Key Stage 3 /

Pre-IGCSE
Science Course

© Echo Education 2015

 Key Stage 3

Welcome to Echo Education

Thank you for purchasing the Echo Education Key Stage 3 Course. This
consists of over 140 lessons split over the three sciences: Biology,
Chemistry and Physics. It covers all of the material in the National Cur-
riculum for Key Stage 3 and, in school, would be covered over a period
of three years from age 11-14 years.

It is formatted in a way that allows you to use it in whichever way best

suits your child/children. Once you have purchased it you are welcome to
use it as many times as you need to within your own family but we re-
spectfully ask you please not to lend/forward/copy the course for other
families or groups.

It is totally up to you how you use the material in the course. You can buy
all the equipment suggested below and use it as a very hands-on and
practical course. However if that does not suit you, we have tried, where
possible, to include YouTube demonstrations of experiments to allow
your child to see them in action. Or you could mix and match- do some
practical work and some by watching the videos.

We have included lots of pictures, videos and practical work to keep the
learning real and fun. Science is exciting and that is reflected in the
course material.

You can focus on one subject at a time or run all three subjects concur-
rently. You can do one lesson a week or one a month or whizz through it
by covering lots of lessons each week. It is totally up to you. All the ma-
terial is here and can be used to fit your child’s learning requirements.
Personally I have used it one subject per school term and revisited it
over a 2-3 year period to reinforce their learning and to build in new con-
cepts.

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 Key Stage 3

We have included answers to any questions you are asked to pose to

your child and all answers to the end of topic tests. These too are availa-
ble to be used as best suits you and your child and their learning style –
you can set them as a ‘test’ or a fun verbal quiz or just work through
them together. This means you don’t need significant existing science
understanding to teach this course- the content and answers are all pro-
vided.

Each lesson also includes a list of the key terms and spellings that your
child should become familiar with. As much as possible they should ac-
curately learn how to spell these science words.

Once they have completed the key stage 3 course and when you feel
they are ready they can move onto IGCSE science courses. Our website
has all the information about the 2 boards and also the combined sci-
ence course.

All subjects in key stage 3 science can be reinforced and supported by

using the BBC Bitesize website which is available free to all.

There are no set course books to accompany this course as all the con-
tent is provided within each lesson but there are many course books and
revision aids available if you feel your child requires further reinforcement
in any particular area. These can be found for example on Amazon.

Each lesson has a list of suggested resources at the beginning – these

are only ‘suggested’ as all the academic material to learn the information
is provided but it is a really good idea wherever possible for children to
perform practical work to help consolidate their learning. I suggest you
look ahead at the start of each topic to see what equipment you may
need – this may be simple supermarket purchases or more ‘scientifc’
equipment. Any equipment you purchase now will support further work at
IGCSE. We have included a list of resources we have sourced but you
are welcome to pick and choose from that list and resource your own
equipment but we have tried to simplify this task for you.

© Echo Education Key Stage 3 Science Course Page 2 of 5

 Key Stage 3

We have made the lessons as practical as possible and have included

different ways of learning different pieces of information – this keeps the
students interested and helps them to learn in lots of different ways.

We hope you and your child/ren love learning science and enjoy these
lessons. We would love to hear feedback from you about which parts
they particularly enjoyed or struggled with.

Warm regards

Clare and Sam

Echo Education

www.echo.education

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 Key Stage 3

Suggested science equipment purchases

Please note you do not need to buy all these at once – you could
wait and purchase them as you need them as you work through the
course (or add them to birthday and Christmas lists for your child)
Also science equipment can be purchased and shared between
several home educating families. These are just suggested – please
feel free to shop around. These are all useful but not essential. Any-
thing you purchase now will continue to be useful at IGCSE.

1) Microscope e.g Amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-Resources-GeoVision-MicroPro-
Micro-
scope/dp/B0001FPRC0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1434307786&sr=8-
2&keywords=microscope

2) Chemistry set e.g. Amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/CHEMISTRY-CHILDREN-EXPERIMENTS-
ACTION-
SCI-
ENCE/dp/B00BUQBKCU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1434307943&sr=8-
2&keywords=chemistry+set

3) Resource box: We have asked the science providers ‘Kitchen

Chemistry’ to provide a box of additional resources to save you the has-
sle of sourcing them. They have put together an ‘Echo Education Key
Stage 3’ box available by emailing them directly. The box contains:

125ml Methylated spirits for use in spirit burners

20ml rubbing alcohol
PH paper
125ml Dilute hydrochloric acid

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 Key Stage 3

125ml 6% hydrogen peroxide solution

Thermometer for test tubes
500g/5N Newton Meter

20g Iron filings

Right angled prism

This costs £26.95 plus p and p. They accept Paypal payment only

Do contact them directly at [email protected]

4) Electronics kit e.g. Amazon £34

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cambridge-Brainbox-Primary-Plus-
Electron-
ics/dp/B001MJ2F9C/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1434311166&sr=8-
3&keywords=cambridge+brainbox+electronics

5) Magnet set e.g. Amazon £13

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Edu-Science-Educational-Magnet-
Set/dp/B00EIEA63K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1434309473&sr=8-
1&keywords=magnet+set

© Echo Education Key Stage 3 Science Course Page 5 of 5

 Contents

Pre-IGCSE/ Key Stage 3 Physics Course

Topics covered by this course:

Earth and Atmosphere

· Structure of the Earth

· Polymers, Ceramics and Composites

· Types of Rock and The Rock Cycle

· Composition of the Atmosphere and The Greenhouse Effect

· End of Topic Questions

Energy

· Energy Stores and Transfers

· Conservation of Energy and Energy resources

· Energy From Food

· Power and Appliances

· Machines and Work

· Temperature and Heat Energy- Heating and cooling

· Heat Transfer – Conduction, Convection and radiation

· End of topic questions

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 Contents

Motion and Forces

· Speed, Velocity and Distance-Time Graphs

· Introduction to Forces and Friction

· Force Arrow Diagrams

· Hooke’s Law

· Moments

· Gravity, Magnetism and Static Electricity

· Air Pressure

· Pressure in liquids and floating and sinking

· End of Topic Questions

Waves

· An Introduction to Waves

· Wave Diagrams

· Sound waves

· Structure of the Ear

· Ultrasound, Infrasound, etc

· Light Waves

· Reflection and Refraction

· Structure of the Eye and Lenses and Cameras

· Colour, Dispersion and Prisms

· End of Topic Questions

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 Contents

Electricity

· Electrical Circuit Component Symbols

· Mains Electricity in the home

· Series Circuits and Parallel Circuits

· Current and Potential Difference (Voltage)

· Resistance and Static Electricity

· End of topic test

Magnetism

· Magnetism

· Drawing Magnetic Fields

· Electromagnets

· Motors

· End of topic questions

Space Physics

· The History of Observing the Solar System

· The Solar System and beyond

· Days and years

· Seasons

· Gravity and its effects

· End of Topic Questions

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 Earth and Atmosphere

Lesson 1: Structure of the Earth

Today’s Important Spellings: Inner core

Crust Tectonic plates
Mantle Continental crust
Outer core

Suggested resources:
· A peach or nectarine cut in half
· Coloured card and circles to draw round – bowls, cups, lids
· Scissors and glue

Lesson Content
What is beneath our feet? Imagine you were able to drill down from
where you are standing right down to the centre of the earth and out the
other side.

Cut a peach or nectarine in half and give your child the half that con-
tains the stone. The earth, if we cut it through the middle would look a lit-
tle like this – the skin represents the crust, then flesh is the next layer
down which we call the mantle and the stone represents the core.

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 Earth and Atmosphere

This is a diagram of a cross section of the earth – we will look at each la-
bel one by one.

A model of the inside of the Earth

The Crust
The solid, outer part of the Earth that we stand on and is over the whole
surface of our planet, even under the oceans is called the crust. The
crust contains many useful resources like iron and aluminium.

It is made up of huge sections called tectonic plates. These plates

move very slowly and these movements cause earthquakes and volca-
noes.

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 Earth and Atmosphere

The tectonic plates in the Earth’s crust

TEMPERATURE: Around 22°C

STATE: Solid
COMPOSITION: Oceanic crust made up of iron, oxygen, silicon, magnesi-
um and aluminium.
Continental crust made up of granite, sedimentary rocks
and metamorphic rocks.

The Earth's surface is covered by its thinnest layer, the crust. Land is
made of continental crust, which is 8km to 70km thick and made most-
ly from a rock called granite.

The layer beneath the ocean bed is made of oceanic crust, which is
about 8km thick and made mainly from a rock called basalt.

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 Earth and Atmosphere

Composition of the Earth’s Crust

This diagram shows the percentage of elements in the Earth’s crust, the
oxygen is present as part of compounds, mainly bonded to silicon, alu-
minium and iron as oxides.

The Mantle

The mantle
The tectonic plates of the crust float over the mantle which is hotter than
the crust and is semi-rock which moves very slowly. The lower part of the
upper mantle is made from both solid and melted rock (liquid), while the
rock in the upper region is stiffer, because it’s cooler. The lower mantle is
found between 670km and 2,890km below the surface, and is made
from solid rock. The rock is hot enough to melt, but is solid because of
the pressure pushing down on it.

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 Earth and Atmosphere

TEMPERATURE: 1,400°C – 3,000°C

STATE: liquid / solid
COMPOSITION: iron, oxygen, silicon, magnesium and aluminium

Outer Core

The outer core

Below the mantle is the outer core which is made from very hot liquid
iron and nickel and is constantly flowing around the centre of the Earth. It
is this movement that causes the Earth’s magnetic field.

TEMPERATURE: 4,000°C – 6,000°C

STATE: Liquid
COMPOSITION: iron, nickel, sulphur and oxygen

Inner Core

The inner core

The Earth’s inner core is a huge metal ball, 2,500km wide. Made mainly
of iron, the temperature of the ball is 5,000°C to 6,000°C – that’s up to
6,000 times hotter than our atmosphere, around the same temperature of
the surface of the Sun and scorching enough to make metal melt! The

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 Earth and Atmosphere

metal at the inner core stays solid because of the incredible pressure
surrounding it.

TEMPERATURE: 5,000°C - 6,000°C

STATE: Solid
COMPOSITION: iron and nickel

Ask your child to make a card model of the Earth’s structure – you will
need to draw 4 circles either with a compass or using a selection of
bowls and cups. You will need two large circles which only differ slightly
in size and the 2 smaller circles (I find lids work well for this) Stick them
on top of each other and label like this:

They can add extra facts on each layer too

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 Earth and Atmosphere

Lesson 2: Polymers, Ceramics and

Composites

Today’s Important Spellings: Ceramics

Fossil fuels Composites
Catalyst Polymers
Recycling

Lesson Content
Using the Resources from the Earth’s Crust

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 Earth and Atmosphere

The earth’s crust contains a limited amount of fossil fuels:

· Coal

· Crude oil

· Natural gas

We extract fossil fuels and process them to provide fuels for transport,
power stations and heating our homes.

· Crude oil is used to make most plastics and many medicines and
other useful chemicals.
· We extract metals from the crust. Some are rare and therefore ex-
pensive like platinum or gold. Platinum is a valuable catalyst in re-
ducing pollution from car exhausts.
· Lots of resources are limited so where possible we should recycle
and reuse items when we can. This saves both energy and money.
If we recycle plastic, for example, we will need to extract less crude
oil to replace them.

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 Earth and Atmosphere

Making polymers
Polymers are long-chain molecules that are made from a lot of smaller
molecules added together. They are made naturally in living cells (e.g.
starch, cellulose or proteins) but they can be man-made.

A polymer looks like this

Uses for materials made from polymers

Polymers often have these properties in common. They are:

· chemically unreactive

· solids at room temperature

· plastic – they can be moulded into shape
· electrical insulators
· strong and hard-wearing

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 Earth and Atmosphere

This table shows some polymers, their typical uses and the properties
that make them suitable for these uses:

Polymer name Typical use Properties

Poly(ethene) or
polythene Plastic bags Strong and hard-wearing
Strong, hard-wearing,
PVC Water pipes chemically unreactive
Outer layer of Electrical insulator, hard-
PVC electric wires wearing
Can be made into fibres,
Nylon Clothing strong and flexible
Can be made into fibres,
Lycra Sports clothing very elastic and tough

Ceramics
Ceramic materials:

· are solids made by baking a starting material in a very hot oven or

kiln

· are hard and tough

· have very many different uses

You will have seen ceramic materials coated in a tough glaze in bath-
rooms. They are hard and tough, and waterproof.

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 Earth and Atmosphere

Ceramic materials are used to make wall tiles, baths, sinks and toilets

Bricks

Bricks are ceramic materials made by baking moulded clay. Bricks are
strong and durable, making them ideal for building houses.

Advantages of bricks:
· They are hard, so not easy to scratch

· They are strong under compression, so a house will not be crushed

under its own weight

Disadvantages of bricks:
· They are brittle, so the bricks can break if handled carelessly
during construction

Pottery

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 Earth and Atmosphere

People have been making and using pottery for thousands of years. Pot-
tery is made by moulding clay into the desired shape and baking it in a
kiln. The high temperature drives out all the water, and causes chemical
reactions that make the clay stronger and harder. Pottery is usually deco-
rated with a tough, coloured glaze. Like bricks, it is hard and strong, but
pottery is brittle and can be damaged.

Composites
Composite materials are made from two or more different types of mate-
rial. For example, MDF is made from wood fibres and glue, and fibre-
glass is made from a mesh of glass fibres set in a tough polymer.

The materials for a composite material are chosen because they have
different properties that combine to make a more useful material . Steel-
reinforced concrete is a composite material. It is made by pouring con-
crete around a mesh of steel cables. When the concrete sets, the mate-
rial is:

· strong when stretched (because of the steel)

· strong when squashed (because of the concrete)

Reinforced concrete is used in so many modern iconic buildings

Waterproof clothing

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 Earth and Atmosphere

Nylon has some desirable properties. It is:

· tough

· lightweight

· waterproof

Unfortunately, nylon does not let water vapour pass through it. This
means that, although nylon waterproof clothing stops the rain getting in,
it traps your sweat inside. After a while the clothing inside becomes wet
and unpleasant to wear.

Breathable fabrics are composite materials. They have the desirable

properties of nylon, but are 'breathable' – they stop raindrops getting in
while letting water vapour from sweat pass to the outside. Clothing made
of such material is very useful to hikers and other people who work or
play outside.

