PhysicsQ&A by dot point

Charge and current: electric charge and the elementary charge, current as the rate of flow of charge, conservation of charge at junctions, and the mean drift velocity equation.

Electrical circuits: Kirchhoff's two laws, series and parallel combinations of resistors, electromotive force and internal resistance, and the potential divider including sensor circuits.

Energy, power and resistance: potential difference and electromotive force, resistance and Ohm's law, the I-V characteristics of conductors, lamps, diodes and thermistors, resistivity, and electrical power and energy.

Quantum physics: the photon model and the photon energy equation, the photoelectric effect and Einstein's photoelectric equation, work function and threshold frequency, and wave-particle duality with the de Broglie wavelength.

Refraction and the electromagnetic spectrum: refractive index and Snell's law, total internal reflection and the critical angle, optical fibres, and the regions and properties of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Superposition and interference: the principle of superposition, stationary waves on strings and in pipes, coherence and path difference, the two-source (Young's) double-slit experiment, and the diffraction grating equation.

Wave properties: progressive waves, transverse and longitudinal waves, displacement, amplitude, wavelength, period, frequency and phase, the wave equation, intensity, and polarisation.

Forces in action: types of force and free-body diagrams, density and pressure, moments and couples, the principle of moments, centre of mass and the conditions for equilibrium, and terminal velocity.

Materials: Hooke's law and the force constant, elastic and plastic deformation, stress, strain and the Young modulus, elastic strain energy, and the behaviour of ductile, brittle and polymeric materials.

Motion: displacement, velocity and acceleration, motion graphs and their gradients and areas, the equations of motion for uniform acceleration, and free fall under gravity.

Newton's laws of motion and momentum: the three laws, linear momentum and its conservation, impulse as the change in momentum, and elastic and inelastic collisions.

Projectile motion: independence of horizontal and vertical motion, constant horizontal velocity and vertical free-fall acceleration, and the effect of air resistance on a real trajectory.

Work, energy and power: work done by a force, the principle of conservation of energy, kinetic and gravitational potential energy, power as the rate of doing work, and efficiency.

Measurements and uncertainties: precision and accuracy, random and systematic errors, absolute, fractional and percentage uncertainty, and combining uncertainties in sums, products and powers.

Physical quantities and SI units: the seven base units, derived units in base-unit form, prefixes and standard form, estimation, and checking the homogeneity of equations by units.

Scalars and vectors: distinguishing the two, combining vectors by scale drawing and by calculation, and resolving a vector into two perpendicular components.

Circular motion: angular displacement and angular velocity, the period and frequency of circular motion, centripetal acceleration, and the centripetal force needed to maintain circular motion.

Cosmology: astronomical distances and parallax, the Doppler effect and redshift, Hubble's law and the expansion of the Universe, the age of the Universe, and the evidence for the Big Bang.

Gravitational fields: Newton's law of gravitation, gravitational field strength, gravitational potential and potential energy, the motion of satellites and Kepler's third law, and geostationary orbits.

Ideal gases and kinetic theory: the ideal gas equation, the Boltzmann constant, the assumptions of the kinetic model, the pressure equation, and the link between mean kinetic energy and absolute temperature.

Simple harmonic motion: the defining condition, displacement, velocity and acceleration in SHM, the energy interchange, the period of mass-spring and pendulum systems, and free and forced oscillations with damping and resonance.

Stars and the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram: stellar formation and evolution, Wien's displacement law and Stefan's law, luminosity and the inverse-square law, stellar spectra, and the structure of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram.

Thermal physics: temperature and internal energy, the kelvin scale and absolute zero, specific heat capacity and specific latent heat, and changes of state.

Capacitors: capacitance and the farad, capacitors in series and parallel, the energy stored in a capacitor, and the exponential charge and discharge through a resistor with the time constant.

Electric fields: Coulomb's law, electric field strength for radial and uniform fields, electric potential, and the comparison between electric and gravitational fields.

Electromagnetic induction: magnetic flux and flux linkage, Faraday's law of induction, Lenz's law, the emf induced in a moving conductor, and the operation of transformers.

Magnetic fields and the motor effect: magnetic flux density, the force on a current-carrying conductor, the force on a moving charge, and the circular motion of charged particles in a magnetic field.

Medical imaging: the production and attenuation of X-rays, the gamma camera and PET scanning, and ultrasound with acoustic impedance and the Doppler effect.

Nuclear and particle physics: alpha-particle scattering and the nuclear radius, the strong nuclear force, the standard model with quarks and leptons, beta decay, and mass-energy with binding energy, fission and fusion.

Radioactive decay: the random and spontaneous nature of decay, the decay constant and activity, the exponential decay law, half-life and its relation to the decay constant, and radioactive dating.