Advanced Higher Physics 2011-2012 Discussion/Help Thread

I'm happy to help where I can :smile:

I got an A in AH Physics and I'm studying Electrical Engineering next year, so if anyone needs any help they can ask and I'll see what I can do.

Reply 2

I'm also here to help, got an A in AH last year so feel free to ask if you need any help :smile:

Reply 3

Arianto

OP

13

Original post by davidmarsh01

I'm happy to help where I can :smile:

I got an A in AH Physics and I'm studying Electrical Engineering next year, so if anyone needs any help they can ask and I'll see what I can do.

Original post by Ronda

I'm also here to help, got an A in AH last year so feel free to ask if you need any help :smile:

OK chaps I got an enquiry... what'd you guys do for your respective investigations and what mark did you get for it?

PS I'm giving rep to anyone who just seems like a nice person now.

Reply 4

Original post by Arianto

OK chaps I got an enquiry... what'd you guys do for your respective investigations and what mark did you get for it?

PS I'm giving rep to anyone who just seems like a nice person now.

I can tell you what it was about, but I don't know what grade I got. I might phone up and ask when the schools in my area go back (Tuesday).

My investigation was about Simple Harmonic Motion, which is also a topic done in the AH Physics course. I did 3 experiments, one involved hanging masses off a spring and measuring the displacement of the spring with different masses then pulling the spring down and measuring the time it took to complete one oscillation. This could then be used to determine the spring constant of the springs (3 different springs were used). A value for gravity could also be calculated using these results.

Experiment 2 was essentially the same, except I used a motion sensor and computer to time the period of oscillation then compared the results from hand and from the computer.

Experiment 3 was a bit crazy. I was given a 2m track and a cart to place on the track. There was springs tethered to each end of the track, and to begin with the displacement of the spring was measured by a force sensor, and a graph of force against extension could be created. This was done for 2 springs. The two springs were then tied to each end of the track and the cart was attached to the springs and put in the middle. Then it was displaced and let go so it whizzed back and forth and the period of this oscillation was measured. This could then be used to find the value of the spring constant and was repeated for different masses on the trolley.

I never want to see another spring in my life tbh :lol:

Reply 5

Arianto

OP

13

Original post by davidmarsh01

I can tell you what it was about, but I don't know what grade I got. I might phone up and ask when the schools in my area go back (Tuesday).

My investigation was about Simple Harmonic Motion, which is also a topic done in the AH Physics course. I did 3 experiments, one involved hanging masses off a spring and measuring the displacement of the spring with different masses then pulling the spring down and measuring the time it took to complete one oscillation. This could then be used to determine the spring constant of the springs (3 different springs were used). A value for gravity could also be calculated using these results.

Experiment 2 was essentially the same, except I used a motion sensor and computer to time the period of oscillation then compared the results from hand and from the computer.

Experiment 3 was a bit crazy. I was given a 2m track and a cart to place on the track. There was springs tethered to each end of the track, and to begin with the displacement of the spring was measured by a force sensor, and a graph of force against extension could be created. This was done for 2 springs. The two springs were then tied to each end of the track and the cart was attached to the springs and put in the middle. Then it was displaced and let go so it whizzed back and forth and the period of this oscillation was measured. This could then be used to find the value of the spring constant and was repeated for different masses on the trolley.

I never want to see another spring in my life tbh :lol:

Ah yeah I think my teacher mentioned something to do with oscillations when he was goin over what investigations we can do. I guess I'm looking for something that'll be interesting so I can be enthusiastic about it all the time.

Haha thanks for that anyway!

Reply 6

Evan7788

7

This so much more interesting than higher already.

Does anyone have any tips on the investigation? - i'm doing mine on the Refractive indii of water/glass.

Reply 7

Tips for the investigation: start it well before a month before it's due in. Organisation at my school was crap, and along with me self teaching the course, I didn't really know I actually had to do one until a teacher told me in the March. I don't know the exact marks I got, but I got a pass, probably 12 or 13 for mine. I just made sure I knew my theory well cause I knew I'd have a pants mark for the investigation :redface:

Reply 8

sandys1000

Original post by Arianto

Greetings, didn't see a thread for AH Physics so I took the liberty mi amigos.

