England · AQASyllabus
Physics syllabus, dot point by dot point
Every dot point in the England Physicssyllabus, with a focused answer for each one. Click any dot point for a worked explainer, past exam questions, and links to related dot points. Written by Claude Opus 4.8, Anthropic's latest AI.
3.5 Electricity
Module overview →- How do current, voltage and resistance combine in series and parallel circuits?Combining resistors in series and parallel, the application of Kirchhoff's two laws, the conservation of charge and energy in circuits, and power dissipation given by P = VI, P = I squared R and P = V squared over R.10 min answer →
- What is electric current, and how is it linked to charge and the motion of carriers?Electric current as the rate of flow of charge, the equation Q = It, charge carriers and number density, the equation I = nAvq for current, and Kirchhoff's first law as conservation of charge.9 min answer →
- How does current vary with potential difference for different components?The definition of potential difference and resistance, Ohm's law, the I-V characteristics of an ohmic conductor, a filament lamp and a diode, and how the resistance of a thermistor and LDR varies.10 min answer →
- Why is the voltage across a battery's terminals less than its rated value when it supplies current?Electromotive force as energy per unit charge, internal resistance, the equations linking EMF, terminal potential difference and lost volts, and measuring EMF and internal resistance experimentally.10 min answer →
- How can we use resistors to supply a chosen fraction of a source voltage?The potential divider as a way of producing a required potential difference, the divider equation, the use of variable resistors and potentiometers, and divider circuits using thermistors and LDRs as sensors.9 min answer →
- What property of a material determines how strongly it resists current?Resistivity and the equation R = rho L / A, the effect of length and cross-sectional area on resistance, how resistivity varies with temperature for a metal, and superconductivity and its uses.9 min answer →
3.7 Fields and their consequences
Module overview →- How do we describe alternating current, and why are transformers essential to the power grid?Sinusoidal alternating current and voltage, peak and root mean square values, the oscilloscope, the transformer equation, transformer efficiency and the transmission of electrical power.10 min answer →
- How does a capacitor store charge and energy, and what limits how much it can hold?The definition of capacitance, the energy stored on a capacitor, the effect of a dielectric and relative permittivity, and parallel plate capacitors.9 min answer →
- How does the charge on a capacitor change with time as it charges or discharges through a resistor?Exponential charge and discharge of a capacitor through a resistor, the time constant, and graphical and logarithmic analysis of the decay.10 min answer →
- How do charged objects exert forces on one another, and how do gravitational and electric fields compare?Coulomb's law, electric field strength as force per unit charge, the radial field of a point charge, uniform fields between plates, and the motion of charged particles in uniform fields.10 min answer →
- How much work is needed to move a charge through an electric field, and how does this compare with gravity?Absolute electric potential and potential energy in a radial field, the potential gradient, equipotentials, and the work done moving a charge.9 min answer →
- How does a changing magnetic field generate an electromotive force?Magnetic flux and flux linkage, Faraday's law and Lenz's law, the emf induced in a moving conductor, and the emf induced in a rotating coil.10 min answer →
- How can a mass exert a force on another mass across empty space?The concept of a force field, Newton's law of gravitation, gravitational field strength as a vector, and the radial and uniform field models.9 min answer →
- How much energy does it take to move a mass within a gravitational field?Gravitational potential and potential energy in a radial field, the potential gradient, equipotential surfaces, and the work done moving a mass between points.9 min answer →
- What force does a magnetic field exert on a current or a moving charge, and why does it cause circular motion?Magnetic flux density, the force on a current-carrying conductor, the force on a moving charge, Fleming's left hand rule, and the circular motion of charged particles.9 min answer →
- What keeps a satellite in orbit, and why do geostationary satellites sit at one fixed height?Orbital motion under gravity, the link to centripetal force, Kepler's third law, the energy of an orbiting body, and synchronous and geostationary orbits.10 min answer →
3.6 Further mechanics and thermal physics
Module overview →- Why does an object moving in a circle at constant speed still accelerate?Motion in a circle at constant speed, angular speed, centripetal acceleration and the centripetal force that keeps an object on a circular path.9 min answer →
- Why does pushing a swing at just the right rhythm make it swing higher and higher?Free and forced vibrations, damping, resonance and the effect of damping on the sharpness of the resonance peak.9 min answer →
- How are the pressure, volume and temperature of a fixed amount of gas related?The gas laws, the ideal gas equation in molar and molecular forms, absolute zero and the experimental basis of the gas laws.9 min answer →
- How does the random motion of countless molecules give rise to the pressure and temperature we measure?The molecular kinetic theory model, the assumptions behind it, the kinetic theory equation, root mean square speed, and the link between mean kinetic energy of a molecule and absolute temperature.10 min answer →
