If you were designing an experiment to investigate the relationship between force and extension of a spring, what scientific knowledge would inform your experimental design?

Hooke's law (F = kx) would inform the design, including the need to measure force and extension, keep within the elastic limit, and expect a linear relationship with gradient equal to the spring constant.

Define control variables in the context of experimental work.

Control variables are factors that must be kept constant during an experiment to ensure a fair test.

Why is it necessary to identify variables that must be controlled when planning an experiment?

Identifying control variables ensures that only the independent variable affects the dependent variable, making the results valid and allowing cause-and-effect relationships to be established.

What does it mean to evaluate whether an experimental method is appropriate?

It means assessing whether the chosen method can realistically achieve the expected outcomes, produce reliable data, and test the hypothesis or relationship under investigation.

What does evaluating the effect of changing experimental parameters involve?

Predicting or determining how measurable values will change when one or more variables are altered, based on the relationships between quantities.

OCR A-Level Physics A H556

Practical Skills in the Written Papers

Topic overview Planning an experiment Implementing and recording Processing and interpreting data Plotting and interpreting graphs Evaluating results and procedures Mathematical skills and notation

The Practical Endorsement

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Physical Quantities and Units

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Nature of Quantities

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Motion

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Work, Energy and Power

Topic overview Work done and conservation of energy Kinetic and gravitational potential energy Power and efficiency

Materials

Topic overview Hooke's law and springs Force-extension graphs and work done Elastic potential energy, stress and strain The Young modulus Stress-strain graphs and material behaviour

Newton’s Laws of Motion and Momentum

Topic overview Newton's three laws and linear momentum Force as rate of change of momentum Impulse and force-time graphs Conservation of momentum and collisions

Charge and Current

Topic overview Electric current and the coulomb Elementary charge, charge carriers and Kirchhoff's first law Mean drift velocity

Energy, Power and Resistance

Topic overview Circuit symbols and diagrams Potential difference and e.m.f.Energy transfer in circuits Ohm's law and I-V characteristics Filament lamps, diodes, thermistors and LDRs Resistivity and how it is measured How resistivity varies with temperature Electrical power and the kilowatt-hour

Electrical Circuits

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Waves

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Quantum Physics

Topic overview Photons, electronvolts and the Planck constant from LEDs Demonstrating the photoelectric effect Work function and Einstein's equation Electron diffraction The de Broglie equation

Thermal Physics

Topic overview Thermal equilibrium and absolute temperature The kinetic model of solids, liquids and gases Brownian motion and internal energy Specific heat capacity Measuring specific heat capacity Specific latent heat Measuring specific latent heat Moles, the Avogadro constant and kinetic theory Gas laws, the ideal gas equation and r.m.s. speed Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution, Boltzmann constant and internal energy

Circular Motion

Topic overview Radians, angular velocity and period Centripetal force and acceleration

Oscillations

Topic overview Describing simple harmonic motion The defining equation of simple harmonic motion and timing oscillations Velocity, period and graphical relationships Energy in a simple harmonic oscillator Damping, forced oscillations and resonance

Gravitational Fields

Topic overview Gravitational fields and field strength Newton's law of gravitation Field strength of a point mass and the uniform field near Earth Kepler's laws and orbital motion Orbital period and geostationary orbits Gravitational potential Gravitational potential energy and escape velocity

Astrophysics and Cosmology

Topic overview The solar system and the birth of a star The death of a low-mass star Supernovae, neutron stars and black holes The Hertzsprung-Russell diagram Energy levels and emission spectra Absorption spectra and spectral lines Photon energy and the diffraction grating Wien's law and Stefan's law Astronomical distances, parallax and the cosmological principle Doppler shift and Hubble's law The expanding universe and the Big Bang Evidence for the Big Bang and dark energy

Capacitors

Topic overview Capacitance and charging a capacitor Capacitors in series Capacitors in parallel and combined circuits Energy stored by a capacitor Charging and discharging through a resistor Investigating capacitor discharge The time constant Iterative modelling, exponential decay and the constant-ratio property

Electric Fields

Topic overview Electric fields and field lines Coulomb's law and electric field strength Uniform fields, parallel plates and permittivity Electric potential Electric potential energy and capacitance of a sphere

Electromagnetism

Topic overview Magnetic fields and field patterns Fleming's left-hand rule and the motor effect Magnetic flux density and the tesla Charged particles in magnetic fields Magnetic flux, flux linkage and Faraday's law Transformers and the a.c. generator

Nuclear and Particle Physics

Topic overview Alpha-particle scattering and the nuclear model Proton number, nucleon number and isotopes The strong nuclear force and nuclear radius Particles, antiparticles and hadrons Leptons and the quark model Quark composition and charges Beta decay in the quark model Radioactive decay and the three radiations Nuclear decay equations Activity, decay constant and half-life Exponential decay and radioactive dating Mass-energy equivalence Annihilation, mass defect and binding energy Binding energy per nucleon and induced fission The fission reactor and nuclear waste Nuclear fusion and balancing nuclear equations

Medical Imaging

Topic overview The X-ray tube X-ray attenuation and imaging CAT scanning Medical tracers and the gamma camera PET scanning Ultrasound and the piezoelectric transducer Acoustic impedance and reflection Doppler ultrasound

Practical Skills in the Written Papers

Planning an experiment

3 things to know
All three papers

Overview

Recall questions on applying physics knowledge to experimental design, control variables, judging whether a method is appropriate, the effect of changing parameters, investigative approaches and selecting equipment and apparatus.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Key term

What factors determine the selection of equipment for a proposed experiment?

Key term

What must be considered when selecting apparatus for an experiment?

Process

Why is it important to apply theoretical physics knowledge when planning an experimental procedure?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
Why is it important to apply theoretical physics knowledge when planning an experimental procedure?
Model answer
Applying scientific knowledge ensures the experiment is designed to test the correct variables, uses appropriate methods, and produces results that can be meaningfully interpreted in terms of established physics principles.
2
If you were designing an experiment to investigate the relationship between force and extension of a spring, what scientific knowledge would inform your experimental design?
Model answer
Hooke's law (F = kx) would inform the design, including the need to measure force and extension, keep within the elastic limit, and expect a linear relationship with gradient equal to the spring constant.
3
Define control variables in the context of experimental work.
Model answer
Control variables are factors that must be kept constant during an experiment to ensure a fair test.
4
Why is it necessary to identify variables that must be controlled when planning an experiment?
Model answer
Identifying control variables ensures that only the independent variable affects the dependent variable, making the results valid and allowing cause-and-effect relationships to be established.
5
What does it mean to evaluate whether an experimental method is appropriate?
Model answer
It means assessing whether the chosen method can realistically achieve the expected outcomes, produce reliable data, and test the hypothesis or relationship under investigation.
6
What does evaluating the effect of changing experimental parameters involve?
Model answer
Predicting or determining how measurable values will change when one or more variables are altered, based on the relationships between quantities.

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