Edexcel A-Level Physics
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Topic 1: Working as a Physicist
Scientific measurement and communication
1-4 - Units, Estimation and Measurement LimitsSI units, prefixes, derived quantities, estimation and the limits of measurement. The aim is to make units and measurement choices feel like part of the physics, not paperwork around the physics.
5-8 - Communicating and Validating PhysicsCommunicating physics clearly, weighing the benefits and risks of applications, and understanding how the scientific community evaluates claims. The focus is on turning evidence into a trustworthy message without overstating what the evidence can show.
Topic 2: Mechanics
Kinematics and vectors
9-11 - Kinematics Equations and Motion GraphsOne-dimensional motion, the constant-acceleration equations, and displacement-time, velocity-time and acceleration-time graphs. You will connect the equations to the graph features so the symbols describe motion rather than replacing it.
12-14 - Scalars, Vectors and ResultantsThe difference between scalar and vector quantities, resolving vectors into components, and finding resultants by calculation and by scale drawing. The main goal is to see direction as part of the quantity, especially when components and resultants are drawn or calculated.
15-16 - Projectile Motion and Free-Body DiagramsResolving projectile motion into independent horizontal and vertical components, and drawing and interpreting free-body diagrams. The important idea is that the two components share the same time while the forces decide the acceleration.
Forces and momentum
17-20 - Newton’s Laws, Weight and Free Fall (CP1)Newton's laws, weight, free fall and Core Practical 1 (determining the acceleration of free fall). You will link forces to changes in motion, then use practical evidence to test the relationship between resultant force, mass and acceleration.
21-22 - Momentum and Conservation in One DimensionMomentum as a vector quantity and conservation of momentum in one-dimensional interactions. The route is to keep direction and system boundaries clear before using the conservation equation.
Moments, work and energy
23-24 - Moments, Centre of Gravity and EquilibriumMoments, centre of gravity and the principle of moments for a body in equilibrium. You will treat turning effects as measurable quantities so balanced objects can be analysed rather than guessed.
25-30 - Work, Energy, Power and EfficiencyWork done, kinetic and gravitational potential energy, conservation of energy, power and efficiency. The thread through the lesson is that forces, distances and rates become easier when each calculation is tied to the energy transfer it represents.
Topic 3: Electric Circuits
Current, resistance and circuit networks
31-33 - Charge, Current, Potential Difference and ResistanceElectric circuits become much easier when the first three quantities do three separate jobs. Current tells you how quickly charge is passing a point. Potential difference tells you how much energy is transferred for each coulomb of charge. Resistance tells you how much potential difference is nee...
34-36 - Circuit Conservation, Series and Parallel ResistanceWhy circuit rules work, not just what the rules are. Charge conservation decides how current is distributed at junctions, energy conservation decides how potential difference is distributed around loops, and those two ideas lead directly to the formulae for combining resistors in series and in pa...
37-38 - Electrical Power and Component I-V CharacteristicsThis lesson connects two things that often get taught separately: the rate at which a component transfers energy, and the shape of its current-potential difference graph. You will use and derive the electrical power equations, then read I-V graphs for ohmic conductors, filament bulbs, thermistors...
39-41 - Resistivity and Charge Carriers (CP2)Using R = ρl / A, determining the electrical resistivity of a material in Core Practical 2, and using I = nqvA to explain why materials have such different resistivities. The thread through the lesson is simple: first measure how a real wire resists current, then strip away its length...
Potential dividers, sources and sensing
42-44 - Potential Dividers and SensorsUse a uniform wire and resistor ratios to select a potential difference, then predict how light and temperature sensors change a divider output.
47-48 - Resistance, Temperature and Illumination ModelsWhy resistance changes, not just that it changes. Resistance is modelled with two microscopic ideas: how many conduction electrons are available, and how strongly the lattice interrupts their motion, applied to metallic conductors, negative temperature coefficient (NTC) thermistors and LDRs.
Topic 4: Materials
Deformation and elastic energy
53-57 - Hooke’s Law, Stress and Young Modulus (CP5)Hooke's law, elastic and plastic behaviour, stress, strain, the Young modulus and Core Practical 5. You will connect the force-extension graph to material behaviour before using gradient and uncertainty methods.
58 - Elastic Strain EnergyElastic strain energy stored during stretching. The key move is to read work from the force-extension graph, so the area under the graph becomes a physical energy transfer.
