Edexcel IGCSE Physics

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Forces and motion

Movement and position

1.3-1.5 - Distance-time graphs, speed and motion practicalMotion can be described with measurements instead of guesses. In this lesson, you will read and plot distance-time graphs, use average speed calculations, and plan a simple practical investigation using everyday objects such as toy cars or tennis balls. The key exam skill is linking the story of...
1.6-1.9 - Acceleration and velocity-time graphsVelocity-time graphs are one of the quickest ways to describe motion because they show both how fast an object is moving and how that motion is changing. In this lesson, you will use the acceleration equation, explain the shape of a velocity-time graph, find acceleration from its gradient, and fi...
1.10 - Constant acceleration equationWhen an object moves with constant acceleration, its starting speed, finishing speed, acceleration and distance are linked by one time-free relationship. This lesson is about choosing that equation, using it cleanly in calculations, and recognising what the answer means. The key habit is to work...

Forces, movement, shape and momentum

1.11-1.12 - Forces and their effectsForces are how bodies affect one another. A force can change how an object moves, or it can change the object's shape. In this lesson, you will learn to describe those effects and to identify common force types such as gravitational and electrostatic forces.
1.13-1.16 - Scalars, vectors and resultant forcesSome physical quantities are fully described by a number and a unit. Others also need a direction, and the direction changes the physics. In this lesson you will distinguish scalars from vectors, treat force as a vector, calculate resultant forces along one straight line, and use friction as a fo...
1.17-1.18 - Newton's second law and weightNewton's second law links the unbalanced force on an object to its mass and acceleration. Weight is a particular force: the pull of gravity on a mass. In this lesson you will learn what the symbols in the two equations mean, how to choose the right relationship, and how to avoid mixing up mass, w...
1.19-1.21 - Stopping distances and terminal velocityA moving vehicle does not stop at the instant the driver notices a hazard. It travels while the driver reacts, then travels farther while the brakes slow it down. Falling objects also change motion because their forces change as their speed changes, until some objects reach a steady speed called...
1.22-1.24 - Springs, Hooke's law and elastic behaviourStretching a spring, wire or rubber band is a simple way to see how a force can change the shape of an object. In this lesson you will learn how to measure extension, how to investigate the relationship between applied force and extension, and how to read the initial straight-line region of a for...
1.25P-1.28P - Momentum and safetyMomentum is a way to describe how much motion an object has. In a collision, momentum helps you predict what happens to objects and explain why safety features reduce injury. The important idea is not just "big things are dangerous"; it is that changing a large momentum quickly needs a large aver...
1.29P - Newton's third lawNewton's third law is about what happens when two objects interact. It does not say that forces disappear because they are equal and opposite. It says that a force is never alone: if one object exerts a force on another, the second object exerts an equal and opposite force on the first.
1.30P-1.33P - Moments, centre of gravity and equilibriumA force can do more than change the speed or shape of an object. If the force acts away from a pivot, it can have a turning effect called a moment. This lesson shows how to calculate moments, place weight through the centre of gravity, use the principle of moments, and explain the support forces...

Electricity

Energy and voltage in circuits

2.7-2.8 - Series and parallel circuitsSeries and parallel circuits are two different ways to connect components to a supply. The choice is not just a drawing style: it changes whether components depend on each other and how the current in the circuit responds when the supply or components change. In this lesson you will learn how to...
2.9-2.12 - Current-voltage graphs and electrical componentsCurrent-voltage graphs show how the current through a component changes when the voltage across it changes. Different components give different graph shapes, so the shape of the graph is evidence for how the component behaves in a circuit. In this lesson, the focus is qualitative: recognise the s...
2.13-2.16 - Voltage, current, resistance and chargeElectric circuits are easier to reason about when the four key quantities stay separate. Current tells you how quickly charge is flowing. Voltage, current and resistance are connected by one calculation relationship, and charge, current and time are connected by another. In metal wires, the movin...
2.17-2.19 - Current and voltage rules in circuitsCurrent and voltage follow reliable rules in circuits. In this lesson, current is treated as a flow of charge that cannot disappear at a junction, while voltage is treated as the potential difference across components. The main calculation skill is using the series rules with V = I × R f...
2.20-2.21 - Energy transferred by charge and voltageVoltage tells you how much energy is transferred for each coulomb of charge that passes through part of a circuit. This lesson keeps that idea precise: one volt means one joule per coulomb, and the total energy transferred depends on both the charge that passes and the voltage across the component.

