England · OCRSyllabus
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.
4 Electrons, waves and photons
Module overview →- What is electric current, and how is it related to the drift of charge carriers?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.11 min answer →
- How do Kirchhoff's laws, internal resistance and potential dividers determine currents and voltages in a circuit?Electrical circuits: Kirchhoff's two laws, series and parallel combinations of resistors, electromotive force and internal resistance, and the potential divider including sensor circuits.12 min answer →
- How do potential difference, resistance and resistivity determine energy transfer in a component?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.12 min answer →
- How does the photoelectric effect show that light is quantised, and how can particles behave as waves?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.12 min answer →
- How does light bend between materials, and when is it totally internally reflected?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.11 min answer →
- How do waves combine, and what does interference reveal about the wave nature of light?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.12 min answer →
- What quantities describe a progressive wave, and how are they related?Wave properties: progressive waves, transverse and longitudinal waves, displacement, amplitude, wavelength, period, frequency and phase, the wave equation, intensity, and polarisation.12 min answer →
3 Forces and motion
Module overview →- How do forces combine, balance and turn objects, and what keeps a body in equilibrium?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.12 min answer →
- How do materials deform under load, and what do stress, strain and the Young modulus tell us?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.12 min answer →
- How do we describe motion in a straight line using graphs and the equations of constant acceleration?Motion: displacement, velocity and acceleration, motion graphs and their gradients and areas, the equations of motion for uniform acceleration, and free fall under gravity.12 min answer →
- How do Newton's laws and the conservation of momentum govern collisions and explosions?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.12 min answer →
- How do we analyse two-dimensional projectile motion by separating horizontal and vertical components?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.11 min answer →
- How are work, energy and power related, and how does the conservation of energy constrain what is possible?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.11 min answer →
2 Foundations of physics
Module overview →- How do we quantify the reliability of a measurement and combine uncertainties through a calculation?Measurements and uncertainties: precision and accuracy, random and systematic errors, absolute, fractional and percentage uncertainty, and combining uncertainties in sums, products and powers.12 min answer →
- How do physical quantities, units and dimensional checks underpin every calculation in physics?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.11 min answer →
- How do we add, subtract and resolve vector quantities to analyse physical situations?Scalars and vectors: distinguishing the two, combining vectors by scale drawing and by calculation, and resolving a vector into two perpendicular components.11 min answer →
5 Newtonian world and astrophysics
Module overview →- What force keeps an object moving in a circle, and how is it related to its speed and radius?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.11 min answer →
- How do we know the Universe is expanding, and what is the evidence for the Big Bang?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.11 min answer →
- How does gravity vary with distance, and what determines the orbits of planets and satellites?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.12 min answer →
- How do the random motions of gas molecules give rise to pressure and the gas laws?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.12 min answer →
- What defines simple harmonic motion, and how do damping and resonance affect oscillations?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.12 min answer →
- How do stars form, live and die, and how do we read their temperatures and luminosities?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.12 min answer →
- What is temperature, and how much energy does it take to heat a substance or change its state?Thermal physics: temperature and internal energy, the kelvin scale and absolute zero, specific heat capacity and specific latent heat, and changes of state.11 min answer →
6 Particles and medical physics
Module overview →- How does a capacitor store charge and energy, and how does it discharge through a resistor?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.12 min answer →
- How do electric charges exert forces at a distance, and how does an electric field compare with gravity?Electric fields: Coulomb's law, electric field strength for radial and uniform fields, electric potential, and the comparison between electric and gravitational fields.12 min answer →
- How does a changing magnetic field generate an electromotive force, and how do transformers work?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.12 min answer →
- What force does a magnetic field exert on a current and on a moving charge?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.11 min answer →
- How do X-rays, gamma cameras, PET and ultrasound let us see inside the body?Medical imaging: the production and attenuation of X-rays, the gamma camera and PET scanning, and ultrasound with acoustic impedance and the Doppler effect.12 min answer →
- What is the nucleus made of, and how do the standard model and binding energy explain matter and nuclear energy?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.13 min answer →
- How does radioactive decay follow an exponential law, and how are activity and half-life related?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.12 min answer →