Physics

Course summary

To study physics is to attempt to understand the nature of the universe itself. It is the search for answers from how the universe exploded into life in the Big Bang to what the nature of time is itself. Some of the greatest discoveries in history have been made by physicists and these discoveries have revolutionized our world—and physicists are continuing to change the way we think today. However, physics is not just about staring into the vastness of space or scrutinizing the tiniest particles that make up the fabric of the universe. The fact is that discoveries in physics are the root of ideas that revolutionize the technology used in our daily lives. It is an everyday, grounded science encompassing advances in communication, medical technology and renewable energy. The Physics course aims to give pupils an appreciation of this, whilst also approaching each topic with enough rigour to prepare a Higher Level pupil for the study of Physics or Engineering at university. Both SL and HL pupils study the a broad range of topics: space, time and motion; the particulate nature of matter; wave behaviour; fields; and nuclear physics. HL pupils study take each of these topics and extend them to include aspects such as relativity, thermodynamics, simple harmonic motion, induction and quantum physics. Physics is a practical subject and each of the topics are well supported by relevant lab work, which must amount to at least 20 hours for SL and 40 hours for HL. In addition to this there is a 10-hour individual investigation which counts for the Internal Assessment element of the course.