Unit 1 - Forces and motion

Speed and velocity

Speed and velocity both simply say how fast you’re going, and both are measured in m/s ( or km/h
or mph). However they have differences as well.
- Speed is how fast you’re going with no regard to the direction. Velocity however must also
have the direction specified.
- This means that you can have objects travelling at a constant speed with a changing
velocity. This happens when the object is changing direction whilst staying at the same
speed.
Average speed = distance moved / time taken
- The formula above can also be used to calculate velocity.
Acceleration:
- Acceleration is how quickly the velocity is changing.
- This change in velocity can be a change in speed to change in direction or both.
2
- The unit for acceleraition is m/s

Formula 1:
Acceleration = change in velocity / time taken

Formula 2:
2 2
𝑉 = 𝑢 + 2as
V = final velocity
U = initial velocity
S = distance travelled while accelerating
a = acceleration

Scaler and vector quantities:

- Vector quantities have 2 characteristics a magnitude and a direction
- Scalar quantities have only a magnitude.

Scalar Vector

Distance Displacement

Speed Velocity

Mass Weight

Energy Acceleration

Density Force
 Power Pressure

length , area, volume Momentum

Time Gravity

Temperature Drag

Work Impulse

Distance-time graphs:
Distance-time graphs tell you how far something has travelled
The different parts of a distance-time graph describe the motion of an object:
- The gradient (slope) at any point gives the speed
of the object
- Flat sections are where it stopped
- A steeper graph means its going faster
- Curves represent acceleration
- A curve getting steeper means it’s speeding up
(increasing gradient)
- A levelling off curve means it’s slowing down
(decreasing gradient)
- You can calculate the average speed by dividing
the total distance by time e.g in this graph it would be 500/80= 6.25 m/s

Velocity-time graph:
- Velocity time graphs can have a positive or negative gradient.
- How an object’s velocity changes over time can be plotted on a velocity-time graph.
- Gradient = acceleration = vertical / horizontal
- Flat sections represent steady speed
- The steeper the graph the greater the acceleration or deceleration
- Uphill sections (/) are acceleration
- Downhill sections (\) are deceleration
- The area under any part of the graph is equal to
the distance travelled in that time interval.
- A curve means changing acceleration
- E.g: Acceleration represented by the first
section of this graph is acceleration = gradient
= vertical / horizontal = 30/20 = 1.5 m/s^2
- Speed can be found by reading the value off the
velocity axis
 - E.g: The distance travelled between t=80 s and t= 100s is equal to the shaded area, which is
equal to 50 m/s x 20 s = 1000 m
-
Mass, Weight and Gravity:
Weight = mass x gravitational field strength
W= m x g
- Weight is measured in newtons (N)
- Mass is measured in kilograms (kg)
- Gravity (earth's gravitational field strength) is measured in N/kg and gravity on earth
will always stay the same at 10 N/kg

Gravity: gravity is the force of attraction between all masses.

- On the surface of a planet it makes all things accelerate towards the ground (all
2
with the same acceleration, g, which is about 10 m/s on Earth)
- Gravity gives everything a weight
- It keeps planets, moons and satellites in their orbits. The orbit is a balance between
the forward motion of the object and the force of gravity pulling it inwards.
Weight
- Caused by the pull of gravity.
- An object’s weight is based on the force of gravity on the mass of the object.
- The weight will be different on the moon or on the earth unlike the mass. This is because
gravity is not the same everywhere e.g on earth and moon.
- Weight is force measured in newtons. It is measured using a spring balance or a Newton
meter.

Mass
- Mass is the amount of matter in an object. For any given object this will have the same
value anywhere in the universe.
- Mass is not a force. It is measured in kilograms with a mass balance.

Forces and friction

Force is simply a push or a pull and there are several types of forces:
- Gravity or weight: close to a planet. This acts straight downwards.
- Reaction force: acts perpendicular to a surface and away from it (so if the surface is
horizontal, the reaction force acts straight upwards)
- Electrostatic force: between 2 charged objects. The direction depends on the type of
charge (like charges repel, opposite charges attract)
- Thrust: push or pull due to an engine or rocket speeding something up.
- Drag or air resistance or friction which is slowing the thing down
 - Tension in a rope or cable
- Spring force

Forces acting on a body

- Any object with weight feels a reaction force back from the surface it's on.
Otherwise it would keep falling.
- When an object moves in a fluid (air, water, etc) it feels drag in the
opposite direction to its motion.
➔ Friction is always there to slow things down.
- If an object has no force propelling it along, it will always slow down
and stop because of friction. Friction is a force that opposes motion.
- To travel at a steady speed, things always need a driving force to counteract the
friction.
- In a fluid friction always increases as the speed increases

Friction occurs in 3 main ways

- Friction between solid surfaces which are gripping
- Friction between solid surfaces which are sliding past each other
● This type of friction can be reduced by putting a lubricant like oil or grease
between the surface. Friction between solids can often cause wear of the 2 surfaces
in contact.
- Resistance or drag from fluids
● The most important factor in reducing drag in fluids is keeping the shape of the
object's streamlines. E,g. lorries and caravans have deflectors on them to make
them more streamlined and reduce drag.
Combined forces and /interaction forces:
- When there are multiple forces acting on an object, it’s often useful to know the
resultant force acting on the object.
- To workout the resultant force you need to combine vectors
- Force is an interaction between two or more bodies that when unopposed causes a
change in the state of motion of the objects. So in the definition of force itself, it
explicitly states that force is something that causes a change in the state of motion.
Interaction of forces can also be thought of as a push or a pull.
-
Three laws of motion or newtons law
First law: Law of inertia
An object at rest, or at a constant motion, will remain the same until an external unabalnced force
acts on it. If the forces on an object are all balanced, then it will stay still, or else if it’s already
moving it will continue to move at the same velocity.
Second law: Law of momentum
If there is an unbalanced force, the object will accelerate in that direction.
- The overall unbalanced force is often called the resultant force
- An unbalanced force acts on an object: the direction of the object's acceleration is the same
as the direction of the unbalanced force. the magnitude of the object's acceleration varies
in direct proportion with the size of the unbalanced force
- An unbalanced (or resultant) force always produce acceleration or deceleration
- This acceleration can take 5 different forms, starting, stopping, speeding up, slowing
down, changing direction.
- You get steady speed from balanced forces
- On a force diagram, the arrows will be unequal if there is a resultant (unbalanced) force.
Like the image shown below:

- The bigger the force, the greater the

acceleration or deceleration
- The bigger the mass, the smaller the acceleration
- To get a big mass to accelerate as fast as a small mass it needs a bigger force.
- Basically any resultant force will produce acceleration. The formula for this is:
Force = mass x acceleration (F= ma) (F is always the resultant force)
- In most situations there are at least 2 forces acting on an object along any direction.
- The overall effect of these forces will decide the motion of the object - whether it will
accelerate, decelerate or stay at a steady speed.
- Linear momentum = mass x velocity
P= m x v (kg m/s)

Third law: Law of action and reaction

If object A exerts a force on object B then object B exerts an equal and opposite force on object A.
- That means if you push something, it will push back against you, just as hard.

