Reflection and Refraction of Light

Image formation by curved mirrors and thin lenses, built on firm geometry: the mirror and lens formulae derived from ray diagrams, with one sign convention throughout; refraction through a glass block, real and apparent depth, critical angle and total internal reflection with optical fibres, prisms and mirages; graphical methods for focal length; power, magnification and lens combinations; optical aberrations; and refraction, minimum deviation and dispersion in a prism.

2

Optical Instruments

How lenses are combined into instruments that extend human sight: image formation in the camera, with focusing, f-numbers, exposure and depth of field; the magnifying glass and compound microscope and their magnifying power; the astronomical telescope in normal adjustment, its magnifying power, length and eye ring; and the human eye as a single-lens system, with its near and far points, accommodation, and the correction of myopia, hypermetropia, presbyopia and astigmatism.

3

Moments and Equilibrium of Bodies

Forces as vectors and their resolution into components; the moment of a force and the principle of moments; couples and torque; the two conditions for the equilibrium of a rigid body, applied to beams, see-saws, ladders and cranes; the centre of gravity of a body and of combined bodies; stable, unstable and neutral equilibrium and toppling; and the elastic behaviour of materials: stress, strain, Hooke's law, the stress–strain curve and Young's modulus.

4

Conservation of Linear Momentum and Collision

Work done by constant and variable forces, power and efficiency; kinetic and potential energy, the work–energy theorem and the conservation of mechanical energy, with and without friction; linear momentum, impulse and Newton's second law in momentum form; the conservation of linear momentum in collisions, explosions and recoil; and elastic, inelastic and perfectly inelastic collisions in one and two dimensions, with the coefficient of restitution and the ballistic pendulum.

5

Direct Current Circuits

Electric current from the motion of charge carriers: drift velocity and current density; electromotive force, terminal potential difference and internal resistance; resistors in series, in parallel and in mixed networks, with potential dividers; cells connected in series and in parallel; Kirchhoff's junction and loop rules for multi-loop circuits; and measuring instruments: the galvanometer converted to an ammeter or voltmeter, the Wheatstone and metre bridges, and the potentiometer.

Units

Reflection and Refraction of Light

Optical Instruments

Moments and Equilibrium of Bodies

Conservation of Linear Momentum and Collision

Direct Current Circuits