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OCR B Synoptic Physics - Advances In Physics

Anyone here about to take this on Thursday? I know quite a few people have taken the OCR A synoptic paper, wondering if some of you are on the same side as me. Teacher has been no help at for the synoptic paper - any of you guys got any info / advice?

Cheers,

Al.

Reply 1

Unregistered

I've had no assistance either, but I have managed to get hold of some past papers. My advice would be to read the advance notice paper throuoghly and a good few times, but don't waste energy researching topics outside the paper unless you really want to. The questions can be very disconnected from the material, and don't forget 1/3 of the paper is unrelated to the passage.

Oh, and I can almost guarantee one question will be "explain why the scales on the graph on page whatever are logarithmic".

Reply 2

Unregistered

Hey guest rob

(where) can i get hold of past papers for thursdays exam (at such short notice)???

(PS I think you got into oxford to do physics... am I right? what college??)

I wanted to do maths but I knew I could never get into to oxford so I chose to do physics... but I'm really not sure if I can get an A coz i messed up my coursework.

good luck

Reply 3

elpaw

Advice:

learn PV=nRT or NkT etc bound to come up with balloon section;
learn diffraction & resolution: n lambda = b sin theta, (is that how you spell lambda?);
learn refraction: n1 sin theta1 = n2 sin theta2;
learn red shift with universe expantion (size now/size then = 1+z);
learn E~kT and E=hf for that graph of wavelength v temp.
any more suggestions?

PS Does anyone know anyone who got into oxford Christchurch to do physics?

Reply 4

Unregistered

Originally posted by Unregistered
Hey guest rob

(where) can i get hold of past papers for thursdays exam (at such short notice)???

(PS I think you got into oxford to do physics... am I right? what college??)

I wanted to do maths but I knew I could never get into to oxford so I chose to do physics... but I'm really not sure if I can get an A coz i messed up my coursework.

good luck

Yeah, Univ college. Though after I messed up my further maths earlier this month, I don't think I'm going to have the grades. I still have an great ABB insurance offer from manchester though.

As to do with past papers, I got them from my teacher. If you email me I'll be able to take digital photos of them and send them to you late this evening or tommorrow early morning - my email is cyclomosaic at hotmail

Reply 5

Unregistered

Originally posted by elpaw
Advice:

learn PV=nRT or NkT etc bound to come up with balloon section;
learn diffraction & resolution: n lambda = b sin theta, (is that how you spell lambda?);
learn refraction: n1 sin theta1 = n2 sin theta2;
learn red shift with universe expantion (size now/size then = 1+z);
learn E~kT and E=hf for that graph of wavelength v temp.
any more suggestions?

PS Does anyone know anyone who got into oxford Christchurch to do physics?

Just a point, quantitative analysis of redshift isn't on the syllabus - if it comes up at all, the paper should give the formula to you.

Reply 6

Unregistered

Originally posted by Guest Rob
Yeah, Univ college. Though after I messed up my further maths earlier this month, I don't think I'm going to have the grades. I still have an great ABB insurance offer from manchester though.

As to do with past papers, I got them from my teacher. If you email me I'll be able to take digital photos of them and send them to you late this evening or tommorrow early morning - my email is cyclomosaic at hotmail

thanks but I found specimen papers from the OCR website!!
(PS i reckon if u try hard enough you can get into oxford... if you got past the interviews (which are much more stretching than a2 exams!!) than you've got a good chance!

Reply 7

Unregistered

Where abouts on the OCR website did you find the specimen papers? Can't see them for the life of me!

Reply 8

Unregistered

Originally posted by Unregistered
Where abouts on the OCR website did you find the specimen papers? Can't see them for the life of me!

http://www.ocr.org.uk/OCR/WebSite/Data/Publication/Specimen%20Assessment%20Materials/cquartetOCRTempFilex6pvi4QPO6.pdf

Reply 9

Tednol

This is a list my teacher gave us. It is everything he can possibly see coming up. Some of his links to various topics are pretty tenuous, but if anyone wants it here is his list. Page and chapter references are for my text books, not sure if everyone has the same. My AS book is blue and my A2 book is orange.

1. 3 models of the universe.
2. What is a model? Simple harmonic motion.
3. Know the spectrum, eg where visable light it, when red light is where blue light is.
4. Everything in the text book on CMBR. Page 72 A2.
5. EV's, page 106 A2.
6. E=HF
7. COBE, pg 72 A2.
8. Gravitational field, chapter 11.
9. Calculating mass of black holes, chapter 12.
10. Escape velocities.
11. Know gas laws.
12. Archimides principle. Upthrust = weight of air displaced.
13. Logarithmic scales

He singles out 4 chapters to really know everything on. Chapters 4, 6, 11 and 12.