- The Third Law says that forces come in pairs. When an

object A exerts a force on object B, object B exerts an equal
and opposite force on object A.
 - Whenever two objects interact, they exert equal and opposite forces on each other. This is
often worded as 'every action has an equal and opposite reaction'.

Terminal velocity
- Moving objects can reach a terminal velocity
- Frictional forces increase with speed - but only up to a certain point.
- When an object first starts to fall, it has much more force accelerating it than resistance
slowing it down.
- As its velocity increases, the resistance builds up
- This resistance force gradually reduces the acceleration until eventually the resistance
force is equal to the accelerating force. At this point, the object won’t be able to accelerate
anymore. It will have reached its maximum velocity or terminal velocity.

- The terminal velocity of an object

depends on their shape and area.
- The accelerating force acting on all
falling objects is gravity and it would
make them all accelerate at the same
rate, if it wasn’t for air resistance.
- Air resistance causes things to fall at
different speeds, and the terminal of any object is determined by its drag compared to its
weight. The drag depends on
its shape and area.

Hooke's law
Hooke’s law says that extension is proportional to force.
- Then length of unstretched metal wire is called its natural length, l
- If a metal wire is supported at the top and then a weight attached to the bottom, it
stretches. The weight pulls down with force F, producing an equal and opposite force at
the support.
 - Robert Hooke discovered in 1676 that the extension of a stretched wire is proportional to
the load, or force. This relationship is now called Hooke’s law.
- A metal spring (or other object) will also obey Hooke’s law if a pair of opposite forces are
applied to each end.
- Hooke’s law can be investigated with a spring:

- There is a limit to the force you can apply for hooke’s law to stay true.
- The graph shows force against extension for a typical metal wire.
- The first part of the graph shows hooke’s law being obeyed - there is a straight
line relationship between force and extension.
- When the force becomes great enough, the graph starts to curve.
- The point marked E on the graph is called the elastic limit. If you increase the force past
the elastic limit, the material will be permanently stretched. When the force is removed,
the material will be longer than at the start.
- Some materials, like rubber, only obey Hooke’s law for really small extensions.
- If a material returns to its original shape once the forces are removed, it displays elastic
behaviour.
- Metals display elastic behaviour as long as Hooke’s law is obeyed.

Stopping distances
Many factors affect the total stopping distance:
- The stopping distance of a car is the distance covered in the time between the driver first
spotting a hazard and the car coming to a complete stop.
- The distance it takes to stop a car is divided into thinking distance and the braking
distance
 - Stopping distance = thinking distance + braking distance
➔ Thinking distance:
- This is the distance the car travels in the time between the driver noticing the hazard and
applying the brakes.
➔ Its affected by 2 main factors:
- How fast you’re going - whatever your reaction time, the faster you’re going, the
further you’ll go.
- Your reaction time - this is affected by things like tiredness, drugs, alcohol, and old
age. Inexperience can also affect your reaction time.
➔ Braking distance:
- The distance the car travels during its deceleration whilst the brakes are being
applied.
➔ Its affected by 4 main factors:
- How fast you’re going - the faster you’re going the further it takes to stop
- The mass of the vehicle - with the same brakes, the larger the mass of a vehicle, the
longer it takes to stop.
- How good your brakes are - all breaks must be checked and maintained regularly.
Worn or faulty brakes will affect your braking distance.
- How good the grip is - this depends on 3 things: road surface, weather conditions,
and tyres.

Motion:
Momentum: mass x velocity
- The greater the mass of an object the greater its velocity, the more momentum the object
has.
- Momentum is a vector quantity - it has size and direction.
- Momentum before = momentum after
- Momentum is conserved with no external forces acting - total momentum after is the same
as it was before.
- When a force acts on an object, it causes change in momentum.
- Force (N) = change in momentum (kg m/s) / time (s)
- A larger force means a faster change in momentum and so greater acceleration
- If someone's momentum changes very quickly the forces on the body will be very large,
and more likely to cause injury.
- This is why cars are designed to slow people down over a longer time when they crash - the
longer it takes for a change in momentum, the smaller the force resulting in less severe
injuries
- Crumple zones crumple on impact, increasing the time taken for the car to stop.
 - Seat belts stretch slightly, increasing the time taken for the wearer to stop. This reduces
the forces acting on the chest.
- Airbags also slow you down more gradually.
- the quantity of motion of a moving body, measured as a product of its mass and velocity.

A moment is the turning effect and centre of gravity:

Moment (Nm) = force (N) x perpendicular distance (m) between line of action and pivot
- The force on the spanner causes a turning effect or moment on the nut. A larger force
would mean a large moment.
- To get the maximum moment (or turning effect) you need to push at right angle
(perpendicular) to the spanner.

Unit 2 - Electricity

Charges
Protons: positive charge
Neutrons: neutral charge
Electrons: negative charge

Positive vs positive repel

Negative vs negative repel
Positive vs negative attract: occurs due to electrostatic attraction between the two charges.

Particles in charged materials

Positive: more protons than electrons.
Electrons: more electrons than protons.

Van de Graff generator

How does it work?
A motor is started which creates friction with a cotton roll and a teflon roller which is more likely
to gain electrons and at the top there is an aluminium roller which is more likely to lose electrons.
The roll is a relatively neutral charged substance.

The top of the generator is positively charged as protons are released from a neutrally charged
area. The bottom of the generator is negatively charged as electrons are released except the
elecrtons are harnessed or kept in one area. The dome gains a positive charge and attracts the
electrons from the electric field around the dome.

Charge is the rate of flow of electrical charge (in amperes, A) around a circuit.
- In a solid metal conductor like copper wire, charge is carried by electrons.
 - Charge = current x time
- Charge is measured in Coulombs (c)

Current(I):
Unit: ampere (amp for short) A
- Current is the rate of flow of charge around the circuit.
- Current will only flow through a component if there is a voltage across that component.
- The flow of current goes from the positive terminal to the negative terminal.
- Electrons go in the opposite direction of the current’s flow.

Conventional vs Electron flow

Conventional Electron

- The flow of positive charges. - The flow of negative charges.

- The electrons go from the positive to - The electrons go from negative to
the negative terminal. positive terminal, so the current
- Current goes from negative to positive. flows in the opposite direction.
- The flow that people believed that - The current belief of how current
circuits had before. flows.
Conventional flow: positive charge flows from positive to negative terminal
Electron flow: negative charge flows from negative to positive terminal

Voltage (V)
Unit: Volt, V
- Voltage is what drives the current round the circuit. Voltage is
also known as potential difference (p.d)

Resistance:
Unit: ohms (Ω)
- Resistance slows the flow down (flow of current).
- If you add more components to the circuit (one after the other)
there will be a higher overall resistance.
- The voltage tries to push the current around the circuit and the
resistance is opposing it. The relative size of the voltage and
resistance decide how big the current will be
- Current is directly proportional to voltage and indirectly
proportional to resistance.

