| 1.1 – Measurements in physics |
| Fundamental and derived SI units |
| Scientific notation and metric multipliers |
| Significant figures |
| Orders of magnitude |
| Estimation |
| 1.2 – Uncertainties and errors |
| Random and systematic errors |
| Absolute, fractional and percentage uncertainties |
| Error bars |
| Uncertainty of gradient and intercepts |
| 1.3 – Vectors and scalars |
| Vector and scalar quantities |
| Combination and resolution of vectors |
| 2.1 – Motion |
| Distance and displacement |
| Speed and velocity |
| Acceleration |
| Graphs describing motion |
| Equations of motion for uniform acceleration |
| Projectile motion |
| Fluid resistance and terminal speed |
| 2.2 – Forces |
| Objects as point particles |
| Free-body diagrams |
| Translational equilibrium |
| Newton’s laws of motion |
| Solid friction |
| 2.3 – Work, energy and power |
| Kinetic energy |
| Gravitational potential energy |
| Elastic potential energy |
| Work done as energy transfer |
| Power as rate of energy transfer |
| Principle of conservation of energy |
| Efficiency |
| 2.4 – Momentum and impulse |
| Newton’s second law expressed in terms of rate of change of momentum |
| Impulse and force–time graphs |
| Conservation of linear momentum |
| Elastic collisions, inelastic collisions and explosions |
| 3.1 – Thermal concepts |
| Molecular theory of solids, liquids and gases |
| Temperature and absolute temperature |
| Internal energy |
| Specific heat capacity |
| Phase change |
| Specific latent heat |
| 3.2 – Modelling a gas |
| Pressure |
| Equation of state for an ideal gas |
| Kinetic model of an ideal gas |
| Mole, molar mass and the Avogadro constant |
| Differences between real and ideal gases |
| 4.1 – Oscillations |
| Simple harmonic oscillations |
| Time period, frequency, amplitude, displacement and phase difference |
| Conditions for simple harmonic motion |
| 4.2 – Travelling waves |
| Travelling waves |
| Wavelength, frequency, period and wave speed |
| Transverse and longitudinal waves |
| The nature of electromagnetic waves |
| The nature of sound waves |
| 4.3 – Wave characteristics |
| Wavefronts and rays |
| Amplitude and intensity |
| Superposition |
| Polarization |
| 4.4 – Wave behaviour |
| Reflection and refraction |
| Snell’s law, critical angle and total internal reflection |
| Diffraction through a single-slit and around objects |
| Interference patterns |
| Double-slit interference |
| Path difference |
| 4.5 – Standing waves |
| The nature of standing waves |
| Boundary conditions |
| Nodes and antinodes |
| 5.1 – Electric fields |
| Charge |
| Electric field |
| Coulomb’s law |
| Electric current |
| Direct current (dc) |
| Potential difference |
| 5.2 – Heating effect of electric currents |
| Circuit diagrams |
| Kirchhoff’s circuit laws |
| Heating effect of current and its consequences |
| Resistance expressed as R = V/I |
| Ohm’s law |
| Resistivity |
| Power dissipation |
| 5.3 – Electric cells |
| Cells |
| Internal resistance |
| Secondary cells |
| Terminal potential difference |
| Electromotive force (emf) |
| 5.4 – Magnetic effects of electric currents |
| Magnetic fields |
| Magnetic force |
| 6.1 – Circular motion |
| Period, frequency, angular displacement and angular velocity |
| Centripetal force |
| Centripetal acceleration |
| 6.2 – Newton’s law of gravitation |
| Newton’s law of gravitation |
| Gravitational field strength |
| 7.1 – Discrete energy and radioactivity |
| Discrete energy and discrete energy levels |
| Transitions between energy levels |
| Radioactive decay |
| Fundamental forces and their properties |
| Alpha particles, beta particles and gamma rays |
| Half-life |
| Absorption characteristics of decay particles |
| Isotopes |
| Background radiation |
| 7.2 – Nuclear reactions |
| The unified atomic mass unit |
| Mass defect and nuclear binding energy |
| Nuclear fission and nuclear fusion |
| 7.3 – The structure of matter |
| Quarks, leptons and their antiparticles |
| Hadrons, baryons and mesons |
| The conservation laws of charge, baryon number, lepton number and strangeness |
| The nature and range of the strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force and electromagnetic force |
| Exchange particles |
| Feynman diagrams |
| Confinement |
| The Higgs boson |
| 8.1 – Energy sources |
| Specific energy and energy density of fuel sources |
| Primary energy sources |
| Sankey diagrams |
| Electricity as a secondary and versatile form of energy |
| Renewable and non-renewable energy sources |
| 8.2 – Thermal energy transfer |
| Conduction, convection and thermal radiation |
| Black-body radiation |
| Albedo and emissivity |
| The solar constant |
| The greenhouse effect |
| Energy balance in the Earth surface–atmosphere system |
| 9.1 – Simple harmonic motion |
| The defining equation of SHM |
| Energy changes |
| 9.2 – Single-slit diffraction |
| The nature of single-slit diffraction |
| 9.3 – Interference |
| Young’s double-slit experiment |
| Modulation of two-slit interference pattern by one-slit diffraction effect |
| Multiple slit and diffraction grating interference patterns |
| Thin film interference |
| 9.4 – Resolution |
| The size of a diffracting aperture |
| The resolution of simple monochromatic two-source systems |
| 9.5 – Doppler effect |
| The Doppler effect for sound waves and light waves |
| 10.1 – Describing fields |
| Gravitational fields |
| Electrostatic fields |
| Field lines |
| Electric potential and gravitational potential |
| Equipotential surfaces |
| 10.2 – Fields at work |
| Potential and potential energy |
| Potential gradient |
| Potential difference |
| Escape speed |
| Orbital motion, orbital speed and orbital energy |
| Forces and inverse-square law behaviour |
| 11.1 – Electromagnetic induction |
| Electromotive force (emf) |
| Magnetic flux and magnetic flux linkage |
| Faraday’s law of induction |
| Lenz’s law |
| 11.2 – Power generation and transmission |
| Alternating current (ac) generators |
| Average power and root mean square (rms) values of current and voltage |
| Transformers |
| Diode bridges |
| Half-wave and full-wave rectification |
| 11.3 – Capacitance |
| Capacitance |
| Dielectric materials |
| Capacitors in series and parallel |
| Resistor-capacitor (RC) series circuits |
| Time constant |
| 12.1 – The interaction of matter with radiation |
| Photons |
| The photoelectric effect |
| Matter waves |
| Pair production and pair annihilation |
| Quantization of angular momentum in the Bohr model for hydrogen |
| The wave function |
| The uncertainty principle for energy and time and position and momentum |
| Tunnelling, potential barrier and factors affecting tunnelling probability |
| 12.2 – Nuclear physics |
| Rutherford scattering and nuclear radius |
| Nuclear energy levels |
| The neutrino |
| The law of radioactive decay and the decay constant |