Ask your child to write a detailed list of all these resources which we
extract from the Earth or make from extracted resources.

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 Earth and Atmosphere

Lesson 3: Types of Rock and the Rock Cycle

Today’s Important Spellings: Sedimentary

Igneous Metamorphic
Intrusive
Extrusive

Lesson Contents
There are three main rocks types

· Igneous
· Sedimentary
· Metamorphic

Igneous Rocks

e.g. basalt, granite, pumice

Igneous rock is:

1. Formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava

(molten rock) as a result of volcanic activity.
2. Very hard so difficult to scratch but good at scratching other
substances

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 Earth and Atmosphere

3. Made from crystals as the rock cools- the slower the rock cools
the larger the crystals

E.g.

Granite is formed deep underground (an intrusive rock) so it cools

slowly and has large crystals. It is used for worktops and floor tiles.

Basalt is formed on the surface (an extrusive rock) so it cools more

quickly and has smaller crystals. Crushed basalt is used for road base,
concrete aggregate and asphalt pavement aggregate.

How igneous rock is formed

Sedimentary Rocks

E.g. shale, limestone and sandstone

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 Earth and Atmosphere

Sedimentary rock is

1. made from tiny pieces of other rocks that settled out of slow
moving water at the bottom of lakes and oceans. The insoluble
particles are called sediment. Over time the sediment is
compressed and cemented together.
2. Sedimentary rocks are often in layers and many contain fossils.

Layers of sedimentary rock

Fossils in sedimentary rocks can look like this:

Limestone, a common sedimentary rock is a common building material.

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 Earth and Atmosphere

Metamorphic Rock

e.g. slate and marble

Metamorphic rock is

1. Made from either sedimentary or igneous rock that has been

changed by either compression or heat over a large amount
of time. e.g. limestone can be converted to marble
2. It may have layers of visible, interlocking crystals

Slate is used for roof and floor tiles and marble is used in architecture
and sculpture.

Ask your child to create a table with the three types of rock as the
titles. Include how they are made, examples of each and what they are
used for.

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 Earth and Atmosphere

Some ideas for their table

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 Earth and Atmosphere

The Rock Cycle

The three types of rock are linked by the rock cycle

1) Igneous rocks are formed from volcanoes from the molten rock in
the Earth
2) When the igneous rocks are on the surface they are eroded and
weathered and small pieces break off
3) These small pieces are washed away and carried in rivers
4) The sediment settles out of slow moving water
5) The sediment layer builds up as more sediment is deposited on top
so it begins to get compressed
6) Sedimentary rock is formed
7) Movements in the tectonic plates cause this rock to be heated and
compressed
8) Metamorphic rock is formed
9) Metamorphic rock can be moved under the crust and into the
mantle by the tectonic plates where it melts back into magma ready
to start the process again.

A simple rock cycle

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 Earth and Atmosphere

The formation of the different rocks

This is the type of diagram you may be given and asked to explain what
is happening. Ask your child to explain what they can see and what the
arrows mean in terms of rocks changing from one form to another.

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 Earth and Atmosphere

Lesson 4: Composition of the Atmosphere

Today’s Important Spellings: Carbon dioxide

Nitrogen Atmosphere
Oxygen The Greenhouse effect
Argon

Lesson Content
The atmosphere of the Earth is the layer of gases surrounding the
planet Earth that is held in place by the Earth's gravity. The atmosphere
protects life on Earth by

· absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation,

· warming the surface through heat retention (the Greenhouse
Effect),
· and reducing temperature extremes between day and night

Air is the name given to the atmospheric gases used in breathing and
photosynthesis. By volume, dry air contains:-

· 78.% nitrogen,
· 21% oxygen,
· nearly 1% argon,
· 0.04% carbon dioxide,
· and small amounts of other gases.

Air also contains a variable amount of water vapour, on average around

1% at sea level, and 0.4% over the entire atmosphere.

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 Earth and Atmosphere

This chart shows the percentage of each gas in the air we breathe

It is surprising to people how little carbon dioxide there is in the air – it is

too small to show on this pie chart.

Carbon dioxide is a problem!

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is very important as it
plays an important role in global climate. This graph shows how quickly
the levels have risen in the atmosphere over the last few hundred years,
rising steeply since the industrial revolution.

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 Earth and Atmosphere

This is an illustration of the carbon cycle. You can see several of the
ways that carbon dioxide builds up in the air:- from transport and factory
emissions, plant respiration, animal respiration and decaying organisms
in the soil.

The Carbon Cycle

The Greenhouse Effect

The sun is much hotter than the Earth and it gives off rays of heat (ra-
diation) that travel through the atmosphere and reach the Earth. The
rays of the sun warm the Earth, and heat from the Earth then travels
back into the atmosphere. The gases in the atmosphere stop some of
the heat from escaping into space. These gases are called green-
house gases and the natural process between the sun, the atmos-
phere and the Earth is called the 'Greenhouse Effect', because it
works the same way as a greenhouse. The windows of a greenhouse
play the same role as the gases in the atmosphere, keeping some of
the heat inside the greenhouse.

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 Earth and Atmosphere

THE NATURAL GREENHOUSE EFFECT

The atmosphere has a number of gases, often in tiny amounts, which
trap the heat given out by the Earth. To make sure that the Earth's tem-
perature remains constant, the balance of these gases in the atmos-
phere must not be upset. The gases are:

· water vapour
· carbon dioxide
· methane
· nitrous oxide
· ozone

Man’s activities have changed the quantities of these gases:

1. Burning fossil fuels - coal, oil and natural gas - releases

carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
2. Cutting down and burning trees also produces a lot of
carbon dioxide.
3. Intensive farming of cattle causes the release of large
amounts of methane.
4. A group of greenhouse gases called the chlorofluorocarbons,
- which are usually called CFCs, have been used in
aerosols, such as hairspray cans, fridges and in making
foam plastics. They are found in small amounts in the
atmosphere. They are dangerous greenhouse gases
because small amounts can trap large amounts of heat.

There are more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which trap more

heat which makes the Earth warmer. This is known as GLOBAL

WARMING.

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 Earth and Atmosphere

The greenhouse effect

THE EFFECTS
With more heat trapped on Earth, the planet will become warmer, which
means the weather all over Earth will change. At the moment, it is difficult
for scientists to say how big the changes will be and where the worse ef-
fects will occur. The changes are believed to be:-

The Weather - In Britain, winter and summer temperatures will in-

crease and the weather will be warmer. In winter it may also rain more
but in summer it may become drier. In other parts of the world, the effects
will be different, some places will become drier and others will be wetter.
Although most areas will be warmer, some areas will become cooler.
There may be many storms, floods and drought, but we do not know
which areas of the world will be affected. All over the world, these weath-
er changes will affect the kind of crop that can be grown. Plants, animals
and even people may find it difficult to survive in different conditions.

Sea Levels- Higher temperatures will make the water of the seas and
oceans expand. Ice melting in the Antarctic and Greenland will flow into
the sea. All over the world, sea levels may rise, perhaps by as much as

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 Earth and Atmosphere

20 to 40 cm, by the beginning of the next century. Higher sea levels will
threaten the low-lying coastal areas of the world, such as the
Netherlands and Bangladesh. Throughout the world, millions of people
and areas of land will be at danger from flooding. Many people will have
to leave their homes and large areas of farmland will be ruined because
of floods. In Britain, East Anglia and the Thames estuary will be at risk
from the rising sea.

Farming - The changes in the weather will affect the types of crops
grown in different parts of the world. Some crops, such as wheat and rice
grow better in higher temperatures, but other plants, such as maize and
sugarcane do not. Changes in the amount of rainfall will also affect how
many plants grow. The effect of a change in the weather on plant growth
may lead to some countries not having enough food. Brazil, parts of Afri-
ca, south-east Asia and China will be affected the most and many people
could suffer from hunger.

Water - Everywhere in the world, there is a big demand for water and
in many regions, such as the Sahara in Africa, there is not enough water
for the people. Changes in the weather will bring more rain in some
countries, but others will have less rain. In Britain, the Southeast will be
at risk from drought.

Plants & Animals - As weather and temperature changes, the

homes of plants and animals will be affected all over the world. For ex-
ample, polar bears will have to find new land for hunting and living, if the
ice in the Arctic melts. Many animals and plants may not be able to cope
with these changes and could die. This could cause the loss of some an-
imal and plant species in certain areas of the world or everywhere on
Earth.

People - The changes in climate will affect everyone, but some popula-
tions will be at greater risk. For example, countries whose coastal re-
gions have a large population, such as Egypt and China, may see whole
populations move inland to avoid flood risk areas. The effect on people

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 Earth and Atmosphere

will depend on how well we can adapt to the changes and how much we
can do to reduce climate change in the world.

Ask your child to write up what they have learnt in this lesson.

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 Earth and Atmosphere

Earth and Atmosphere End of Topic Practise

Questions
These practise questions can be presented to your child in any way that
is appropriate – you could do a fun quiz style, a ‘pick a question from a
box type quiz, an oral ‘let’s have a go at these together’ style or as a test
of what they have understood by setting as a ‘test’. It is entirely up to
you. You can use all of the questions or pick and choose. The answers
follow the questions.

Name the parts of the Structure of the Earth described here:

1) The solid, outer part of the Earth arranged in plates. ………………

2) The semi-solid molten rock that moves slowly ……………………...
3) Liquid nickel and iron that creates the Earth’s magnetic field
………………………………………………
4) Made from solid nickel and iron ………………………….

5) What is the most dense part of the Earth?

6) Name the three fossil fuels we extract from the Earth’s crust

a)

b)

c)

7) Which element is most common in the earth’s crust?

8) Name a man made polymer used for plastic bags and buckets

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 Earth and Atmosphere

9) Why are ceramics used for bathrooms?

10) A material made from 2 or more other substances is called a

……………………………. Material.

11) Name the three types of rock

a)
b)
c)

12) Which type of rock is formed by tiny pieces of other rocks

which have been squashed under pressure?

13) Which rock type is made by changing other rocks under huge
amounts of pressure and heat?

14) Which rock is made by cooling molten rock?

15) If an igneous rock cools inside the earth it has …………….

sized crystals and is called intrusive rock.

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 Earth and Atmosphere

16) If it cools quickly on the Earth’s surface, an extrusive rock,

the crystals are ………………………….

17) Give an example of each of these types of rock:

a) Igneous e.g.
b) Sedimentary e.g.
c) Metamorphic e.g.

18) Which gas has the largest percentage in air?

19) Name two greenhouse gases

a)
b)

20) Name three effects of global warming

a)

b)

c)

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 3 of 6

 Earth and Atmosphere

Earth and Atmosphere End of Topic Practise

Questions
ANSWERS:

Name the parts of the Structure of the Earth described here:

1) The solid, outer part of the Earth arranged in plates crust

2) The semi-solid molten rock that moves slowly mantle
3) Liquid nickel and iron that creates the Earth’s magnetic field
outer crust
4) Made from solid nickel and iron inner crust

5) What is the most dense part of the Earth?

Inner core

6) Name the three fossil fuels we extract from the Earth’s crust

a) crude oil

b) natural gas

c) coal

7) Which element is most common in the earth’s crust?

oxygen

8) Name a man made polymer used for plastic bags and buckets
Polythene

9) Why are ceramics used for bathrooms?

Accept: hard, tough and/or waterproof

10) A material made from 2 or more other substances is called a

Composite Material.

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 4 of 6

 Earth and Atmosphere

11) Name the three types of rock

a) Igneous
b) Sedimentary
c) Metamorphic

12) Which type of rock is formed by tiny pieces of other rocks

which have been squashed under pressure?

Sedimentary

13) Which rock type is made by changing other rocks under huge
amounts of pressure and heat?
Metamorphic

14) Which rock is made by cooling molten rock?

Igneous

15) If an igneous rock cools inside the earth it has large sized
crystals and is called intrusive rock.

16) If it cools quickly on the Earth’s surface, an extrusive rock,

the crystals are small

17) Give an example of each of these types of rock:

d) Igneous e.g. basalt or granite or pumice

e) Sedimentary e.g. limestone or sandstone
f) Metamorphic e.g. slate or marble
(other answers are possible)

18) Which gas has the largest percentage in air?

Nitrogen

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 5 of 6

 Earth and Atmosphere

19) Name two greenhouse gases

Any two of :- water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide,

and ozone.

20) Name three effects of global warming

a) weather – hotter temperatures
b) sea levels will rise due to melting ice caps
c) crops and plants and animals will be affected
other answers are possible

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 6 of 6

 Energy

Lesson 1: Energy Stores and Transfers

Today’s Important Spellings: Magnetic store

Energy store Chemical store
Energy transfer Electrostatic store
Kinetic store Thermal store
Gravitational potential store Nuclear store
Elastic store

Lesson Content
Energy can be stored and transferred. It cannot be created or de-
stroyed. The total energy of a system stays the same. It is hard to define
what energy actually IS but we can define what energy can DO. Energy
is useful when it moves from one energy store to another. The movement
of energy is called energy transfer. Energy is stored and then moved. It
can be stored in different ways:

1. Chemical store – stored in anything chemical like a battery, a

candle, fuel or food.

2. Kinetic store – stored in a moving object like a car or roller

coaster

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 Energy

3. Gravitational potential store – stored in anything that has

been lifted up high like a diver on a board or a hiker up a
mountain

4. Elastic store- stored in any elastic object that has been

stretched or squashed e.g. an elastic band

5. The thermal store – stored in anything hot like a fire or hot

metal

6. Magnetic store – stored in two magnetic objects which are

separate but attracting each other

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 2 of 5

 Energy

7. Electrostatic store – stored in two separately charged objects

that are attracting each other

8. Nuclear store – stored in something radioactive like a

radioactive atom

Transferring this Energy

Energy is useful when it moves from one store to another – we call this
an energy transfer. One example is that if you light a bonfire the wood is
a chemical store of energy. By lighting it transfer the energy into the
thermal store of your body.

Energy can transfer or move from one store to another in different ways.
Devices such as lamps and heaters may be involved, or processes such
as combustion. For example, energy can be transferred:

· by heating – some objects are hotter than others. Energy

moves from the hotter object to the cooler one

· mechanically- through the movement of parts in machines or

when the movement of position of an object changes. Energy
is also transferred through sound waves and seismic
(earthquake) waves through materials and from one place to
another

· electrically - when an electrical circuit is complete

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 Energy

· by radiation - Visible light, infrared light, microwaves and

radio waves are forms of radiation. They are carried by
waves (although unlike sound, these are not mechanical
waves and can travel through empty space). Electric lamps
and burning fuels transfer visible and infrared light to the
surroundings.

