Physics, let alone all the sciences put together, covers such a vast range of knowledge that it's useful to identify a small number of "big ideas" that link across a greater number of concepts. And energy is undoubtedly the biggest of these "big ideas". When it comes to revising energy, the breadth of its impact … Continue reading Energy: the biggest “big idea”
Energy Summary
There are several posts about energy on physbang. You are welcome to explore these posts at your leisure but this one draws some of them together into a logical sequence: it also links to an online worksheet for practising kinetic energy calculations. Although explanations often start by talking about different types of energy, I feel … Continue reading Energy Summary
SP8-9 Forces Doing Work (mini-test)
The first module of Y11 is now complete and to help you prepare for the assessment I have created a mini-test, complete with mark scheme and explanation. You can access the test by clicking here and the mark scheme is here. Work through the questions then check your answers to spot any errors or misconceptions … Continue reading SP8-9 Forces Doing Work (mini-test)
Forces moving forces
The idea of work done can be extremely useful when designing machines that make life easier and sometimes even enable us to do things that are "impossible". For example, it is fair to say that most humans are not capable of lifting masses of a tonne (1000 kg) or more. And yet that is indeed … Continue reading Forces moving forces
Delta and the Power of Change
In physics, one of the big differences between KS3 and KS4 is the idea of “change”. KS3 students are happy to talk about speed being distance divided by time but at GCSE level you need to be thinking instead about speed being a rate of change of distance. Why is this important? Because physics calculations … Continue reading Delta and the Power of Change
Calculating KE & GPE
By the end of your GCSE Physics course you will be able to calculate four different types of energy; kinetic, gravitational, electrical and strain. At this stage, however, we will limit ourselves to the first two. Kinetic energy (KE) is the energy that is stored by moving objects. We are only interested in objects that … Continue reading Calculating KE & GPE
Energy is not Power!
Suppose that two identical twins decide to go upstairs in their house: one twin runs up the stairs whereas the other twin walks up the stairs. Which twin transfers the greatest amount of energy? Almost everybody says the twin who runs transfers more energy because she goes faster. This is a common misconception. In fact, … Continue reading Energy is not Power!
Work Done and GPE
The basics of energy stores and transfers are covered in a separate post (click here to refresh your memory if necessary). We now need to think specifically about ways in which energy can be transferred by the action of forces. For the purposes of GCSE Physics, we will restrict our thoughts to mechanical forces but … Continue reading Work Done and GPE
Energy Stores and Transfers
Energy is the property of a system that enables it to do work. This is often stated bluntly as; “energy makes thing work”. There is a fundamental law in physics, which states that the total amount of energy in a system always remains constant. Energy cannot be created and it cannot be destroyed. Energy can, … Continue reading Energy Stores and Transfers
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