- What makes an oscillation simple harmonic, and how do its energy and motion vary with time?The defining condition for simple harmonic motion, the equations for displacement, velocity and acceleration, and the interchange between kinetic and potential energy in SHM systems such as the mass-spring and simple pendulum.10 min answer →
- How much energy does it take to warm something up or to melt it?Internal energy, the distinction between temperature change and change of state, specific heat capacity and specific latent heat, and continuous flow and method of mixtures experiments.9 min answer →
3.1 Measurements and their errors
Module overview →- How can orders of magnitude and sensible estimates let a physicist sanity-check an answer without precise data?Orders of magnitude, estimation of approximate values of physical quantities to the nearest power of ten, and using such estimates to check the plausibility of calculated results.8 min answer →
- Why does every measurement carry an uncertainty, and how do we quantify and combine those uncertainties?Random and systematic errors, precision and accuracy, repeatability and reproducibility, absolute, fractional and percentage uncertainty, and how uncertainties combine and are shown on graphs.10 min answer →
- How do SI base units, derived units and prefixes give every physical quantity a consistent description?SI base units, units derived from them, the use of standard prefixes, and checking equations for homogeneity using base units.9 min answer →
3.4 Mechanics and materials
Module overview →- How do solid materials respond when we stretch or compress them?Density, Hooke's law and the spring constant, elastic and plastic behaviour, tensile stress and strain, the energy stored in a stretched material, and the difference between brittle and ductile behaviour.10 min answer →
- Why can energy change form but never be created or destroyed?The principle of conservation of energy, interconversion of kinetic and gravitational potential energy, energy dissipated by resistive forces, and applying conservation of energy to falling and oscillating systems.9 min answer →
- What makes an object turn, and when does it stay balanced?The moment of a force about a point, the principle of moments, couples and torque, the centre of mass, and the conditions for the equilibrium of a rigid body under coplanar forces.9 min answer →
- What stays constant when objects collide or explode apart?Momentum as mass times velocity, the principle of conservation of momentum, force as rate of change of momentum, impulse and the area under a force-time graph, and elastic and inelastic collisions.10 min answer →
- How do displacement, velocity and acceleration relate when motion is in a straight line?Definitions of displacement, speed, velocity and acceleration, interpreting motion graphs, the equations of uniformly accelerated motion (suvat), and motion under gravity.10 min answer →
- How do forces determine the way objects move?Newton's three laws of motion, the equation F = ma for constant mass, the meaning of inertia and inertial mass, and applying the laws to connected bodies and everyday situations.9 min answer →
- Why does a projectile follow a curved path, and how do we predict where it lands?Independence of horizontal and vertical motion, applying the suvat equations to projectiles launched horizontally and at an angle, and the effect of air resistance on the trajectory.10 min answer →
- How do we add and resolve quantities that have direction as well as size?Distinguishing scalars and vectors, adding vectors by calculation and scale drawing, resolving a vector into perpendicular components, and the conditions for equilibrium of coplanar forces.9 min answer →
- How do we measure the stiffness of a material independently of its shape?The Young modulus as the ratio of tensile stress to tensile strain, the gradient of a stress-strain graph, the experiment to measure it for a wire, and interpreting stress-strain curves up to the breaking point.9 min answer →
- How do we measure energy transferred by a force and the rate of that transfer?Work done by a force including a force at an angle, the relationship between power, work and velocity, kinetic and gravitational potential energy, and efficiency as the ratio of useful output to total input.9 min answer →
3.8 Nuclear physics
Module overview →- What are the properties of the three main types of ionising radiation, and how do we detect and shield against them?The nature, penetration, ionising power and range of alpha, beta and gamma radiation, the inverse square law for gamma, background radiation and the uses and hazards of radiation.10 min answer →
- How does the splitting of a uranium nucleus by a neutron lead to a self-sustaining chain reaction?Induced nuclear fission by thermal neutrons, the chain reaction, critical mass, and the factors controlling whether the reaction is sustained.9 min answer →
- Where does the enormous energy of nuclear reactions come from?Mass and energy equivalence, mass defect and binding energy, the binding energy per nucleon curve, and the energy released in fission and fusion.10 min answer →
- Why are some nuclei stable while others decay, and how can we predict the type of decay from a nucleus's composition?The relationship between the numbers of neutrons and protons in stable and unstable nuclei, the N against Z graph, and predicting the mode of decay including alpha, beta-minus, beta-plus and gamma emission.9 min answer →