· Falling -When an object falls the gravitational potential

energy it possessed is converted to kinetic (movement)
energy.

· Food contains internal energy stored in the bonds between

particles. This is sometimes called chemical energy. This is
converted into the energy all living organisms need during
respiration.

Energy Diagrams
We can draw energy diagrams where the labels state the energy transfer
occurring

An energy transfer diagram for a lamp

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 Energy

An energy transfer diagram for a hydroelectric power station

Energy tends to spread out and become less useful (e.g. you turn on a
lamp for light but heat energy is lost to the surroundings – this is not a
useful transfer.) We try to limit these less useful transfers.

Ask your child to write up what they have learned about energy
stores and transfers.

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 5 of 5

 Energy

Lesson 2: Conservation of Energy and

Energy Resources

Today’s Important Spellings: Elastic store

Energy store Magnetic store
Energy transfer Chemical store
Kinetic store Electrostatic store
Gravitational potential store Thermal store
Mass Nuclear store
Velocity Joules

Lesson Content
Last lesson we learnt about energy stores and how the energy is
useful when it is transferred from one form to another. Ask your child to
name as many energy stores as they can. We listed 8 (kinetic, gravita-
tional potential, chemical, thermal, elastic, magnetic, electrostatic and
nuclear)

The amount of energy that is transferred from one store to another

can be measured. The units of energy are always joules (J).

When we do the calculations for energy transfer it becomes clear that

some less useful energy transfers are often happening too.

e.g. a car moving up to the top of hill is an example of kinetic energy be-
ing transferred to gravitational potential energy BUT some energy will
have been transferred in heat to the engine.

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 Energy

Sankey Diagrams

We can use a Sankey Diagram to demonstrate the energy transfers.

A Sankey diagram for an electric light

This one shows the energy transfer when we turn on a light. Electrical
energy is transferred to light energy but a little is lost as heat energy. As
we know energy can’t be created or destroyed the number of joules of
energy at the start is the same as at the end if you add both the heat and
light energy values together.

100J of energy at the start and (75 J plus 25J ) 100J at the end

Watch this YouTube clip

http://www.echo.education/url/sankeydiagrams

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 Energy

Some questions based on Sankey Diagrams

1. Look at the diagram of the Sankey diagram for an electrical motor lifting a
load.

How much thermal energy does the motor produce?

A. ? 50 joules

B. ? 86 joules

C. ? 36 joules

D. ? 14 joules

2. Look at the diagram of the Sankey diagrams for three different

lights (traditional filament lamp, LED, CFL).

Which lamp has the highest efficiency?

A. ? LED

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 3 of 4

 Energy

B. ? Filament lamp

C. ? CFL

3. Look at the Sankey diagram for a 100 watt filament light bulb.

How much thermal energy does the light bulb give out?

A ? 102 J

B ? 98 J

C ? 50 J

D ? 200 J

Answers:

1. D

2. A

3. B

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 4 of 4

 Energy

Lesson 3: Energy from food

Today’s Important Spellings: Calorie

Joules (J) Fair test
Kilojoules (kJ) Variables

Suggested resources:
· Test tube/boiling tube
· Water
· Needle attached to a wooden handle or old metal teaspoon
· Heat resistant mat
· Thermometer
· Clamp
· Foods to test e.g. sweetened banana chips, toffee popcorn, original
flavour Hula Hoops, salted peanuts, marshmallows, dry pet food,
Cheerios etc
· Safety goggles

Lesson Content
All animals need energy to complete the 7 life processes – ask your
child to recap these. They are remembered using ‘MRS GREN’.

(M- Movement, R- Respiration, S- sensitivity, G-growth, R-reproduction,

E- excretion and N – nutrition.)

They get this energy from food. This type of energy as with all
others, is measured in joules (J). A joule is a very small unit of meas-
urement so we also use kilojoules (1000J = 1 kJ)

An old fashioned unit of energy is the calorie (and kilocalorie, kcal) and
this is used on food labels.

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 Energy

When an animal (or human) eats food and their cells respire, energy is
transferred from the chemical storage of food into the thermal and kinetic
stores of the animal.

The equation for this respiration is:

The food groups that act as energy stores are:

· Fats and oils

· Carbohydrates (these can be simple – sugars or complex- starch.)

Ask your child to name examples of food in these categories.

· Foods that contains fats and oils

1. Butter

2. Margarine

3. Oils – vegetable, sunflower, olive, lard

4. Fried food

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 Energy

Foods that contains fats and oils

Foods that contain complex carbohydrates (starch)

1. Pasta

2. Bread

3. Rice

4. Potatoes

Foods that contain complex carbohydrates

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 Energy

· Foods that contain simple carbohydrates (sugars)

1. Sweets

2. Sugary drinks

3. Chocolate

4. Fruit

Foods that contain simple carbohydrates

Measuring the Amount of Energy Stored in Food

Many foods can be burned to release energy from their chemical store.
This energy can be transferred from the chemical store to the thermal
store of some water in a boiling tube. As it is transferred to the thermal
store it heats up the water which we can measure with a thermometer.

Experiment time!

You will need:-

· A test tube/boiling tube

· Water
· Food to burn e.g. sweetened banana chips, toffee popcorn, original
flavour Hula Hoops, salted peanuts, marshmallows, dry pet food,
Cheerios etc
· Needle attached to a wooden handle or old metal spoon

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 Energy

· Heat resistant mat

· Thermometer
· Clamp (or tongs to hold)

To ensure that this is a fair test the only variable that changes is the
food being burnt. All other variables must stay the same:

· The volume of the water

· The mass of the food burned

· The distance between the food and the boiling tube/test tube

· The starting temperature of the water

Method

1. Measure 10 cm3 of water into the test-tube.

2. Clamp the test-tube in the retort stand at an angle as shown in

the diagram, and over a heat resistant mat

3. Weigh a small piece of food and record the mass.

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 5 of 7

 Energy

4. Take the temperature of the water and record it in the table.

5. Fix the food on the end of the mounted needle. If the food is
likely to melt when heated put it on a teaspoon instead of on the
needle.

6. Ignite the food using a Bunsen burner, and immediately hold it

about 1 cm below the test-tube and above a heat resistant mat.
If the flame goes out, quickly relight it.

7. When the food stops burning, stir the water with the
thermometer and record the temperature.

8. If there is a significant amount of unburnt food left on the

needle, re-weigh this and record the mass remaining.

9. Empty the test-tube and refill it with another 10 cm3 of cold

water. Repeat the experiment using a different food.

10. Record your results to see which food raises the temperature
of the water the most – this will be the food with the most
energy.

Safety notes:
· Wear eye protection.
· Do NOT to taste or eat any of the foods used in the experiment.
· Some foodstuffs can be burned safely and easily using a mounted
needle. Others may melt and drop off the needle, so burning on an
old metal teaspoon is an alternative method – this can also be
used for liquid foodstuffs, such as olive oil.

If you don’t want to carry out the experiment yourself you can watch
a similar one on YouTube
http://www.echo.education/url/energyfromfood

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 6 of 7

 Energy

Your child can write up the experiment and draw their conclusions
as to which foods contain the most energy. This food will have the higest
number of calories.

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 7 of 7

 Energy

Lesson 4: Power and Appliances

Today’s Important Spellings:

Power
Watts (W)
Kilowatts (kW)

Lesson Content
Recap: Energy is measured in joules (J) and kilojoules (kJ).

Power is the rate that energy is used. It is a measurement of the

rate at which energy is transferred.

One watt means that one joule of energy is transferred

every second.
A high power rating means that an appliance transfer more energy each
second than a less powerful appliance

Energy transfer can be measured using this equation:

Energy transfer (joules) = power (watts) x time (seconds)

Power is measured in watts (W) and kilowatts (kW). Fuel bills show en-
ergy used in kWh (kilo watt hour), and the cost of this can be calculated if
the cost per kWh is known. One kWh is the same as the amount of ener-
gy used by a 1 kW appliance for 1 hour:

energy in kWh = power in kW × time in hours

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 Energy

An example of an electricity bill

1 Watt is 1 Joule per second.

So, for example, a 20 W electric lamp uses 20 J of electrical energy eve-
ry second to stay alight.

Electrical appliances (TV sets, kettles and so on) have electrical rating
plates on them. These show the power rating of the appliance in W.

This is the rating plate in a 2000w appliance.

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 Energy

Some appliances use a lot of energy per second – their power is very
high. This means that their power may be shown in kW (kilowatts) rather
than W:

1 kW = 1000 W
For example, 2000 W = 2000 ÷ 1000 = 2 kW.

The best way to compare the cost of running different appliances is to

look at their power consumption, which is measure of how much power
they use. The following list points out typical values for the wattage of
some devices you would find in your home so that you can compare
them.
Appliance Minimum Maximum
100W light bulb 100W 100W
25" colour TV 150W 150W
3" belt sander 1000W 1000W
60W light bulb 60W 60W
9" disc sander 1200W 1200W
Ceiling Fan 10W 50W
Clock radio 1W 2W
Clothes dryer 4000W 4000W
Coffee Maker 800W 1400W
Desktop Computer 50W 150W
Dishwasher 1200W 1500W
Electric Blanket 200W 200W
Electric Kettle 2000W 2000W
Electric Mower 1500W 1500W
Electric Shaver 15W 20W
Fridge / Freezer 150W 400W

An important point is also to bear in mind the length of time

for which the device will be used. For example an electric
blanket may be used for 2 hours, but a hair drier for 5
minutes. Therefore the blanket uses 200W * 2 hours =
0.4kWh. The hair drier uses 1KW * 0.0833hours = 0.08333
kWh. So using the blanket costs roughly 5 times as much as
the hair drier.

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 3 of 3

 Energy

Lesson 5: Machines and Work

Today’s Important Spellings: Machines

Energy
Friction
Work done

Suggested resources:
· Newton meter (force meter)

Lesson Content
Energy is often transferred from one store to another when a
force is applied to an object and that object moves. We sometimes
call it ‘doing work’ on an object.

· Lifting an object up – this work involves pushing or pulling it against

gravity

· Push an object along the floor – the work involved is the force
needed to overcome friction

· A car’s engine provides the force that allows a car to move at a

constant speed – the work involves overcoming friction and air
resistance

We can work out the amount of energy transferred using this equation:
Work done( energy transferred) = force x distance moved in direction of the force
(joules) (newtons) (metres)

e.g. a steady force of 10N is applied to an object which moves 5 m the

work done is

Work done = 10N x 5m = 50 joules

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 Energy

Experiment time!

Use the newton meter to pull an object over different surfaces and
up some slopes. Keep the force you have applied constant. Measure the
distance you have pulled the object (in metres) and you can calculate the
work done using the equation above.

Ask your child to design a table to show the force needed to pull the
object (e.g. a bag of potatoes) over different surfaces and up a slope.
You can then work out the work done by multiplying the force by the dis-
tance (in metres.)

What is a machine?
A machine is a tool containing one or more parts that uses energy to per-
form an intended action. Machines are usually powered by mechanical,
chemical, thermal, or electrical means, and are often motorized. Histori-

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 2 of 3

 Energy

cally, a power tool also required moving parts to classify as a machine.

However, the advent of electronics has led to the development of power
tools without moving parts that are considered machines.

A simple machine is a device that simply transforms the direction or

magnitude of a force e.g. a simple lever, pulley or screw but a large
number of more complex machines exist e.g. vehicles, electronic sys-
tems, molecular machines, computers, television, and radio.

Ask your child to print out some pictures of a selection of machines –

from the very simple to the complex. They should write how they are
powered and what they do.

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 3 of 3

 Energy

Lesson 6: Temperature and Heat Energy-

Heating and Cooling

Today’s Important Spellings: Cooling

Thermal store Friction
Energy transfer
Heating

Suggested resources:
· An ice cube on a plate
· A hot cup of tea/water
· Thermometer
· Small saucepan of water

Lesson Content
Pour a hot cup of tea/coffee/hot water and ask your child to take the
temperature of the air around the cup and the temperature of the hot
drink and make a note of it. Now leave it on the side while you start the
lesson.

Put an ice cube into a small plate and leave it on the side.

What is cooling in terms of transfer of energy? We all know what we

mean by cooling because we have all left a cup of tea/hot chocolate sit-
ting out on the side and when you come back to it, it is less hot. In fact
we know if you leave it too long it will be ‘cold’. Or you have left your din-
ner for too long and it is no longer hot. We call this cooling. We now
need to explain this familiar process in terms of energy transfer.

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 1 of 3

 Energy

Cooling is: when energy moves from the thermal store of a hotter ob-
ject to the thermal store of a cooler object or the thermal store of the sur-
roundings (if they are cooler than the object) The overall effect of this
process is to reduce the temperature difference between the two objects.

Go back to your hot drink and take a new set of temperature read-
ings. Ask your child to tell you that the temperature of the hot drink has
decreased but will not be below the surrounding temperature. Leave it for
about half an hour and take readings again.

Melting

Ask your child to look at the ice cube you left out at the start of the
lesson. What has happened to it? If you leave an ice cube in warm sur-
roundings the thermal energy store of the surroundings transfers to the
thermal store of the ice cube raising its temperature and melting the ice.

Heating

If you put some water into a small saucepan and take the tempera-
ture. Now put it on the stove and turn it on. Energy is being transferred
from the thermal store of the flame/ electric hob and into the thermal
store of the water. The temperature of the water will increase – check this
with a thermometer. Turn off the heat and recheck the temperature at the
end of the lesson. Ask your child what will happen to it.

Friction

You can transfer energy to the thermal store of an object by rubbing

it. This is due to friction. Friction is a force that works against (oppos-
es) movement. As friction acts on a moving object the energy in the ki-
netic (moving) store of the object transfers to the thermal store of the ob-
ject. The simplest way to demonstrate this is just to rub your hands to-
gether – you can feel the heat.

These are all examples of the transfer of thermal energy.

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 2 of 3

 Energy

Ask your child to recheck the temperature of the hot drink, the
saucepan of water and to look at the ice cube. They could write up this
lesson by drawing each example and adding arrows to show the transfer
of energy.

