Physics Notes

v−u ∆ velocity
Acceleration ms-2 -Rate of change of velocity a= =
t time ( s )
 In speed-time graph, acceleration is found in its gradient/slope.
mass m
Density= p=
volume v
Hooke’s Law -extension of spring is directly proportional to force applied
 Force=spring constant x extension
Newton’s second law of motion – resultant force acting on an object is proportional to the mass of object and
acceleration.
 Resultant force caused by change of velocity, acceleration, momentumeffi
 Force= mass x acceleration f=ma
Turning effect – Moment(NM) =Force x distance M=fd
Momentum(kg*m/s)- M=mass x velocity
Kinetic energy -energy from movement
1
 K.E (j)= mv2
2
Gravitational potential energy -energy from object moving away from earth
 G.P.E =mass x gravity x change in height
Energy cannot be created nor destroyed
Work is movement against an opposing force
 Work done(j) = force x distance
Power is rate at which energy is used
energy transfered (work )
 Power(W) =
time
 Power will be greatest when it has the shortest time taken
Pressure is force exerted per unit area
force
 Pressure (Pa) =
area
Pressure in liquids:
 Spread equally
 Acts in all direction
 Pressure = density x gravity x height
Browmian Motion-when particles are seen moving randomly, constantly hit by other fast-moving particles
-Random molecular bombardment by other smaller particles

Evaporation- process by which liquids turns to gas below boiling point

 Particles nearest to surface have enough kinetic energy to escape from liquid
 After escaping, this reduces the average K.E of the remaining particles
Factors for evaporation:
 Temperature- increases rate of evaporation by giving more K.E to particles
 Surface area- more surface, more molecules able to escape
 Wind speed- more wind means less water vapour in the air
 Humidity- decreases capacity of air to hold water vapour
 Atmospheric pressure- particles require more K.E to escape
Boyle’s Law- Pressure is inversely proportional to Volume
Particles will less often collide with the walls, decreasing pressure
P1V1=P2V2
Thermal expansion in objects:
 Heat applied, temperature increases (Average K.E increases)
 Particles vibrate more violently and take up more space
 Determined by type of atom

Thermal capacity- energy required to raise the temperature by 1℃

Object with higher thermal capacity requires more energy to raise its temperature
Energy= mass x Specific heat capacity x change in temp
Any pure substances undergoing change in state will have an energy input where there is no temp change
Conduction- particles in solids vibrate more when heated, passing vibrations to other particles, whilst spreading heat
 Metals are good conductors of heat since they have delocalized electrons which can carry K.E
throughout the metal

Convection- Transfer of heat in a fluid by movement of the fluid itself

1. When heated, water expands, becoming less dense and so rises

2. Water begins to cool and pushed away by the hotter water
3. Since its colder, it is denser and so sinks
4. Cool water takes place of the rising water

Radiation- Transfer of heat through infrared (electromagnetic spectrum), which can move through vacuum

 Matte black surfaces emit and absorb the most heat

 Silvery surfaces emit and absorb the least amount of heat, but reflects the most

Waves transfer energy through periods and oscillations

 Wave speed= frequency x wavelength

Amplitude- maximum displacement from equilibrium of a wave

Refraction:

 When water reaches a shallower area, it slows down and bends more
 Speed and wavelength decreases but frequency stays the same

Diffraction:

 Wave fronts become curved

 Wavelength ,frequency, speed stays
the same
 Maximum diffraction when gap =
wavelength

Reflection of light:

 Image same size as object

 Laterally inverted
 Image is virtual ( cannot be projected to screen)

Refraction:

 As rays enter the object, it slows and bends towards

normal
 As the ray exits the block, it speeds up and bends away
from normal
 Frequency stays the same,only speed and wavelength

Refractive index- degree to which light refracts when entering or exiting a medium

sin i speed of light ∈ vacuum 1

N= = = where c is critical anglep
sin r speef of light ∈medium sin❑ c
Critical angle- the greatest angle which light can hit boundary between two mediums without being totally reflected
 When incident angle exceeds critical angle, total internal reflection occurs

Dispersion of light- when white light spreads out into colours of the spectrum, showing individual frequencies

Light with lower frequency travels faster in glass

 Red refracts the least and is fastest

 Violet refracts the most and is slowest

All electromagnetic waves can travel through vacuum at 3x108ms-1

Radio: used in telecommunications

Microwave: for rapid heating, sending satellite signals

Infrared: Produced by hot objects, burglar alarms, remote controllers

Visible: Optic fibers

Ultraviolet: sterilization

X-rays: medical diagnosis of bones, security detectors

Gamma rays: radiotherapy, kill cells and sterilization

 Violet has highest frequency but smallest

Wavelength
 Red has lowest frequency but highest
wavelength

Vibrating objects produce sound by vibrating air molecules:

-Compression: higher pressure where particles are closer together

-Rarefraction: lower pressure where particles are further apart

 Sound waves are longitudinal which require a medium to travel, it is fastest in solids, cannot travel through
vacuum
 We hear sounds from 20Hz up to 20000Hz
 Sound can be reflected to produce an echo

 Transverse waves are a wave in which the vibrating element moves in a direction perpendicular to the direction
of advance of the wave
 Longitudinal waves are waves in which the direction of propagation aligns with the direction of vibration of the
medium
Induced magnetism:

 When a permanent magnet attracts an magnetic material, domains of the material will be arranged and line up
and becomes a temporary magnet
 When the permanent magnet is removed , the domains will be unarranged and demagnetize

Iron:
 Easier to magnetise
 Used in electromagnets and transformers

Steel:

 Harder to magnetize and retains its magnetism

 Used in permanent magnets

An electric field is a region in which an electric charge experiences a force

- Measured in coulombs (C)

- Objects can become charged through static electricity
- Electrons are transferred to the object and thus
become negatively charged
- It can then get attracted to positive charges
 Positive charges are stationary, only electrons
move
 Conductors allow electrons to flow through them, they
have electrons that can flow through the structure
 Insulators do not have mobile electrons

Current is rate of flow of charge

Current= charge x time Q=IT

 Current flows from negative to positive terminal

 Conventional current flows from positive to negative
 Measured using ammeter in series to circuit

Electromotive force is energy per unit charge supplied by a source to drive charge round a complete circuit

energy
E.M.F =
charge
Resistance is the measure of how difficult it is for an electric current to flow through a material or circuit

Resistance =p.d/current R=V/I

Resistance of a wire:

ρL
R=
a
Power is rate of which energy is used

Power= voltage x current P=IV

Series circuits:

 Current same at any point

 Voltage is shared
 Rtotal=R1+R2

Parallel circuits:

 Current is divided to each of the branches equally

 Each component receives same amount of voltage as the supply
1 1 1
 + =
R 1 R 2 Total R
Potential dividers is part of a circuit containing two resistors in series to obtain a smaller voltage output

R1=V 1
R2 V 2

 It depends on the ratio of the 2 resistors’ resistance

 If R1 increases in resistance,R2 will have less share of the voltage and so Vout
will be lesser
 Vout = Vin × R2 / (R1 + R2)

Dangers of electricity:

 Damaged insulation, causing shock if touched

 Overheating cables due to excessive current, can cause fire
 Damp condition can cause short circuits

Fuses are deliberate weak points in a circuit

- If current gets too high and too hot, the thin piece of metal will melt and break the circuit
- Double insulated wires don’t need earth wire as it provides sufficient insulation

The cutting of magnetic field lines in a coil induces an E.M.F through the coil

Lenz’s Law:

- Direction of induced current opposes the change producing it

 When moving North pole in, the direction of induced current is such that it produces an N pole to repel the
magnet
 Moving it out will cause the direction of induced current to be an
South pole, attracting it

A.C generator:

1. As coil spins, one side of wire cuts up the magnetic field

lines, inducing E.M.F, causing current to flow
 2. When the coil becomes vertical, the same side now cuts down, this changes the direction of induced
E.M.F and alternating Current
3. Uses Fleming’s right hand rule

Transformers:

 Alternating input voltage produces an alternating current in

primary coil, causing alternating magnetic field in the core
 The alternating magnetic field induces an alternating E.M.F in the
secondary coil
 Step down transformers have less coils on the output
 Step up transformers have more coils on the output

Voltage∈secondary = Number of turns∈second

Voltage∈ Primary Number of turns∈second

Input power = Output power if transformer is 100% efficient

VpIp = VsIs
Transformers are used to transfer electricity from power station

- More voltage will use less current

- Transferring energy at low current reduces energy lost as it produces heat, this will be more efficient

 Coils in the magnetic field carries current, there is a

force on each side of the coil
 Split ring commutator is to reverse the direction of
current in a coil every half turn, ensuring that the coil
rotates continuously in the same direction
 Commutator turns with the coil, every time the coil
reaches a vertical position or a half turn , the two
sides of the commutator swap brushes and counter-
reverse the current , this allows coil to keep spinning
in the same direction
 Fleming’s left hand rule

 Cathode produces electrons when heated

 Electrons are repelled away from the negative

cathode
  The electrons then are deflected by the plates to change direction

Alpha particles (positively charged):

 Are helium-4 particles
 Weak penetration power
 Strongly ionizes, can knock electrons out of atom, can cause mutations and kills cells
 Deflected by electric and magnetic fields
 It flows the same direction as current ( use fleming’s left hand rule)

Beta particles:
 Medium penetration power
 Weakly ionizing
 Strongly deflected by electric and magnetic fields
Gamma rays:
 High frequency high energy electromagnetic waves
 Strong penetration power
 Very weak ionization
 Not deflected by any fields
Radioactive decay- breakdown of unstable nuclei
 Half life of a radioisotope is the time taken for half of the nuclei to decay or activity to be halved
 Probability of an unstable nucleus decaying is constant and not affected by time

