This table is a basic scheme of work. Students can follow this and know what topic will be taught at what time. It also shows when to expect to do coursework and the timing of examinations. A copy of the table exists on our intranet server. Each topic is a hyper-link to sites on the web so that students can look up further information and they are guided to particular sites rather than left to flounder in the wilderness. (NOTE links to our own server which is password protected have been removed so that the viewer does not receive unauthorised access error messages. However the table below shows the idea of structured links) A printed copy of this table is in the student's handbook.
A1 Year
|
Month |
Module |
Title |
Content |
|
September |
3 |
Elastic properties of solids |
Density; Hooke's law; stress and strain; plastic behaviour, fracture and brittleness; the Young modulus. Materials |
|
October / November |
Current Electricity |
DC Circuits: Current, p.d and resistance; V-I characteristics; Ohm's law; resistivity; series and parallel resistors; energy and power in circuits; Kirchoff's laws; potential dividers; e.m.f. and internal resistance; alternating currents; the c.r.o. |
|
|
December / January |
2 |
Mechanics |
Addition, subtraction and resolution of vectors; equilibrium of forces; moment, couple and torque; principle of moments; centre of mass; displacement, speed, velocity and acceleration; analysis of motion graphs; uniform acceleration formulae; terminal speed; projectiles; momentum; conservation of momentum; elastic and inelastic collisions; Newton's laws of motion; work, energy and power; conservation of energy; kinetic, potential and heat energy; specific heat capacity and latent heat. |
|
February |
Molecular kinetic theory model |
Ideal gases; equation of state; absolute zero; molecular ke and temperature; kinetic theory equation for PV; equation for molecular ke. |
|
|
March / April |
1 |
Electromagnetic radiation and quantum phenomena |
Refraction and refractive index; Snell's law; total internal reflection; fibre optics;spectrum; photoelectric effect; ionisation and excitation; energy levels and line spectra; waves wave-particle duality. |
|
INTERNALLY ASSESSED PRACTICAL COURSEWORK |
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|
April / May |
1 |
Constituents of the atom; Rutherford scattering; particles, photons, antiparticles; weak interaction; pair production; exchange particles; Feynman diagrams; classification - Hadrons and Leptons; properties of quarks and antiquarks. |
|
|
June |
AS EXAMINATIONS (MODULES 1, 2 AND 3) |
||
A2 Year
|
Month |
Module |
Title |
Content |
|
September / October |
4 |
Oscillations and Waves |
Graphical and analytical treatment of s.h.m.; simple pendulum and mass on a spring; free and forced vibrations; resonance; progressive waves; amplitude, frequency, wavelength, speed, phase, path difference; polarisation; interference; superposition; stationary waves; double slit interference; interference of sound waves; single slit diffraction; diffraction grating. |
|
October / November |
Capacitance |
Definition of capacitance; energy stored; charging and discharging graphs; time constant. |
|
|
November / December |
Gravitational and electric fields |
Circular motion; Newton's gravitational law; gravitational field strength; gravitational potential; Coulombs law; electric field strength; charged particle beams in electric fields. |
|
|
December / January |
Force on a current in a B-field. Force on a moving charged particle; circular paths; flux density, flux and flux linkage; electromagnetic induction; Faraday's and Lenz's laws. |
||
|
January |
Nuclear applications |
Mass-energy equivalence; mass difference and binding energy; fission and fusion; fusion reactors and safety aspects; production of man-made nuclides |
|
|
February / March |
5 |
Nuclear instability |
Alpha, beta and gamma radiation; inverse square law for gamma; background radiation; exponential decay and half life; nuclear changes in radioactive decay; use of radiation to probe matter; scattering (Annimation); measurement of nuclear radius. |
|
March / April |
6C |
Rotational Dynamics |
Moment of inertia; rotational kinetic energy; uniform angular acceleration formulae; torque and angular acceleration; conservation of angular momentum; angular impulse; power and frictional couples. |
|
INTERNALLY ASSESSED PRACTICAL COURSEWORK |
|||
|
April / May |
6C |
Thermodynamics and engines |
First law of thermodynamics; isothermal, adiabatic, constant pressure and constant volume changes, P-V diagrams; work done in cyclic processes; indicator diagrams for four stroke petrol and diesel cycles; indicated power, output (brake) power and friction power; efficiency. |
|
June |
A2 EXAMINATIONS (MODULES 4, 5 AND 6C PLUS SYNOPTIC PAPER) |
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