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 3 of 3

 Energy

Lesson 7: Heat Transfer – Conduction,

Convection and Radiation

Today’s Important Spellings: Radiation

Conduction Infra-red
Convection Vacuum
Heat conductors

Lesson Content
Today we will look at

· Conduction

· Convection

· Radiation

Conduction
This occurs best in solids. It is where heat transfer happens because
energy is passed between particles without them moving from one
place to the other. In solids the particles are touching their neighbours.
Energy causes the particles to vibrate and as they do, they bump into
the particles next to them causing them to vibrate too so the energy
gets transferred through the substance.

· Metals are a good conductor of heat (e.g. a saucepan is metal)

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 1 of 4

 Energy

· Most non-metals poor conductors of heat.

· Gases are very poor conductors of heat

· Conduction can happen in liquids too although convection is

more important in liquids. A simple illustration of conduction

is to stand everyone in the family close tighter and have one
person wiggle about- the others next to them get bumped.

Convection
Convection only occurs in liquids and gases. It happens when parti-
cles move to a different place and take energy with them. Convection
cannot happen in solids because the particles cannot flow in a solid.
Convection currents happen because hot liquids and gases expand and
become less dense so they rise and that causes the cooler parts of the
liquid or gas to sink. These currents are most noticeable when the liquid
or gas is heated from below like in a pan on the stove.

This is seen in air too. When something is hot, its molecules are farther
apart than when it is cold. When air is hot, its molecules are further apart,
so it takes up more room. That makes hot air lighter than cold air, be-
cause the cold air has more molecules in the same amount of room. Air
that is down near the ground is usually warmer than air further up in the
sky, because the oceans warm up the air. Because the hot air is lighter
than the cold air above it, it floats up to lie on top of the cold air.

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 2 of 4

 Energy

The movement of air

Once the hot air gets high up, far from the ground, though, it's nearer to
space. It's colder up there than it is down on the ground, just as it's cold-
er on top of a mountain. So the hot air cools down, and then slowly sinks
back down to the ground again. This cycle of hot air rising, cooling off,
and then sinking again is what causes wind and tornadoes and hurri-
canes. Sometimes when warmer air bumps into colder air it causes
thunderstorms.

A hurricane

Radiation
This is the third method of heat transfer. Hot objects give off infra-red
radiation – this is like light we cannot see. Infrared radiation is a type of
electromagnetic radiation, which involves waves rather than particles.
This means that, unlike conduction and convection, radiation can even

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 3 of 4

 Energy

pass through the vacuum of space. This is why we can still feel the heat
of the Sun, although it is 150 million km away from the Earth. Infra-red
radiation travels through most gases as well as a vacuum. It can be re-
flected by silver and white surfaces and it is absorbed by black sur-
faces.

Ask your child to write up these three forms of heat transfer focusing
on which states of matter you find them in and an example of each.

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 4 of 4

 Energy

Lesson 8: Heat Transfer

Today’s Important Spellings: Radiation

Conduction Insulation
Convection
Heat conductors

Lesson Content
Sometimes heat transfer is a good thing e.g. we want to heat water
to make a cup of tea. But sometimes it is a bad thing and we don’t want
to lose heat. For example if you pay for energy to heat your home you
don’t want to waste it by letting it escape.

This diagram shows you some of the expected heat losses for an
unprotected house:

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 1 of 4

 Energy

We can see these heat losses using a thermal camera. The hottest areas
are white and the coolest areas are blue:

Heat losses with a thermal camera

Ask your child to look for the areas where most heat escapes – the
red areas.

We can help to prevent these heat losses by insulating our homes. We

need to think about reducing conduction, convection and radiation. If we
do a good job we can keep a lot more energy inside our homes.

To reduce:

1. Conduction we can build walls in two layers with a gap in

between – this breaks up the solid so the energy can’t be passed
from neighbouring particles and air is a poor conductor.
2. Convection we can put foam insulation into this wall cavity and
into our loft space which reduces heat loss because it traps air
pockets and stops convection currents with moving air.
3. Radiation we can out silver reflective foil on the back of the
foam insulation which will reflect the infra-red rays.

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 2 of 4

 Energy

The Energy Saving Trust says: “There are many simple yet effec-
tive ways to insulate your home, which can significantly reduce heat loss
while lowering your heating bills.”

Here are some forms of house insulation:

Household Insulation

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 3 of 4

 Energy

Ask your child to write up how to help prevent heat loss from our
homes.

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 4 of 4

 Energy

Energy End of Topic Practise Questions

These practise questions can be presented to your child in any way that
is appropriate – you could do a fun quiz style, a ‘pick a question from a
box type quiz, an oral ‘let’s have a go at these together’ style or as a test
of what they have understood by setting as a ‘test’. It is entirely up to
you. You can use all of the questions or pick and choose. The answers
follow the questions.

1) Hot water is poured from a kettle into a mug and left to stand for 30
minutes. Explain the energy transfer that occurs.

2) At the same time a cold drink is taken from the fridge and left out
for half an hour. Describe the energy transfer that happens here.

Name the energy stores in these examples:

3) A moving object

4) Food

5) A hot object

6) A stretched elastic band

7) An object that has been lifted up

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 1 of 8

 Energy

8) What unit is energy measured in?

9) What does this Sankey diagram tell us about this object’s energy
has gone

10) Energy resources are different from energy stores. We can

move energy from these resources in useful ways.
Name the three fossil fuels:
a)

b)

c)

11) Name two other energy resources

a)

b)

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 2 of 8

 Energy

12) Which 2 food groups act as energy stores

a)

b)

13) Name a food high in complex carbohydrates

14) Name a food high in simple carbohydrates

15) I cook roast lamb in an oven with power rating of 3 kilowatts

for 2 hours. How much will it cost me to cook the meat? Electricity
costs 15p per kilowatt.

Energy tranferred (kWh) = power (kW) x time (hours)

16) Explain how heat transfers through a metal saucepan by

conduction

17) After a marathon you are given a foil blanket to keep them
from losing too much heat. Explain how this works

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 3 of 8

 Energy

18) On a cold day it is often said that you should wear layers.
They trap a layer of air between them – how does this stop you
losing heat?

19) Name two ways of reducing heat loss from a house.

a)

b)

20) What energy transfer occurs when a lamp is plugged into an

electricity point?

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 4 of 8

 Energy

Energy End of Topic Practise Questions

ANSWERS:

1) Hot water is poured from a kettle into a mug and left to stand for 30
minutes. Explain the energy transfer that occurs.

The thermal energy store of the water will transfer into the thermal
store of the surroundings so the temperature of the water will de-
crease.

2) At the same time a cold drink is taken from the fridge and left out
for half an hour. Describe the energy transfer that happens here.

The thermal energy store of the surroundings will move into the
thermal store of the drink so increasing its temperature.

Name the energy stores in these examples:

3) A moving object - kinetic store

4) Food- chemical store
5) A hot object – thermal store
6) A stretched elastic band – elastic store
7) An object that has been lifted up- gravitational potential store

8) What unit is energy measured in?

Joules (J)

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 Energy

9) What does this Sankey diagram tell us about this object’s energy
has gone

Most of the energy (75J) was trans-

ferred to light but 25J were lost to heat energy (thermal store)

10) Energy resources are different from energy stores. We can

move energy from these resources in useful ways.
Name the three fossil fuels:
a) crude oil
b) natural gas
c) coal

11) Name two other energy resources

a) and b) any two from: biomass, nuclear fuel, hydroelectric power,
wind. Solar or geothermal

12) Which 2 food groups act as energy stores

a) carbohydrates (simple or complex)
b) fats and oils

13) Name a food high in complex carbohydrates

Any of: pasta, bread, rice and potatoes

14) Name a food high in simple carbohydrates

Any of: fruit, chocolate, sweets, fizzy drinks

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 Energy

15) I cook roast lamb in an oven with power rating of 3 kilowatts

for 2 hours. How much will it cost me to cook the meat? Electricity
costs 15p per kilowatt.

Energy tranferred (kWh) = power (kW) x time (hours)

Energy = 3 x 2
Energy is 6kWh. 15p per kWh 15 x 6 = 90p

16) Explain how heat transfers through a metal saucepan by

conduction
The thermal energy causes the particles to vibrate strongly – they
bump into the particles next to them which begin to vibrate and so
the energy is transferred

17) After a marathon you are given a foil blanket to keep them
from losing too much heat. Explain how this works
The foil reflects infra-red heat waves and doesn’t allow them to es-
cape from the runner’s body

18) On a cold day it is often said that you should wear layers.
They trap a layer of air between them – how does this stop you
losing heat?
The air is a poor conductor of heat so doesn’t move it away from
your body

19) Name two ways of reducing heat loss from a house.

a) and b) any from: cavity wall insulation, loft insulation, dou-

ble/triple glazing, draft excluders etc

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 Energy

20) What energy transfer occurs when a lamp is plugged into an

electricity point

Electrical store is transferred to light and heat. The light is transferred to

the surroundings but there is some loss of thermal energy to the sur-
roundings too.

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 Motion and Forces

Lesson 1: Speed, distance and time

Today’s Important Spellings: Distance-time graph

Average speed Velocity
Distance travelled Acceleration

Lesson Content
If you want to describe how fast something is moving, you measure
its speed.

Speed is a measure of how far an object travels in a specific time.

To determine the speed of an object you need to know

1. The distance it has travelled

2. The time it has taken

We use this equation:

e.g. A cyclist travels between two lamp posts in 5 seconds. The distance
between the lamp posts is 100 metres. So to determine the speed we
use the equation above

Speed = 100m divided by 5secs = 20 m/s (metres per second)

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 Motion and Forces

This calculation gives an average speed of the cyclist. In actual fact his
speed will vary over the 5 seconds. This equation allows for this and al-
ways give us the average speed.

There are several instruments that measure speed

· A radar gun is use by police to take measurements of distance and

time. It then works out speed

· An anemometer measures wind speed

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 Motion and Forces

Units of speed
· Metres per second m/s is commonly used especially in examples

· Road signs in Britain and speedometers in cars use miles per hour
(mph)

· European countries tend to use kilometres per hour (kph)

· If something is moving very slowly like a snail, we would use

centimetres per second (cm/s)

Velocity is a speed in a particular direction.

Force and Velocity

A force can change the velocity (speed) of an object by

· Making it go faster

· Making it go slower

· Make a stationary object start to move

· Make a moving object stop

· Changing the direction of a moving object

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 Motion and Forces

Distance-time graphs
A distance-time graph tells the story of a journey. This graph shows
someone driving away from point A, stopping their car and then driving
back to A.

A time-distance graph of a journey

The graph below shows a journey travelled. It shows that it takes

15minutes to get from A to B which is 6km. They then stayed still for 20
minutes before setting off again to travel a further 3 km in 10 minutes.
You can find the speed of the separate section of the graph but for the
overall journey too. Speed could be worked out by the equation. Speed
is distance divided by time.

Distance-time graph

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 Motion and Forces

The acceleration of an object is when the velocity changes. Here are

some examples of acceleration:

· A car speeds up as the engine drives it forwards

· A ball stops as a goalkeeper catches it

· A rolling ball slows down as friction acts upon it

If NO forces act on a stationary object it will remain stationary and a

moving object would continue to move at the same velocity. On Earth the
forces of gravity and usually friction act on any object.

Relative Motion
We often say something is moving or is stationary but these are relative
terms. We need to know what we are comparing them to. If you sit on a
train and look out of the window at the trees and you can see that you
are moving very fast. But if your train overtakes a slower train travelling
in the same direction and if that is the only thing you can see out of the
window it looks as if your train is moving slowly. This is because your
speed relative to the slower train is much lower. If your fast train passes
another going in the opposite direction, your relative speed is very fast.

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 Motion and Forces

Lesson 2: Introduction to Forces and

Friction

Today’s Important Spellings: Newtons

Push Drag
Pull Streamlined
Friction

Lesson Content
A force is a push or pull. It acts between two objects. Forces are
measured in newtons (N).

The direction that a force acts in is really important so we represent forc-

es in diagrams as arrows. The size of the arrows represents the size
of the force. We must think about all the forces that act on an object.
Gravity acts on all objects all of the time and gives an object its weight.

The forces acting on a book on a table

The book has gravity acting on it and the table pushing back on it.
The book is stationary on the table because the two forces are
equal.

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 Motion and Forces

Balanced Forces
Balance forces are two forces acting in opposite directions on an
object, and equal in size.

Anytime there is a balanced force on an abject, the object stays still or

continues moving continues to move at the same speed and in the same
direction. It is important to note that an object can be in motion even if
there are no forces acting on it.

Hanging objects

Take a look at this hanging glass bulb shade. The weight of the bulb
shade pulls down and the tension in the cable pulls up. The forces pulling
down and pulling up can be said to be in balance.

The forces acting on a boat

Look at this boat floating on the sea. It is floating because the weight of
the ship is balanced by the upthrust from the water.

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 Motion and Forces

Unbalanced Forces
When an unbalanced force acts on an object it can do any of these
things

· Change its shape e.g. when you squash a spring

· Make it speed up or slow down e.g. when you throw and catch a
ball

· Make it change direction e.g when a bike turns a corner

· Make it spin

Friction
Friction is a force that acts against a moving object or prevents a station-
ary object from starting to move if a force is applied to it. Sometimes
friction is useful e.g. in the brakes of a car or between the tyres and the
road

Useful friction

· Without friction you wouldn’t be able to walk – your feet would just
slip out from under you. Like when you walk on ice! Ice has less
friction than pavement.

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 Motion and Forces

· Sometimes it is a negative thing such as between moving parts in a

car engine so we use lubricants (oil) to reduce the friction.

· Skiers wax their skis to reduce friction and help them to go faster.

· As objects move through gases or liquids, frictional forces slow

them down. These frictional forces are also known as drag forces.
We reduce these effects by streamlining the shape of the object.

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 4 of 5

 Motion and Forces

How to streamline a shape

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 5 of 5

 Motion and Forces

Lesson 3: Force Arrow Diagrams

Today’s Important Spellings:

Balanced forces

Lesson Content
Last lesson we looked at balanced and unbalanced forces.

When two forces acting on an object are equal in size but act in opposite
directions, we say that they are balanced forces.

If the forces on an object are balanced (or if there are no forces acting on
it), this is what happens:

· a stationary object stays still

· a moving object continues to move at the same speed and in the

same direction

Remember that an object can be moving, even if there are no forces act-
ing on it.

Force diagrams

We can show the forces acting on an object using a force diagram.

