IB Physics SL Course Overview
IB Physics SL will cover 8 topics, 1 option topic and a Practical Scheme of Work (requiring 95 teaching hours):
Topic #1: Measurements and Uncertainties - 5 Hours
1.1 Measurements in physics
• Fundamental and derived SI units
• Scientific notation and metric multipliers
• Significant figures
• Orders of magnitude
• Estimation
1.2 Uncertainties and errors
• Random and systematic errors
• Absolute, fractional and percentage uncertainties
• Error bars
• Uncertainty of gradient and intercepts
1.3 Vectors and scalars
• Vector and scalar quantities
• Combination and resolution of vectors
Topic #2: Mechanics - 22 Hours
2.1 Motion
• Distance and displacement
• Speed and velocity
• Acceleration
• Graphs describing motion
• Equations of motion for uniform acceleration
• Projectile motion
• Fluid resistance and terminal speed
2.2 Forces
• Objects as point particles
• Free-body diagrams
• Translational equilibrium
• Newton’s laws of motion
• Solid friction
2.3 Work, energy and power
• Kinetic energy
• Gravitational potential energy
• Elastic potential energy
• Work done as energy transfer
• Power as rate of energy transfer
• Principle of conservation of energy
• Efficiency
2.4 Momentum and impulse
• Newton’s second law expressed in terms of rate of change of momentum
• Impulse and force–time graphs
• Conservation of linear momentum
• Elastic collisions, inelastic collisions and explosions
Topic #3: Thermal Physics - 11 Hours
3.1 Thermal concepts
• Molecular theory of solids, liquids and gases
• Temperature and absolute temperature
• Internal energy
• Specific heat capacity
• Phase change
• Specific latent heat
3.2 Modelling a gas
• Pressure
• Equation of state for an ideal gas
• Kinetic model of an ideal gas
• Mole, molar mass and the Avogadro constant
• Differences between real and ideal gases
Topic #4: Waves - 15 Hours
4.1 Oscillations
• Simple harmonic oscillations
• Time period, frequency, amplitude, displacement and phase difference
• Conditions for simple harmonic motion
4.2 Travelling waves
• Travelling waves
• Wavelength, frequency, period and wave speed
• Transverse and longitudinal waves
• The nature of electromagnetic waves
• The nature of sound waves
4.3 Wave characteristics
• Wavefronts and rays
• Amplitude and intensity
• Superposition
• Polarization
4.4 Wave behavior
• Reflection and refraction
• Snell’s law, critical angle and total internal reflection
• Diffraction through a single-slit and around objects
• Interference patterns
• Double-slit interference
• Path difference
4.5 Standing waves
• The nature of standing waves
• Boundary conditions
• Nodes and antinodes
Topic #5: Electricity and Magnetism - 15 Hours
5.1 electric fields
• Charge
• Electric field
• Coulomb’s law
• Electric current
• Direct current (dc)
• Potential difference
5.2 Heating effect of electric currents
• Circuit diagrams
• Kirchhoff’s circuit laws
• Heating effect of current and its consequences
• Resistance expressed as R = V/I
• Ohm’s law
• Resistivity
• Power dissipation
5.3 Electric cells
• Cells
• Internal resistance
• Secondary cells
• Terminal potential difference
• Electromotive force (emf)
5.4 Magnetic effects of electric currents
• Magnetic fields
• Magnetic force
Topic #6: Circular Motion and Gravitation - 5 Hours
6.1 Circular motion
• Period, frequency, angular displacement and angular velocity
• Centripetal force
• Centripetal acceleration
6.6 Newton’s law of gravitation
• Newton’s law of gravitation
• Gravitational field strength
Topic #7: Atomic, Nuclear and Particle Physics - 14 Hours
7.1 Discrete energy and radioactivity
• Discrete energy and discrete energy levels
• Transitions between energy levels
• Radioactive decay
• Fundamental forces and their properties
• Alpha particles, beta particles and gamma rays
• Half-life
• Absorption characteristics of decay particles
• Isotopes
• Background radiation
7.2 Nuclear reactions
• The unified atomic mass unit
• Mass defect and nuclear binding energy
• Nuclear fission and nuclear fusion
7.3 The structure of matter
• Quarks, leptons and their antiparticles
• Hadrons, baryons and mesons
• The conservation laws of charge, baryon number, lepton number and strangeness
• The nature and range of the strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force and electromagnetic force
• Exchange particles
• Feynman diagrams
• Confinement
• The Higgs boson
Topic #8: Energy Production - 8 Hours
8.1 Energy sources
• Specific energy and energy density of fuel sources
• Sankey diagrams
• Primary energy sources
• Electricity as a secondary and versatile form of energy
• Renewable and non-renewable energy sources
8.2 Thermal energy transfer
• Conduction, convection and thermal radiation
• Black-body radiation
• Albedo and emissivity
• The solar constant
• The greenhouse effect
• Energy balance in the Earth surface–atmosphere system
Option D: Astrophysics - 15 Hours
D.1 Stellar quantities
• Objects in the universe
• The nature of stars
• Astronomical distances
• Stellar parallax and its limitations
• Luminosity and apparent brightness
D.2 Stellar characteristics and stellar evolution
• Stellar spectra
• Hertzsprung–Russell (HR) diagram
• Mass–luminosity relation for main sequence stars
• Cepheid variables
• Stellar evolution on HR diagrams
• Red giants, white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes
• Chandrasekhar and Oppenheimer–Volkoff limits
D.3 Cosmology
• The Big Bang model
• Cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation
• Hubble’s law
• The accelerating universe and redshift (z)
• The cosmic scale factor (R)
Practical Scheme of Work (PSOW)
You also need to complete experiments and experimental reports as a part of any IB Science course. For SL, there is 40 hours of material.
Here are the activities:
• Practical activities - 20 hours for SL
o Lab work in class counts towards these hours
• Individual investigation (internal assessment-IA) - 10 hours for SL
o A lab project along with a report that counts as 20% of your IB exam scores (written exam counts for the other 80%)
• Group 4 Project - 10 hours for SL. Students are separated into groups and must conduct an experiment and write a report.