Components of a circuit
 - Ammeter: measures the current (in amps). Connected in series only.
- Voltmeter: Measures the voltage (volts). Must be connected in parallel to components
(e.g bulb).
- Cell: electrical power supply
- Battery: 2 or more cells joined together
- Switch: disconnects and connects the circuit.
- Bulb/lamp: a component of a circuit that lights up. Connected in series.
- Resistor: implements a fixed resistance to the circuit to restrict flow of current. Connected
in series.
- Variable resistor: changing resistance implemented to circuit
- Thermistor: A thermistor is a resistance thermometer, or a resistor whose resistance is
dependent on temperature.
- Light dependent resistor (LDR): detect light & change the operation of a circuit dependent
upon the light levels.
- Diode: A diode is a device that allows current to flow in one direction but not the other.
- Light emitting diodes (LED): emits light when an electric current is passed through it.
- Fuse: A fuse is an electrical safety device that operates to provide overcurrent protection of
a circuit. It breaks and disconnects the circuit when the amount of amperes exceeds the
limit.

Important points
- This very basic circuit is used for testing components, and for getting current-voltage (I-V
graph) graphs for them.
- The variable resistor allows you to take several pairs of readings from the ammeter and
voltmeter. You can then plot these values for current and voltage on an I-V graph.
- The UK mains electricity supply is approximately 230 volts.
- Transformers can only use AC.
- A.C = constantly changes direction (mains supply)
- D.C = one direction only (batteries, cells)

Resistance
Voltage = current x resistance
- The gradient (slope) of an I-V graph shows the behavior of the component’s resistance.
- Steeper the graph, the lower the resistance.
- A straight-line graph has a constant gradient and shows a constant resistance. If the graph
curves, it means the resistance is changing.

Factors that affect resistance include

❏ Material: e.g copper has a lower resistance than steel
❏ Length: longer wires have greater resistance
 ❏ Thickness/CSA: smaller diameter wires have a greater resistance
❏ Temperature: heating a wire increases its resistance
ma

Resistivity formula: [µ x L (cm/m)] ÷ A How to calculate total resistance:

A - cross sectional area Series
L - length R1 + R2 = Rt
µ - resistivity
Parallel
1/R1 + 1/R2 = 1/Rt

Current-voltage graphs show how the current varies as you change the voltage:

Formulas for electricity:

Energy (Joules): Power (Watts) x Time (Seconds)
Power (W): Current (A) x Voltage (V)
Power (W): A2 x Resistance (Ω)
Charge (Coulombs): A x T
Energy (J): V x Coulombs

Unit 3 - Energy sources and energy transfer

Energy is defined as the “ability to do work.
Energy is measured in joules
Energy (joules) = power (watts) x time (sec)
Kinetic energy (KE)
- stored energy when an object is at motion
KE= 1/2 x mass x velocity^2
KE= 1/2 x mass x speed^2
Gravitational potential energy (GPE):
Anything in a gravitational field (i.e anything which can fall).

GPE = mass x gravity x height

Energy unit is joules

Mechanical energy: it is the sum of potential energy and kinetic energy.

Mechanical energy = Potential energy + kinetic energy

Different forms of energy:

- Thermal - any object - the hotter it is, the more energy it has in this store.
- Chemical - anything that can release energy by a chemical reaction e.g. food/fuels.
- Elastic potential - anything stretched, like springs and rubber bands.
- Electrostatic - e.g. two charges that attract or repel each other
- Magnetic - e.g. two magnets that attract or repel each other
- Nuclear - atomic nuclei release energy from this store in nuclear reactions.

Energy can be transferred between stores in four main ways:

- Mechanically - an object moving due to force acting on it e.g pushing, pulling stretching,
squashing
- Electrically - a charge moving through a potential difference e.g. charges moving round a
circuit.
- By heating / thermally: energy transferred from a hotter object to a colder object, e.g.
heating water on a hob.
- By radiation: energy transferred e.g. by light/sound waves, e.g. energy from the Sun
reaching Earth as light.

Principle of conservation of energy:

State the Law of conservation of energy: Energy can neither be created nor destroyed but it can
only be transferred from one form to another.

Most energy transfers involve some losses.

- Energy is only useful when it is transferred from one store to a useful store.
- Some of the input energy is always lost or wasted, often to thermal energy stores by
heating. For example, a motor will transfer energy to its kinetic energy store (useful) but it
will also transfer to the thermal energy stores of the motor and the surroundings (wasted).
- The law of conservation of energy means that:
Total energy output = useful energy output + wasted energy
 - The less energy that’s wasted the more efficient the device is.

You can calculate efficiency of an energy transfer with the following formula:

Efficiency= useful energy output / total energy output x 100%

- The total amount of energy stays the same. Which means the energy is still there but it
can't be easily used or collected back in. This means that even if the energy is wasted it
will still be there but won’t be useful.

Energy transfers: Some examples of energy transfers are include

A ball rolling up a slope

Energy is transferred mechanically from the kinetic energy store of the ball to its gravitational
potential energy store. Some energy is transferred mechanically to the thermal energy stores of
the ball and the slope (due to friction), and by heating to the thermal energy stores of the
surroundings - this energy is wasted.

Define specific heat capacity (C): specific heat capacity (C) is defined as the amount of heat
energy required to raise the temperature of 1kg of a substance by 1°Celsius.

E=mc∆T
C=E/m∆T
where
E= energy supplied (Joules)
m= mass of the substance (kg)
c= specific heat capacity (J/kg°C)
∆T= change in temperature (°C)

Renewable energy sources:

- Wind
- Wave
- Tidal
- Solar

Non-renewable energy sources:

- Fossil fuels (coal, gas and oil)
Sankey diagrams:

Power:
Power is defined as the rate of doing electrical work.

Power= electrical energy transferred ÷ time taken

P= E/T = joules/sec or watts 1 watt= 1 joule / 1 sec

1 kilowatt = 1000 watts

Transfer of heat:
1. conduction of heat
- transfer of heat energy through solids
- due to vibrations the heat transfers to other molecules in a solid. For example a metal rod, with
one side which is hot and one side which is cold.
2. convection of heat:
- it is the transfer of heat energy through fluids, mainly in liquids or gases
- For example a glass beaker is being heated with water inside. The water molecules at the bottom
will absorb the heat and move upwards and the water molecules that have not absorbed heat will
move down. The molecules at the bottom get heat, and then go up because they are lighter. the
heavier ones (the colder molecules) go down.
-In liquids due to heat molecules vibrate and rotate to transfer energy.
3. radiation of heat:
- it is the transfer of heat through vacuum or a gas

*Conductors are materials that permit electrons to flow freely from particle to particle.

*Insulators are materials that restrict or prevent electrons from flowing freely from particle
to particle.

