A Level Physics
Complete Revision Notes
Pearson Edexcel Papers 1, 2 & 3 Code 9PH0
· ·
, How to Use These Notes
These notes cover the complete Pearson Edexcel A Level Physics speci
cation (9PH0), all 13 topics.
Core practicals are
agged [CPN] throughout.
Colour Code Key
■ Blue Key concepts and explanations
■ Green De
nitions
■ Orange Exam technique
■ Purple Formulae (show working clearly in exams)
■ Red Core practical summaries
Assessment (9PH0):
Paper 1 (30%): Topics 15 and 8 1h 45min, 90 marks
Paper 2 (30%): Topics 1, 4, 6, 7, 913 1h 45min, 90 marks
Paper 3 (40%): All topics, synoptic, practical reasoning 2h 30min, 120 marks
Practical Endorsement: 16 core practicals; pass/fail; reported separately
Minimum 40% of marks across all papers target Level 2 mathematics. Show all working.
, Contents
1 Working as a Physicist 4
2 Mechanics 4
2.1 Kinematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 Scalars and Vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3 Newton's Laws and Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.4 Momentum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.5 Moments and Equilibrium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.6 Energy, Work and Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3 Electric Circuits 6
3.1 Charge, Current and Voltage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.2 Resistance and Resistivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.3 Potential Dividers and EMF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4 Materials 7
4.1 Density, Upthrust and Viscosity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.2 Hooke's Law and Elastic Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
5 Waves and Particle Nature of Light 8
5.1 Wave Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
5.2 Refraction and Lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
5.3 Diraction and Interference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5.4 Photons and the Photoelectric Eect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5.5 Atomic Line Spectra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
6 Further Mechanics 10
6.1 Momentum and Impulse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
6.2 Circular Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7 Electric and Magnetic Fields 10
7.1 Electric Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7.2 Capacitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
7.3 Magnetic Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
7.4 Alternating Current . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
8 Nuclear and Particle Physics 12
8.1 Atomic Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
8.2 Particle Accelerators and Detectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
8.3 The Standard Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
9 Thermodynamics 13
9.1 Speci
c Heat Capacity and Latent Heat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
9.2 Kinetic Theory and Ideal Gases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
9.3 Black Body Radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
10 Space 14
10.1 Stellar Distances and Luminosity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
10.2 Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
10.3 Doppler Eect and Cosmology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
11 Nuclear Radiation 14
11.1 Binding Energy and Nuclear Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
11.2 Types of Radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
11.3 Radioactive Decay Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
12 Gravitational Fields 15
13 Oscillations 16
2
Complete Revision Notes
Pearson Edexcel Papers 1, 2 & 3 Code 9PH0
· ·
, How to Use These Notes
These notes cover the complete Pearson Edexcel A Level Physics speci
cation (9PH0), all 13 topics.
Core practicals are
agged [CPN] throughout.
Colour Code Key
■ Blue Key concepts and explanations
■ Green De
nitions
■ Orange Exam technique
■ Purple Formulae (show working clearly in exams)
■ Red Core practical summaries
Assessment (9PH0):
Paper 1 (30%): Topics 15 and 8 1h 45min, 90 marks
Paper 2 (30%): Topics 1, 4, 6, 7, 913 1h 45min, 90 marks
Paper 3 (40%): All topics, synoptic, practical reasoning 2h 30min, 120 marks
Practical Endorsement: 16 core practicals; pass/fail; reported separately
Minimum 40% of marks across all papers target Level 2 mathematics. Show all working.
, Contents
1 Working as a Physicist 4
2 Mechanics 4
2.1 Kinematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 Scalars and Vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3 Newton's Laws and Forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.4 Momentum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.5 Moments and Equilibrium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.6 Energy, Work and Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3 Electric Circuits 6
3.1 Charge, Current and Voltage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.2 Resistance and Resistivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.3 Potential Dividers and EMF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4 Materials 7
4.1 Density, Upthrust and Viscosity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.2 Hooke's Law and Elastic Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
5 Waves and Particle Nature of Light 8
5.1 Wave Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
5.2 Refraction and Lenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
5.3 Diraction and Interference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5.4 Photons and the Photoelectric Eect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
5.5 Atomic Line Spectra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
6 Further Mechanics 10
6.1 Momentum and Impulse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
6.2 Circular Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7 Electric and Magnetic Fields 10
7.1 Electric Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7.2 Capacitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
7.3 Magnetic Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
7.4 Alternating Current . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
8 Nuclear and Particle Physics 12
8.1 Atomic Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
8.2 Particle Accelerators and Detectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
8.3 The Standard Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
9 Thermodynamics 13
9.1 Speci
c Heat Capacity and Latent Heat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
9.2 Kinetic Theory and Ideal Gases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
9.3 Black Body Radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
10 Space 14
10.1 Stellar Distances and Luminosity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
10.2 Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
10.3 Doppler Eect and Cosmology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
11 Nuclear Radiation 14
11.1 Binding Energy and Nuclear Reactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
11.2 Types of Radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
11.3 Radioactive Decay Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
12 Gravitational Fields 15
13 Oscillations 16
2
