Welcome to the 2021-22 AH Physics course. Another year, another journey together. I hope you feel that this site meets your requirements and that you can find the materials that you need.
Check out MrStewart’s YouTube channel for some great clear explanations from this course.
Using John Sharkey’s Flash Learning this video covers the required Virtual CfE Advanced Higher Physics Equations. NB there are some updates to equations since this material was produced.
Click on the image to open the Relationships Sheet.
Using John Sharkey’s Flash Learning Virtual CfE Advanced Higher Physics these videos cover all of the unit Rotational Motion and Astrophysics. Note there have been a few changes to the Course Specifications since these were produced.
Here are some of the recordings from Virtual Flash Learning for the Rotational Motion Section. Turn off the volume if you dont want to hear from me.
AH Kinematic Relationships using the Virtual Physics
Angular Momentum-
This one has audio but you can switch it off.
Angular Motion
Rotational Dynamics
Gravitation
Space and Time
Stellar Physics
Note in the Stellar Physics video the equation for Apparent Brightness has now been changed see below
Apparent Brightness where d is the distance from the star to EarthThe thermal energy radiated by a blackbody radiator per second per unit area. This only works for Black Bodies, for other bodies the emissivity must be included. You will only be asked about black bodies in your AH exam.Luminoscity, where r is the radius of the star.
An adaptation of Tom Balanowski’s notes by Mr Bailey. This is a useful guide to teachers preparing students for their AH Physics Project. PLANNING is the KEY.
If you are not familiar with Excel can I recommend you spending a bit of time looking over the post in the BGE section (link below). I’ll add a further advanced part for you below.
Other packages are available and some are more robust such as R but I am not sure whether I will introduce that to you now.
check out the prefixes you need. Notice anything different?
Yep, know your femto from you nano, and your Peta from your Tera!
I am grateful to Ms K Ward from George Heriot’s School for trawling through the new and old curriculum and recording the changes. Thanks also for allowing me to reproduce it here.
Assessment
Old assessment: 100 mark question paper, 30 mark project, plus pass all the units
New assessment: 155 mark question paper, scaled to 120, 40 mark project (hence project is 25%)
Changes to content:
The content is no longer divided into ‘mandatory course key areas’, ‘suggested learning activities’, and ‘exemplification of key areas’. There is simply a list of the course contents.
Where the wording has changed but I don’t see any real difference, I have said ‘no change’.
RMA
Kinematic relationships – no change
Angular motion – derivation of centripetal acceleration equation is gone
Rotational dynamics – no change
Gravitation
– ‘Conversion between astronomical units (AU) and metres and between light-years (ly) and metres’ – is new
– ‘Consideration of the energy required by a satellite to move from one orbit to another’ – is gone
General Relativity
– ‘Knowledge that the escape velocity from the event horizon of a black hole is equal to the speed of light’ – is new
Stellar physics
has changed to
Specific example of a p-p chain is now given
Hertzprung-Russell section is rewritten more clearly.
Quanta and Waves
Introduction to quantum theory – no change
Particles from space
– ‘Knowledge of the interaction of the solar wind with Earth’s magnetic field’ – is gone. New document only mentions composition of solar wind. Helical motion of charged particles is still there though, so it might not really matter.
Simple harmonic motion (SHM)– no change
Waves – no change
Interference
Relationship for interference due to division of amplitude is now specified, opd=mλ or (m+1/2) λ where m=0,1,2…
Polarisation – no change
Electromagnetism
Fields
– ‘Knowledge of Millikan’s experimental method for determining the charge on an electron’ – this was in ‘exemplification’ before but is now specifically required knowledge
– ‘Comparison of gravitational, electrostatic, magnetic, and nuclear forces in terms of their relative strength and range’ – the words in bold are new
Circuits
– ‘Knowledge that, in an RC circuit, an uncharged capacitor can be considered to be fully
charged after a time approximately equal to 5τ. Knowledge that, in an RC circuit, a fully charged capacitor can be considered to be fully discharged after a time approximately equal to 5τ.’ – is new
Electromagnetic radiation– no change
Uncertainties
Knowledge and use of appropriate units, prefixes and scientific notation
Data analysis
– ‘Absolute uncertainty should normally be rounded to one significant figure. In some instances, a second significant figure may be retained.’ – the words in bold are new. It does not specify the instances in which a second figure may be retained.