Stable star is a balanced by inward gravitational force and radiation pressure, not collapsing nor expanding
Light year is the distance that light travels through space in one year
- 3 x 108 metres per second
How star is born:
1. Creation of protostar
2. Stars are formed form a cloud made up of gas and dust particles
3. Gravitational attraction between molecules in cloud causes it to gather together and begin transfer of energy
4. G.P.E converted to Kinetic energy as particles are pulled together
5. Kinetic energy is then converted to thermal energy as molecules collide
6. These clumps contracts to become a spinning sphere of super hot gas called protostar
7. It then begins to grow as it attracts more material to the protostar
8. It will become stable once the inward gravitational force is balanced by the outward force from nuclear fusion

Radiation pressure is the outward force due to the high temp

of the sun

Life cycles of a small star:

1. As the star exhausts its hydrogen fuel, its nuclear fusion

slows down
2. This decreases radiation pressure and causes it to
contract in size
3. This converts the G.P.E to be converted to thermal energy
4. The core will become hot enough for helium fusion to
occur
5. This causes the outer shell to expand and cool,
transforming it into a red giant.
 6. The outer shell will eventually blow away due to the radiation pressure and will leave a white dwarf with a
planetary nebula
7. The star will shrink to around 1% of its radius and will cool down over time
, becoming a black dwarf

Life cycle of a big star:

1. Massive stars start out with proto stars
2. Their core can be fused with heavier elements such as iron
3. After it runs out of fuel, the star then collapses and explodes as a supernova
4. The supernova explosion distributes the materials into space
5. If the leftover core is less than 3 solar masses, it will form a neutron star where the electrons and protons
combine forming neutrons, due to high gravitational forces
6. A more massive core will collapse and form a black hole, which is very dense and does not let light escape
Spectroscopy:
- Sunlight spectrum has dark lines indicating the wavelengths of light being absorbed due to the sun’s
atmosphere
- The spectrum with absorbtion lines are referred to an absorption spectrum.

Redshift:
- An increased wavelength of electromagnetic radiation due to the star or galaxy moving away from us
- The wave is stretched out

Doppler effect:
- Change of frequency of a wave caused by relative movement between source of wave and observer
- The sound wave is compressed in front of the vehicle as it catches up with it
Hubble’s law:
- Speed of galaxy is directly proportional to amount of redshift
- V=H0 d
Age of universe :
d 1
- =
v H0
- H0 is 2.2 x 1018 per second

Cosmic microwave background radiation:

- Due to the universe expanding and cooling from the big bang, it led to the redshift of the wavelength of the
light that was scattered
- The light that was scattered has expanded over a thousand times of its own wavelength
- The microwave radiation now posseses a temp of 2 726 K (1K= -273celcius)

Additional
Find center of gravity of an irregular object:
1. Suspend object and then draw a vertical line from suspension point
2. Repeat from different points on the object
3. Where the lines intersect is the center of gravity
Resultant force is caused by:
 Change of velocity
 Change of direction
  Change of momentum
Efficiency is less than theoretical value because:
 Wasted energy to other objects
 Thermal energy
Ray of light does not change direction because:
 Passes through normal
 Incident ray is 0 deg
Why microwave is used for telecom:
 Only needs short antennaes
 Not easily blocked
Digital signals:
 A precise way to transmit info by using binary code which is 0’s and 1’s
 Used in computers
Analogue signal:
 Reproduce real world data
 Takes value within a range
Adv of digital signal:
 Faster
 Can travel over long distances
Voltage of battery in potential divider is total voltage from the resistors
In radioactive decay of beta emission, neutrons are converted into a proton and an electron
It is more stable due to having less neutrons in nuclei
Features of a liquid in glass thermometer that are necessary for linearity:
 Constant cross sectional area- so the change in length is same
 Has constant thermal expansion- so liquid moves same distance for each temp increase
Ultrasound is a high frequency wave that cannot be heard by humans, over 2000 hz
Scale diagram is the accurate scale drawing representating the movement
The long line of the cell is positive, the short is negative
Two ways energy is conducted In a metal:
 Delocalised electrons collide with other particles and transfer energy
 Particles of the metal vibrate and transfer the energy to other nearby particles by also vibrating
kWH is the amount of energy transferred to power something for one hour
1 second is 1000ms
Potential difference is energy transferred per unit charge and the energy transferred in passing charge through an
component.
Redshift is the increased wavelength of an ray due to galaxy moving farther away , used to calculate speed
F=mg is used to calculate the max mass that a force can lift from the ground
Wi-fi used microwaves
High voltage increase efficiency of transmission even with thinner wires:
 Higher voltage means less current
 Current cause heat and thus wasted energy causing power loss
 Thinner wires have higher resistance cauing power loss, high voltage helps counteract this
Conclusions about nuclei of atoms are:
 Nucleus very small
 Nucleus positively charges
It takes around a month for the moon to fully orbit earth