Topic 5: Waves and Particle Nature of Light
Wave description and superposition
59-64 - Wave Quantities and Speed of Sound (CP6)Wave quantities, the wave speed equation, longitudinal and transverse waves, and Core Practical 6 (speed of sound). The aim is to connect the visible pattern of a wave to measurable quantities and practical evidence.
65-69 - Superposition and Standing Waves (CP7)Superposition, phase, stationary (standing) waves and Core Practical 7 on vibrating strings. You will build from overlapping waves to stationary patterns, then use the pattern to measure and reason quantitatively.
Optics, polarisation and diffraction
70 - Radiation IntensityRelate radiation power to illuminated area and test how intensity changes with distance from a small source.
75-81 - Lenses, Power, Ray Diagrams and ImagesA lens is useful because it changes a bundle of rays. Sometimes it makes emergent rays actually meet, so a screen can catch a sharp real image. Sometimes it makes them spread out, so your eye sees them as if they came from a point where the emergent rays do not actually converge: a virtual image....
82-85 - Polarisation and Diffraction (CP8)This lesson is about a quiet but powerful idea: the direction a wave vibrates, and the way a wavefront spreads, can be used to measure something far too small to place a ruler against. By the end, the pattern of bright spots from a diffraction grating should feel less like a mysterious wall displ...
Wave-particle behaviour and pulse-echo
86-87 - Electron Diffraction and de Broglie WavelengthUse electron diffraction as evidence for wave behaviour and relate a particle’s wavelength to its momentum.
90-95 - Photon Model, Photoelectric Effect and ElectronvoltThe photon model, the photoelectric effect, threshold frequency, work function and the electronvolt. You will use energy conservation to see why intensity, frequency and emission do different jobs.
96 - Atomic Line SpectraA line spectrum is a clue that an atom is not allowed to have just any energy. It can change only between particular energy levels, so the radiation it emits or absorbs has particular energies and therefore particular frequencies. This lesson is about using that idea carefully enough to explain t...
Topic 6: Further Mechanics
Impulse and collisions
97-98 - Impulse and Momentum Change (CP9)Momentum is not changed by force alone. It is changed by a force acting for a time. A brief hard hit and a gentler push over longer time can produce the same change in momentum if the force-time product is the same. Core Practical 9 turns that idea into evidence: measure the force-time effect on...
99-102 - Two-Dimensional Collisions (CP10)This lesson connects two-dimensional momentum with Core Practical 10, using ICT and video analysis of collisions to test momentum conservation in perpendicular components. You will then compare kinetic energy before and after a collision and derive the non-relativistic relation $E{k} = p^{2}/(2m)...
Topic 7: Electric and Magnetic Fields
Electric fields and potential
108-111 - Electric Fields, Field Strength and Coulomb's LawA charged object can push or pull another charged object without touching it. The useful idea is not "mysterious action at a distance"; it is a field. A source charge changes the space around it so that another charge placed there experiences a force. This lesson turns that story into three linke...
112-115 - Electric Potential, Equipotentials and Uniform FieldsThis lesson connects electric field strength to electric potential, uses E = V / d for parallel plates, uses V = Q / (4 π ε0 r) for a radial field, and interprets field-line and equipotential diagrams for uniform and radial fields.
Capacitance and RC circuits
116-117 - Capacitance and Energy StoredThis lesson covers capacitance as charge stored per volt and the energy stored by a charged capacitor. The main idea is that a capacitor becomes harder to charge as its potential difference rises, so the stored energy comes from the area under a V against Q graph, not from simply multiply...
118-120 - Capacitor Charge, Discharge and Time Constant (CP11)In this lesson you learn how a resistor-capacitor circuit changes with time, and how Core Practical 11 turns that changing p.d. into evidence. The main idea is that discharge is not a steady countdown: the capacitor empties fastest when its p.d. is largest, then slows as the p.d. falls. Capacitan...
Magnetic fields, induction and alternating current
121-123 - Magnetic Flux Density, Flux and Magnetic ForcesThis lesson introduces the language of magnetic fields: magnetic flux density B, magnetic flux φ, and flux linkage Nφ. You then use that field language to calculate the magnetic force on a moving charged particle and on a current-carrying conductor. This lesson stays with magnet...
124-127 - Electromagnetic Induction, Lenz's Law and Faraday's LawThis lesson covers how an e.m.f. is induced by changing magnetic flux linkage, how linked coils can induce an e.m.f. without visible motion, and how Lenz's law and Faraday's law work together. The thread through the lesson is simple but easy to misuse: change produces the induced e.m.f.; Lenz's l...
