GCSE-readyGCSE and International GCSE Physics: common mistakes
The wrong answers students pick most often in our Physics questions, and why they are wrong. Read these before a test, then open the lesson for anything that surprises you.
Getting started
- Getting started: energy stores and transfers
- Not “It is destroyed”. Energy is never destroyed.
- Getting started: forces, mass and weight
- Not “There are no forces acting”. Weight still acts; it is balanced by air resistance.
- Not “Kilogram (kg)”. The kilogram is the unit of mass.
- Not “Joule (J)”. The joule is the unit of energy.
- Getting started: variables and graphs in physics
- Not “Time for one swing”. Time is measured: the dependent variable.
- Not “Mass of the pendulum bob”. Mass should be kept the same: a control variable.
1 Key concepts of physics
- Units, prefixes and vectors
- Not “Newton”. The newton is the unit of force, including weight.
2 Motion and forces
- Acceleration and velocity-time graphs
- Not “Distance”. Distance is the area under a velocity-time graph.
4 Waves
- Wave properties
- Not “The distance between two crests”. That is the wavelength.
- Not “The number of waves per second”. That is the frequency.
7 Radioactivity and particles
- Dangers of radiation and radioactive waste
- Not “Food is sterilised with gamma rays”. This is irradiation; the food does not become radioactive.