Unit 4 - Waves
Longitudinal and Transverse

Amplitude (Å) - Distance between the origin and the crest or tough.
Wavelength (λ) - Distance between identical points on consecutive waves.
Frequency (Hz) (Hertz) (ƒ) - Number of waves that pass a point in time.

Types of waves
Longitudinal waves - A wave that moves in the same direction as the direction in which the
particles are moving.
Transverse waves - A wave that moves in a direction at right angles to the way in which the
particles are vibrating.

Mechanical waves - Waves that travel through a medium

Electromagnetic waves - Waves that travel through a vacuum at the same speed

Longitudinal waves Transverse waves

Sound waves Light waves

Ultrasound waves Radio waves

 Seismic P waves Seismic S waves

Formulas:
Wave Speed (v) Frequency x wavelength || v = ƒλ

Wave Speed (v) λ/time period

Frequency 1/time period

Properties of waves
Law of reflection of light
- The angle of incidence against the normal is equal to the angle of reflection.
- An image is formed in the mirror by light rays coming from different parts of an object.
- The image in the mirror would be virtual as it doesn’t have the ability to be projected.
- The image is the same size and distance away from the mirror as the object. It is also
upright and laterally inverted.

Refraction
When light travels from one medium to another
medium the speed of light decreases.
- Bending of light when an object travels from one
medium to another.
- Below 20 Hz, the waves are infrasonic.
- Above 20 kHz, the waves are ultrasonic.
- Infrasonic and ultrasonic waves are unheard by
humans.

Law of refraction of light

Incident medium - the medium in which
light travels to another medium.
Refractive medium - the medium in which
the light gets refracted.

← Image
(i) - angle of incidence
(r) - angle of refraction

Change in the direction of light occurs due to change in the speed of light due to entering the
medium.
The speed can either increase or decrease.
- Even if the speed of light increases or decreases, its speed will never exeed 3 x 108 m/s,
which is the speed of light in a vacuum.
- The more dense an object is, the slower the light passes through it.
- When the ray is perpendicular to the glass, its speed will change, yet its direction will not.
- Only when the ray is at an angle {0 < i < 90} will the direction of the ray change.

Air to glass: ray bends towards the normal.

Glass to air: ray bends away from the normal.

Refractive index (n): describes how fast light travels through a medium.
Speed of light in air and vacuum: C
Speed of light in a medium (glass or water): V

Formula

N air = refractive index of air = 1.00

N glass = refractive index of glass = 1.50
N water/ N oil = refractive index of water or oil = 1.33

Refractive index of glass:

Snell’s law: sin i/sin r = n

angle of incidence / ° angle of refraction / ° Refractive index

0 0 0

15 10 1.49

30 19 1.54

45 28 1.51

60 35 1.51
 75 40 1.50

Dispersion: When you pass a white light through a glass prism it refracts and disperse into a
spectrum of colours (VIBGYOR: Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red).

Violet has the greatest refractive index and therefore deviates the most. Shortest wavelength.
Red has the lowest and deviates the least. Longest wavelength.

The critical angle is the angle of incidence in the denser

medium that results in an angle of refraction of 90º

Sound
Sound is produced by vibrating objects.
A sound wave consists of mechanical vibrations in air and
other substances.

Sound is a longitudinal wave in which the wave energy travels

in the same direction as the particles within the wave vibrate.

Sound waves need a medium to travel (can’t travel through

vacuums (space))
It produces continuous compression and rarefaction.
Rarefaction: reduction in the density of something, especially air or a gas.

Speed of sound
- Speed of sound in air at 0 degrees celsius = 330 m/s
- For every 1 degree increase in temperature speed of sound increases by 0.61 m/sec

If the temperature of the room is 10 degrees C, the sound in air at 20 degree C is

E.g. if a room is 20 degrees C: (0.61*20) + 330= 12.2+330= 342.2 m/s

Sound travels faster in solids compared to liquids and gases. Gas is the least.
Speed of sound in water is 1500 m/sec

Reflection of sound (echo)

The sounds travel 2 times
Speed = distance x 2 / time
speed= 2(d)/t
Distance is calculated as t x s /2

Electromagnetic spectrum
The electromagnetic spectrum is a continuous spectrum of waves which includes the visible
spectrum.
Diffraction: When a wave bends or spreads out from a gap. More significant with low frequency,
long wavelength waves. The diffraction causes the waves to spread.

➔ Gamma rays have high energy, short wavelength and high frequency.
➔ Electromagnetic waves can transfer energy.
➔ All are transverse.
➔ All travel at the same speed through a vacuum.
➔ They can all be reflected, refracted and diffracted.

Extra thing about waves, random from Danya:

Waves are produced due the vibration of particles in a medium. They transfer energy without
transferring the matter.
There are two types of waves:
1. Longitudinal Waves
Example: Sound waves
Particles vibrate parallel to the direction of energy transfer. Particles experience compression and
rarefaction.
2. Transverse Waves
Example: Electromagnetic waves
Particles vibrate perpendicular (90 degrees) to the direction of wave motions
Trough is the maximum downward amplitude and crest is the maximum upward amplitude (
displacement of the medium is at a maximum )
The angle of incidence and the angle of reflection is always the same

Light refraction

Since water is a denser medium, light travels slower through it and is refracted
Measurements
v= wave speed
f= frequency
ƛ= wavelength (lambda)

Law of refraction of light

When light waves travel from a less denser medium ( from air to glass or from air to water) to a
more denser medium, then both the speed of light and wavelength will decrease or vice versa.
Speed of light in air or vacuum= 3.0 x 10⁸ᵐ/second

Refractive index
a dimensionless number that describes how fast light travels through the material.
n= c/v
c= speed of Light in air or vacuum
v= speed of light in a medium in glass or water
air= refractive index of air= 1.00
glass= refractive index of glass= 1.50
water=refractive index of water= 1.33
oil=refractive index of oil= 1.33

Apparent depth
Apparent depth in a medium is the depth of an object in a denser medium as seen from the rarer
medium. Its value is smaller than the real depth.

