Topic Forces and motion:

• Movement and position
• Forces and shape
• Forces and movement
• Density
• Momentum
• The turning effect of forces

Skills:

• Understand the relationships between average speed, distance moved, acceleration, change in velocity and time taken, plot and explain velocity-time graphs.
• Describe the effects of forces between bodies, identify different types of forces, understand the difference between vector quantities and scalar quantities, calculate the resultant force, identify friction, balanced and unbalanced force, calculate the stopping distance, describe the forces acting on falling objects, know the Hooke’s law, describe elastic behaviour, determine the density of a liquid and of a regularly shaped solid, calculate the density.
• Know and use the relationship between momentum, mass and velocity, use the idea of momentum to explain safety features, demonstrate an understanding of Newton’s third law, apply the principle of forces and motion to solve problems.

Topic Electricity:

• Current and voltage in circuits
• Electrical resistance
• Electric Charge

Skills:

• Know and use the relationship between power, current and voltage, understand how the use of insulation, double insulation, earthing, fuses and circuit breakers protects the device or user in a range of domestic appliances, know the principles of series and parallel circuit.
• Describe how current varies with voltage in wires, resistors, etc, know and use the relationship between voltage, current and resistance, charge, current and time, know the definition of electric current , its main characteristics, calculate the currents, voltages and resistances of two resistive components connected in a series circuit , identify common electrical conductors or insulators.
• Explain how positive and negative electrostatic charges are produced, know how forces of attraction and repulsion are formed, explain electrostatic phenomena in terms of the movement of electrons, and explain the potential dangers and uses of electrostatic charges.

Topic Waves:

• Properties of waves
• The electromagnetic spectrum
• Light waves
• Sound waves

Skills:

• Know the definitions of amplitude, wave front, frequency, wavelength, period of a wave, longitudinal and transverse waves, understand that waves transfer energy and information without transferring matter, know and use the relationship between the speed, frequency and wavelength; frequency and time period, explain reflection and refraction, know the properties of light and sound waves.
• Know that light is part of a continuous electromagnetic spectrum; explain some of the uses of electromagnetic radiations and the effects of excessive exposure of the human body to electromagnetic waves.
• Know the characteristics of sound waves.

Topic Energy resources and energy transfer:

• Energy transfers
• Thermal Energy
• Work and power
• Energy resources and electricity generation

Skills:

• Describe energy transfers, use the principle of conservation of energy, describe devices and situations, explaining the transfer of energy, describe how thermal energy transfer may take place by conduction, convection and radiation, explain the role of convection in everyday phenomena.
• Explain how emission and absorption of radiation are related to surface and temperature, explain ways of reducing unwanted energy transfer.
• Know and use the relationship between work done, force and distance moved in the direction of the force, describe the energy transfers involved in generating electricity, describe the advantages and disadvantages of methods of large-scale electricity production from various renewable and non-renewable resources.

Topic Solids, liquids and gases. Density and pressure

Skills:

• Know and use the relationship between density, mass and volume, explain the changes in density and pressure occurring when heating a system, when a solid melts to form a liquid, and when a liquid evaporates or boils to form a gas, describe the arrangement and motion of particles in solids, liquids and gases, understand why there is an absolute zero of temperature which is –273 °C.

Topic Magnetism and electromagnetism. Electric motors and electromagnetic induction

Skills:

• Know the properties of magnets, understand the term magnetic field, know that an electric current in a conductor produces a magnetic field around it, describe the construction of electromagnets.
• Know that there is a force on a charged particle when it moves in a magnetic field, use the left-hand rule to predict the direction of the resulting force, describe how the force on a current-carrying conductor in a magnetic field changes with the magnitude and direction of the field and current, describe the generation of electricity by the rotation of a magnet.
• Describe the structure of a transformer and understand that a transformer changes the size of an alternating voltage by having different numbers of turns on the input and output sides.

Topic Radioactivity and particles:

• Atoms and radioactivity
• Radiation and half-life
• Application of radioactivity

Skills:

• Describe the structure of an atom in terms of protons, neutrons and electrons, know the terms atomic (proton) number, mass (nucleon) number and isotope, describe the nature of alpha (α) particles, beta (β−) particles, and gamma (γ) rays, and recall that they may be distinguished in terms of penetrating power and ability to ionize.
• Describe the effects on the atomic and mass numbers of a nucleus of the emission of each of the four main types of radiation (alpha, beta, gamma and neutron radiation), understand how to balance nuclear equations in terms of mass and charge, explain the sources of background radiation from Earth and space, know the definition of the term half-life and understand that it is different for different radioactive isotopes, know that nuclear reactions can be a source of energy.

Topic Astrophysics:

• Motion in the Universe
• Stellar Evolution
• Cosmology

Skills:

• Understand that the universe is a large collection of billions of galaxies and our solar system is in the Milky Way galaxy.
• Understand why gravitational field strength, g, varies and know that it is different on other planets and the Moon from that on the Earth, describe the differences in the orbits of comets, moons and planets, use the relationship between orbital speed, orbital radius and time period, understand how stars can be classified according to their colour.
• Describe the evolution of stars, understand how the brightness of a star at a standard distance can be represented using absolute magnitude, and explain the Big Bang theory and red-shift in the light of galaxies.