Physics

Course summary

In Year 12 students will study the following topics: ● Topic 1: Mechanics – rectilinear motion, forces, moments, energy, power and efficiency, momentum and its conservation. ● Topic 2: Electric Circuits – current, voltage, resistance and power, resistivity and drift velocity. ● Topic 3: Materials – behaviour of fluids, density, upthrust, viscosity, laminar and turbulent flow, behaviour of solids under tension and compression. ● Topic 4: Waves and Particle Nature of Light – reflection, refraction, diffraction, polarisation, interference and lenses; the particle nature of light, the photoelectric effect and line spectra. In Year 13 students will study the following topics: ● Topic 5: Further Mechanics – conservation of momentum in 2 dimensions, elastic and inelastic collisions, energy and circular motion. ● Topic 6: Electric and Magnetic Fields – electric fields and capacitors including the exponential nature of capacitor discharge, magnetic fields, Faraday’s Law, Lenz’s Law and electromagnetic induction. ● Topic 7: Nuclear and Particle Physics – atomic structure, particle accelerators and detectors, the behaviour of charged particles in magnetic and electric fields, the equation E = c2m and the Standard Model of Particle Physics ● Topic 8: Thermodynamics – specific heat capacity, specific latent heat, internal energy and ideal gases, gas laws and black body radiation. ● Topic 9: Space – measuring astronomical distances, the behaviour of stars, redshift and the expansion of the Universe. ● Topic 10: Nuclear Radiation – radioactive decay, types of nuclear radiation, binding energy and decay equations. ● Topic 11: Gravitational Fields – the equation of gravitation and gravitational potential. ● Topic 12: Oscillations – simple harmonic motion, resonance and damping.