Congratulations

The results are in and, overall, the AQA Trilogy course has been very successful. I have heard of some great individual results and I’ve been delighted to shake hands with some of you. I also know there have been some slight disappointments but that is the way things are: we live and learn (please never stop learning).

Those of you who go on to study A-level Physics will need to get to grips with the basics of space physics as this topic is entirely absent from the AQA Trilogy course. There are various posts in the Astronomy section on physbang that you will find useful.

In a nutshell, you need to be able to;

• describe the main features of the Solar System
• describe the two historical models of the Solar System (geocentric and heliocentric)
• decribe the main features (and relative scale) of the Universe
• describe the life cycle of stars (there are two evolutionary paths you need to learn)
• learn the principles and mathematics of orbital motion
• understand the idea behind red shift (extrapolated from frequency changes in sound)
• apply red shift to provide evidence (not conclusive) for the Big Bang
• recognise the existence of Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (firmer evidence for the Big Bang)

I wish good luck to all of you, whether you go on to study more Physics or not. It has been my absolute pleasure to be part of your lives.

Although I will keep physbang live, I have no plans to update it at this stage.

I will continue to monitor my mrtarrant email for now, so please contact me if you need help with your preparations for A-level or if you just want to say “hello”.

Live long and prosper!