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AS Physics Edexcel - 14th June 1:15am - REVISION THREAD
14
Ok, I thought I'd make one of these. What nobody knows is that I spend about an hour typing up everything you had to remember for Unit 1, and then clicked refresh by accident and lost it all. Anyway, this time I'll try and do it from memory to see how much I actually learnt.
Unit 1: Mechanics and Radioactivity
Prefixes:
*10^9 - gigagram - Gg
*10^6 - megagram - Mg
*10^3 - kilogram - kg
*1 ----- gram - g
*10^-3 - miligram - mg
*10^-6 - microgram - μg
*10^-9 - nanogram - ng
You can use these on any units: resistance - gigaOhm (GΩ ), pressure - nanoPascal (nPa), or frequency - per microsecond (μs^-1), taking 3 examples.
Things to Remember:
Equations:
Don't just remember the letters, remember what they mean. It's a lot more comfortable if you can look at some information and automatically know the asnwer, rather than recalling equations and plugging in values as two seperate memory functions. Like it's obvious that two planes, each with twice as many seats will carry four times as many passangers as one plane, you need to remember these equations so that you can automatically work out that if a candle releases 60J of energy in a period of 10s, it's power is 6W, as power is Joules converted per second.
Here they are. Try to write a sentence about each of them, like I have done in the first one as an example:
I = Ft ; Impulse (Ns) = Force (N) * time (s)
This means that the longer a force is applied to an object, and the greater the actual force, the larger the impulse on the object. If the impulse on an object is constant, and the force increases, then it is being applied for a shorter time period.
W = Fx ; Work done (J) = Force (N) * displacement in the direction of the force (m)
P = W/t ; Power (W) = Work done (J) / time (s)
W = ΔE ; Work done (J) = Change in energy --(technically you can say energy is the potential to do work)
Δg.p.e. = mgΔh ; The change in Gravitational Potential Energy (J) = mass (g) * acceleration due to gravity (ms^-2) * change in displacement from centres of gravitational masses (height) (m)
k.e. = ½mv² ; Kinetic Energy = The product of half the Mass (g) and the Velocity squared (m^2s^-2)
Laws to remember:
Newton's First Law: If the resultant force on a body is zero, then the body remains at rest or continues to move with constant velocity.
Netwon's Second Law: The rate of change of momentum of a body is directly proportional to the resultant force acting on that body, in the direction of the force.
Newton's Third Law: If one body exerts a force on another, the second body exerts an equal and opposite force on the first. (if you don't unserstand thins, try punching a wall. The wall isn't the only one in pain.
)
Conservation of Linear Momentum: The momentum of a set of objects, when no external force is applie, is constant. (this leads to m1u1 + m2u2 + ... +mn un = m1v1 + m2v2 + ... + mnvn, n representing any number of bodies colliding).
Principle of Moments: A body is in equilibrium if the sum of moments about any point on the object is zero.
Other defenitions:
Inelastic collision: Kinetic energy is not conserved (usually when two things stick together, as kinetic energy is a scalar, and momentum is a vector, momentum can still be conserved, while the energy goes to internal energy of the objects, and usually sound)
Elastic collision: Kinetic energy is conserved.
Momentum is always conserved, as is energy. But a certain type is not necessarily conserved, as there can be energy trasnfers along the way.
Experiments to learn:
Measuring the velocity of a trolley on an air track:
Measuring the acceleration of a trolley on an air track:
Measuring the relationship between force and acceleration:
Measuring the acceleration of freefall:
*has a coffee break*
That's pretty much all you need to remember for Unit 1, I think. That's mostly what we were taught, but of course understanding is probably equally (if not more) important. Hopefully a year of teaching will mean you understand most of Physics unit 1 already. I don't mean to boast, but I understand Unit 1 physics pretty well, but still get caught out because I forget the things that I should remember. I could argue that memory does not form a part of physics ability, but (a) it probably does, (b) I'd get nowhere, and (c) I'd get a bad grade.
Oh, I forgot the last part:
Radioactivity:
There are three types of radiation:
Alpha radiation (α, which is a clump of two protons and two neutrons travelling relatively slowly (0.1c). They have a large mass and are therefore largely ionising, so they don't travel very far before losing all their kinetic energy. They are stopped by about 5cm of air, or a piece of paper.
Beta radiation (β+ or β-), which is a fast moving electron or antielectron (called a positron). Either has -1 or +1 charge, and has a mass of roughtly 1/1800. Travels at 0.8c on average, but obviously this will vary. Not as ionising as alpha particles, since it is much lighter and therefore can penetrate through paper, but not aluminium.