Hertz:
Infrasonic
Ultrasonic
* Place a glass cuboid and place it on an A4 paper
* Outline the normal and mark a b c d
* Take a protractor on the side a b and draw and exact 90°
* On the opposite side, draw a 90° agains the side c
* Use the 30°, that will be the incident ray
* Connect a ray box and shine the light at 30 degrees
* The light is refracted in the glass cuboid and is smaller than the angle of incidence ( ray of
refraction ) put ur protractor on the normal and measure
* The ray that leaves the glass block is the emergent ray
Shell’s law
Refractive index of glass
N- sin I/ sin e
In this case of the experiment, sin 30°/sin 19°

Dispersion of light:
When you pass a white light through a glass prism it refracts and disperses into a spectrum of
colours ( VIBGYOR)

Critical angle
For a particular angle of incidence when the refracted ray makes 90 to the normal. This angle of
incidence in called as critical angle

sin ϴc= 1/n

ϴc= sin⁻¹( 1/2)

Unit 5: Astronomy
Planets, stars and other things

14 billion years ago: In a super dense ball in space:

- All states of matter were present
- Fundamental forces of nature were present:
1) Gravitational force
2) Electromagnetic force
3) Strong nuclear force (only within the nucleus)
4) Weak nuclear force (within the superdense ball)
- These 4 forces are found in an atom: eg the neutron has more mass than electron, hence
gravitational
 - In orbit, electrons don't stay in orbit. When it goes around the nucleus, it forms
electromagnetic force
- Gravitational force is the weakness, since it depends on the mass of the objects
- These 4 forces caused change in temperature, pressure and friction
THIS CAUSED THE BIG BANG
Time began, 0 second, when the explosion occurred
When the matter was thrown out, the universe was made

Galaxies:
- Consist of billions of stars bound together by the force of gravity
- Constellation: group of stars
- Cluster: group of stars, that join to make Superclusters
- Consist of planets, solar system, meteors, asteroids, commets
Temporary:
- Planetary nebula
- No permanent shape, gaseous cloud
Permanent: galaxy has definite shape
- Spiral galaxies e.g milky way
- Elliptical galaxy e.g andromeda

Kepler's laws of planetary motion

1. Law of orbits: all the planets that revolve around the sun go in an elliptical orbit
with the sun at one of the focus
2. Law of areas: All planets cover equal distances in equal intervals of time.
when planets go around the sun, at some points it is closer and sometimes is further
away.
Perigee: closest distance Apogee: farthest distance

3. Law of time period: the square of a planet’s orbital time, is proportional to its average
distance from the sun cubed.
(Time period)²= (mean distance)³
t²= kR³
t= time period of revolution (one full round); k= Kepler’s constant; R= average distance
between sun and the planet
-
Solar system
Geocentric model: earth is in the center with planets and sun orbiting around it. This was
proposed by ptolemy.
Heliocentric model: sun is in the center of the solar system and everything orbits around the sun.
This model was proposed by copernicus.
Planets in order: (sun) Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune

Things found in space:

Planetesimals: objects formed by dust, rock, and other materials. These are formed while planets
are formed. Due to the mass, some are closer to the sun while others are far away.

Comets: snowballs made up of icy crystals, frozen gases, dust. Size of small town. When it gets
closer to sun, due to the heat, it melts and gas evaporates, causing the long tail. They travel
quickest when close to the sun. When the comet goes behind the sun, you can’t see it

Asteroids: small rocky bodies, not big enough to have gravity and become sphere. mainly found
between mars and jupiter (asteroid belt)

Dwarf planets: objects that orbit the sun and are large enough to become spherical in shape, but
not large enough to be classed as a planet.

Meteors: Known as shooting stars are pieces of dust and debris from space that burn up in earth’s
atmosphere, where they can create bright streaks. Meteor shower is when earth passes through
the dusty trail of comets or asteroids in orbit. Between Earth and Mars
A black hole: a region of a space containing an object of infinite density. The gravitational field
strength of black hole is so large that even light cannot escape from it.
Stars: massive self-luminous celestial body of gas
Planets: A planet is a large celestial body that revolves around the sun in fixed orbits.
Binary stars: 2 stars orbiting around their common center (barycenter). These 2 stars appear
close together in the sky when seen from the earth.
Moons: Moons are natural satellites that orbit a planet. Many planets have moons, and some
planets have many moons - Saturn has more than 50. The Earth has just one moon.

● Gravity provides the force needed to maintain stable orbit of planets around a star and also
of moons and artificial satellites around a planet.
● For an object to remain in a steady, circular orbit it must be travelling at the right speed.
● If the satellite is moving too quickly then the gravitational attraction between the Earth and
the satellite is too weak to keep it in orbit. If this is the case, the satellite will move off into
space.
● If the satellite is moving too slowly then the gravitational attraction will be too strong, and
the satellite will fall towards the Earth.
 ● A stable orbit is one in which the satellite’s speed is just right - it will not move off into
space or spiral into the Earth, but will travel around a fixed path.
● When an object moves in a circle at a constant speed, its direction constantly changes. A
change in direction causes a change in velocity.
● The gravitational attraction between two objects decreases with distance. This means that
the closer the two objects are to each other, the stronger the force of gravity between them.
If the force between them is greater, a greater acceleration will occur.
● The greater the acceleration, the greater the change in velocity - this causes the object to
move faster. This means that objects in small orbits travel faster than objects in large
orbits. In order to change orbital speed, an object must change the radius of its orbit at the
same time, to maintain a stable orbit.

Extra info(solar system):

- The different planets have different properties and conditions. In general, as the distance
from the Sun increases
- weight = mass × gravitational field strength (W=mg)
➔ weight (W) is measured in newtons (N)
➔ mass (m) is measured in kilograms (kg)
➔ gravitational field strength (g) is measured in newtons per kilogram (N/kg)

Life cycle of stars:

Nebula - a cloud of gases and dust. Nebulae are mostly composed of hydrogen. Gravity begins to
pull the dust and gas together.

Protostar - As the mass falls together it gets hot. A star is formed when it is hot enough for the
hydrogen nuclei to fuse together to make helium. The fusion process releases energy, which keeps
the core of the star hot.

Main sequence star- During this stable phase in the life of a star, the force of gravity holding the
star together is balanced by higher pressure due to the high temperatures. The Sun is at this stable
phase in its life.

Stars the same size as our sun:

Red giant star - When all the hydrogen has been used up in the fusion process, larger nuclei begin
to form and the star may expand to become a red giant.

Planetary Nebula - An expanding, glowing shell of hot gas that was once the outershell of the star.
The gravity of the star releases the shell.
White dwarf - When all the nuclear reactions are over and after casting off the outer layer, the
star’s core becomes extremely hot and dense. A small star like the Sun may begin to contract
under the pull of gravity and the remains of the star become an extremely hot white dwarf.

Black dwarf - The white dwarf fades and changes color as it cools to become a black dwarf.

Star larger than our sun:

Red supergiant - This is much hotter and brighter due to its great mass. It fuses hydrogen into
helium and other complex elements much faster and then becomes a red supergiant.

Supernova - At the end of the red supergiant the star rapidly collapses and explodes into a
supernova. A larger star with more mass will go on making nuclear reactions, getting hotter and
expanding until it explodes as a supernova. An exploding supernova throws hot gas into space.

Neutron star or black hole - Depending on the mass at the start of its life, a supernova will leave
behind either a neutron star or a black hole. If it's a higher mass it will become a black hole if it's a
lower mass it will become a neutron star.