– ‘Knowledge that, when uncertainties in a single measurement are combined, an uncertainty can be ignored if it is less than one third of one of the other uncertainties in the measurement’ – is new
– ‘Knowledge that, when uncertainties in measured values are combined, a fractional/percentage uncertainty in a measured value can be ignored if it is less than one third of the fractional/percentage uncertainty in another measured value’ – is new
– The equation for the uncertainty in a value raised to a power is now given:
Evaluation and significance of experimental uncertainties
The AH today were working in 3 groups to research via practicals and notes about SHM. The task is given below. Well done to Morford and Hodgson who created the following from their practical, with very little assistance. Their results were so good I thought I’d share them.
Mr Morford wrote “These graphs are from our recent experiment to determine the effect of damping on an oscillating mass. A mass was hung from a spring over an Alba Ranger ultrasound device. We then analysed our measurements using excel and graphed our results to find the decay due to damping.”
Morford & Hodgson (2019)
Check out the great phase lag and the obvious proof of SHM showing a is proportional to -kyThe period isn’t constant because the spring started moving with horizontal motion but the amplitude certainly deterioratedI’ll need to check this….but it looks good!
This was the task for the class and my thanks to the IoP for their Practical Physics lessons and to the other places referenced for some great practical techniques. I will neaten this post later, but I promised Morford and Hodgson that I would post tonight!
Hopefully I can collate the rest of the groups information soon.
Despite Covid-19 the intrepid AH students have been showing damping with a pendulum bob and tracker. The original movie has still to be analysed by our friends from Annan
This is Courault and Douglas with bob skimming the water and you can see some damping on the graph. Note the period remains constant but the amplitude, and hence energy is reduced. Well done Courault and Douglas, imortalised in your tracker movie!This is Patterson and Pritchards attempt with bob fully immersed as it goes through its swing. You can see bob is far more damped! I think Pritchard was a little lazy with his identification of the edge of bob as that period is definitely changing! Compare this damping with the previous one. Well done to both of you!
Now if we can add Atwal, Burns, Carson and Morrin’s tracker we can have a full set for 2020 and you can look back with fondness at your time in AH, despite all the distancing.
Investigating a mass-on-spring
oscillator
Demonstration
A mass suspended on a spring
will oscillate after being displaced. The period of oscillation is affected by
the amount of mass and the stiffness of the spring. This experiment allows the
period, displacement, velocity and acceleration to be investigated by
datalogging the output from a motion sensor. It is an example of simple
harmonic motion.
Analysis Measurement of period Period and Amplitude Observe that the period appears to be independent of amplitude.
Effect of mass A straight line is the usual result, showing that the period squared is proportional to the mass.
Velocity and acceleration A plot of the resulting data shows a ‘velocity vs. time’ graph. Note that the new graph is also sinusoidal. However, compared with the ‘distance vs. time’ graph, there is a phase difference – the velocity is a maximum when the displacement is zero, and vice versa.
A similar gradient calculation based on the ‘velocity vs. time’ graph yields an ‘acceleration vs. time’ graph. Comparing this with the original ‘distance vs. time’ graph shows a phase difference of 180°. This indicates that the acceleration is always opposite in direction to the displacement. Teaching notes
Aim: To find the force constant of a helical spring by plotting a graph between load and extension.
Aim: To find the effect of damping on an oscillating spring
Aim: To find the effect of mass on an oscillating spring
Aim: To use the formula for an oscillating spring to find m or k etc
I’ve put together, with Mrs Mac’s help, a document with quantity, symbol, unit and unit symbol so that you know the meaning of the terms in the Relationships Sheet. It is in EXCEL so that you can sort it by course, quantity or symbol.