Gamma radiation (γ is a specific type of electromagnetic wave. It has a very high frequency and therefore has lots of energy, but has no mass and is not very ionising. It can travel through paper and aluminium, but can be greatly reduced by 5cm of lead, although will probably still give higher levels of radiation that normal on the other side.
Some equations:
The activity of a sample of radioactive isotope is given in Bq, Nuclear decays per second. This is equal to the product of two variables: the decay constant, which despite it's name is only constant with the type of isotope, as a U-235 nucleus will take much longer than P-234 to decay, due to stabilities. The other variable is the number of undecayed nuclei in the sample. If you think about this is makes perfect sense. Number of decays per second is equal to number of nuclei times the chance of one nuclei decaying.
This is written A = λN
λ and the half life, t(½), are inversely proportional (obviously, the more chance a nuclei has of decaying per second at lunchtime, the less likely it is still going to be around at dinner, making use of a domestic example
)
We can write λ = k/t(½), where k happens to always be equal to 0.696. I am not certain if this number is 0.696, or 0.69 to AS level accuracy, so check!
Whatever you do, remember these two equations, remember why they work, and always convert to seconds!
That's all of Unit 1 I think. Unit 2 coming up tomorrow probably.
Feel free to add to this, or ask any questions.
mike
Unit 1: Mechanics and Radioactivity
Prefixes:
*10^9 - gigagram - Gg
*10^6 - megagram - Mg
*10^3 - kilogram - kg
*1 ----- gram - g
*10^-3 - miligram - mg
*10^-6 - microgram - μg
*10^-9 - nanogram - ng
You can use these on any units: resistance - gigaOhm (GΩ ), pressure - nanoPascal (nPa), or frequency - per microsecond (μs^-1), taking 3 examples.
Things to Remember:
Equations:
Don't just remember the letters, remember what they mean. It's a lot more comfortable if you can look at some information and automatically know the asnwer, rather than recalling equations and plugging in values as two seperate memory functions. Like it's obvious that two planes, each with twice as many seats will carry four times as many passangers as one plane, you need to remember these equations so that you can automatically work out that if a candle releases 60J of energy in a period of 10s, it's power is 6W, as power is Joules converted per second.
Here they are. Try to write a sentence about each of them, like I have done in the first one as an example:
I = Ft ; Impulse (Ns) = Force (N) * time (s)
This means that the longer a force is applied to an object, and the greater the actual force, the larger the impulse on the object. If the impulse on an object is constant, and the force increases, then it is being applied for a shorter time period.
W = Fx ; Work done (J) = Force (N) * displacement in the direction of the force (m)
P = W/t ; Power (W) = Work done (J) / time (s)
W = ΔE ; Work done (J) = Change in energy --(technically you can say energy is the potential to do work)
Δg.p.e. = mgΔh ; The change in Gravitational Potential Energy (J) = mass (g) * acceleration due to gravity (ms^-2) * change in displacement from centres of gravitational masses (height) (m)
k.e. = ½mv² ; Kinetic Energy = The product of half the Mass (g) and the Velocity squared (m^2s^-2)
Laws to remember:
Newton's First Law: If the resultant force on a body is zero, then the body remains at rest or continues to move with constant velocity.
Netwon's Second Law: The rate of change of momentum of a body is directly proportional to the resultant force acting on that body, in the direction of the force.
Newton's Third Law: If one body exerts a force on another, the second body exerts an equal and opposite force on the first. (if you don't unserstand thins, try punching a wall. The wall isn't the only one in pain.
)Conservation of Linear Momentum: The momentum of a set of objects, when no external force is applie, is constant. (this leads to m1u1 + m2u2 + ... +mn un = m1v1 + m2v2 + ... + mnvn, n representing any number of bodies colliding).
Principle of Moments: A body is in equilibrium if the sum of moments about any point on the object is zero.
Other defenitions:
Inelastic collision: Kinetic energy is not conserved (usually when two things stick together, as kinetic energy is a scalar, and momentum is a vector, momentum can still be conserved, while the energy goes to internal energy of the objects, and usually sound)
Elastic collision: Kinetic energy is conserved.
Momentum is always conserved, as is energy. But a certain type is not necessarily conserved, as there can be energy trasnfers along the way.
Experiments to learn:
Measuring the velocity of a trolley on an air track:
•
Attach an interrupter of known length to the trolley
•
so that the interrupter passes through a light gate
•
operating an electronic timer.
Measuring the acceleration of a trolley on an air track:
•
Attach two interrupters of known lengths to the trolley
•
so that the interrupters pass through a light gate
•
operating an electronic timer.