Electric charge

2.22P-2.24P - Electrical conductors, insulators and charging by frictionStatic electricity begins with where charge can move. In this lesson you will identify common conductors and insulators, plan the friction-charging practical, and explain positive and negative charge in terms of electrons being lost or gained.
2.25P-2.26P - Electrostatic attraction, repulsion and electron movementStatic electric effects can look mysterious, but the rules are small and exact. Charged objects exert forces on other charged objects, and many electrostatic observations can be explained by electrons moving or shifting. The key exam habit is to name the charge interaction first, then explain how...
2.27P-2.28P - Dangers and uses of static electricityStatic electricity is useful when tiny charged particles need to be moved without touching them. The same effect can also be dangerous when a large amount of charge suddenly discharges as a spark. In this lesson, the key skill is to explain the chain of cause and effect: charge builds up, a force...

Waves

Units and properties of waves

3.1-3.4 - Wave units, types and definitionsWaves are one of physics' neatest ways of moving something important without moving a lump of matter from one place to another. In this lesson you will learn the core wave vocabulary, the units Edexcel expects you to recognise, and the difference between transverse and longitudinal waves. The cal...
3.5-3.7 - Wave speed, period and wave equationsWave calculations are a way of connecting what a wave does in space with what it does in time. The two key relationships in this lesson let you move between wave speed, frequency, wavelength and period. They work for many wave contexts, including sound waves and electromagnetic waves, as long as...
3.8-3.9 - Doppler effect, reflection and refraction of wavesWaves can change what an observer detects when the source and observer move relative to each other. Waves can also change direction when they meet a boundary or enter a new medium. In this lesson, the focus is qualitative: explaining what changes, why it changes, and which wave behaviour is being...

Light and sound

3.14-3.17 - Reflection, refraction and ray diagramsLight travels as a transverse wave, and ray diagrams give a clean way to show the direction in which light energy travels. In this lesson, the important skill is to use a normal line and straight ray lines accurately, so that reflection and refraction are described by the geometry of the diagram....
3.18-3.19 - Refractive index equation and practicalWhen light enters glass from air at an angle, it changes direction. The refractive index tells you how strongly the glass refracts the light, using the angles measured from the normal. In this lesson you will calculate refractive index from angles, then use a glass-block practical and graph to fi...
3.20-3.22 - Total internal reflection, critical angle and optical fibresLight does not always pass out of a material when it reaches a boundary. If it is travelling from a material with a higher refractive index into one with a lower refractive index, and it meets the boundary at a large enough angle, it can be reflected completely back inside. This lesson builds tha...
3.23-3.24P - Sound waves and human hearingSound is a wave, but not the kind of wave that looks like a drawn up-and-down curve. In this lesson you will describe sound as a longitudinal wave, recognise that sound waves can reflect and refract, and use the Edexcel human hearing range of 20-20 000 Hz.
3.25P-3.27P - Sound speed and oscilloscope practicalsSound travels quickly enough that everyday timing can be awkward, but not so quickly that it is impossible to measure in a school practical. In this lesson you will see how to investigate the speed of sound in air, how a microphone and oscilloscope turn a sound into a trace, and how to find the f...
3.28P-3.29P - Pitch, loudness and amplitudeSound begins with a source that vibrates. Two features of that vibration matter in this lesson: how often it vibrates each second, and how far it moves from its rest position. Edexcel expects you to connect those two source properties to the sound heard: frequency controls pitch, and amplitude co...

Energy resources and energy transfers

Units and energy transfers

4.1-4.3 - Energy units, stores and transfersEnergy is a quantity that lets us describe changes in a system. In this lesson, you will learn the units Edexcel expects for this topic, the eight named energy stores, and the four ways energy can be transferred between stores. The most important idea is conservation of energy: energy can be shif...
4.4-4.5 - Efficiency and Sankey diagramsMany devices transfer some input energy in unwanted ways, often to the surroundings. What counts as useful depends on the intended purpose. Efficiency is the percentage of the total energy output that is useful, and Sankey diagrams give a visual way to compare the useful and wasted pathways.
4.6-4.8 - Conduction, convection and radiationThermal energy is transferred whenever there is a temperature difference. At International GCSE level, the three routes you must describe are conduction, convection and radiation. The skill is not only naming them, but explaining the particle or radiation process and choosing the right mechanism...
4.9-4.10 - Insulation investigation and reducing energy transferThermal energy transfer is useful when you want to cook food, warm a room or heat water. It is unwanted when energy escapes from a house, a cup of hot drink or a machine. In this lesson you will plan and interpret investigations into conduction, convection and radiation, then use the same ideas t...

