A Level Physics

Foundations & Motion

The language of physics. Work establishes quantities, units and the difference between scalars and vectors — adding and resolving them — before the study of motion: distance and displacement, velocity and acceleration, the equations of motion, free fall and the elegant curve of projectile motion.

Forces, Work & Energy

Forces in action. Work explores mass and weight, free-body diagrams, drag and terminal velocity, moments, couples and equilibrium, density and pressure — and Archimedes’ principle — before the great conservation law: work done, kinetic and gravitational potential energy, power and efficiency.

How matter behaves under force. Work explores springs and Hooke’s law, elastic potential energy, and the stress, strain and Young modulus of deforming materials — then Newton’s laws of motion, linear momentum, impulse, and collisions in two dimensions.

Electricity from first principles. Work explores charge and current, mean drift velocity and Kirchhoff’s first law, then potential difference and electromotive force, resistance and resistivity, the behaviour of diodes, thermistors and LDRs — and electrical energy, power and paying for electricity.

From circuits to the nature of light. Work explores Kirchhoff’s laws, combining resistors, internal resistance and potential dividers, then the physics of waves — reflection, refraction, diffraction and polarisation, the electromagnetic spectrum, total internal reflection, and the superposition behind interference, the double-slit experiment and stationary waves.

Where waves meet particles. Work explores the photon model, the photoelectric effect and Einstein’s equation for it, and the strange, beautiful idea of wave-particle duality — the point where classical physics gives way to the quantum world.

Thermal Physics & Gases

Heat, motion and the behaviour of gases. Work explores temperature and internal energy, specific heat capacity and latent heat, then the kinetic theory of gases, the gas laws, root-mean-square speed and the Boltzmann constant — connecting the motion of particles to the properties we measure.

The physics of the cosmos. Work explores circular motion and centripetal force, simple harmonic motion, damping and resonance, and Newton’s law of gravitation with Kepler’s laws and satellites — before the life cycle of stars, the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, and how we read a star’s story in its spectrum.

The Universe, and the fields that shape it. Work explores astronomical distances, the Doppler effect, Hubble’s law and the Big Bang, then capacitance and the charging and discharging of capacitors — before the parallels between electric, gravitational and magnetic fields, electromagnetic induction, Faraday’s and Lenz’s laws, and transformers.

Inside the atom. Work explores the alpha-scattering experiment and the nucleus, antiparticles, hadrons, leptons and quarks, and beta decay — then radioactivity: nuclear decay equations, half-life and activity, decay calculations and radioactive dating.

Energy from the nucleus, and physics in medicine. Work explores Einstein’s mass-energy equation, binding energy, and nuclear fission and fusion — before medical imaging: X-rays and how they interact with matter, CAT scans, the gamma camera, PET scans, and the ultrasound and Doppler imaging that see inside the body.

The final stretch. Revision is active: the modules revisited, practical techniques and mathematical skills sharpened, and past papers worked through — turning two years of physics into confident, exam-ready understanding.