Writing Up Your Project

A set of videos to help you write up your advanced higher project report.

Setting up a Word Document

In this section I’ll add information about how to write up your AH Project. Here is the first installment. Nothing great, but just to set up your document so that you gain the Structure mark

Producing Graphs for your project

Being edited!

Adding Your Graphs into your project

Referencing

If you’ve time this is a great little document from Queen’s University Belfast,

Filetoupload,1560644,en.pdf (qub.ac.uk)

Rotational Motion Background Documents

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.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuzo1XZjZIcU-oAfUZtE8eWoPN92GCt_q

Higher Revision

1 Jumper and building Answers

1b Mechanics Learning Outcomes 1 Questions

1b Mechanics Learning Outcomes 1 Answers

2a Flea soln

2b Linear motion

differentiation and integration in Linear Motion

1c homework on differentiation

1c differentiation answers

Tutorial Questions

RMA-726390 A set of Problem Solving Questions based on the original HSDU material by Andrew McGuigan, in pdf format

RMA 726390 A  set of Problem Solving Questions based on the original HSDU material by Andrew McGuigan, in word format

Rotational Motion

2 Circular Motion_2

3 uncertainties answers

Gravity Wells in infographics!

https://xkcd.com/681_large/

Gravitational Waves

Signature
December 2020

Relationships

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.

Here is a little video to remind you of the relationships required at AH. See below for updates

Please note

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December 2020

Virtual AH

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 Earth
The 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.
Signature
December 2020

Project 2019+ UPDATED

Some really important information before starting out on your project. Plus some references you might wish to consult.

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.

<a href=

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.

https://www.mrsphysics.co.uk/advanced/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Hookes-Law-Table-in-Excel.mp4

Note Document 6772 IS NOT CURRENT. It is based on AH from 2000-2015, but it does contain some useful hints, tricks and examples. Caveat emptor!

SPECIFIC PROJECT MATERIALS

Young’s Modulus

s2-7 Young’s Modulus

Episode 228 – The Young modulus_0

episode-229-1-analysis-of-tensile-testing-experiments

Young’s Modulus

 

Signature
June 2020

Changes in AH from 2019

Firstly from me

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

–       This short section is new

SHM Practicals

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 -ky
The period isn’t constant because the spring started moving with horizontal motion but the amplitude certainly deteriorated
I’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.

By the end of the lesson you should……

  • You to have the spring constant for two of the springs by two different methods.
  • A graph of d against t, v against t, and a against t
  • A value of the period of spring for various masses
  • Discovered the effect of amplitude on the period Found the effect of damping (so find out what that is)

https://www.webassign.net/question_assets/ncsucalcphysmechl3/lab_7_1/manual.html

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/undergraduate/preparing-for-university/stem/Physics/stem-legacy-SHM.aspx

https://www.cyberphysics.co.uk/topics/shm/springs.htm

http://practicalphysics.org/investigating-mass-spring-oscillator.html

2020

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

Signature
December 2020

Revision

Here is a little document to start you on some revision. The answers are given at the end, but don’t cheat.

definitions RM&A pdf   definitions RM&A word

I’ll add some more on other topics later.

Thanks to H Stark for her 10 week Revision Plan, you’ve just enough time if you start NOW!

Electromagnetism

John Sharkey’s CfE AH Virtual Physics
John Sharkey’s Virtual CfE AH Physics-Magnetic Fields and Induction
John Sharkey’s Virtual CfE AH Physics-Capacitors
John Sharkey’s Virtual CfE AH Physics-Inductors
Far more than detail required but a great little video.
Far more than detail required but a great little video
John Sharkey’s Virtual CfE AH Physics- Unification of Electricity and Magnetism

PhysicsElectromagnetismAH_tcm4-726384 Questions on the electromagnetism topic

ah electromagnetism summary notes 2013 Robert Gordon’s College brilliant notes

ah electromagnetism problems 2013

AH (Electrical Phenomena)

Unit 3 – 1 Fields

CircuitsNotes4

These are great little notes by F Kastelein on Unit 3 Electromagnetism. A lovely summary

More video clips from John Sharkey’s Collections

Here is a great little video on Lenz’ Law called Michael’s Toys

Signature
March 2022

Quantity, Symbol, Unit and Unit Symbol

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.

Quantity, Symbol, Units the excel sheet

Quantity, Symbol, Units a pdf sheet sorted by course and then alphabetical by quantity.

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.