This is the same information in readily available Tablepress form. If you click on the Higher tab at the top it should sort by terms that you need in alphabetical order, or search for a term. Let me know if I’ve missed any.
Quantity, Symbol, Unit, Unit, Symbol N5-AH.
N
H
A
Physical Quantity
sym
Unit
Unit Abb.
5
absorbed dose
D
gray
Gy
5
absorbed dose rate
H (dot)
gray per second gray per hour gray per year
Gys -1 Gyh -1 Gyy -1
5
6
7
acceleration
a
metre per second per second
m s -2
5
6
7
acceleration due to gravity
g
metre per second per second
m s -2
5
activity
A
becquerel
Bq
5
6
7
amplitude
A
metre
m
5
6
7
angle
θ
degree
°
5
6
7
area
A
square metre
m 2
5
6
7
average speed
v (bar)
metre per second
m s -1
5
6
7
average velocity
v (bar)
metre per second
m s -1
5
6
7
change of speed
∆v
metre per second
m s -1
5
6
7
change of velocity
∆v
metre per second
m s -1
5
count rate
-
counts per second (counts per minute)
-
5
6
7
current
I
ampere
A
5
6
7
displacement
s
metre
m
5
6
7
distance
d
metre, light year
m , ly
5
6
7
distance, depth, height
d or h
metre
m
5
effective dose
H
sievert
Sv
5
6
7
electric charge
Q
coulomb
C
5
6
7
electric charge
Q or q
coulomb
C
5
6
7
electric current
I
ampere
A
5
6
7
energy
E
joule
J
5
equivalent dose
H
sievert
Sv
5
equivalent dose rate
H (dot)
sievert per second sievert per hour sievert per year
Svs -1 Svh -1 Svy -1
5
6
7
final velocity
v
metre per second
m s -1
5
6
7
force
F
newton
N
5
6
7
force, tension, upthrust, thrust
F
newton
N
5
6
7
frequency
f
hertz
Hz
5
6
7
gravitational field strength
g
newton per kilogram
N kg -1
5
6
7
gravitational potential energy
E p
joule
J
5
half-life
t 1/2
second (minute, hour, day, year)
s
5
6
heat energy
Eh
joule
J
5
6
7
height, depth
h
metre
m
5
6
7
initial speed
u
metre per second
m/s
5
6
7
initial velocity
u
metre per second
m s -1
5
6
7
kinetic energy
Ek
joule
J
5
6
7
length
l
metre
m
5
6
7
mass
m
kilogram
kg
5
number of nuclei decaying
N
-
-
5
6
7
period
T
second
s
5
6
7
potential difference
V
volt
V
5
6
7
potential energy
Ep
joule
J
5
6
7
power
P
watt
W
5
6
7
pressure
P or p
pascal
Pa
5
radiation weighting factor
wR
-
-
5
6
7
radius
r
metre
m
5
6
7
resistance
R
ohm
Ω
5
6
7
specific heat capacity
c
joule per kilogram per degree Celsius
Jkg-1 °C -1
5
6
specific latent heat
l
joule per kilogram
Jkg -1
5
6
7
speed of light in a vacuum
c
metre per second
m s -1
5
6
7
speed, final speed
v
metre per second
ms -1
5
6
7
speed, velocity, final velocity
v
metre per second
m s-1
5
6
7
supply voltage
Vs
volt
V
5
6
7
temperature
T
degree Celsius
°C
5
6
7
temperature
T
kelvin
K
5
6
7
time
t
second
s
5
6
7
total resistance
R
ohm
Ω
5
6
7
voltage
V
volt
V
5
6
7
voltage, potential difference
V
volt
V
5
6
7
volume
V
cubic metre
m3
5
6
7
weight
W
newton
N
5
6
7
work done
W or E W
joule
J
7
angle
θ
radian
rad
7
angular acceleration
a
radian per second per second
rad s -2
7
angular displacement
θ
radian
rad
7
angular frequency
ω
radian per second
rad s -1
7
angular momentum
L
kilogram metre squared per second
kg m2 s -1
7
angular velocity,
final angular velocity
ω
radian per second
rad s-1
7
apparent brightness
b
Watts per square metre
Wm-2
7
back emf
e
volt
V
6
7
capacitance
C
farad
F
7
capacitive reactance
Xc
ohm
W
6
critical angle
θc
degree
°
density
ρ
kilogram per cubic metre
kg m-3
7
displacement
s or x or y
metre
m
efficiency
η
-
-
6
7
electric field strength
E
newton per coulomb
volts per metre
N C -1
Vm -1
7
electrical potential
V
volt
V
6
7
electromotive force (e.m.f)
E or ε
volt
V
6
energy level
E 1 , E 2 , etc
joule
J
feedback resistance
Rf
ohm
Ω
focal length of a lens
f
metre
m
6
frequency of source
fs
hertz
Hz
6
7
fringe separation
∆x
metre
m
6
7
grating to screen distance
D
metre
m
7
gravitational potential
U or V
joule per kilogram
J kg-1
half-value thickness
T1/2
metre
m
6
7
impulse
(∆p)
newton second
kilogram metre per second
Ns
kgms-1
7
induced e.m.f.