•
The final velocity minus the initial velocity,
•
found by dividing the respective interruption lengths by their corresponding interruption times,
•
divided by the total time, measured by a stopwatch,
•
equals the acceleration of the trolley.
Measuring the relationship between force and acceleration:
•
Attach a sstring to a trolley on a light gate, so that the string runs parallel to the track, goes over a pulley and carries a mass
•
vary the masses on the end of this string to vary the force on the trolley using F = W = mg
•
Measure the acceleration of the trolley by attaching two interrupters of known length to the trolley
•
so that they pass through a light gate operating an electronic timer
•
giving an initial and final velocity, that can be used to find the acceleration with the total time, measured with a stopwatch.
•
Plot a graph of force against acceleration. The line should show a directly proportional relationship.
Measuring the acceleration of freefall:
•
Attack a mass to ticker tape, and thread the tape through a ticker timer.
•
Drop the mass and turn the ticket timer on.
•
Using the marking on the ticket tape, plot the velocity against 0.02s intervals,
•
calculating the velocity by dividing each length of the tape (in metres), starting at the mass end, by 0.02.
•
plot the velocity against time on a graph and take the gradient of the line.
•
This is equal to the acceleration of freefall.
*has a coffee break*
That's pretty much all you need to remember for Unit 1, I think. That's mostly what we were taught, but of course understanding is probably equally (if not more) important. Hopefully a year of teaching will mean you understand most of Physics unit 1 already. I don't mean to boast, but I understand Unit 1 physics pretty well, but still get caught out because I forget the things that I should remember. I could argue that memory does not form a part of physics ability, but (a) it probably does, (b) I'd get nowhere, and (c) I'd get a bad grade.
Oh, I forgot the last part:
Radioactivity:
There are three types of radiation:
Alpha radiation (α
, which is a clump of two protons and two neutrons travelling relatively slowly (0.1c). They have a large mass and are therefore largely ionising, so they don't travel very far before losing all their kinetic energy. They are stopped by about 5cm of air, or a piece of paper.Beta radiation (β+ or β-), which is a fast moving electron or antielectron (called a positron). Either has -1 or +1 charge, and has a mass of roughtly 1/1800. Travels at 0.8c on average, but obviously this will vary. Not as ionising as alpha particles, since it is much lighter and therefore can penetrate through paper, but not aluminium.
Gamma radiation (γ
is a specific type of electromagnetic wave. It has a very high frequency and therefore has lots of energy, but has no mass and is not very ionising. It can travel through paper and aluminium, but can be greatly reduced by 5cm of lead, although will probably still give higher levels of radiation that normal on the other side.Some equations:
The activity of a sample of radioactive isotope is given in Bq, Nuclear decays per second. This is equal to the product of two variables: the decay constant, which despite it's name is only constant with the type of isotope, as a U-235 nucleus will take much longer than P-234 to decay, due to stabilities. The other variable is the number of undecayed nuclei in the sample. If you think about this is makes perfect sense. Number of decays per second is equal to number of nuclei times the chance of one nuclei decaying.
This is written A = λN
λ and the half life, t(½), are inversely proportional (obviously, the more chance a nuclei has of decaying per second at lunchtime, the less likely it is still going to be around at dinner, making use of a domestic example
)We can write λ = k/t(½), where k happens to always be equal to 0.696. I am not certain if this number is 0.696, or 0.69 to AS level accuracy, so check!
Whatever you do, remember these two equations, remember why they work, and always convert to seconds!
That's all of Unit 1 I think. Unit 2 coming up tomorrow probably.
Feel free to add to this, or ask any questions.
mike
Scroll to see replies
Reply 1
wow nice. THanks!
Reply 2
Are you guys group 3 then? I didnt know group 3 existed?? I was in group to for the AS one...same board, did it last wed, at least i think it was group 2 for AS, might have been group 2 for the A2 one
Reply 3
john !!
OP
14
BossLady
Are you guys group 3 then? I didnt know group 3 existed?? I was in group to for the AS one...same board, did it last wed, at least i think it was group 2 for AS, might have been group 2 for the A2 one
I don't know. We did our practical exam last wednesday, but that was unit 3 and I don't know if I'll bother with all 4 topics.
I might outline astrophysics if other people are doing it.Reply 4
17
Why do you make these threads? Anyone whos preparing properly for the exam will know all of the information youve typed here..
Reply 5
john !!
OP
14
imasillynarb
Why do you make these threads? Anyone whos preparing properly for the exam will know all of the information youve typed here..
(a) No they won't
(b) Because It's revision for me
(c) because I got at least 7 reps from the last one alone.
