A-level Physics (Advancing Physics)

Welcome to the Wikibooks textbook on Physics, designed to contain everything you need to know for the OCR Physics B (Advancing Physics) specification [1]. All sorts of useful documents for this specification are available at http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/as-a-level-gce-physics-b-advancing-physics-h159-h559/ .

All units are assumed to be SI units, unless stated otherwise. Diagrams can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Chapters are probably marked as 75% complete () because they are complete, but may require some attention. Please look at these and check them!

Contents

AS notes

Physics in Action

Optics

• Lenses
• Refraction

Communication

• Digital Storage
• Digital Processing
• Digitisation
• Signal Frequencies
• Bandwidth

Electricity

• Charge
• Current
• Voltage
• Power
• Resistance and Conductance
• Internal Resistance
• Potential Dividers
• Sensors
• Resistivity and Conductivity
• Semiconductors

Material Structure

• Stress, Strain & Young's Modulus
• Metals
• Polymers

Understanding Processes

Waves

• What is a wave?
• Phasors
• Standing Waves
• Young's Slits
• Diffraction
• Finding the Distance of a Remote Object

Quantum Physics

• Light as a Quantum Phenomenon
• Quantum Behaviour
• Electron Behaviour as a Quantum Phenomenon

Mechanics

• Vectors
• Graphs
• Kinematics
• Forces and Power (and Energy and Work Done)
• Fluid dynamics

Physics in Practice

Quality of Measurement

• Data Handling

A2 Exams

Rise and Fall of the Clockwork Universe

Decay

• Exponential Relationships
• Capacitors
• Radioactive Decay
• Half-lives

Gravity

• Gravitational Forces
• Gravitational Fields
• Gravitational Potential Energy
• Gravitational Potential

Mechanics

• Simple Harmonic Motion
• Energy in Simple Harmonic Motion
• Damping
• Resonance
• Conservation of Momentum
• Forces and Impulse in Collisions
• Rockets, Hoses and Machine Guns
• Circular Motion

Astrophysics

• Radar and Triangulation
• Large Units
• Orbits
• Doppler Effect
• Big Bang Theory

Temperature

• Heat and Energy
• Specific Heat Capacity
• Ideal Gases
• Kinetic Theory
• Boltzmann Factor

Field and Particle Physics

Magnetic Fields

• Flux
• Induction
• Force
• Transformers
• Motors
• Generators

Electric Fields

• Electric Force
• Electric Field
• Electric Potential
• Electric Potential Energy

Particle Physics

• The Standard Model
• Quarks
• Bosons
• Leptons
• Millikan's Experiment
• Pair Production and Annihilation
• Particle Accelerators
• Cloud Chambers and Mass Spectrometers

Nuclear Physics

• Quantum Principles
• Radioactive Emissions
• Energy Levels
• Fission
• Fusion
• Binding Energy
• Risks, Doses and Dose Equivalents