- How do we measure the size of a nucleus, and why is nuclear density the same for all atoms?Estimating nuclear radius from closest approach of alpha particles and from electron diffraction, the dependence of radius on nucleon number, and the constancy of nuclear density.9 min answer →
- How is the chain reaction in a nuclear reactor kept safe, controlled and useful?The function of the moderator, control rods and coolant in a thermal nuclear reactor, the safety features, and the handling and disposal of radioactive waste.9 min answer →
- If radioactive decay is random, how can we predict the behaviour of a large sample so reliably?Radioactive decay as a random process, the decay constant, the activity of a source, the exponential decay law, half-life and applications such as radioactive dating.10 min answer →
- How did the alpha scattering experiment reveal that the atom has a tiny, dense, positive nucleus?The Rutherford alpha particle scattering experiment, the observations and conclusions, and how they led to the nuclear model of the atom.9 min answer →
3.2 Particles and radiation
Module overview →- How are particles classified into hadrons and leptons, and what conservation rules govern their interactions?Hadrons (baryons and mesons), leptons, the conservation of baryon number, lepton number, strangeness and charge, the properties of the kaon and pion, and the decay of particles.11 min answer →
- What are the building blocks of the atom, and how do their charges and masses define each element and isotope?Protons, neutrons and electrons, their relative charges and masses, proton number, nucleon number, isotopes and the use of the notation for representing nuclides, and specific charge.9 min answer →
- How do discrete electron energy levels in an atom explain the emission and absorption of photons of specific wavelengths?Discrete energy levels in atoms, excitation and de-excitation, ionisation, the relationship between photon energy and energy level difference, line spectra, and the operation of the fluorescent tube.10 min answer →
- How do the four fundamental forces act between particles through the exchange of virtual particles?The four fundamental interactions, the concept of exchange particles (gauge bosons), the W bosons, the photon and the pion, and the use of Feynman diagrams to represent interactions such as beta decay and electron-proton collisions.10 min answer →
- What is antimatter, and how are particles and photons created and destroyed in pair production and annihilation?Antiparticles and their properties, the photon model of electromagnetic radiation, the photon energy equation, and the processes of annihilation and pair production with their energy calculations.10 min answer →
- Why does light release electrons from a metal only above a threshold frequency, and how does this prove light is made of photons?The photoelectric effect, the threshold frequency and work function, the photoelectric equation, and how the effect provides evidence for the particle nature of electromagnetic radiation.10 min answer →
- What are quarks, and how do their combinations build the protons, neutrons and mesons we observe?The properties of up, down and strange quarks and their antiquarks, the quark composition of baryons and mesons, the application of conservation laws to quark changes, and the quark model of beta decay.10 min answer →
- What holds a nucleus together, and why do some nuclei decay while others are stable?The strong nuclear force and its range, the balance of forces in the nucleus, alpha, beta-minus and gamma radiation, and how the equation for beta-minus decay reveals the existence of the neutrino.10 min answer →
- How can light and electrons behave as both waves and particles, and what evidence supports each description?The evidence for the wave nature of light and the particle nature of light, the de Broglie wavelength of a particle, electron diffraction as evidence for the wave nature of matter, and the link between momentum and wavelength.9 min answer →
3.3 Waves
Module overview →- How do waves spread out through gaps and around obstacles, and how does a diffraction grating split light into spectra?Diffraction of waves at a single slit, the appearance of the single-slit pattern with white light and monochromatic light, the diffraction grating, the grating equation, and its applications in spectra.10 min answer →
- How do coherent waves interfere to produce bright and dark fringes, and what is needed to see a stable pattern?The principle of superposition, path difference and phase difference, constructive and destructive interference, the conditions of coherence, Young's double-slit experiment, and the double-slit fringe equation.10 min answer →
- What is a progressive wave, and how are its frequency, wavelength, speed and phase related?Progressive waves and the transfer of energy, amplitude, frequency, wavelength, period, speed and phase, the wave equation, and the difference between transverse and longitudinal waves including polarisation.10 min answer →
- Why do waves change direction when they cross a boundary, and when does light undergo total internal reflection?Refraction and the refractive index of a substance, Snell's law at a boundary, the critical angle, total internal reflection, and the operation of optical fibres.10 min answer →
- How do two progressive waves combine to form a standing wave, and why does it have fixed nodes and antinodes?The formation of stationary waves from two progressive waves travelling in opposite directions, nodes and antinodes, the differences between stationary and progressive waves, and resonance on strings and in air columns.10 min answer →