In a force diagram, an arrow represents each force. The arrow shows:

· the size of the force (the longer the arrow, the bigger the force)

· the direction in which the force acts

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 Motion and Forces

The arrow should be labelled with the name of the force and its size in
newtons.

The forces acting on a plane.

Force diagrams

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 Motion and Forces

1. Ask your child to look at these boxes and try to work out what
would happen to them if these forces were applied (answers
below)

Box 1 – has an equal/balanced force from the left and the right hand side
but an unbalanced one pulling down – there is no force balancing this off
so the box would fall downwards due to gravity.

Box 2 – has balanced forces pushing up and down and left and right so
the box would stay stationary

Box 3 – has an equal force of 2N pushing from the left and the right but
an unbalanced force pushing up and down. The upwards force is 2N but
a larger force of 5N is pulling down so the box would move down.

Box 4 – has 5 N pushing it towards the right but only 3N pushing back so
it would move to the right BUT it would also move upwards as a force of
2N is pushing up. Therefore the box would move diagonally up and to the
right.

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 Motion and Forces

2. Ask your child to think about this falling apple

1) What forces are acting on the apple

2) What can you say about the size of these forces

3) Draw the forces onto the diagram as arrows – think about the size
of the arrows and which direction they are pointing in

(answers below)

Answers to falling apple:

1) Gravity is acting on the apple pulling it down. Air
resistance/friction is pushing back on the apple as it moves
through the air and air is pressing all around the apple’s sides

2) The gravity force is the biggest as it is casuing the apple to keep

falling. Air resistance is pushing back but with not enough force
to stop it falling. The push for the air on the left and the right is
equal so the apple falls straight down.

3) A large force arrow should point down, a small one pointing

backup from under the apple and an equal sized arrow poiting to
the apple from the left and the right.

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 Motion and Forces

3. Ask your child to explain what is happening in this diagram.

Answer: This next diagram shows a wagon moving to the right. This is
because the larger force of 80N is pushing to the right. Only a small force
of 40N is pushing back so the wagon moves to the right.

4. Ask your child what will happen to these boxes:

Answers:

a) Will stay still

b) Will move to the right

c) Will stay still

d) Will move to the right

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 Motion and Forces

Watch these YouTube clips to reinforce learning

http://www.echo.education/url/balancedforces

The forces of skydiving

http://www.echo.education/url/skydiving

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 6 of 6

 Motion and Forces

Lesson 4: Hooke’s Law

Today’s Important Spellings: Elastic Limit

Extension Plastic (permanent)
Hooke’s Law

Lesson Content
Hooke's law is a principle of physics that states that the force need-
ed to extend or compress a spring by some distance is proportional to
that distance. Hooke investigated the way a force affects a spring. You
should learn the method used.

The method:
1) Attach the top of the spring to a secure place so that if the spring or
weights fall they won’t damage anyone or anything

2) Measure the length of the spring L

3) Add a small mass to the bottom of the spring. Measure the length
of the spring again and then subtract L from it, to find the extension
of the spring, x

4) Convert the mass to a force (weight) by multiplying the mass in

kilograms by 10

5) Repeat with other masses but don’t add too much mass so that the
spring deforms

6) Plot a graph of force (x axis) against extension (y axis) and draw a

line of best fit

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 Motion and Forces

The Experiment looks like this

The Graph of Results

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 Motion and Forces

The anomaly labelled on the graph is one result which doesn’t fit the
line of best fit. We call it an anomaly or anomalous result – it would be
a good idea to re-test this part of the experiment.

The graph shows that as the force increases so does the extension. The
line is straight and goes through the origin. It is an example of a directly
proportional relationship.

So as we double the force we double the extension.

The Elastic Limit of a spring

When this experiment is carried out, if too large a force is used, the
elastic limit of the spring is reached and it will no longer return to its
original length. At this point the line on the graph starts to curve. The
spring has been deformed and the change in shape is now plastic (per-
manent), rather than elastic.

This graph shows this elastic limit- you can see that the line starts to
curve

Elastic Limit of a spring

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 Motion and Forces

Lesson 5: Turning Forces - Moments

Today’s Important Spellings: Lever

Moment
Pivot
Fulcrum

Lesson Content
Sometimes forces have a turning effect on an object. This effect is
called a moment. The force can turn the object around a hinge or pivot.
A fulcrum is another name for a hinge or pivot.

When you open a door you are using a turning force. \the door opens
around the hinge. \this turning force is known as the moment of the force.

The moment of a force depends on

· The size of the force

· The distance from the force and the pivot

The greater the distance between the force and the pivot, the greater the
moment. A door handle is as far away as possible from the hinges in
order to increase the moment (size) of the force. If the handle was close
to the hinges it would be difficult to open the door.

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 Motion and Forces

Other everyday objects use the principle of moments:

· A spanner provides a moment to undo a nut. A spanner with a
longer handle increases the moment of the force and can undo a
tighter nut

· A lever can be used to lift a heavy load or open a can of paint. If

you increase the length of the lever you will increase the moment
of the force.

· The wheel of a wheelbarrow acts as a pivot. The handles are

placed as far away from the wheel as possible to increase the
moment and make it easier to lift the load.

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 Motion and Forces

The size of the moment can be calculated using this equation:

Moment = force x distance from the pivot

Moments are measured in newton metres, Nm

Balancing Moments
The two children on the seesaw below are balanced even though they
are not the same weight. Person A has a greater weight than person B
but he is nearer to the pivot.

We can calculate the moment of each person using the equation:

The moment of the force = force x distance from the pivot

Person A 1000N x 1m = 1000Nm

Person B 500N x 2m = 1000Nm

The moment of each force is the same on each side of the seesaw so
the seesaw balances.

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 Motion and Forces

Unbalanced moments
If the moments on an object are unbalanced, the object will either

· Start to spin if it is stationary

· Spin faster or slower if it is already moving

Balanced moments
If the moments on an object are balanced, the object will either

· Stay stationary

· Carry on spinning at the same speed in the same direction

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 4 of 4

 Motion and Forces

Lesson 6: Non- contact forces – Gravity,

Magnetism and Static Electricity

Today’s Important Spellings: Weight

Gravitational attraction Mass
Attraction Newtons
Repulsion

Suggested Resources
· Balloon
· Comb

Lesson Content
Some forces act between objects that are not touching – these are
non-contact forces.

Gravity:
Gravitational force is the force of attraction between any two masses in
the Universe. The larger the mass of the object and the closer the object,
the larger the gravitational force. e.g.

· The gravitational force between you and a book is very small

because the masses involved are small

· The gravitational force between planets is large as the masses are

large.

On Earth all masses are attracted to the Earth itself. Gravity pulls every-
thing towards the centre of the Earth.

The size of the force depends on the mass of the object. We measure
mass in grams(g) and kilograms(kg).

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 Motion and Forces

Gravitational force acting on any mass is called weight and is measured

in newtons (like all forces).

The gravitational field on Earth is given the value of 10N/kg.

So you work out the weight of an object you multiply the mass by 10N/kg

e.g. a shopping bag has a mass of 1.8kg.

Weight = 1.8 x 10N/kg = 18N

NB In everyday life we tend to say that our weight is 70kg but we

should say that our mass is 70kg but our weight is 700N.

The mass of Earth is so large that the gravitational pull is enough to keep
your feet on the planet. However, if you are an astronaut in space, you
are much further away from the Earth and so the gravitational pull is
much smaller. You appear to be weightless if this force is small enough,
BUT gravity does act in space – it is what keeps satellites and space
stations in orbit around the Earth and it keeps our Earth in orbit around
the Sun.

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 Motion and Forces

Satellites in orbit around Earth

Planets in orbit around the Sun

Magnetism
Two magnets attract if their opposite poles are near to each other. They
will repel if their North poles face each other (or their south poles). A
magnet can exert a pulling force on some materials without touching it.
The closer the magnet is the stronger the force is.

Magnetic attraction

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 Motion and Forces

Static Electricity/ Electrostatic Force

An electrostatic force can be created when some materials are rubbed
together e.g

· If you rub a comb on a jumper

· If you rub a balloon on your hair

Two charged objects exert a force on each other without touching

each other. They can either

1. Push each other apart (repel) or

2. Pull each other together (attract)

Try it! – Rub a balloon on your head and then hold it away from your
hair – you should see your hair being attracted to the balloon.

Static hair

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 Motion and Forces

Or if you rub a comb on a jumper you can charge it and if you hold
the charged comb near water running from a tap – you can bend the flow
of water.

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 5 of 5

 Motion and Forces

Lesson 7: Air Pressure

Today’s Important Spellings:

Atmospheric
Pressure

Suggested resources:
· Plastic bottle
· Hot water in kettle
· 2 shoes – one with a stiletto heel, the other flat
· Play dough (although even a slice of bread would work for this!)

Lesson Content
Pressure in gases is caused by the particles moving around very
quickly in all directions. As the particles hit the sides of a container they
create gas pressure.

This pressure is increased by

1. Increasing the temperature

2. Reducing the volume of the container

3. Increasing the amount of gas in a container

The gas particles in air are continually colliding with you and everything
around you and exert a pressure which we call atmospheric pressure
or air pressure.

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 Motion and Forces

Experiment time!

If you look at the example of an ‘empty’ plastic drinks bottle – it is not

actually empty – it is full of air. The air particles are colliding with the in-
side of the bottle, creating a pressure. The particles in the air outside the
bottle are colliding with the outside of the bottle creating an equal pres-
sure. The pressure on the outside and inside of the bottle cancel each
other out.

We can change this though! If you pour some hot water into the bottle
and put the lid on tightly. As you watch the bottle it will begin to crumble
inwards. This is because the air pressure inside the bottle decreases as
the warm air cools and so the air pressure outside the bottle is greater
than inside and so the bottle collapses in on itself.

The air exerts a pressure of the equivalent of 1kg mass per

1cm2 of our skin! We don’t notice it as we are used to it and the pres-
sure inside our bodies push back with an equal pressure.

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 Motion and Forces

Air pressure comes from the weight of the air above us, right up to the
edge of the atmosphere. So if you climb a mountain or travel in an aero-
plane you travel up in the atmosphere so there is less above you and so
the atmospheric pressure is less.

Air pressure lessens with altitude

Pressure and Surface Area

When a force pushes on a surface, it causes pressure. The amount of
pressure depends on

· The size of the force applied

· The area that the force is acting on

If a force is spread over a larger area, the pressure is less. If a force is

concentrated on a smaller area, the pressure is greater.

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 Motion and Forces

Experiment time!

Try it! – roll out 2 pieces of play dough (or use a slice of bread!) and
stand on one while wearing a shoe with a thin or stiletto heel and a one
with a flat heel. You will see that the stiletto heel makes a much deeper
mark in the play dough. This isn’t because you are any heavier when you
wear these shoes, the force is the same but the area the force is acting
on is smaller. This is why ladies who wear stiletto heels often cause
marks on wooden floors or find they sink into grass when they walk when
they don’t if wearing flatter shoes with wider heels.

Examples of pressure
Sometimes we want to increase the pressure by reducing the area over
which the force acts e.g.

· Football boots have studs to provide better grip as the force is

concentrated in small areas of stud

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 Motion and Forces

· A knife has a sharp edge with a small area to allow it to cut more
easily

· When you push in a drawing pin, the force is spread over the area
of the head of the pin. The same force is concentrated over the
much smaller area of the pin point, creating much more pressure
so the pin sticks into the board and not into your finger.

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 Motion and Forces

Lesson 8: Pressure in Liquids

Today’s Important Spellings:

Hydraulic Upthrust
Dams Density

Suggested resources:
· 2 plastic syringes
· Plastic tubing
· Water
· Large bowl of water
· Selection of items to test for floating and sinking

Lesson Content
Unlike gases – liquids cannot be compressed. But they can
transmit pressure.

Hydraulic systems use liquids to transmit pressure e.g.

Hydraulic brakes in a car use fluid to transmit the pressure from the foot
pedal to the brake pads. NB if an air bubble gets into the brake fluid it
can stop the pressure being transmitted and so the brakes won’t work
properly.

Brake system

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 Motion and Forces

Experiment time!

You need two syringes and a piece of plastic tubing. Fill one syringe
and the tube with water and attach it to a closed syringe. Now depress
the full syringe…the pressure will be passed through the fluid and will lift
the second syringe. Now you can press it back the other way.

In the example below if you press cylinder A, the pressure will be trans-
mitted through the liquid to cylinder B which will move outwards.

This YouTube example shows how hydraulic brakes work

http://www.echo.education/url/hydraulics

Water Pressure increases with depth

The pressure in liquids increases with depth. The pressure at the bottom
of the ocean is very high due to the weight of water above pushing down.
Deep-sea submarines and creatures that live at the bottom of oceans
need to be able to withstand these high pressures.

Submarine

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 Motion and Forces

Dams
Dams are wider at the base because this is where the pressure is great-
est

How a hydroelectric dam works

Floating and Sinking

Have a bowl of water and a selection of items and see which float
and which sink. Can you predict which will float before putting them in
the water?

When an object is placed into the water, it displaces some of the wa-
ter. This can be seen if you fill the bowl with water right up to the rim and
then add an object – the water will flow over the edge. We have all expe-
rienced sitting in the bath and the water rising up the side. Our body has
displaced some of the water.

Any object in a liquid experiences an upward force called upthrust. The

size of this upthrust is equal to the weight of the liquid that the object dis-
places. If the upthrust is greater than the weight of the object, the object

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 Motion and Forces

floats. If the weight of the object is greater than the uptrust, the object
sinks.

The forces acting on a boat

The amount of water displaced depends on the volume of the object and
its weight depends on its mass. It is useful to think about the density of
an object to help us predict if it will float or sink.

Density = mass divided by volume

If something has a low mass for a given volume, it has a low density so it
will displace a large volume of water and will have a large upthrust so it
is likely to float.

Ships are designed to have a shape that displaces a large volume of wa-
ter for their weight, so they float even if they are made from steel which is
a very dense metal.

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 Motion and Forces

Floating in Gases
The same ideas explain floating in gases too. Hot air balloons and he-
lium balloons have a large volume and a low mass so they displace a
large volume of cold air and so their upthrust is greater than their
weight.

Ask your child to write up what they have learnt this lesson.

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 Motion and Forces

Motion and Force End of Topic Practise

Questions
These practise questions can be presented to your child in any way that
is appropriate – you could do a fun quiz style, a ‘pick a question from a
box type quiz, an oral ‘let’s have a go at these together’ style or as a test
of what they have understood by setting as a ‘test’. It is entirely up to
you. You can use all of the questions or pick and choose. The answers
follow the questions.