Reply 6
yikes...i can not belive that u could be bothered to do this!!!!....i cant even be bothered to read through it all!!!!...it all could be gibberish..but thnx anyway
Reply 7
17
mik1a
(a) No they won't
(b) Because It's revision for me
(c) because I got at least 7 reps from the last one alone.
(b) Because It's revision for me
(c) because I got at least 7 reps from the last one alone.
Why wont they know this? Revision is typing out shit from a revision guide?
Reply 8
8
Nice of you to do another one of these threads, unfortunately, most of this stuff isn't on my syllabus (since I'm doing OCR). Oh well, I'm sure it will help lots of people.
Reply 9
mik1a
I don't know. We did our practical exam last wednesday, but that was unit 3 and I don't know if I'll bother with all 4 topics. I might outline astrophysics if other people are doing it.
I might outline astrophysics if other people are doing it.oops ive just realised this isnt for the practical exam, its for all the AS units...sorry!
edit: do an astro one, i havent read my notes since last year lol, it would be v helpful!!
Reply 10
im doing salters horners physics for AS... anyone can type anything bout it?
Reply 11
john !!
OP
14
imasillynarb
Why wont they know this? Revision is typing out shit from a revision guide?
Well this isn't shit, it's called physics and I believe you studied it last year as well. Secondly, like I said most of it was from memory, so yes it is revision.
Reply 12
thanks lots...it helps!!!
Reply 13
imasillynarb
Why wont they know this? Revision is typing out shit from a revision guide?
And to be fair, typing out stuff always helps me learn it.
Reply 14
Thanks a lot for this good tool.
Reply 15
thanx 4 the notes!
I might try something similar with unit 2 if i get round 2 it!
but while we're on the topic of physics revision, can anyone plz elp me with this question?
A uniform thin tube, sealed at one end, contains a thread of mercury which traps a column of dry air (see attachment for pic)
the length of the column of air changes whrn the tube is inverted. in each case the mercury exetert a pressure of 0.2 x 10^5 Pa and at,ospheric pressure is 1 x 10^5 Pa
what is the pressure of the tube
i) when the tube is upright
no problem, its just pressure of mercury + atmospheric.
ii)when tube is inverted
apparantly the answer is atmospheric - mercury pressure, but i don't understand how the mercury can exert a negative pressure! i thought the answer was just atmospheric pressure- 1 x 10^5!
I might try something similar with unit 2 if i get round 2 it!
but while we're on the topic of physics revision, can anyone plz elp me with this question?
A uniform thin tube, sealed at one end, contains a thread of mercury which traps a column of dry air (see attachment for pic)
the length of the column of air changes whrn the tube is inverted. in each case the mercury exetert a pressure of 0.2 x 10^5 Pa and at,ospheric pressure is 1 x 10^5 Pa
what is the pressure of the tube
i) when the tube is upright
no problem, its just pressure of mercury + atmospheric.
ii)when tube is inverted
apparantly the answer is atmospheric - mercury pressure, but i don't understand how the mercury can exert a negative pressure! i thought the answer was just atmospheric pressure- 1 x 10^5!
Reply 16
*bump*
help, anyone?
help, anyone?
Reply 17
mik1a
Measuring the acceleration of freefall:
Attack a mass to ticker tape, and thread the tape through a ticker timer.
Drop the mass and turn the ticket timer on.
Using the marking on the ticket tape, plot the velocity against 0.02s intervals,
calculating the velocity by dividing each length of the tape (in metres), starting at the mass end, by 0.02.
plot the velocity against time on a graph and take the gradient of the line.
This is equal to the acceleration of freefall.
Attack a mass to ticker tape, and thread the tape through a ticker timer.
Drop the mass and turn the ticket timer on.
Using the marking on the ticket tape, plot the velocity against 0.02s intervals,
calculating the velocity by dividing each length of the tape (in metres), starting at the mass end, by 0.02.
plot the velocity against time on a graph and take the gradient of the line.
This is equal to the acceleration of freefall.
why not just use the magnetic method ? ... switch of the magnet the ball falls ... time is recorded automatically ....
vasy the distance and record times ...
draw a graph of distance by the time squared
x = (1/2)(g)(t^2)
the gradient is 0.5g ... multiply by 2 ... ull get gravity
ill attach a simple circuit diagram later
Reply 18
john !!
OP
14
I know it but we weren't taught it. Why not this one.
Reply 19
sorry if the thing is bad ... didnt have enuf time ... just did it during a dinner break from astrophys 
....
thnks for the liust though .... i almost forgot to learn the gas law experiments
.... thnks for the liust though .... i almost forgot to learn the gas law experiments
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