- Nuclear fusion takes place in the center of a star. It is born at -173 degrees. This is a
protostar
- Due to gravity (it attracts high nuclei of hydrogen to form a heavier nucleus like helium).
- 4th state of matter: plasma; the temperature is very high
- Has 2 regions: inner and outer core

2 ways the universe will end:

- Big Yawn: (expand into nothingness)
- All the mass of universe is compressed into a singularity, low mass
- Explodes out: the Big Bang
- Continues to expand, does not slow down
- Little mass, low gravity
- All stars will die, and universe is cold and dark
- Big Crunch: (become small again)
- All mass is compressed into singularity, high mass
- Exploses, Big Bang
- Continues to expand, while slowing down y
- Lot of mass, high gravity
- Expansion eventually stops, gravity pulls everything back into singularity
Hubble’s law :
Hubble's law statement: The velocity of the galaxy which is also known as the redshift is directly
proportional to its distance.
Recession velocity: the speed at which the materials move away {v is directly proportional to d)

Formula for hubble's law:

v=H0 d H0=v/d

- H0= Hubble’s constant

- V (velocity): km/sec
- D (distance): mega parsec (Mpc)
- H0 (Hubble’s constant): km/sec/Mpc

Light year (Ly): the distance light travels in 1 year

distance= speed x time speed of light x number of seconds in a year
1 Ly = 9.45 x 10^15 m

1 parsec (1Pc) = 3.26 Ly= 3.08 x 10^16m

1 megaparsec (1MPc) = 1 x 10^6 parsec
1 mpc = 3.08 x 10^22 m

Hubble's constant = 160 km/s per million light years

Drawbacks of hubble's law:

- The galaxies are constantly moving therefore the velocity measured is not 100% accurate
- Galaxy is also orbiting due to gravitational movement (velocity is a vector quantity which
has direction and magnitude. Therefore the direction the galaxy is orbiting is not
commented on hubble's law affecting the accuracy of it)

Example question:
Q1. For some cluster, velocity is measured as v = 10^3 km/s. What is the distance? Assume Hο=
60km/s/Mpc

10^3 = 60 x d
10^3/60=d
16.67 megaparsec (MPc)

Proof of big bang:

CMBR - cosmic microwave background radiation
- The faint glow of light in the universe
 - Falls on earth from every direction with almost uniform intensity
- This light is caused by radiation
- Temperature of about -270°C
- It is the remains of the thermal energy from the Big Bang, and is spread thinly across the
whole universe
Dopplers redshift:
- It is the apparent change in wavelength (colours) of stars when they are in relative motion
to the earth.
- The wavelength of light increases across the spectrum from blue to red
- You can tell if a star or galaxy is moving away from earth if the wavelength increases (red)
and if it's moving towards the wavelength decreases (blue).
- Redshift: spectrum of light is shifted towards the red side from blue and is moving away
from earth
- Blueshift: spectrum of light is shifting towards blue and is moving closer to earth.

Steady state theory:

- Alternate to big bang theory
- The universe is constantly expanding at a constant average density
- Matter is continuously created for new stars and galaxies at the same rate that old ones
become unobservable
- Big bang vs steady state:
- Big bang: all matter was created in one explosive beginning
- Steady state: matter is constantly being created at a constant rate

Gravitational field strength:

Gravitational force per kg
1. G: universal gravitational constant (G=6.67x10^-11 Nm²/ kg
M: mass of the planet
R: radius of the earth; distance between the center of the earth and surface
g= GM/R²
2. Newton’s 2nd law: Force = ma. Take acceleration as gravity. Rearrange to find gravity
F=ma (take a=g) F=mg N/kg^-1
g=f/m

Newton's universal law of gravitation:

Newton’s law of gravitation states that the force of attraction between 2 or more objects is directly
proportional to the product of its masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance
between them.
(if the distance between them is less the gravitational pull is more, but if the distance is more the
gravitational pull is less)
F= (GMm)/R²

M is a planet with higher mass, and m is planet with lower mass

F= gravitational force of attraction
G= gravitational constant=6.67 x 10^-11 Nm^2 kg^-2
R= radius of earth (between the object and the center of the earth)

Or F= (GMm)/d²
d= distance between the centers of both planets
Therefore: F= (GMm)/R^2 {and F=mg}
mg= (GMm)/R^2 | g = (GMm)/R^2 * 1/m
g =GM/R
Example:
9.8x10^-7 = G x 40 x 15 / 0.2^2
9.8x10^-7 = G x 15000
9.8x10^-7/15000 = G
G= 6.53 x 10^-11

Orbital speed of a satellite

R: distance of the satellite from the center of the earth
Radius of earth (Re)=6400km or 6.4 x 10^6 m
S: geostationary satellite
h= distance between earth and satellite
Geostationary: it stays facing one country only. Means it must match the
speed of the earth
V orbit = 2 pi R/T m/sec
R= Re+h: radius of the earth + height
T=time: time period of revolution; time taken for the satellite to go around

Unit 6: Electromagnetism
Induced and permanent magnets
An induced magnet only becomes a magnet when it is placed in a
magnetic field whereas a permanent magnet retains its magnetic
properties when an inducing field or current is absent.
In terms of induced magnets, when current runs through the wire, it creates a magnetic field.
Since current is simply moving electrons, the movement of electrons create a magnetic field, thus
making the previously demagnetized object magnetized.

In terms of permanent magnets, since electrons and nuclei move, it creates a magnetic field. An
object would have the potential to be generally magnetic as they are made of the sums of the
nuclear spins, the electron spins and the orbits of the electrons themselves. However, what makes
a material magnetized is the alignment of electrons and due to this alignment in materials like
cobalt and iron, they are magnetic.

Magnetic materials: iron, cobalt, nickel.

Basics:Magnet is made of iron, nickel, and cobalt

Red: north pole; Blue: south pole

Principle of magnetism:
Like poles repel each other
Unlike poles attract each other

Inside any magnet are free electrons (domains)

Magnetic field lines around a bar magnets
Inside magnet: from south to north
Outside magnet: from north to south

Compass
When you pass current through a compass, the needle moves to become perpendicular. The north
pole is the earth’s magnetic south pole and vice versa. This is because the magnetic field travels
from north to south, so the direction of the compass would be the same. The earth’s magnetic
field allows artificial satellites to carry out a circular motion around the planet.

Hard materials (magnetic) = strong magnets

Soft materials = lose magnetivity easily
Wire = conductor

The magnetic field strength of a long, current-carrying wire is maximum near the wire, and the
field strength is weaker further away from the wire.

Solenoid facts:
 - The strength of the magnet can be manipulated using a soft iron core, adding more coils,
and passing more current through it.
- By adding more coils, the strength of the magnetic field increases and is able to attract
more magnetic items in a farther distance.
- It can be turned on and off.
- Polarity can be switched by changing the direction of the current.
- The larger and stronger the magnetic field, the more magnetic the solenoid/magnet is.

