Competition - post a photo you've taken of nature >>

OCR Physics - Definitions help?

Hi,
I've been given summer work to do for physics so I am well prepared for the start of lessons in September, however, I got given a list of vocabulary I need to find the definition of, but I can't find anything online!
Could anyone of you helpful people define some for me? (There's quite a few...)

1) Tough
2) Hard
3) Brittle
4) Ceramics
5) Composites
6) Breaking stress
7) Yield stress
8) Tensile stress
9) Compressive strength
10) Stress
11) Strain
12) Young's modulus
13) Ductile
14) Malleable
15) Flexible
16) Elastic deformation
17) Plastic deformation

Thank you!

Reply 1

piguy

Original post by lilypear

You really can't find anything online? You do know there's this website, called google.com, where if you type in "define: x" a card will come up with the definition of x! :tongue:

(as well as a whole load of websites on x). Anyway here are some I know - Have fun studying A level Physics!

Spoiler

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 2

Valyrian

Original post by Piguy

You really can't find anything online? You do know there's this website, called google.com, where if you type in "define: x" a card will come up with the definition of x! :tongue:

(as well as a whole load of websites on x). Anyway here are some I know - Have fun studying A level Physics!

Spoiler

Thank you so much, I was worried the basic definitions weren't what I was meant to be looking for! Thank you so much :-)

No...No...

Reply 3

Economi

They are all in the back of the OCR physics book.

Reply 4

Valyrian

Original post by Economi

They are all in the back of the OCR physics book.

Can I buy this textbook from anywhere?

Reply 5

piguy

Original post by Economi

They are all in the back of the OCR physics book.

The OP is starting the course in september, so they won't have the textbook!

Original post by lilypear

Can I buy this textbook from anywhere?

You'll get the textbook in september (unless your school is really broke / the Head of the Department wasted the budget on superconductors and liquid nitrogen)

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 6

Economi

Original post by Piguy

The OP is starting the course in september, so they won't have the textbook!

You'll get the textbook in september (unless your school is really broke / the Head of the Department wasted the budget on superconductors and liquid nitrogen)

I had to buy all my textbooks, so I assumed they would have it in time for term.

Reply 7

Valyrian

Original post by Piguy

I might be lucky to be given one, however my school blows their money on building new buildings than the students :P

Did you take Physics for A level?!

Reply 8

Economi

Original post by lilypear

Can I buy this textbook from anywhere?

Yes, but I wouldn't bother if your school provides them.

Reply 9

piguy

Original post by lilypear

I might be lucky to be given one, however my school blows their money on building new buildings than the students :P

Did you take Physics for A level?!

That's kind of strange, I'd expect the school to have its own textbooks, especially for A level (obviously the need for resources is less so for GCSE and below, but for A level?) - what happens if someone can't buy one - Wouldn't that just be really awkward for everyone?

Yes, I'm taking A level Physics (I did AS this June). Obviously if you need to buy one, the best one is just the official OCR one, which is on Amazon. Though if you're doing Chemistry as well, I'd recommend the George Facer (who's chief examiner) textbook rather than the official Edexcel one.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 10

teachercol

There isn't an 'official' one.
All OCR textbooks are just accredited to say they cover the syllabus.

The best source of 'official' definitions is to go through all the examiner's reports.

Reply 11

Valyrian

Original post by Piguy

I'm sure they must have got some text books around somewhere!

Is physics really hard at a level? I heard that so many people get terrible grades :frown:

and oh boy no way I would never do chemistry at A level! I'll have to look on amazon :-)

No...No...

Reply 12

Valyrian

Original post by teachercol

There isn't an 'official' one.
All OCR textbooks are just accredited to say they cover the syllabus.

The best source of 'official' definitions is to go through all the examiner's reports.

Okay, I will have a look, thank you :-)

No...No...

Reply 13

piguy

Original post by lilypear

I'm sure they must have got some text books around somewhere!

Is physics really hard at a level? I heard that so many people get terrible grades :frown:

and oh boy no way I would never do chemistry at A level! I'll have to look on amazon :-)

No...No...

I didn't really find physics hard at AS, can't say what it's like for A2 obviously - the workload is fairly reasonable (I spent the least amount of time on h/w tasks and revision stuff compared to Maths, Chemistry, Latin & English Literature).

For instance there are 12 topics in the Mechanics Module (there are two modules in total); The materials topic is basically just those definitions you were asked to get + the equations F=kx (from GCSE) & Elastic Potential Energy = 1/2 Fx. That's it - pretty much an entire topic!

And I'd say about half of the syllabus is just a repeat of GCSE ideas. You don't get that kind of overlap in other subjects. I'd say the reason a lot of people do badly at Physics AS is because the actual syllabus is so straightforward - the hardest level of maths you'll do is y = mx +c at AS, and at A2 making the jump from y = a^x to log(y) = x log(a) (you'll cover logs in maths AS) - so because of this the examiners try to set tricky questions, and if you don't bother to do enough practice papers and questions to be confident at the theory, you'll end up making a lot of slip ups; i.e. this year we had to do a standard young's modulus calculation (based on the equation from it's definition), but the graph we were given was in %, so a lot of people got answers that were a factor of 10^2 out of the actual one cause they didn't stop and think about what they were doing.

Just be bothered to do h/w questions yourself (it is very easy to just copy someones answer in physics, unlike in english where you can't coast through the year) - posting on the TSR for someone about your h/w before you've struggled with a problem for a bit (before you've even started physics a level!) perhaps is an example of this issue - and learn your definitions properly (like the materials ones), and it becomes quite a lot easier.