E or ε
volt
V
7
inductor reactance
XL
ohm
W
7
initial angular velocity
ω o
radian per second
rad s-1
input energy
E i
joule
J
input power
Pi
watt
W
input voltage
V 1 or V2
volt
V
input voltage
V i
volt
V
6
internal resistance
r
ohm
Ω
6
7
irradiance
I
watt per square metre
W m-1
7
luminoscity
L
Watt
W
7
magnetic induction
B
tesla
T
7
moment of inertia
I
kilogram metre squared
kg m2
6
7
momentum
p
kilogram metre per second
kg m s-1
6
number of photons per second per cross sectional area
Hi Folks! I had planned to finish these before the October hols! Sorry too much on. This is as far as I’ve got and I’ll update it a.s.a.p.
If you update it let me know. I’ll put the answers into a table of 2 columns so that if you fold down the middle they can be cue cards.
Going through past paper questions here is a list of the SQA recommended perfect answers
Type
Yr
Q No.
Answer
Trad
2001
4 b
a (OR F) is directly proportional to -x
Usual now to use -y rather than -x
Trad
2001
5 aii
(Electrostatic potential at a point) is the work done per unit charge moveing the charge from infinity to the point
Trad
2001
11 a
electric field
vibrates in all directions in unpolarised light
vibrates in one plane only in polaried light
Trad
2002
3 ci
velocity required by a body to escape earth gravitational field by reaching infinity
Trad
2002
5 ai
diffraction pattern produced by electon beam
Trad
2002
10 cii
wavelength has incerased therfore the source is moving away from the observer
Trad
2006
3 ai
Force exerted on 1 kg (of mass) placed in the field
Trad
2006
11 c
(Path length) in oil depends on angle of incidence or thickness ∴different colours are seen due to interference
Trad
2009
8 b
One tesla is the magnetic induction of a magnetic field in which a conductor of length one metre, carrying a current of one ampere (perpendicular) to the field is acted on by a force of one newton.
Trad
2009
9 ai
Division of amplitude is when some of the light reflects from the top of the air wedge and some is transmitted/refracted into the air. OR Some of the light is reflected from a surface of a new material/medium and some of the light is transmitted/refracted into the new material/medium.
Trad
2009
10 a
A stationary wave is caused by interference effects between the incident and reflected sound.
Trad
2009
10 b
The antinodes of the pattern are areas of maximum displacement/amplitude/disturbance The nodes of the pattern are areas of minimum/zero displacement/amplitude/disturbance
Trad
2010
4 a
Total angular momentum before (an event) = total angular momentum after (an event) in the absence of external torques
Trad
2010
6 bii
E-field is zero inside a hollow conductor. E-field has inverse square dependence outside the conductor.
Trad
2010
11 a
unpolarised light => Electric field vector oscillates or vibrates in all planes polarised light => Electric field vector oscillates or vibrates in one plane
Trad
2014
3 ai
The (minimum) velocity/speed that a mass must have to escape the gravitational field (of a planet).