Induction: Electromagnetic or magnetic induction is the production of an electromotive force

across an electrical conductor in a changing magnetic field

Magnetic effects of current:

Magnetic field strength (B) around a long straight current-carrying wire

B= (μ0 N I) ÷ 2piR

μ0: permeability of free space (constant)

N: number of coils
I: current

Left and right hand rules:

Right hand grip rule
Folding of fingers: direction of magnetic field (B)
Thumb: shows the direction of conventional current (I)

Fleming’s left-hand rule

Thumb: the direction of force/m (F)
First finger: direction of magnetic field (B)
Second finger: direction of conventional current (I)

If it is conventional current, left hand is used. If real current is

used, the right hand.
Usually conventional, unless specified
For motor: left hand Flemings
For generator: right hand Flemings

The wire will move towards the direction that the force (thumb)

F= BIL sin θ
F: force experienced by a long current-carrying wire in a uniform magnetic field
B: magnetic field strength
I: current
L: length of wire
Theta: angle between wire and magnetic field
If θ= 90, sin 90 =1, therefore F=BIL

Magnetic field dot and cross

Dot (•): out of page (pointing toward you)
Cross (x): into page (pointing away from you)

Increasing strength of an electromagnet:

1. Increase the number of coils
2. Increase length of the coil
3. Increase the current
4. Lower the resistance
5. Change the material of the wire

Making an electromagnet???

D.C. Motor effect

Principle: changing electrical energy into mechanical energy.
Coil of wire (armature), made of copper wire
Use left hand Fleming’s rule
S1 and S2: Split ring commutator
B1 and B2 carbon brushes for contact

Magnetic flux linkage (Symbol: ΦB)

Defined as the number of magnetic lines of force passing through a unit area
Area of coil: A=L*W

ΦB= B • A • cos theta

B= magnetic field strength
A: area of the coil

A.C Generator
Principle: changed mechanical energy into electrical energy
Produces induced current (I) or induced voltage (V)
Use Fleming’s right hand rule

Moving a conductor and magnet relative to each other cuts field lines
If conductor is connected to a complete circuit, a current is produced

Then the coil or the armature is rotated in between the magnet, magnetic flux changes. It
produces an induced current (I) or induced voltage (V) as the output. This is due to
electromagnetic induction.

Transformers
An electrical device that only works with AC
Only works on electromagnetic induction
Principle: it is used to change low voltage to high voltage (step up transformer) or high voltage to
low voltage (step down transformer)

A change in magnetic field must be made

When the current keeps changing, the magnetic field keeps switching
When variable current is changed in the primary coil, the magnetic field changes, and it induces
current or voltage in they coil secondary
The primary and secondary coils do not touch
The secondary coil isn’t connected to any current source; it produces AC output voltage

Number of coils or number of turns:

If step up transformer:
Ns > Np
Eg. 2000turns > 200 turns
The output voltage of step up transformer is larger than its input (eg electrical wires)

If step down transformer:

Ns < Np
Secondary has less coils than primary, reducing the current
Output voltage of the step-down transformer is smaller than its input
Step down (eg chargers, reduces the input voltage before going to device)

Transformer equation:
Np/Ns = Vp/Vs = Is/Ip
Np: number of turns in primary coil
Ns: number of turns in secondary coil
Vp: voltage in primary coil
Vs: voltage in secondary coil
Is: current in the secondary coil
Ip: current in the primary coil

Formula is to identify whether the transformer is step up or step down

Input power:
P in = Vp x Ip
Output power:
P out = Vs x Is
Efficiency of a transformer:
P out / P in x 100%
(Vs x Is) / (Vp x Vs) x 100%

Losses in transformers
1. Heat loss
2. Copper loss
3. Magnetic loss

Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction

Direction of induced current is opposite to the direction of the change in magnetic flux

DO MORE RESEARCH ON THE EXPERIMENT VERY IMPORTANT

Connected solenoid to millivoltmeter of milliammeter
The string causes the magnet to move
When the bar magnet goes in and out of the coil, the magnetic field changes, and induces current
in the coil

Use in national grid

Generated in huge power stations
Sent through step up transformers, to reduce energy loss as it’s sent through the country
Goes through wires

Unit 7: Atomic and nuclear physics

Models of the atom

Ancient Greece : Atom -> ‘atomos’= uncuttable

Plum pudding model:
- Consists of positive ‘dough’ with electrons stuck in it
- Evidence at that time:
- Solids can’t be squashed, so atoms must be solid
- Rubbing solids created static so there should be something outside of the atom that
can be transferred

Rutherford model
Alpha particle scattering experiment
- 1905, experiment to test plum pudding model
- Directed a beam of alpha particles at thin gold sheet in a vacuum
- Placed fluorescent zinc sulphide screen round the gold
- Conclusions:
- Most particles went through = mostly empty in atom
- Few particles deflected in small angles= positive charge in atom, and not evenly
distributed
- Few particles coming back = volume of the positive charge in atom is low
- Model limitations:
- Couldn’t explain the stability of atoms
- Didn’t explain structure of electrons
-

Bohr model
- 1913, electrons orbit nucleus at different energy levels
- Electrons must have fixed energy levels (shells)

Atoms, isotopes and ions

- Atomic number: no. of protons
- Mass number: total of protons and neutrons
- Mass no- atomic no= neutron no
- Ions: atoms with more or less electrons that when balances
- Electrons are lost/gained during collisions

Isotopes:
- Atoms of an element with same protons and different neutrons
- Same atomic number, different mass number
- All isotopes will have similar chemical properties, since it’s decided by the number
of electrons, which is the same for all
- Radioisotopes: unstable isotopes
Relative atomic mass
The weighted average of the relative atomic masses of the isotopes in the element
Mass number(A) vs relative atomic mass(Ar):
A: always whole number
Ar: often rounded to nearest whole number but are decimals

Relative atomic mass (Ar)

The average of the mass number of the different isotopes
Relative molecular/formula mass (Mr)
Add the Ar together of the elements in the molecule

Alpha, beta, gamma rays and neutrons

Each type of radiation (subatomic particles) is caused by a decay
Can be spontaneous (natural) or induced (caused by a reaction)
Spontaneous: from radioactive decay, caused by ionising decay released to make the nucleus more
stable
Alpha particles α
- Made up of 2 protons and 2 neutrons (same as nucleus of Helium atoms, He)
- No electrons; overall charge = 2+
- Causes mass no to decrease by 4 (protons and neutrons)
- Causes atomic no to decrease by 2 (protons)
- Relatively large; easily be stopped by collisions with other molecules
- Can’t penetrate very far into other materials; can travel only a few cm in air and a
single sheet of paper
- Very strongly ionising (can easily knock electrons off any atoms they collide with)

Beta particles β
- They’re literally just electrons
- charge= -1
- Causes mass no to stay the same (has almost no mass cos electron)
- Causes atomic no to increase by 1 (becomes more positive)
- Moves very fast
- A neutron is decayed into a proton (same mass) and electron (to balance positive charge);
the proton stays in the nucleus, and the electron is emitted out at high speed, and is called
beta radiation
- Tiny, so moderately ionising
- Penetrate moderately far: several meters of air, and 5mm of aluminium
- Beta negative and beta positive
Alpha particles are bigger than beta

