Year 10 Physical Science Content Descriptions
Year 10 Science
Course 2
Term 3: PHYSICAL SCIENCE
Text: Oxford Science 10
Year 10 Physical Science Content Descriptions
Energy conservation in a system can be explained by describing energy transfers and transformations (ACSSU190)
• recognising that the Law of Conservation of Energy explains that total energy is maintained in energy transfer and transformation
• recognising that in energy transfer and transformation, a variety of processes can occur, so that the usable energy is reduced and the system is not 100% efficient
• comparing energy changes in interactions such as car crashes, pendulums, lifting and dropping
• using models to describe how energy is transferred and transformed within systems
The motion of objects can be described and predicted using the laws of physics (ACSSU229)
• gathering data to analyse everyday motions produced by forces, such as measurements of distance and time, speed, force, mass and acceleration
• recognising that a stationary object, or a moving object with constant motion, has balanced forces acting on it
• using Newton’s Second Law to predict how a force affects the movement of an object
• recognising and applying Newton’s Third Law to describe the effect of interactions between two objects
Week / Topic / Content / Activities / Resources and Experiments / Assessment & Homework1 (short week) / Types of force / Non-contact forces – gravity, electrostatic and magnetic
Contact forces – mechanical (push, pull, etc.), friction, tension, air resistance (drag), support / reaction force, buoyancy / Brainstorm types of force.
Diagrams showing everyday situations where these forces are evident.
2 / Structures – Forces / Explain the concepts compression and tension. Relate these to Newton’s third law of motion (brief explanation as Newton’s Laws will be covered in more details later in the term).
Discuss the properties of various materials that are used to build structures and relate the material properties to the job the materials have to do.
Define stress and discuss its effect on different building materials. / Investigating Column Shapes,
Investigating Column Diameter
Loads on Bridge Columns,
Material Testing,
3 / Elasticity / Define strain and relate its importance to materials
(could also include the concepts of ‘creep & fatigue’). / Hooke’s Law experiment -
determination of the spring constant for a stretched spring.
Do elastic bands obey Hooke’s Law? Could they be used in force- meters? / Could extend by determining the energy stored by the spring
Expt. 7.8 page 227 / Expt. write-up
4 / Stability – Centre of Mass / Explain how the position of the centre of mass and the width of the base affect the stability of an object.
Relate this to building design.
Explain how advances in science and engineering have meant taller and safer buildings, but also older buildings like the Learning Tower of Pisa can be saved.
5 (short week) / Energy and work done / Types of energy – mechanical (kinetic and potential – gravitational, elastic and magnetic), chemical, electrical, heat, light, sound and nuclear.
Work done = Force x distance moved – linking together the concepts of force and energy
Efficiency (%) = useful output energy / total input energy x 100 / Brainstorm types of energy.
Diagrams showing everyday situations where these types of energy are evident.
Simple calculations. / OS: Chapters 7.8 & 7.9 / Qus. 1 – 4 page 171
Qus. 1 – 5 page 173
6 (short week) / Mechanical Energy / Introduce equations for calculating both kinetic and gravitational potential energy:
kinetic energy = ½ x mass x speed2
and
gravitational potential energy =
mass x gravitational field strength x height
Simple calculations to find these energy values for bodies in a variety of situations, eg. an athlete, a car, a book on a shelf, etc. / OS: Chapter 7.8 cont’d
Extension of an Elastic band, p285 – follows on from the earlier Hooke’s Law investigation by combining elastic bands in series and parallel.
Energy Changes in a Rollercoaster, p171. / Qus. 5 – 7 page 171
7 / Mechanical Energy cont’d / Investigation and Validation Test / Investigation of a Simple Pendulum – how does length affect its time period? / OS: Chapter 7.9 / Investigation write up and validation
8 / Motion – Scalar Vs Vector.
Displacement-Time Graphs / Define and discuss scalar and vector quantities, using distance and displacement as examples. Introduce speed as a scalar quantity and velocity as a vector quantity. Define: speed = distance ÷ time and
velocity = displacement ÷ time Simple examples to emphasise the difference between them. Reinforce the idea that 2 plus 2 does not always equal 4! / Using a Motion Sensor – Expt. 7.2 page 221 / OS: Chapters 7.1 & 7.2
Experiment – how does the height of a ramp affect the average speed of a car? / Qus. 1 – 7 page 157
Qus. 1 – 7 page 159
9 / Newton’s Laws of Motion / State and explain Newton’s three laws of motion. Apply the second law to safety design features associated with most motor vehicles – air bags, crumple zones, seatbelts, etc. Qualitative treatment only. / Resultant Forces – Expt. 7.5A page 223 / OS: Chapters 7.4, 7.5 & 7.6
Newton’s 2nd Law, F = ma
OS: Chapter 7.10 / Qus. 1 – 4 page 163
Qus. 1 – 3 page 165
Qus. 1 – 5 page 167
10 / Topic Test / Fat and Skinny questions to ascertain knowledge and understanding of all concepts studied throughout this term.
Test taking tips / Test
Assessment Outline
Assessment Type / Title / WeightingTest / Physics Topic test. / 10%
Practical Investigation and Validation / Time Period v Length for a Simple Pendulum / 5%