Trad
2014
4 ai
The unbalanced force/ acceleration is proportional to the displacement of the object and act in the opposite direction.
Rev
2014
4 aii
The distance from the centre of a black hole at which not even light can escape. or The distance from the centre of a black hole to the event horizon.
Trad
2014
5 di
Electron orbits a nucleus / proton , Angular momentum quantised or Certain allowed orbits / discrete energy level
Rev
2014
6 aii
Photoelectric effect or Compton scattering Collision and transfer of energy
Rev
2014
6 di
Electron orbits a nucleus / proton (1) Angular momentum quantised (1) or Certain allowed orbits / discrete energy level
Rev
2014
8 a
The unbalanced force/ acceleration is proportional to the displacement of the object and act in the opposite direction.
Trad
2014
11c
Wavelengths in the middle of the visible spectrum not reflected or destructively interfere. Red and blue reflected / combined to (form purple).
Trad
2014
13 aii
The brightness would gradually reduce from a maximum at 0 degrees to no intensity at 90 degrees. It would then gradually increase in intensity from 90 degrees to 180 where it would again be at a maximum
Rev
2015
1 c
The speed of the mass will be less. Second mark for correct justification. eg: Flywheel has greater moment of inertia Flywheel will be more difficult to start moving Smaller acceleration of flywheel More energy required to achieve same angular velocity.
Rev
2015
2 a
Massive objects curve spacetime Other objects follow a curved path through this (distorted) spacetime
Rev
2015
2 c
Time passes more slowly at lower altitudes (in a gravitational field).
or
Lower gravitational field strength at higher altitude.
Trad
2015
3 biii
Potential is work done (per unit mass) moving from infinity to that point. or Infinity defined as zero potential. Work will be done by the field on the mass. or A negative amount of work will be done to move an object from infinity to any point. or WD by gravity in moving to that point or Force acts in opposite direction to r.
Rev
2015
5 aiii
Difficult scale to read/information from diagram can only be read to 1 s.f.
Rev
2015
6 ai
Force acting on (acceleration of) object is directly proportional to and in the opposite direction to its displacement. (from equilibrium)
Rev
2015
7 aii
l reduced (or f increased) for X-rays or >E transferred
D x reduced for X-rays
since D x D p ³ h/4 p
D p increases
Rev
2015
7 b
since DEDt³ h/4 p
Borrowing energy for a short period of time allows particles to escape
Rev
2015
8 ai
Two sets of coherent waves are necessary (for an interference pattern) or (Interference patterns can be produced by) Division of wavefront.
Rev
2015
9 ai
Force acts on particle at right angles to the direction of its velocity/motion or a central force on particle.
Rev
2015
9 b
(Component of) velocity at right angles to field/ v sin θ, results in circular motion/central force. (Component of) velocity parallel to field/ v cosθ is constant/no unbalance force (in this direction).
Trad
2015
9 bi
Magnetic fields/induction are equal in magnitude (½) and opposite in direction
Rev
2015
10 ai
Force exerted per (unit) charge is constant at any point in the field
Rev
2015
10 aiv
Any suitable answer eg Systematic uncertainty in measuring d or V Alignment of metre stick The flame has a finite thickness so cannot get exactly to the zero point. Factors causing field to be non-uniform. A p.d. across the resistor for all readings. Poor calibration of instruments measuring V or d.
Rev
2015
10 b
Deflection is less. E is less. Force/acceleration is less
Rev
2015
12 biii
Rate of change of current/magnetic field is at its maximum
Trad
2016
5 ai
Frames of reference that are accelerating (with respect to an inertial frame)
Trad
2016
5 aii
It is impossible to tell the difference between the effects of gravity and acceleration.
Trad
2016
8 aii
The precise position of a particle/ system and its momentum cannot both be known at the same instant. OR If the uncertainty in the energy of the
particle is reduced, the minimum
uncertainty in the lifetime of the
particle will increase (or vice-versa).
Trad
2016
10 ai
displacement is proportional to and in the opposite direction to the acceleration