Gamma rays γ
- Are not particles, are waves of electromagnetic radiation, like
light
- After alpha or beta radiation, nucleus has some extra energy,
which is emitted as gamma rays. Energy levels in radioactive
nuclei are higher, hence
- No mass, no charge
- Pass straight through materials, do not collide with any atoms
- Weaking ionising
- Can penetrate far into materials; long distance in air, multiple meters of concrete

Emission of a neutron
- Is nucleus has too many neutrons, some can be thrown out

Ionisation:
Turning a neutron into an ion- a charged particle
Done by knocking out electrons
Protons cannot be added/removed since it’s in the nucleus, bound with neutrons
In order from best to worse at ionising particles:
1) Alpha has +2 charge, attracts the electron
out of the shell
2) Beta has -1 charge, repels the electron, has
to get closer to the electron than Alpha
because weaker
3) Gamma has 0 charge, has to directly hit an
electron
Last column of table: if the particle is sent in the gap
between 2 plates, a positive an negative, the alpha will go towards negative because it has positive
charge. The beta will go towards positive plate because it has negative charge, and the gamma will
not go anywhere because no charge

Sources of radiation:
Cosmic rays: from outer space onto earth (CMBR)
Rocks: some have radon gas
Soil and plants: radioactive material from rocks in the ground are absorbed by the soil and plants

Artificial radiation: X-ray, nuclear missiles, nuclear power

A lot of the artificial background radiation is from medical procedures

Radioactive decay
Radioisotopes decay by releasing some form of radiation
Decaying process is random, need a sample to find out decay rate
In a larger sample we can find:
Activity of it: overall rate of decay of all the isotopes in the sample
Becquerels= value for decay per second
1 Becquerel = 1 decay per second

Half-life
The time taken for the number of radioactive nuclei in a sample to halve
Time taken for the number of decays, or activity, to halve
Both are correlated
In a sample decay:
Over time, as more decay, the number of unstable particles remaining decrease
This means activity also decreases

Can be graphed with activity and time, to find time it takes for activity to half
Find the half of the activity, NOT THE TIME

For example, if the decay is faster than the previous sample, means it started
with a higher activity
Faster the decay, higher the activity, shorter the half-life

Example question;
The half-life of a radioactive source is 40 hours. There are initially 3 million radioactive
nuclei in the sample. How many will remain after 5 days?
Stages:
1. How many half lives?
2. Halve the no of nuclei the number of times of half lives
Hours in 5 days = 120
120/40= 3 half-lives
3 million /2 /2 /2 = 375, 000 nuclei

Stable nuclei:
Elements near the top of the periodic table have equal protons and neutrons
As number of protons increase, more neutrons are required to keep the atom stable
Eg. carbon 12 has 2 protons and 2 neutrons, but lead 206 has 82 protons and has 124 neutrons
Geiger-Muller tube and counter IMPORTANT
Record all the decays that reach them every second (alpha, beta, gamma)
Recorded as count rate, which is used estimate activity

If doing an experiment where there’s radioactivity:

Always check the radiation in the environment first, without using the radioactive equipment
Then, measure the number of counts when the equipment is on
Subtract the environment counts from the final counts, to measure the count rate of the equipment

GM tube: a hollow cylinder filled with helium, neon or argon gas at a low pressure
The thin mica window seals the front of the tube, and it allows the alpha, beta and gamma particles
to go inside
Inside the tube:
Positive electrode in the center connected to a high power
Negative electrodes in the side; has aluminum tube to block alpha and beta particles from side, so
it only comes from the front
It is an open circuit, no current flow between the positive and negative electrodes
But if there's a radioactive source, it would go inside the tube, and ionise the gas inside

After the gas gets ionised, it would have a lot of charge

Positive charge will go to negative electrodes, and negative charged
will go to positive electrode
This generates electric power
Each time there’s a power, the Counting Meter will count it, and it will be shown in the reading
When doing experiment, find the counts per minute
Purpose of this experiment is to detect radioactivity of objects/environment
Use tongs when handling radioactive material

If there’s more radiation, then there would be more counts, because there would be more
ionisation due to the higher radiation particles and waves.

To calculate the Activity of the substance:

Activity = number of disintegrations / time take
A = N/T
Becquerels (Bq) = number / seconds (s)

To get accurate count rate of only the substance,

Background count rate - count rate

(Watch [Link] for better understanding)

Drawbacks:
Can’t tell the original source of the radiation, if finding the radiation
in an environment
Can’t tell what type of radiation (alpha, etc)
Can’t read the amount of energy

Measuring half-life experiment

Use the Geiger-muller, to measure the count rate over a period of
time
Record the count rate in intervals
Eg. the rate at 10 seconds, 20, 30, etc.
Put in table and make graph

Radioactive decay equation balancing

Shows what is produced when a radioactive nucleus decays
Alpha:
2 neutrons, 2 protons. Mass of 4, charge +2
Mass number decreases by 4, charge to decrease by 2

Beta negative:
When too many neutrons, protons are retained, an electron is lost.
Mass number stays same, atomic number increases by 1

Beta positive:
Proton becomes neutron and positron
Positrons same as electron, but opposite charge
Mass number stays same, atomic number decreases by 1

Carbon dating
All organism have carbon-14, which decays by beta emission
The radioactivity of an organism can be measured to find its age

Nuclear fission and fusion ([Link]

Nuclear fission:
Can be spontaneous, but usually induced
When the nucleus of lage elements splits, creating 2 daughter nuclei, 2 or 3
neutrons, and gamma
All fission products have kinetic energy
Chain reactions: when neutrons that are released cause more nuclei to be
triggered into fission
Controlled chain reaction in nuclear reactors for energy
Uncontrolled chain reaction in nuclear weapons

Nuclear fusion :
2 light nuclei are joined to form heavier nuclei
Some of the mass of the nuclei can be converted into energy, released as radiation
NOT a chain reaction
occurs in stars where two hydrogen nuclei fuse together under high temperatures and pressure to
form a nucleus of a helium isotope
Fusion is difficult because it requires 2 nuclei, which are positive, to fuse. This means they would
naturally repel. Has to happen quickly so they don't repel. This works best in plasma or hot gas
Problems of fusion: high temperature, high cost, uncontrollable

Fission reactors:
Nuclear fuel: the isotope (usually uranium) that will split due to the neutron. Held in rods, so
neutrons fly outs and cause fission in the other rods
Graphite core: slows down neutrons, so they get used in a nearby rod better
Control rods: raised and lowered to stop neutrons from travelling between the
rods and changing the speed of chain reaction
Coolant: gets heated up by the energy from the fission reaction. Is used to boil water to drive
turbines
Concrete shield: to keep the daughter products inside, since they're radioactive and hazardous

More of the features are to control the speed of the reaction and the temp to prevent uncontrolled
chain reaction (cus bomb)