A Level Physics

Measurement, Kinematics & Dynamics

The language of physics. Work explores SI base units and homogeneity of equations, systematic and random errors, precision, accuracy and uncertainty, scalars and vectors — then describing motion with graphs and the equations of uniform acceleration, projectiles, Newton’s laws, momentum and its conservation in elastic and inelastic collisions, and terminal velocity.

Forces, Energy & Materials

Balancing and transferring. Work explores moments, couples and equilibrium, density, hydrostatic pressure and upthrust, work, power and efficiency, gravitational potential and kinetic energy — before the deformation of solids: Hooke’s law, stress, strain and the Young modulus, elastic and plastic behaviour, and the energy stored in a stretched material.

Energy on the move. Work explores progressive transverse and longitudinal waves, the oscilloscope, intensity, the Doppler effect for sound, the electromagnetic spectrum and polarisation with Malus’s law — then stationary waves, diffraction, two-source interference and Young’s double slits, and using a diffraction grating to measure the wavelength of light.

Charge, and what it is made of. Work explores current as a flow of charge carriers, potential difference, resistance, resistivity and I–V characteristics, e.m.f. and internal resistance, Kirchhoff’s laws and potential dividers — before the nuclear atom, ?, ? and ? radiation, antiparticles and neutrinos, and the quarks and leptons from which all matter is built.

Physics at the bench, and on paper. The eleven AS topics revisited, practical skills for Paper 3 sharpened — collecting reliable data, drawing tables and graphs, finding gradients and intercepts, estimating uncertainties and suggesting improvements — and past papers worked through before students sit Papers 1, 2 and 3.

Straight into A2. After the AS exams, work begins on radians, angular speed and centripetal acceleration, then Newton’s law of gravitation, gravitational field strength and potential, and the circular orbits of planets and geostationary satellites.

Thermal Physics & Oscillations

From molecules to motion. Work explores thermal equilibrium, the thermodynamic temperature scale, specific heat capacity and latent heat, the ideal gas equation and the kinetic theory that links molecular speed to temperature, internal energy and the first law of thermodynamics — then simple harmonic motion, its energy, damping and resonance.

Fields of force. Work explores uniform and radial electric fields, Coulomb’s law and electric potential, capacitors in series and parallel, stored energy and exponential discharge through a resistor — before magnetic fields, forces on currents and moving charges, the Hall effect, velocity selection, and Faraday’s and Lenz’s laws of electromagnetic induction.

Where the classical picture breaks. Work explores peak and r.m.s. values, rectification and smoothing, then photons, the photoelectric effect, wave–particle duality and electron diffraction, energy levels and line spectra — and mass defect, binding energy, fission and fusion, and the exponential law of radioactive decay.

Seeing inside the body, and out to the edge of the universe. Work explores ultrasound and acoustic impedance, X-ray imaging and CT scanning, PET scanning and annihilation — before standard candles, stellar radii from Wien’s and the Stefan–Boltzmann laws, redshift, Hubble’s law and the evidence for the Big Bang.

The final stretch. Revision is active: the A Level topics revisited, the planning, analysis and evaluation skills of Paper 5 sharpened — logarithmic graphs, error bars and worst acceptable lines — structured-answer technique practised, and past papers worked through before students sit Papers 4 and 5, turning two years of physics into confident, exam-ready understanding.