128-129 - Alternating Currents and RMS ValuesIn this lesson you will describe an alternating current or potential difference using frequency, period, peak value and root-mean-square value, then use the Edexcel relationships Vrms = V0 / √(2) and Irms = I0 / √(2) for sinusoidal AC.
Topic 8: Nuclear and Particle Physics
Atomic structure, beams and detectors
130-131 - Nucleon Number, Proton Number and Alpha ScatteringThis lesson connects two ideas: how to count the particles in a nucleus, and how α-particle scattering showed that atoms contain a tiny, dense nuclear centre. The lesson stops before thermionic emission, accelerators, detectors and particle tracks; here the focus is nuclear notation and...
132-135 - Thermionic Emission, Accelerators, Detectors and TracksThis lesson covers how electrons are released, how fields accelerate or deflect charged particles, how linacs and cyclotrons use those fields, and how detector tracks are interpreted. The main idea is that invisible charged particles become readable when fields and conservation laws leave clues i...
High-energy particles and conservation
136-139 - High-Energy Probes, Mass-Energy and Particle LifetimeThis lesson explains why particle physics needs high-energy probes, then makes that energy measurable through ΔE = c² Δm, MeV, GeV and mass units such as MeV/c². The lesson also keeps the relativistic lifetime idea qualitative: you need to recognise when the effect...
140-143 - Standard Model, Antiparticles and Conservation LawsThis lesson is about turning the "particle zoo" into a system. First classify the particles you are given, then use antiparticle properties and conservation of charge, baryon number and lepton number to decide whether an interaction is possible. The same accounting lets you write and interpret pa...
Topic 9: Thermodynamics
Thermal energy and molecular motion
144-146 - Specific Heat, Latent Heat and Thermistors (CP12–13)This lesson connects thermal energy calculations with two practical problems: measuring a phase-change energy and turning temperature into a control signal. The same habit runs through the whole lesson: decide where energy goes, decide what is being measured, and then use the equation or circuit...
147-148 - Internal Energy and Absolute ZeroThis lesson covers internal energy as molecular kinetic and potential energy, and absolute zero as the zero of the absolute temperature scale. The main job is to separate three ideas that students often blur together: internal energy, temperature, and average molecular kinetic energy.
149-152 - Kinetic Theory and Ideal Gases (CP14)This lesson covers the kinetic-theory model of gas pressure, the ideal gas equation, Core Practical 14, and the link between absolute temperature and mean molecular kinetic energy. The story is a trapped gas sample: microscopic molecule-wall collisions produce a measurable pressure, then the Boyl...
Topic 10: Space
Stellar measurements and evolution
156-158 - Luminosity, Intensity and Astronomical DistancesThis lesson connects how bright a source really is to how intense its radiation is when it reaches us. The lesson builds from radiation spreading through space, then uses that model for two distance methods: trigonometric parallax for nearby stars and standard candles for objects too distant for...
159-160 - Hertzsprung-Russell Diagrams and Stellar Life CyclesThis lesson covers how to sketch and interpret a simple Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, and how to connect positions on the diagram to the life cycle of stars. The diagram is a map of two measured properties: stellar luminosity and surface temperature. The trick is to read the axes carefully before...
Topic 11: Nuclear Radiation
Radiation and decay
168-171 - Nuclear Radiation and Gamma Absorption (CP15)The thread running through this lesson is measurement: a detector counts radiation from the source and from the room around it, so good physics means separating the wanted signal from background, understanding what α, β and γ can do in matter, and using lead-absorber dat...
172-173 - Radioactive Decay, Half-Life and ActivityThis lesson connects the unpredictable decay of a single nucleus to a predictable law for a large sample. You will use activity, half-life, exponential decay equations and log plots to describe how the number of undecayed nuclei changes with time. The lesson stays within radioactive decay and gra...
Topic 12: Gravitational Fields
Topic 13: Oscillations
Simple harmonic motion and resonance evidence
181-183 - Simple Harmonic Motion Equations and PeriodsThis lesson covers the condition for simple harmonic motion, the standard SHM equations, and period formulae for a mass-spring oscillator and a simple pendulum. The next lesson handles detailed displacement-time graph interpretation, resonance and the oscillations core practical, so here the focu...
184-187 - Oscillation Graphs and Resonance (CP16)This lesson turns oscillations into evidence: graphs tell you velocity and acceleration, resonance tells you why one frequency matters most, and Core Practical 16 uses that frequency to find an unknown mass. The lesson uses a spring-mass oscillator as the main story, but the same graph reasoning...