Description

A significant amount of the VCE Physics syllabus involves the solving of numerical problems. The object of this book is to provide sets of simple graded exercises which require the use of formulas mentioned in the syllabus.
The sets of exercises are designed to be attempted immediately following the introduction of the theory or for homework. Although the formulas are given in the examination papers, only by practice will you develop the facility to recognise a problem and solve it.
Detailed answers are included. In some cases the solutions can be obtained via different pathways but should agree in the end with the answers provided.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Words to Watch

Unit 1: What Ideas Explain the Physical World?
1 Temperature
2 Thermal Physics
3 Wien’s Displacement Law
4 The Stefan-Boltzmann Law
5 Charge and Current
6 Electrical Power and Energy
7 Ohm’s Law
8 Resistors in Series
9 Resistors in Parallel
10 Mass and Energy

Unit 2: What do Experiments Reveal about the Physical World?
11 Uniform Velocity
12 Displacement-Time Graphs
13 Velocity-Time Graphs
14 Uniform Acceleration
15 Equations of Motion
16 Force and Motion
17 Torque and Motion
18 Newton’s Third Law
19 Momentum
20 Impulse
21 Work
22 Addition of Vectors
23 Subtraction of Vectors
24 Hooke’s Law
25 Universal Gravitation
26 Potential Energy in Springs
27 Characteristics of Waves
28 Magnitudes of Stars
29 Stellar Distances
30 The Scharzschild Radius
31 Centre of Mass
32 Young’s Modulus
33 Capacitors
34 Lift and Drag on Aircraft
35 Radioactive Decay
36 Nuclear Reactions
37 Binding Energy
38 Electron Transitions
39 The Photoelectric Effect
40 Refraction of Light
41 Refraction of Waves
42 Stationary Waves
43 Strings and Pipes
44 Image Formation

Unit 3: How do Fields Explain Motion and Electricity?
45 Electric Field
46 Electric Potential and Potential Difference
47 Potential Difference, Charge and Energy
48 Gravitational Potential Energy
49 Circular Motion
50 Angular Velocity
51 Angular Acceleration
52 Magnetic Induction
53 Ampere’s Law
54 Magnetic Forces on Currents
55 Torque on Coils
56 Flux, Flux Density and Induced Emf
57 Einstein’s Laws
58 Kinetic Energy

Unit 4: How Can Two Contradictory Models Explain Both Light and Matter?
59 The Doppler Effect and Light
60 Superposition of Waves
61 Diffraction and Interference
62 Photons and Quanta
63 Matter Waves
64 Balmer’s Equation
Answers
Data Sheet
Periodic Table