NHAPhysical Quantity symUnitUnit Abb.
5absorbed dose D gray Gy
5absorbed dose rate H (dot)gray per second gray per hour gray per year Gys -1 Gyh -1 Gyy -1
567acceleration a metre per second per second m s -2
567acceleration due to gravity g metre per second per second m s -2
5activity A becquerel Bq
567amplitude A metre m
567angle θ degree °
567area A square metre m 2
567average speedv (bar)metre per second m s -1
567average velocity v (bar)metre per second m s -1
567change of speed ∆v metre per second m s -1
567change of velocity ∆v metre per second m s -1
5count rate - counts per second (counts per minute) -
567current I ampere A
567displacement s metre m
567distance dmetre, light year m , ly
567distance, depth, height d or h metre m
5effective dose H sievert Sv
567electric charge Q coulomb C
567electric charge Q or q coulomb C
567electric current I ampere A
567energy E joule J
5equivalent dose H sievert Sv
5equivalent dose rate H (dot)sievert per second sievert per hour sievert per year Svs -1 Svh -1 Svy -1
567final velocity v metre per second m s -1
567force F newton N
567force, tension, upthrust, thrustF newton N
567frequency f hertz Hz
567gravitational field strength g newton per kilogram N kg -1
567gravitational potential energy E pjoule J
5half-life t 1/2 second (minute, hour, day, year) s
56heat energy Eh joule J
567height, depth h metre m
567initial speed u metre per second m/s
567initial velocity u metre per second m s -1
567kinetic energy Ek joule J
567length l metre m
567mass m kilogram kg
5number of nuclei decayingN - -
567period T second s
567potential difference V volt V
567potential energy Ep joule J
567power P watt W
567pressure P or p pascal Pa
5radiation weighting factor wR- -
567radius r metre m
567resistance R ohm Ω
567specific heat capacity c joule per kilogram per degree Celsius Jkg-1 °C -1
56specific latent heat l joule per kilogram Jkg -1
567speed of light in a vacuum c metre per second m s -1
567speed, final speed v metre per second ms -1
567speed, velocity, final velocity v metre per second m s-1
567supply voltage Vsvolt V
567temperature T degree Celsius °C
567temperature T kelvin K
567time t second s
567total resistance Rohm Ω
567voltage V volt V
567voltage, potential difference V volt V
567volume V cubic metre m3
567weight W newton N
567work done W or E Wjoule J
7angle θ radian rad
7angular acceleration aradian per second per second rad s -2
7angular displacement θ radian rad
7angular frequency ω radian per second rad s -1
7angular momentum L kilogram metre squared per second kg m2 s -1
7angular velocity,
final angular velocity
ω radian per second rad s-1
7apparent brightnessbWatts per square metreWm-2
7back emfevolt V
67capacitance C farad F
7capacitive reactance Xcohm W
6critical angle θc degree °
density ρ kilogram per cubic metre kg m-3
7displacement s or x or y metre m
efficiency η - -
67electric field strength E newton per coulomb
volts per metre
N C -1
Vm -1
7electrical potential V volt V
67electromotive force (e.m.f) E or ε volt V
6energy level E 1 , E 2 , etcjoule J
feedback resistance Rfohm Ω
focal length of a lens f metre m
6frequency of source fs hertz Hz
67fringe separation ∆x metre m
67grating to screen distance D metre m
7gravitational potential U or V joule per kilogram J kg-1
half-value thickness T1/2 metre m
67impulse (∆p) newton second
kilogram metre per second
Ns
kgms-1
7induced e.m.f. E or ε volt V
7inductor reactanceXLohm W
7initial angular velocity ω oradian per second rad s-1
input energy E ijoule J
input power Piwatt W
input voltage V 1 or V2 volt V
input voltage V ivolt V
6internal resistance r ohm Ω
67irradiance I watt per square metre W m-1
7luminoscityLWattW
7magnetic induction B tesla T
7moment of inertia I kilogram metre squared kg m2
67momentum p kilogram metre per second kg m s-1
6number of photons per second per cross sectional area N - -
number of turns on primary coil n p- -
number of turns on secondary coil n s- -
6observed wavelengthλ observedmetrem
output energy E o joule J
output power P owatt W
output voltage V o volt V
6peak current Ipeak ampere A
6peak voltage V peak volt V
7phase angle Φ radian rad
67Planck’s constant h joule second Js
7polarising angle
(Brewster’s angle)
i pdegree ̊
power (of a lens) P dioptre D
power gain Pgain - -
7Power per unit areaWatts per square metreWm-2
primary current I p ampere A
primary voltage Vpvolt V
7radial acceleration ar metre per second per second m s-2
6redshiftz--
67refractive index n - -
6relativistic lengthl'metrem
6relativistic timet'seconds
rest mass mo kilogram kg
6rest wavelengthλrestmetrem
6root mean square current I rmsampere A
6root mean square voltage Vrmsvolt V
7rotational kinetic energy Erotjoule J
7schwarzchild radiusrSchwarzchildmetrem
secondary current Is ampere A
secondary voltage Vsvolt V
7self-inductance L henry H
67slit separation d metre m
7tangential acceleration atmetre per second per second m s-2
6threshold frequency fohertz Hz
7time constanttseconds
7torque Τ newton metre Nm
7uncertainty in Energy∆E jouleJ
7uncertainty in momentum∆px kilogram metre per second kgms-1
7uncertainty in position∆x metre m
7uncertainty in time∆t seconds
6velocity of observer vometre per second m s-1
6velocity of source vsmetre per second m s-1
voltage gain - - -
voltage gain Ao or V gain - -
567wavelengthλmetrem
6work functionWjouleJ

 

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