Look at this time –distance graph and answer the questions:

1) How far away in Sam’s school from his house?

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 Motion and Forces

2) How long does it take him to get there?

3) How long did Sam stay still for while waiting for his friend to be
ready?

4) Gravity on Mars is weaker than gravity on Earth – suggest why this

might be

5) Are the forces in this example balanced or unbalanced? How do

you know?

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 Motion and Forces

6) What will happen to the crate in this example?

7) Draw arrows onto this diagram to show how air pressure acts on
the crate

8) Name the four ways that a force can act on an object

a)

b)

c)

d)

9) Hooke’s Law states that if you double the force you …………….. the
extension of the spring

10) When stretching a spring, if too much force is used the spring will
reach its elastic limit. What does this mean?

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 Motion and Forces

11)

Thinking about moments what force will need to be added to (f) to bal-
ance this seesaw?

12) Name the three non-contact forces

a)

b)

c)

13) How do football studs help a football player? Explain your answer in
terms of pressure

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 Motion and Forces

14)

Name the forces acting on this duck to make it float

15) A race car typically does a lap of a 6km track in 1 minute and 30 sec-
onds. Calculate the average speed of the car during this lap in metres
per second.

Speed (m/s) = distance (m) divided by time (s)

16) The maximum speed of the car during the race may be up to 100
m/s. When the car is travelling at this speed, calculate how far it would
travel is 35 seconds.

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 Motion and Forces

Motion and Force End of Topic Practise

Questions
ANSWERS

Look at this time –distance graph and answer the questions:

1) How far away in Sam’s school from his house?

1.2km

2) How long does it take him to get there?

20 Minutes

3) How long did Sam stay still for while waiting for his friend to be
ready?

10 minutes

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 Motion and Forces

4) Gravity on Mars is weaker than gravity on Earth – suggest why this

might be

Mars has a smaller mass than Earth

5) Are the forces in this example balanced or unbalanced? How do

you know?

Balanced – they are the same size

6) What will happen to the crate in this example?

It will stay hanging on the rope

7) Draw arrows onto this diagram to show how air pressure acts on
the crate

They should draw small arrows pointing at the crate all around it
8) Name the four ways that a force can act on an object

a) change its shape

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 Motion and Forces

b) change its speed

c) change its direction

d) make it spin

9) Hookes Law states that if you double the force you double the exten-
sion of the spring

10) When stretching a spring, if too much force is used the spring will
reach its elastic limit. What does this mean?

It will no longer return to its original length

11)

Thinking about moments what force will need to be added to (f) to bal-
ance this seesaw?

12 x 20 = 240 Nm so to balance 8 x ? = 240 Nm

240 divided by 8 = 30N

F = 30N

12) Name the three non-contact forces

a) gravity

b) magnetism

c) static electricity

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 Motion and Forces

13) How do football studs help a football player? Explain your answer in
terms of pressure

Pressure can be increased by decreasing the area over which a force is

spread. The studs give you more grip as the increased pressure pushes
the studs into the ground.

14)

Name the forces acting on this duck to make it float

Gravity is pulling down and upthrust is pushing up. The forces are equal.

15) A race car typically does a lap of a 6km track in 1 minute. Calculate
the average speed of the car during this lap in metres per second.

Speed (m/s) = distance (m) divided by time (s)

Speed = 6000 divided by 60 = 100m/s

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 Motion and Forces

16) The maximum speed of the car during the race may be up to 100
m/s. When the car is travelling at this speed, calculate how far it would
travel is 35 seconds.

100 x 35 = 3500m

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 10 of 10

 Waves

Lesson 1: An Introduction to Waves

Today’s Important Spellings:

Transverse
Longitudinal
Oscilloscope

Suggested resources:
· Slinky spring

Lesson Content
In physics, a wave is a regular, traveling disturbance that travels
through space and matter transferring energy from one place to an-
other. When studying waves it's important to remember that they
transfer energy, not matter.

Waves in Everyday Life

There are lots of waves all around us in everyday life. Sound is a type of
wave that moves through matter and then vibrates our eardrums so we
can hear. Light is a special kind of wave that is made up of photons that
helps us to see. You can drop a rock into a pond and see waves form in
the water. We even use waves (microwaves) to cook our food really fast.

All waves can be categorized as either mechanical or electromag-

netic.

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 Waves

Mechanical waves are waves that require a medium. This means

that they have to have some sort of matter to travel through. These
waves travel when molecules in the medium collide with each other
passing on energy. One example of a mechanical wave is sound. Sound
can travel through air, water, or solids, but it can't travel through a vacu-
um. It needs the medium to help it travel. Other examples include water
waves, seismic waves, and waves travelling through a spring.

Electromagnetic waves are waves that can travel through a

vacuum (empty space). They don't need a medium or matter. They trav-
el through electrical and magnetic fields that are generated by charged
particles. Examples of electromagnetic waves include light, micro-
waves, radio waves, and X-rays.

Transverse Waves and Longitudinal Waves

Another way to describe a wave is by the direction that its disturbance is
traveling.

Transverse waves are waves where the disturbance moves per-

pendicular to the direction of the wave. You can think of the wave moving
left to right, while the disturbance moves up and down. One example of a
transverse wave is a water wave where the water moves up and down
as the wave passes through the ocean. Other examples include an oscil-
lating string and a wave of fans in a stadium (the people move up and
down while the wave moves around the stadium). They are started by a
movement at right angles to the movement (so up and down.)

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 Waves

Try it! – try this with a slinky spring.

Longitudinal waves are waves where the disturbance moves in the

same direction as the wave. One example of this is a wave moving
through a stretched out slinky or spring.

Try it! If you compress one portion of the slinky and let go, the wave
will move left to right. At the same time, the disturbance (which is the
coils of the springs moving), will also move left to right. Another classic
example of a longitudinal wave is sound. As sound waves propagate
through a medium, the molecules collide with each other in the same di-
rection as the sound is moving. They are started by a movement in the
direction of the wave.

Facts about Waves

· Waves in the ocean are mostly generated by the wind moving
across the ocean surface.
· The "medium" is the substance or material that carries a
mechanical wave.
· One of the most important things to remember about waves is that
they transport energy, not matter. This makes them different from
other phenomenon in physics.
· Many waves cannot be seen such as microwaves and radio waves.
· The tallest ocean wave ever recorded was 1,720 feet tall and
occurred in Lituya Bay in Alaska.

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 Waves

Although we can’t see sounds, if we connect a microphone to an oscil-

loscope we can see the wave shape on the screen. The microphone
changes sound waves into electrical signals. The oscilloscope coverts
the signals into a moving wave shape on the screen called waveform.

An oscilloscope:

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 Waves

Lesson 2: Waves Diagrams

Today’s Important Spellings: Amplitude

Transverse Frequency
Longitudinal Crest
Wavelength Trough

Suggested resources:
· Slinky spring
· String
· Card
· Glue (PVA is best as its strongest)

Lesson Content
Last lesson we looked at how waves are grouped into two types

· Transverse waves e.g. light and water waves. These need a

medium to travel through ( a solid, liquid or gas)
· Longitudinal waves e.g. sound waves. These do not need a
medium to travel through so they can travel through space which is
a vacuum. Demonstrate these two with your slinky spring.

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 Waves

Wave Diagrams

We show both transverse and longitudinal waves in the same way.

We label the wavelength, the amplitude and the frequency.

We also label the trough and the crest of the wave.

Wavelength: is the horizontal distance between the same two points

on any wave. This can be from crest to crest or, as in this diagram, from
trough to trough or any two other identical points. Wavelengths are dis-
tances and so are measured in metres (although many are much smaller
than this)

Amplitude: is the vertical distance that the wave travels from its start-
ing position so it is from the middle to either the crest or the trough. All
waves transfer energy and the greater the amplitude the greater the en-
ergy it transfers.

Frequency: is the number of complete waves that are produced or

pass by any point in a second. Frequencies are measured in hertz (Hz).

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 Waves

Wave frequency

Try it! Ask your child to make a display board of wave frequencies. It
should be labelled

1. Low frequency,
2. Middle frequency
3. High frequency

It should be made by string, held in place by glue.

Example of how your board should look

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Adding and Subtracting Waves

When waves of the same frequency meet each other, they can ei-
ther add together or cancel each other out. If the waves are in phase
(their crests and troughs match up) then their amplitude will double.

1.

Phasing of waves

2. If the crest of one meets the trough of another they will cancel out.

Waves cancelling each other out

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 Waves

Lesson 3: Sound Waves

Today’s Important Spellings: Auditory range

Vibrations Hertz
Compression Reflection
Rarefaction Echoes

Suggested resources:
· Any musical instruments – piano, guitar, drum etc
· 30cm ruler

Lesson Content
Sounds are caused by vibrations and are actually waves of vibrating
particles. Sound waves are made by particles moving backwards and
forwards in a wave motion. They carry energy from one place to another.

Try it!

1. You can make a ruler vibrate over the edge of a table by holding
one end and applying a force to the other end and letting go
2. Musical instruments have vibrating parts e.g. guitar strings vibrate
and a drum skin vibrates.
3. When you talk or sing your vocal cords vibrate. You can feel them if
you place your fingers gently against your throat.

The areas where the waves of particles are close together are called
compression and those where there are few particles are called areas
of rarefaction.

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 Waves

Vibrations
A vibration is a repeated backwards and forwards motion of particles. As
particles vibrate, some are squashed together and others are spread
apart.

Vibrations can travel through different materials, for example, through the
air when you play an instrument. The instrument makes the air molecules
close to it vibrate and the vibrations are passed onto more air particles.
When the vibrations meet your ears they detect them as sound.

Longitudinal wave

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 Waves

Vibrations through states of matter

Sound through solids move fastest as the particles are closest together

Sounds through liquids move at medium speed as the particles are not
as close together as in solids

Sounds move through gas the slowest as the particles are further apart

But sound does not move through a vacuum as there are

no particles to vibrate.

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 Waves

Try it! Put an ear close to the edge of a table but not touching it.
Stretch out your arm as far from your ear as possible and scratch the
table gently so that you can just hear it. Now put your ear on the table
and scratch again. Why does your child think that they can hear it
much louder now?

(answer: because the vibrations are moving through a solid rather

than a gas)

How do we measure sound waves?

The range of human hearing is called our auditory range. This is be-
tween 20 and 20,000 hertz. The auditory range of other animals extends
beyond ours. Cats can hear up to 79,000 hertz and bats can hear even
higher to 200,000 hertz.

As humans get older it is harder to hear quiet sounds (those with low
amplitudes.) This will happen faster if you listen to loud music and dam-
age your hearing.

The hearing range of species

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Reflection and Echoes

Sound waves can reflect from surfaces. Flat surfaces reflect sounds
better than rough ones. If sounds reflect back to you a short period of
time after you first heard them, you will hear them again although a little
quieter. We call this an echo.

A simple diagram of an echo

How sound waves cause echoes

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 Waves

Lesson 4: Structure of the Ear

Today’s Important Spellings: Semi-circular canals

Canal Cochlea
Pinna Eustachian tube
Ossicle bones(hammer, anvil and
stirrup)
Ear Drum

Lesson Content

We have two ears – one on each side of our head. We need both ears
to hear well. We have two ears to tell our brain from which direction sounds
are coming from.

Try it! If you cover your eyes and one ear and ask someone to move
around you making sounds. You will find it hard to harder to identify the di-
rection of the sounds. Now uncover both ears and repeat the experiment.

Watch this YouTube clip

http://www.echo.education/url/whytwoears

There are three parts to the ear – the outer ear, the middle ear and the in-
ner ear. The outer ear is what we tend to think of as our ear but it is in fact
called the pinna. It acts like a collecting funnel, directing sounds into the
middle ear. It is made of cartilage which is why you can bend and fold it.

Try it! – try cupping your hand behind your ear like a funnel and hear
someone speak or turn on the radio. Now remove it – can you hear a differ-
ence in how well you can hear?

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 Waves

Diagram of the inside of your ear:

How we hear
1. Sound waves travel into the ear canal until they reach the eardrum
which vibrates.
2. The eardrum passes the vibrations through the middle ear bones or
oss
3. icles into the inner ear. These bones are called the hammer, the an-
vil and the stirrup.
4. The inner ear is shaped like a snail, filled with fluid and is called the
cochlea. Inside the cochlea, there are thousands of tiny hair cells
which are stimulated by the movement of the liquid.
5. Hair cells change the vibrations into electrical signals that are sent to
the brain through the auditory nerve.
6. The brain tells you that you are hearing a sound, what that sound is
and where it is coming from.

Ask your child to write this information as a flow diagram with each
event connected by an arrow to show the journey of the sound.

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 Waves

Note: Each hair cell has a small patch of stereocilia sticking up out of
the top it. Sound makes the stereocilia rock back and forth. If the sound is
too loud, the stereocilia can be bent or broken. This will cause the hair cell
to die and it can no longer send sound signals to the brain. In people, once
a hair cell dies, it will never grow back. The high frequency hair cells are
most easily damaged so people with hearing loss from loud sounds often
have problems hearing high pitched things like crickets or birds chirping.

Eustachian Tubes
You will often see the Eustachian tube labelled on a diagram of the inner
ear. This does not help with hearing but instead it connects your middle ear
to the back of your nose to help equalise pressure in your ear.

A diagram showing the Eustachian Tube

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 Waves

Ask your child to label this diagram using the examples above

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 4 of 4

 Waves

Lesson 5: Ultrasound, Infrasound,

Echolocation

Today’s Important Spellings:

Frequency Echolocation
Ultrasound SONAR
Infrasound

Lesson Content

Illustrations of SONAR

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 Waves

Ultrasound
Ultrasound waves have frequencies above 20.000 hertz. This means
they are beyond the range of human hearing. A pregnant woman often
has an ultrasound scan to take images of her foetus to determine its
size, position and health whilst still in her womb. The waves are sent
from a scanner into the woman’s abdomen, where some reflect back
(exactly like an echo) when they reach tissues or organs. This creates a
digital image of the baby.

A 2d scan

It is now possible to have a 3D scan to give more detail

A 3D scan

Ultrasound can also be used to

· Break up kidney stones without surgery

· Clean surgical instruments
· Help bats to navigate
· On ships to measure the depth of the water beneath them
· In bats and on ships we call this echolocation.

