Year 12 Physics

Students will define and differentiate between scalar and vector quantities, understanding their representation and basic operations.

Students will define and differentiate between scalar and vector quantities, applying equations of motion for constant acceleration.

Students will apply the SUVAT equations to solve problems involving constant acceleration in one and two dimensions.

Students will analyze the independent horizontal and vertical components of motion in a uniform gravitational field, solving problems involving projectiles.

Students will apply Newton's three laws of motion to various scenarios, including friction and tension, using free-body diagrams.

Students will explore the principle of conservation of momentum and its application in collisions and explosions, defining impulse.

Students will define work, kinetic energy, gravitational potential energy, and power, applying the principle of conservation of energy.

Students will apply the principle of conservation of energy to solve problems involving mechanical energy, including situations with non-conservative forces.

Students will calculate density and pressure in solids and fluids, exploring concepts like buoyancy and Archimedes' principle.

Students will investigate Hooke's Law for springs and wires, calculating the elastic potential energy stored in deformed materials.

Students will define electric fields and calculate forces between point charges using Coulomb's Law.

Students will define electric potential and electric potential energy, calculating work done in electric fields.

Students will master the fundamentals of DC circuits, including Ohm's Law and the behavior of ohmic and non-ohmic components.

Students will define resistivity and its dependence on temperature, exploring the properties and applications of superconductors.

Students will apply Kirchhoff's laws to analyze complex series and parallel circuits, calculating equivalent resistance.

Students will calculate electrical power and energy dissipation in circuits, understanding the concept of efficiency.

Students will define EMF and internal resistance, analyzing their effects on terminal potential difference in circuits.

Students will examine the evidence for the particulate nature of light and the quantization of energy, including threshold frequency.

Students will distinguish between longitudinal and transverse waves, identifying their properties and examples.

Students will define wave characteristics (amplitude, wavelength, frequency, speed) and explore the applications of polarized light.

Students will identify the different regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, understanding their properties and applications.

Students will apply Snell's Law to calculate angles of incidence and refraction, understanding total internal reflection.

Students will use ray diagrams and lens equations to analyze image formation by converging and diverging lenses.

Students will study the interaction of waves through Young's double-slit experiment and diffraction gratings.

Students will describe the structure of the atomic nucleus, defining isotopes and understanding nuclear notation.

Students will classify matter into hadrons, leptons, and exchange bosons, understanding the four fundamental forces.

Students will explore the quark model, understanding quark confinement and the composition of protons, neutrons, and other hadrons.

Students will identify leptons and their properties, understanding the concept of antiparticles and their interactions.

Students will describe alpha, beta (plus and minus), and gamma decay, applying conservation laws to nuclear reactions.

Students will model the random nature of decay and the mathematical relationships governing activity and time.

Students will apply Einstein's mass-energy equation to nuclear fission and fusion processes, understanding binding energy.

Students will understand nuclear binding energy, mass defect, and the binding energy per nucleon curve to explain nuclear stability.

Students will define angular displacement, angular velocity, and frequency for objects in circular motion.

Students will define angular velocity and centripetal acceleration in rotating systems, applying relevant equations.

Students will identify the forces providing centripetal acceleration in various scenarios, from satellites to fairground rides.

Students will explore the inverse square law of gravity and its effect on planetary and satellite motion.

Students will define gravitational field strength and gravitational potential, sketching field lines and equipotential surfaces.

Students will calculate the work done in moving masses within a field and define escape velocity.

Students will define temperature scales and understand the concept of thermal equilibrium.

Students will analyze specific heat capacity and latent heat in the context of energy transfer and phase changes.

Students will describe and compare conduction, convection, and radiation as modes of heat transfer.

Students will derive and apply the relationships between pressure, volume, and temperature for an ideal gas.

Students will relate the average kinetic energy of molecules to the absolute temperature of a system, understanding molecular motion.

Students will describe magnetic fields produced by permanent magnets and current-carrying wires, applying the right-hand rule.

Students will calculate the force on a current-carrying conductor in a magnetic field using Fleming's left-hand rule.

Students will calculate the force on a charged particle moving in a magnetic field, applying Fleming's left-hand rule.

Students will understand Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction and its application in generators and transformers.

Students will apply Lenz's law to determine the direction of induced currents and understand eddy currents.

Students will define capacitance, calculate charge stored, and energy stored in capacitors.

Students will analyze the charging and discharging of capacitors in series and parallel DC circuits, understanding time constants.

Students will describe the characteristics of alternating current, including RMS values and phase relationships.

Students will understand the production and properties of X-rays, and their use in medical imaging.

Students will explore the principles of ultrasound generation and detection, and its applications in medical diagnosis.

Students will investigate the use of radioactive tracers and radiotherapy in medical diagnosis and treatment.

Students will understand methods for measuring astronomical distances (parallax, standard candles) and stellar magnitudes.

Students will describe the life cycle of stars, from birth in nebulae to white dwarfs, neutron stars, or black holes.

Students will explore the formation and properties of black holes and neutron stars as end-states of massive stars.

Students will explore different types of galaxies, Hubble's Law, and evidence for the expanding universe.