Work and power

4.11-4.13 - Work done and gravitational potential energyWork done is one way energy is transferred. In this lesson, the point of application of the force must move through a distance in the direction of that force. You will use this idea for simple work calculations, then apply it to objects lifted in a gravitational field.
4.14-4.15 - Kinetic energy and energy calculationsMoving objects have kinetic energy. In this lesson you will calculate kinetic energy from mass and speed, then use conservation of energy to connect kinetic energy with gravitational potential energy and work. The main skill is careful energy bookkeeping: decide where the energy starts, where it...
4.16-4.17 - PowerPower tells you how quickly energy is transferred or work is done. Two situations can involve the same total energy transfer but different powers if one happens in less time. In this lesson, the key skill is to connect power, work done or energy transferred, and time taken using one relationship.

Solids, liquids and gases

Ideal gas molecules

5.15-5.17 - Gas pressure, absolute zero and Kelvin scaleGas pressure can be explained using the particle model: gas molecules move randomly and collide with the walls of their container. Those collisions produce forces, and force spread over an area is pressure. The Kelvin scale then gives a temperature scale that starts at the lowest possible tempera...
5.18-5.19 - Temperature and average molecular kinetic energyTemperature is not just a thermometer reading. For a gas, it tells you about the random motion of its molecules. In this lesson, the key link is: higher temperature means greater average molecular kinetic energy, so the gas molecules move faster on average.
5.20-5.22 - Gas pressure lawsGas pressure laws describe what happens to the pressure of a fixed amount of gas when either its volume or its Kelvin temperature changes. The two relationships in this lesson have different conditions, so the first skill is choosing which quantity is being kept constant. Once the condition is cl...

Magnetism and electromagnetism

Radioactivity and particles

Units and radioactivity

7.1-7.3 - Radioactivity units, atoms and isotopesRadioactivity questions often start with careful naming: the unit used, the particles in an atom, and the numbers written beside a chemical symbol. This lesson builds that language slowly, so that later work on radiation types, nuclear equations and half-life has a firm base. The important exam h...
7.4-7.6 - Types of radiation and penetration practicalRadioactive materials contain unstable nuclei. In this lesson, the focus is on the three ionising radiations named in the specification: alpha particles, beta-minus particles and gamma rays. You will compare what each radiation is, how strongly it ionises, how far it penetrates, and how a penetra...
7.7-7.9 - Nuclear equations and detectorsRadioactive nuclei can change by emitting radiation. For this lesson, the important skill is not predicting which nucleus will decay, but keeping careful account of the numbers before and after the emission. You will use mass number and atomic number to describe alpha, beta, gamma and neutron emi...
7.10-7.13 - Background radiation and half-life calculationsRadioactive sources do not stay equally active forever. Their activity falls over time because unstable nuclei decay, and half-life gives a clear way to calculate that change. This lesson also explains why a detector can register ionising radiation even when no laboratory source has been placed n...
7.14-7.16 - Uses, contamination, irradiation and radiation safetyRadioactivity is useful because ionising radiation can pass through materials, be detected from outside the body, and transfer energy to living cells. The same properties make it hazardous if it is not controlled. This lesson focuses on how radioactivity is used, how contamination differs from ir...

Fission and fusion

7.17-7.20 - Fission and chain reactionsSome nuclear reactions release energy because the nucleus changes. In this lesson, the main example is fission of uranium-235, where a neutron collision makes a heavy nucleus split. The important exam skill is to describe the sequence precisely: one fission can release neutrons, and those neutron...
7.21-7.22 - Nuclear reactors and controlA nuclear reactor uses a fission chain reaction, but the reaction must be controlled so that energy is released at a steady rate. For this specification point, the important reactor parts are the moderator, control rods and shielding. The exam skill is to describe the role of each part in terms o...
7.23-7.26 - Fusion and starsFusion is one of the nuclear reactions that can release energy. In this lesson, you will compare fusion with fission, describe how fusion releases energy, and explain why stars are able to make fusion happen. The key difficulty is that nuclei contain positively charged protons, so they repel each...

Astrophysics