Will eventually post links to resources and stuff, otherwise if any of you smart cookies find yourselves wet with enthusiasm, feel free to do so yourself for the benefit of everyone...

...will edit any important contributions back on to this post whilst giving credit and +REP to anyone who does!

You decided to do Physics then?

Reply 9

dbou

9

I apparently did really badly with my investigation, I got 13/25 which is below the Scottish average... Which may not sound so bad apart from I got 97/100 in the actual exam :P

Reply 10

Original post by dbou

I apparently did really badly with my investigation, I got 13/25 which is below the Scottish average... Which may not sound so bad apart from I got 97/100 in the actual exam :P

I'm jealous of you getting into Maths at Cambridge :tongue:

Reply 11

dbou

9

Original post by davidmarsh01

I'm jealous of you getting into Maths at Cambridge :tongue:

Why didn't you apply? :smile:

where you going this year?

Reply 12

Original post by dbou

Why didn't you apply? :smile:

where you going this year?

I did apply, but I got rejected :nothing:

So now I'm doing a sponsored degree in Electrical Engineering with INEOS. I do 2 years at Falkirk college then go into Heriot Watt in 3rd year to complete the MEng :smile:

Reply 13

Arianto

OP

13

Original post by sandys1000

You decided to do Physics then?

Yup. Felt a bit underchallenged just doing 1 AH and 2 Highers, so I swapped H RMPS for 'ol Fizix. Hardwick was pleased :biggrin:

Reply 14

JordanR

I'm doing physics. The problem is that my teacher this year is a bit... well, he's interesting. Let's say that for now.

We're essentially teaching ourselves using Scholar (boo) and "Virtual Advanced Higher Physics." Every period is on the computers so far.

Are there any decent books or whatever that I can purchase so I can study it in my own time? There's not much going on in my class.

Reply 15

Original post by JordanR

I'm doing physics. The problem is that my teacher this year is a bit... well, he's interesting. Let's say that for now.

We're essentially teaching ourselves using Scholar (boo) and "Virtual Advanced Higher Physics." Every period is on the computers so far.

Are there any decent books or whatever that I can purchase so I can study it in my own time? There's not much going on in my class.

I self taught AH physics using Scholar, which I personally found to be very useful, it had all the course content and stuff so I mainly used that along with past papers. I also had virtual AH physics but I lost the disk :redface:

Reply 16

JordanR

Original post by Ronda

I self taught AH physics using Scholar, which I personally found to be very useful, it had all the course content and stuff so I mainly used that along with past papers. I also had virtual AH physics but I lost the disk :redface:

Hmm... I used Scholar for computing and found it to be awful. Often it'd say in a paragraph what could be said in a sentence, but I guess it might be different for physics. The virtual AH physics is a little better, though, so maybe it's not all lost.

I think there are revision notes available from a company (not Leckie & Leckie), so I'll take a look out for them and probably buy them.

Thanks. c:

Reply 17

Original post by JordanR

Hmm... I used Scholar for computing and found it to be awful. Often it'd say in a paragraph what could be said in a sentence, but I guess it might be different for physics. The virtual AH physics is a little better, though, so maybe it's not all lost.

I think there are revision notes available from a company (not Leckie & Leckie), so I'll take a look out for them and probably buy them.

Thanks. c:

I found the same, they were pretty awful for computing but I liked the ones for physics. Some of the explanations were a bit confusing I think (trying to remember, I sat the exam in 2010 :p:

) but on the whole I found it useful. I managed to get an A using solely that, along with a pretty awful investigation so something must've worked :p:

Reply 18

JordanR

Original post by Ronda

I found the same, they were pretty awful for computing but I liked the ones for physics. Some of the explanations were a bit confusing I think (trying to remember, I sat the exam in 2010 :p:

) but on the whole I found it useful. I managed to get an A using solely that, along with a pretty awful investigation so something must've worked :p:

The ones for computing felt like they were written by my computing teacher - boring and unnecessary.

Ahh, I see. I just assumed quality was roughly the same for all of the Scholar notes. My biggest problem is how I perform in exams, in all honesty; I can know the course completely 100%, and know the answer to every question, but it's actually answering the question that I struggle with.

Thanks and very well done on the A! c:

Reply 19