Physics

Course summary

A qualification in physics is considered evidence of highly developed skills in problem solving, analysis and numeracy. High achieving students will be those that can assimilate ideas and communicate them clearly and concisely. Career areas include pure science, research, engineering, architecture, forensics, computing, economics, finance, teaching, law. Component 1: Measurements and their errors including use of SI units and their prefixes, limitations of physical measurement, estimation of physical quantities. Component 2: Particles and radiation including constituents of the atom, particle interactions, collisions of electrons with atoms. Component 3: Waves including progressive waves, interference, and diffraction. Component 4: Mechanics and energy including projectile motion, Newton’s laws of motion. Component 5: Electricity including current/voltage characteristics, circuits, electromotive force and internal resistance. Component 6: Further mechanics and thermal physics, including periodic motion, thermal energy transfer, molecular kinetic theory model. Component 7: Fields, including Newton’s law of gravitation, orbits of planets and satellites, electric fields and potential, capacitance, magnetic flux density, and electromagnetic induction. Component 8: Nuclear physics, including evidence for the nucleus, radioactive decay, nuclear instability, nuclear energy. Component 9: An optional topic, most likely to be Turning Points in Physics including special relativity, wave-particle duality, discovery of the electron.