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 Waves

Echolocation
Bats produce high frequency sounds, called ultrasound, in order to navi-
gate. The bats detect the size and position of objects from the echoes
produced by the sounds. The use of echoes to measure distances is
called echolocation.

Bat sonar

Echolocation is used on ships and submarines to measure the depth of

the sea beneath them or to locate other vessels, by sending a pulse into
the sea and the longer it takes for the echo to come back, the deeper the
sea or the further to other vessel. We call this SONAR which stands for
SOund Navigation And Ranging.

Ships using SONAR

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 Waves

Dolphins and Whales

Remember the speed of the vibration of a sound wave is called the fre-
quency. This is the number of complete vibrations per second. Humans
can hear sounds between 20 and 20,000 hertz. The frequency affects
the pitch of the sound, The higher the wave frequency, the higher the
pitch.

Dolphins and whales can make sound waves of a wide range of frequen-
cies, both lower and higher than our ears can detect. They use the
sounds for hunting, navigating and communication. Whales and dolphins
communicate over many kilometres with very low frequency sounds
waves.

You can listen to some whale sounds here

http://www.echo.education/url/whalesounds

Snakes
A snake detects vibrations in the ground with the lower part of its jaw
bone. The bone transmits the vibrations to its internal ears.

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 Waves

Infrasound
Infrasound waves have frequencies lower than 20 hertz so they are be-
low the range of human hearing. Many animals like elephants and
whales communicate over huge distances using infrasound

Elephants communicate by infrasound

You can listen to some elephant sounds here

http://www.echo.education/url/elephantsounds

Infrasound waves are also given off by volcanic eruptions.

Volcano

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 5 of 5

 Waves

Lesson 6: Light Waves

Today’s Important Spellings: Shadows

Luminous Translucent
Transparent Light rays
Opaque Transverse
Ray diagrams

Suggested resources:
· Torch
· Transparent sheet or piece of clear glass e.g. from a photo frame
· Tissue paper
· Solid items e.g. a mug, a teddy etc

Lesson Content
An introduction to light
· Light is a form of radiation.
· It is given off by luminous objects like the Sun, lamps, torches,
computer and TV screens and candles.
· It travels in straight lines. These narrow beam of light are called
light rays. You can sometimes see light rays from the Sun shining
through clouds or trees.
· 100 years ago most of our light came from the Sun or from oil
lamps or candles but now almost all our extra light comes from
electrical sources.
· Light travels at a speed of 300,000 kilometres per second so it
takes 8 minutes for light to reach the earth from the Sun (this si 150
million km)

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 Waves

· Light waves are transverse and are the moving vibrations of ener-
gy and not particles like sound waves. Light waves can travel
through a vacuum like space.
· Light waves travel much faster than sound waves or those on wa-
ter. This is why we see lightning before we hear the sound of the
thunder.

Lightning
· Light travels in straight lines but we know light waves move in
transverse waves. We always draw them as a straight line through
the middle of the waves. We draw one arrow on each wave to
show the direction that light is travelling. These drawings are called
ray diagrams.

A ray diagram

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 Waves

· When light meets objects they can either be absorbed, reflected or

pass straight through them.

Try it! Some objects allow light to travel through them while others
don’t. Take a selection of objects into a darkened room with a torch and
test them. Put them on a table or the floor, one at a time and shine the
light from the torch at them. Notice whether they let any light through. Put
them into three piles as you go along:

1) those that let light straight through we call transparent

2) Those that blocked all light – these will cause shadows (this is
an area where there is no light.) We call these opaque.
3) Those that let some light through to give a hazy glow are called
translucent

Practise using the correct terms: transparent, translucent or opaque to

describe each object.

Objects you could test are:

· A mug
· A piece of clear plastic
· Greaseproof paper
· A teddy
· A piece of glass from a photo frame
· One sheet of tissue paper
· And anything else you would like to test

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 Waves

An illustration of the three terms

· Opaque e.g. wood or ceramic. No light waves pass through and

so all are reflected or absorbed. This creates a shadow of the
object as light can’t bend around the object as the light always
travels in a straight line.
· Translucent e.g. tissue paper. Some light waves pass through
but not all of them - some are reflected or absorbed.
· Transparent e.g. glass. The light waves pass through and are
not reflected or absorbed.

Ask your child to write up their findings and make sure they are con-
fident when using the three terms.

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 4 of 4

 Waves

Lesson 7: Reflection and Refraction

Today’s Important Spellings: Diffuse reflection

Reflection Angle of incidence
Refraction Angle of reflection
Specular reflection Incident ray
Reflected ray
Law of reflection

Suggested resources:
· A mirror
· A piece of slightly crumpled aluminium foil
· A torch
· Glass of water and a pencil, straw or teaspoon

Lesson Contents
A sound wave reflects on a surface to form an echo. A light wave re-
flects in the same way to form a reflection. Most objects we see don’t
give off their own light. You can see them because light rays from lumi-
nous objects bounce off them into your eyes. This is called reflection. An
object in a dark room can’t be seen until the light is switched on. Then
light shines onto the object and reflects in your eyes and you can see it.
The Moon reflects light from the Sun enabling you to see it at night even
when you can’t see the Sun itself.

Try it! Look at your reflection in a mirror.

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 Waves

Light waves reflect from smooth objects like your mirror in a very
regular way. This is called specular reflection. We can see a very clear
image. Another example of this is the reflection of scenery in a complete-
ly flat lake like this:

Specular Reflection

Try it! Now look at your reflection in a piece of slightly crumpled al-
uminium foil

Light waves are reflected from objects without flat surfaces, such as
water with ripples or this piece of foil in an irregular way. The image is
unclear and we call it diffuse reflection. A scenery example would look
like this. There is no clear reflection in the water.

Diffuse reflection

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 Waves

We can explain this by looking at how light waves reflect.

Try it! Take your mirror and a torch into a dark room and shine the
torch beam onto the mirror. It will reflect off and appear on the opposite
side of the room.

An illustration of a clear reflection

This plane mirror gives you a clear reflection.

Now try the same using the slightly crumpled aluminium foil. On an une-
ven surface the light is scattered and reflects in all directions.

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 Waves

Ray Diagrams
Ray diagrams help us to understand how light is reflected by these two
different surfaces. The same diagrams help us to understand waves in
water too as they behave in the same way.

Ray diagrams

We call the light ray that hits the mirror the incident ray and the angle it
hits is the angle of incidence.

Ray diagram

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 Waves

The light ray that reflects is called the reflected ray and this angle is the
angle of reflection.

In specular reflection, the angles of incidence and reflection are always

the same. This is the law of reflection.

How a periscope works

A periscope allows someone to see around corners or over crowds and
uses two mirrors to reflect light

If you would like to make a periscope the full instructions can be

found here

http://www.echo.education/url/periscope

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 5 of 7

 Waves

Refraction – or bending light rays

When light travels through transparent materials like water or glass, it
travels slower than in air or in a vacuum. This makes water look shallow-
er than it really is or a pencil in a glass look like it bends at the surface.

Refraction and fish

The straw appears broken

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 Waves

Again we can use ray diagrams to explain what is happening. This

means that

· when light enters water or glass it bends (refracts) towards the

normal
· when light leaves water or glass it speeds up and refracts away
from the normal

How refraction works

Try it! Put a spoon/pencil/straw in a glass and water and see how it
looks like it bends

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Lesson 8: The Structure of the Eye

Today’s Important Spellings: Retina

Pupil Optic nerve
Iris Lens
Cornea Convex
Ciliary muscles Accommodation

Suggested resources:
· A mirror

Lesson Content
Ask your child to study their eye in a mirror. What can they see or
identify from the outside?

They should see: the eye lashes, pupil (black hole in centre), iris (the
coloured part) and they may see some blood vessels too.

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 Waves

If they close their eye and gently feel around it they will feel that it is ac-
tually a ball and as so much of that ball is inside our cranium, we use di-
agrams to help us to understand how the eye works.

The structure of the eye:

How do we see
In a number of ways, the human eye works much like a digital camera:

1. Light is focused primarily by the cornea — the clear front surface

of the eye, which acts like a camera lens. It protects the front of
your eye and refracts the light.
2. The iris of the eye is the coloured muscle that functions like the
diaphragm of a camera, controlling the amount of light reaching the
back of the eye by automatically adjusting the size of the pupil
(aperture). The pupil looks black because very little light reflects
out from it.
3. The lens is a transparent disc that changes size to focus light onto
your retina. It is located directly behind the pupil. Through a

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process called accommodation, this lens helps the eye

automatically focus on near and approaching objects, like an
autofocus camera lens.
4. The lens is controlled by the ciliary muscles which relax to make
the lens long and thin when you look at far away objects or contract
to allow it to become short and fat when you look at close up
objects.
5. Light focused by the cornea and lens (and limited by the iris and
pupil) then reaches the retina — the light-sensitive inner lining of
the back of the eye. The retina acts like an electronic image sensor
of a digital camera. It is covered in light-detecting cells which
convert optical images into electronic signals.
6. The optic nerve then transmits these signals to the visual cortex
— the part of the brain that controls our sense of sight.
7. The image is focused upside down on the retina but your brain flips
it over to interpret it.

How we see

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Other animals have different eye structures to us e.g this fruit fly has a
compound eye

Compound eye

Convex lenses
The lenses in your eyes are convex in shape. They are curved on both
sides so that they can refract (bend) light rays together to a focal point at
the back of your eye on the retina. Convex lenses are used in specta-
cles, magnifying glasses, microscopes and telescopes.

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Cameras
A pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens and with a single
small aperture, a pinhole – effectively a light-proof box with a small hole
in one side. Light from a scene passes through this single point and pro-
jects an inverted image on the opposite side of the box. Photographic
paper is coated with a light-sensitive chemical compound which reacts
with energy in light to turn black to take negatives.

If you would like to make a pinhole camera the full instructions are
here:

http://www.echo.education/url/howtomakepinholecamera

Or you can watch and follow the instruction on YouTube here

http://www.echo.education/url/pinhole2

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 5 of 5

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Lesson 9: Colour, dispersion and prisms

Today’s Important Spellings:

Dispersion Refraction
Spectrum Prism

Suggested resources:
· A glass or plastic prism
· Plastic colour filters or cellophane sweet wrappers
· Torch

Lesson Content
When white light passes through a triangular prism made of glass or
plastic, it is split into a spectrum of colours. White light contains light of
different wave lengths and each wavelength is seen by your eyes as a
different colour. The white light is refracted by the prism, the different
wavelengths spread out because each wavelength has a different angle
of refraction and the spectrum is formed. In the same way, a rainbow is
formed by sunlight shining through raindrops.

How a prism splits light

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 Waves

The colours of the spectrum can be remembered by saying Richard

Of York Gave Battle In Vane.- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo
and violet.

The wavelengths change from the longest being red and the shortest be-
ing violet. This is dispersion.

White light is made when all the colours of the spectrum come together.
It can also be made by mixing the three primary colours of light – red,
green and blue.

Mixing primary colours

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 Waves

How do we see colour?

Any object that is coloured absorbs all the other colours of the
spectrum and only reflects that colour.

· a yellow ball absorbs all the other colours of the spectrum but
reflects yellow.

· White-coloured objects absorb no colours and reflect them all

· Black objects absorb all colours and reflect none.

Coloured filters

Coloured filters only allow the colour of light from which they are made to
pass through them. So a red filter only allows red light through and ab-
sorbs all other colours. It ‘filters’ out all other colours.

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 Waves

Coloured filters in action

Try it! You can put cellophane sweet wrapper or plastic filters over
the end of a torch and shine them at the wall.

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 4 of 4

 Waves

Waves End of Topic Practise Questions

These practise questions can be presented to your child in any way that
is appropriate – you could do a fun quiz style, a ‘pick a question from a
box type quiz, an oral ‘let’s have a go at these together’ style or as a test
of what they have understood by setting as a ‘test’. It is entirely up to
you. You can use all of the questions or pick and choose. The answers
follow the questions.

1. Light and water are examples of a ………………….. type of wave.

2. Sound is a ………………………………. Wave.

3. Label the 4 parts of a wave

1)

2)

3)

4)

4. Sound travels fastest through a solid, liquid or gas?

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 Waves

5. Can sound travel through a vacuum like space?

6. Which is the human auditory range>

a) 500 – 50,000 hertz
b) 20-20,000 hertz
c) 1-100,000 hertz

7. What do we call a sound wave which reflects off of a surface?

8. What does the ear drum do inside the ear?

9. What does SONAR stand for?

SO
N
A
R

10. Is a book transparent, opaque or translucent?

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 Waves

11. Label this diagram of a light ray and its reflection

A
B
C
D
E

12. Write the correct label next to the description of the part of
the eye
a) The coloured part of your eye that controls the size of your pupil

b) The transparent disc that changes size to focus light on your

retina

c) The nerve that transfers the electrical signals to your brain

13. List the colours of the spectrum

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 Waves

14. Why does a red jumper look red?

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 4 of 7

 Waves

Waves End of Topic Practise Questions

ANSWERS

1. Light and water are examples of a transverse type of wave.

2. Sound is a longitudinal wave.

3. Label the 4 parts of a wave

1) wavelength

2) amplitude

3) crest

4) trough

4. Sounds travels fastest through a solid, liquid or gas?

Solid because the articles are close together to pass the vibrations
on

5. Can sound travel through a vacuum like space?

No. There are no particles to pass on the vibrations

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 Waves

6. Which is the human auditory range>

a) 500 – 50,000 hertz
b) 20-20,000 hertz
c) 1-100,000 hertz

7. What do we call a sound wave which reflects off of a surface?

An echo

8. What does the ear drum do inside the ear?

Vibrates as sounds travel down the ear canal and passes them on
to the ossicle bones

9. What does SONAR stand for?

SOund
Navigation
And
Ranging

10. Is a book transparent, opaque or translucent?

Opaque. It will not let light through and will form a shadow

11. Label this diagram of a light ray and its reflection

A reflected ray
B incident ray
C angle of incidence

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 Waves

D angle of reflection
E normal

12. Write the correct label next to the description of the part of
the eye
a) The coloured part of your eye that controls the size of your pupil
Iris
b) The transparent disc that changes size to focus light on your
retina
Lens
c) The nerve that transfers the electrical signals to your brain
Optic nerve

13. List the colours of the spectrum

Red orange yellow green blue indigo violet

14. Why does a red jumper look red?

It absorbs all other colours and reflects red

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 7 of 7

 Electricity

Lesson 1: Electrical Circuit Symbols

Today’s Important Spellings: Potential difference

Battery Volts
Cell Voltmeter
Circuit Generator
Voltmeter Alternating current
National Grid Direct current

Lesson Content
Electricity can be generated by

· The wind
· The Sun
· Water in rivers and reservoirs
· Tides in the sea

Wind and water are used to drive turbines which turn generators to cre-
ate electricity. Power stations generate electricity using high pressure
steam that’s heated by burning fuels like coal, gas, oil, nuclear fuel or bi-
omass. The electricity is generated in a power station by rotating a coil of
wire between the poles of a magnet producing a current in the coil of
wire. The magnet and coil of wire together are called a generator be-
cause they generate or create electricity.