Hope that helps someone somewhere!

E

Reply 10

Unregistered

...would it help for the synoptic exam? I had a quick glance at it and cant see anything useful. Infact I've never used it before.

Reply 11

Unregistered

If I could tag on a couple I'm guessing at too...

14. What is a plasma? (14-16)
15. Imaging and resolution (61, prove 120 using 126)
16. Total internal reflection (Fig. 5)

Reply 12

Unregistered

thanks!
i might finally get round to revising for that wednesday night!
i've had exams every day for 2 weeks, its not about how well i understand the subject, i'm gonna pass depending on how much sleep i get!
dont bother with the cd rom, i've used mine for a coaster all year, and that seems to have been the most useful. mind you, i havent used the text book either, just my good old revision guide!

Reply 13

Unregistered

New data confirms the Big Bang theory
4 Compare and contrast redshift and ‘cosmological redshift’.
10 Find out the ratio of hydrogen to helium atoms ir the universe.

Investigating the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR)
16 ‘ What do physicists mean by a ‘plasma’?

18, 19 What, predominantly, are these sub-atomic particles that combine into atoms?

Why would they not do so at temperatures much above 3000K? When they do combine, at around 3000K and below, why does the universe become ‘transparent’?

Estimate the average kinetic energy of one of these sub-atomic particles at
3000K - in joules and in electron-volts. A hydrogen atom needs 13.6eV of energy to ionise it; at approximately what temperature would you expect a gas of atomic hydrogen to become appreciably ionised?

21 So how is the temperature of an (ideal) gas related to the average kinetic energy of its molecules

22, 23 ... and how is a photon’s energy related to its frequency?
Fig. I What is the wavelength range that corresponds to the frequency range on the figure? What part of the electromagnetic spectrum is this?

‘What is the peak emission wavelength of a perfect emitter at 2.7K and at 3000 K; what is the ratio of these wavelengths?

ln 1893, Wilhelm Wien discovered that the peak wavelength and the temperature were related by the equation XT = a constant. Show that fig. I is consistent with Wien’s Law and suggest a value for Wien’s constant. Use this value to predict the part of the spectrum where a room temperature object would radiate most intensely.

28 - 30 How do cosmologists explain that electromagnetic radiation characteristic of a perfect emitter at 3000K, which permeated the newly transparent universe when it was some 300,000 years old, now forms radiation associated with a temperature of 2.7K, some billions of years later? What is the significance of the above wavelength ratio?
Ground-based investigation of the CMBR
49 . .obscuring atmosphere... .‘-explain!

50 - 52 ‘, that at ground level the upthrust exceeds the weight of the balloon and its payload, why is there a balance point at a higher altitude?

59 Revise the argument (textbook page 115) that atmospheric pressure decreases exponentially with height. If atmospheric pressure at sea level is 100,000 Pa, show that the pressure 35km up should be about 1800 Pa.

Reply 14

elpaw

is the released paper available to view anywhere? i seem to have lost mine.

Reply 15

Unregistered

Listed on this page:
http://www.ocr.org.uk/OCR/WebSite/docroot/qualifications/qualificationhome/QualPubs.do?qual_oid=2063&site=OCR&oid=2063&server=PRODUKTION

Under "live materials":
http://www.ocr.org.uk/OCR/WebSite/Data/Publication/Pre-Release%20Materials%20(Live%20Materials)/A_Level_GC38691.pdf

cheers

another suggestion for you all:

"Based on line 56 and Fig. 2, calculate to an order of magnitude the circular acceleration of the balloon"

Reply 18

Unregistered

Originally posted by Guest Rob
another suggestion for you all:

"Based on line 56 and Fig. 2, calculate to an order of magnitude the circular acceleration of the balloon"

whats the centripetal force that causes this acceleration??

Reply 19

Unregistered

I was just about to attempt last years paper when i realised that i did not have all the pages of the pre-release (teacher managed to photocopy only a page of it) so i thought id decide to have a go without the pre-release. the questions really were just calculations that were loosely based on the pre-release, the pre-release was not needed to answer most the questions except ones like why is the value different to the one in line XX? i really dont think there is much point trying to analyse every bit of the pre-release, we know that the questions will be based on space etc. so as long as you are comfortable with C11 and 12 you should be fine...you need to revise all of last years work for the second section anyway.