There are various GCSE topics where physics and chemistry intersect, so revising these areas can have a double benefit. One such example is atomic structure. Helpfully, BP Educational Services has just released a new set of resources to help you revise this content as you prepare for this summer's examinations. To access the free knowledge … Continue reading Atomic Structure and the Periodic Table
AQA Trilogy – Summer Exams 2022 (revision links)
AQA recently issued guidance about the topics that will be included, and excluded, for this year's GCSE papers (available here). I've gone through AQA's document and mapped the physics topics for Trilogy to revision resources provided by BBC Bitesize: the links are on a dedicate webpage, at https://start.me/p/2px9qe/aqa-trilogy-revision-summer-2022 (see screen-grab below). This page is not … Continue reading AQA Trilogy – Summer Exams 2022 (revision links)
Energy Transfers in Electric Circuits
The amount of energy transferred in an electric circuit can be calculated by multiplying the current, time and potential difference. This is expressed in the equation given below. Current is measured in amps (amperes), time is in seconds, and potential difference in volts. Remember that the symbol for current is the letter I - not … Continue reading Energy Transfers in Electric Circuits
Resolving Vectors
Having covered the basics of resultant forces, we can progress to a method for analysing vectors that does not rely purely on scale drawings. Before proceeding, let me stress that this approach is not needed for GCSE Physics but the method should be accessible to mathematically inclined readers and will prove very useful in post-GCSE … Continue reading Resolving Vectors
Resultant Forces (part 3)
In the final part of this mini-series, we have to deal with situations where the two component forces are neither opposite nor at right angles; the forces are simply at some general angle to each other. Typical situations where this could apply in real life are tugs pulling a ship or an airplane flying through … Continue reading Resultant Forces (part 3)
Resultant Forces (part 2)
In the first part of this mini-series we looked at forces that act in exactly opposite directions. We noted that although these forces can be subtracted, the correct procedure is to combine the forces in more rigorous way that clearly takes account of both their magnitude and their direction. The most powerful way to do … Continue reading Resultant Forces (part 2)
Resultant Forces (part 1)
The principle of resultants states that when two or more forces act on an object, they can be replaced with a single force that has the same effect as the multiple forces combined. This is a fairly simple idea but putting it into practice can produce a lot of confusion so let’s start with a … Continue reading Resultant Forces (part 1)
Determination of ‘little-g’
One of my favourite experiments in GCSE physics is a practical that seems to have fallen from favour in recent years – but it’s still worth exploring. The experiment involves using a ticker-timer to make dots at regular time intervals (0.02 s apart) on a strip of tape that is attached to a moving object. … Continue reading Determination of ‘little-g’
Gamma Radiation
Of the three types of nuclear radiation discussed at GCSE level, gamma is definitely the unsung hero. Alpha and beta get plenty of limelight because they have both mass and charge, so they feature prominently in nuclear decay equations (as explained previously, here). But gamma radiation is a wave rather than a particle, so it … Continue reading Gamma Radiation
Examination Information
Many readers of this 'blog will not be sitting GCSE examinations this summer but for those of you who are, this is probably the most important piece of information you will read this year! AQA, which sets the Trilogy examination papers, has just released Advanced Information about the content of this summer's examinations: the document … Continue reading Examination Information
Mr Tarrant's physbang 'blog 