and resistance, and apply Ohm's law ($V = IR$) to simple resistive circuits

Analyse series and parallel resistor combinations using Kirchhoff's current and voltage laws, including problems with mixed series and parallel branches

Solve problems involving specific heat capacity ($Q = mc\Delta T$) and specific latent heat ($Q = mL$) of fusion and vaporisation, including state changes

Thermal energy, temperature and kinetic theory of matter, methods of heat transfer (conduction, convection, radiation), specific heat capacity $Q = mc\Delta T$, and latent heat

Describe the properties of alpha, beta and gamma radiation, including charge, mass, ionising and penetrating power, and represent decay reactions using balanced nuclear equations

Recall, describe and apply the concepts of position, displacement, distance, speed, velocity and acceleration, distinguishing between scalar and vector quantities and between average and instantaneous values

Linear motion (displacement, velocity, acceleration, suvat equations), Newton's three laws, free-body diagrams, momentum $p = mv$, impulse $J = F \Delta t$, work, energy, power

Define linear momentum and impulse, and apply the principle of conservation of momentum to one-dimensional collisions and explosions, distinguishing between elastic and inelastic collisions

Analyse the linear motion of an object using graphs of position, velocity and acceleration against time, interpreting slope and area under the graph

Recall, describe and apply Newton's three laws of motion, including the use of free-body diagrams to identify forces acting on an object and solve problems involving weight, normal force, friction and tension

Define power as the rate of doing work or transferring energy, and apply $P = W / t = Fv$ to mechanical systems, including efficiency calculations

Distinguish between scalar and vector quantities, including identifying examples and applying operations of addition and subtraction in one and two dimensions

Explain the formation of standing waves in strings (fixed at both ends) and in air columns (open and closed pipes), and solve problems involving the resonant frequencies of mechanical systems

Describe the superposition of mechanical waves and explain constructive and destructive interference in terms of phase relationships

Recall and apply the equations for uniformly accelerated motion to one-dimensional problems, including problems involving free fall under gravity

Recall and apply the wave equation $v = f \lambda$ to determine the speed, frequency or wavelength of a wave, including across media in which the wave speed changes

Describe mechanical waves as transverse or longitudinal, identifying their characteristics including wavelength, period, frequency, amplitude and speed, and giving examples of each

Wave properties (wavelength, frequency, amplitude, period, wave speed $v = f\lambda$), transverse vs longitudinal waves, sound waves, the wave behaviours (reflection, refraction, diffraction, interference, polarisation), the Doppler effect, and the electromagnetic spectrum

Define work, kinetic energy and gravitational potential energy, and apply the principle of conservation of mechanical energy to one-dimensional problems including those with friction

Apply the relationships for the magnetic force on a moving charge F = q v B sin(theta) and on a current-carrying conductor F = B I L sin(theta), including the right-hand rule, circular motion of charged particles in uniform magnetic fields, and forces between parallel conductors

Apply Coulomb's law F = k q1 q2 / r^2, the electric field of a point charge E = k Q / r^2, and the uniform electric field between parallel plates E = V / d to calculate forces, fields and the motion of charged particles

Apply Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction (induced EMF = - N dPhi/dt) and Lenz's law to determine the magnitude and direction of induced EMF, including motional EMF in a moving conductor and the induced current in a circuit

Apply Newton's law of universal gravitation F = G m1 m2 / r^2 and the gravitational field strength g = G M / r^2 to calculate gravitational force, field strength and acceleration at points in a radial gravitational field

Apply the relationships for orbital motion of satellites and planets, including Kepler's third law T^2 / r^3 = 4 pi^2 / (G M), orbital speed v = sqrt(G M / r), and the energy of an orbit (kinetic, gravitational potential and total)

Solve problems involving projectile motion by resolving the motion into independent horizontal and vertical components, assuming constant downward acceleration due to gravity and negligible air resistance

Apply the ideal-transformer relationships V_s / V_p = N_s / N_p and I_p / I_s = N_s / N_p, and the role of step-up and step-down transformers in minimising I^2 R losses in AC power transmission

Apply the relationships for uniform circular motion, including centripetal acceleration a = v^2/r, centripetal force F = m v^2 / r, period T = 2 pi r / v, and the geometry of banked curves and conical pendulums

Describe the four fundamental forces (gravitational, electromagnetic, strong nuclear, weak nuclear), their gauge boson mediators (in the Standard Model), their relative strengths and effective ranges, and applications in nuclear and particle physics

Identify the elementary particles of the Standard Model (quarks, leptons, gauge bosons, Higgs boson), classify hadrons as baryons (three quarks) and mesons (quark-antiquark pairs), and explain the role of each particle family

Apply the length contraction formula $L = L_0 / \gamma$ and the relativistic momentum formula $p = \gamma m v$ to predict the contraction of moving objects and the momentum of relativistic particles

Apply Einstein's mass-energy equivalence $E = mc^2$ (rest energy) and the relativistic energy $E = \gamma m c^2$ (total energy) to nuclear reactions, particle physics and astrophysics

Apply the photon model of light ($E = hf$), the photoelectric equation ($E_{k,\max} = hf - \phi$), and the Bohr model of atomic energy levels with transitions producing photons of energy $\Delta E = h f$

Explain Einstein's two postulates of special relativity (the principle of relativity and the constancy of the speed of light), and apply the time dilation formula $t = \gamma t_0$ where $\gamma = 1/\sqrt{1 - v^2/c^2}$ to predict the time experienced by moving observers

Explain wave-particle duality through de Broglie's matter-wave hypothesis $\lambda = h/p$, applying it to electron diffraction and to the quantum nature of matter