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 Electricity

How a power station works

The generated electricity is sent across the country through the network
of cables called the National Grid. These cables are supported by py-
lons or buried underground. They carry electric current at very high volt-
ages. The National Grid distributes the electricity at different voltages us-
ing step-up and step-down transformers in the substations. The mains
electricity that comes into your home is at a voltage of 230-240V. Elec-
tricity meters measure the electrical energy used in each house. Wires
inside the walls carry the current to the electric sockets and lights.

Types of current
There are two types of electrical current:

1. Generators produce a current that changes direction every time the

magnet turns. We call this alternating current or AC. This is the
current supplied to homes

2. Current supplied by a cell or battery is called direct current or DC.

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 Electricity

DC and AC current

Symbols
Batteries and cells transfer chemical energy store into electricity energy
when they are connected into a circuit.

In electricity a cell is one Duracell type battery and a battery is 2 of

more of these ‘cells’. This can be confusing so make sure your child
understands the difference!

In physics this is a cell:

And 2 or more is a battery:

and

The symbols in an electric circuit are

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 Electricity

Voltmeter
· A device called a voltmeter can measure the energy being
transferred from the cell to the electric current.

A voltmeter looks like this in real life

But is drawn like this in an electrical circuit

Voltmeters measure a quality called potential difference. The unit of po-

tential difference is volts (V).

Bulbs
· In a circuit, a bulb transfers electrical energy into heat and light

In real life a bulb looks like this:

It’s drawn in an electric circuit like this:

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 Electricity

Switch
· A switch can look like this:

When the switch is open the circuit is not complete and the bulb will not
light but when the switch is closed the circuit is complete and the bulb
will light. This is how they look as symbols in a circuit.

Buzzer
· A buzzer is used to make a sound instead of light like a bulb. It may
look like this in real life:

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 Electricity

It is drawn in a circuit diagram like this:

Ammeter
· A device called an ammeter is used to measure current. Some
types of ammeter have a pointer on a dial, but most have a digital
readout. To measure the current flowing through a component in a
circuit, you must connect the ammeter in series with it.

In real life it can look like this:

The symbol is

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 Electricity

Resistor
· A resistor allows you to design your circuit to have the currents
and voltages that you want to have in your circuit.

It looks like this:

Parts within electrical circuits are called components. They are each
given a symbol to represent them.

Ask your child to make a set of flashcards with the symbol on one
side and the name of the component on the other. They should test
themselves until they are confident with naming each.

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 Electricity

Lesson 2: Mains Electricity in the home

Today’s Important Spellings: Volts

Circuit Device
National Grid Fuse

Suggested resources
· Plug and wire
· Screwdriver

Lesson Content
Last lesson we looked at how electricity is generated in a power sta-
tion and then taken to towns and cities through a network of cables
called the National Grid. Mains electricity enters our home at between
230 and 240V.

Anything that transfers electricity from one form to another is called a

device. Devices that use electrical energy include:-

· Toasters
· Hairdryers
· TV’s
· Computers etc

In the UK three pin plugs are used to connect a device to the mains cir-
cuit. Plugs contain a fuse and each pin is connected to a wire.

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 Electricity

The inside of a three pin plug

This YouTube clip shows you how to wire a plug

http://www.echo.education/url/wiringaplug

It is important to know how to wire a 3 pin plug correctly. 3 pin plugs are
designed so that mains electricity can be supplied to electrical applianc-
es safely. A 3 pin plug consists of three pins (hence the name). Each pin
must be correctly connected to the three wires in the electrical cable.
Each wire has its own specified colour so as it can be easily identified.

The LIVE wire is BROWN. This is connected to a fuse on the live pin.
The electric current uses the live wire as its route in.

The NEUTRAL wire is BLUE. This is the route the electric current takes
when it exits an appliance; it is for this reason the neutral wire has a volt-
age close to zero.

The EARTH wire is GREEN & YELLOW and connected to the earth pin.
This is used when the appliance has a metal casing to take any current
away if the live wire comes in contact with the casing. It is a safety wire
and if a loose wire inside the device touches the metal casing, a large

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 Electricity

current immediately flows through the earth wire and the fuse blows. This
disconnects the circuit, preventing a possible electric shock or overheat-
ing that could cause a fire.

This is what a fuse looks like

A 13 amp fuse

Try it! Ask your child to have a go at wiring a plug using the YouTube
clip to guide them

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 3 of 3

 Electricity

Lesson 3: Series and Parallel Circuits

Today’s Important Spellings: Parallel

Circuit Current
Series Ammeter
Amperes (amps)

Suggested resources
· A children’s electronics kit (see suggested resources list)

Lesson Content
There are two types of electrical circuit.

1. In a series circuit, all the electricity flows through one path.

2. In a parallel circuit there are branches to allow electricity to flow
in two or three paths

The two types of circuit

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 Electricity

A series circuit:

All the electricity is flowing along one path If a break occurs in a series
circuit (like turning off a switch or a bulb blowing, the electricity cannot
flow and all other components will not work. A series circuit is drawn like
this:

A series circuit

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 Electricity

The switch here is open so there is a break in the circuit and the electrici-
ty cannot flow. The bulb will not light.

Electrical current is the flow of charge around a circuit. Electrons carry

electrical energy from the cell or battery. Current is measured in am-
peres (amps) using an ammeter. It is the same at all points in a series
circuit. Current is not ‘used up’ in a circuit.

Try it! If you have electronics kit, ask your child to explore series cir-
cuits.

If you don’t you can watch these on YouTube

http://www.echo.education/url/seriescircuits

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 Electricity

A Parallel Circuit:

A parallel circuit

The electricity is flowing through two paths to the two lamps. If a break
occurs in the circuit the electricity will still be able to flow in the other
branch or branches and any components there may still work. This de-
pends on where the break occurs.

This is how a parallel circuit diagram is drawn:

A parallel circuit

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 Electricity

If one of these bulbs blows then the other bulb will still light.

In a parallel circuit, the current is the same before and after the branch-
es. However it is lower in the wires after they have branches. If the
branches have the same components on them then the current reduces
equally between them. The sum of the current in the branched wires is
the same as before or after the branching.

Parallel circuit currents

In this example if A1 is 3A (amps) then A4 will also be 3A. A2 and A3 will

each be 1.5A.

Try it! If you have electronics kit, ask your child to experiment with
parallel circuits.

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 5 of 5

 Electricity

Lesson 4: Current and Potential Difference

(Voltage)

Today’s Important Spellings: Parallel

Circuit Current
Series Ammeter
Voltmeter Amperes (amps)
Volts Components
Voltage Conducting
Potential difference Insulating

Lesson Content
Last lesson we learnt that current is

· The flow of charge around a circuit carried by electrons

· the electrical energy from the cell or battery
· Measured in amperes (amps)
· The same at all points of a series circuit
· Not ‘used up’ in a circuit
· The same before and after the branches of a parallel circuit
· Lower in the wires after a branch in a parallel circuit but the sum of
the current in the branched wires is the same as before and after
the branching
· The are two types of current – alternating current (AC) and direct
current (DC)

Today we will add to what we know about current

· Can flow through conducting materials like metals and graphite

where electrons are free to move.
· Cannot flow through insulating materials like wood, plastic or
rubber where the electrons are not free to move.

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 Electricity

· Thicker wires allow more electrons to flow through them at one

time and so can carry a larger current than thinner wires.

To do: Ask your child to write a list of facts about current

Potential Difference (Voltage)

Potential difference is a measure of the difference in energy between two
parts of a circuit. The bigger the difference in energy, the bigger the po-
tential difference. It tells us how much electrical energy can be carried
around the circuit by the flow of charge (current).

Potential difference is measured in volts (V) using a voltmeter in parallel

across a cell, battery or any component. For example, 230 V is a bigger
potential difference than 12 V. Instead of talking about potential differ-
ence, people often talk about voltage.

Voltmeters only work across two points in any circuit with different poten-
tial differences. Here the voltmeter is measuring across the cell.

A circuit with a voltmeter

Unlike an ammeter, you must connect the voltmeter in parallel to meas-

ure the potential difference across a component in a circuit.

In any circuit with one component, the potential difference is the same
across the cell or battery and this component.

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 Electricity

In any series circuit with more than one component, the sum of the po-
tential differences across the components is the same as across the cell
or battery.

Adding components to a series circuit

In a parallel circuit, the potential difference of the cell and battery is the
same as the potential difference across either or any of the parallel
paths.

Voltmeters measuring a parallel circuit

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 3 of 3

 Electricity

Lesson 5: Resistance and Static Electricity

Today’s Important Spellings: Parallel

Circuit Current
Series Ohms
Resistance Short circuit
Static electricity Insulators
Protons, electrons, neutrons Repel
Attract

Lesson Content
· Resistance is a measure of how easily the flow of electrons
(current) can move through a component.

· A component with a high resistance slows current more than a

component with a lower resistance.

· A component with a high resistance means less energy arrives and

so the component does not function as well – a bulb would be
dimmer or a motor would be slower.

· Resistance is the ratio of potential difference to current. It is difficult

to measure so it is usually calculated.

· Resistance is measured in ohms.

· In the same circuit a thicker wire carries a larger current than

thinner ones and so have lower resistance

· Current tends to take the easiest route around a circuit. The

easiest route is where the circuit has the least resistance. If this

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 Electricity

occurs around a component and it is ‘bypassed’ it may not function

– we call this a short circuit.

· Resistance looks like this when it is marked on a circuit diagram:

Resistance on a circuit diagram

Static Electricity
Insulators cannot conduct electrical current but they can become elec-
trically charged. If two insulators are rubbed together, friction can remove
some of the negatively charged electrons from one and transfer them to
another. This is static electricity.

e.g. You walk across a rug and reach for a doorknob. ZAP!! You get a
shock. This is static electricity. As you walk across a carpet, electrons
move from the rug to you. Now you have extra electrons. Touch a door
knob and ZAP! The electrons move from you to the knob. You get a
shock.

How does it work?

Everything we see is made up of tiny little parts called atoms. The atoms
are made of even smaller parts. These are called protons, electrons
and neutrons. They are very different from each other in many ways.

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 Electricity

One way they are different is their "charge." Protons have a positive (+)
charge. Electrons have a negative (-) charge. Neutrons have no charge.

Usually, atoms have the same number of electrons and protons. Then
the atom has no charge, it is "neutral."

But if you rub things together, electrons can move from one atom to an-
other. Some atoms get extra electrons. They have a negative charge.
Other atoms lose electrons. They have a positive charge. When
charges are separated like this, it is called static electricity.

· If two things have the same charge, they repel, or push away from
each other.
· If two things have different charges, they attract, or pull towards
each other.

Static hair

Why does your hair stand up after you take your hat off? When you pull
your hat off, it rubs against your hair. Electrons move from your hair to
the hat. Now each of the hairs has the same positive charge. Things with
the same charge repel each other. So the hairs try to move away from
each other. The farthest they can get is to stand up and away from all the
other hairs.

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 Electricity

Lightning
Lightning is formed when the friction between particles of clouds builds
up enough static charge then a large amount of electrical energy rushes
to the ground as a spark.

A bolt of lightning

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 Electricity

Electricity End of Topic Practise Questions

These practise questions can be presented to your child in any way that
is appropriate – you could do a fun quiz style, a ‘pick a question from a
box type quiz, an oral ‘let’s have a go at these together’ style or as a test
of what they have understood by setting as a ‘test’. It is entirely up to
you. You can use all of the questions or pick and choose. The answers
follow the questions.

1. Will this bulb light? Explain your answer

·
2. What is the difference between a cell and a battery in an electrical
circuit?

3. Is this a series or a parallel circuit?

·

·
4. How could we make the bulbs shine more brightly?

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 Electricity

5. If one of these bulbs blows will the others stay lit? Explain your
answer

·
·
·
6. Current can be measured using an …………………
·
7. Potential difference (voltage) Is measured using a ………………
·
8. Does a component with a high resistance let more or less current
through?
·
9. Give two examples of static electricity?
·
· a)
· b)
·
10. Do insulators conduct electricity?

·
·

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 Electricity

·
·
·
·
·

Electricity End of Topic Practise Questions

ANSWERS

1. Will this bulb light? Explain your answer

·
· No because the switch is open and so the current will not flow
around the circuit as it is not complete
·
2. What is the difference between a cell and a battery in an electrical
circuit?
· A cell is what we think of as a battery but in circuits a battery is
more than one cell.

3. Is this a series or a parallel circuit?

·

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 Electricity

·
· It is a series circuit
·
4. How could we make the bulbs shine more brightly?
· Add extra cells

5. If one of these bulbs blows will the others stay lit? Explain your
answer

·
· Yes because this is a parallel circuit
·
·
6. Current can be measured using an ammeter
·
7. Potential difference (voltage) Is measured using a voltmeter
·

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 Electricity

8. Does a component with a high resistance let more or less current

through?
· A component with a high resistance slows current and so less en-
ergy through.

9. Give two examples of static electricity?

·
· a) lightning
· b) a shock when touching a door knob after walking across a rug
· or hair standing on end after removing a hat
·
10. Do insulators conduct electricity?

No. They don’t. Conductors do

·
·
·

·
·

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 Electricity

Electricity End of Topic Practise Questions

These practise questions can be presented to your child in any way that
is appropriate – you could do a fun quiz style, a ‘pick a question from a
box type quiz, an oral ‘let’s have a go at these together’ style or as a test
of what they have understood by setting as a ‘test’. It is entirely up to
you. You can use all of the questions or pick and choose. The answers
follow the questions.

1. Will this bulb light? Explain your answer

2. What is the difference between a cell and a battery in an electrical

circuit?

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 1 of 6

 Electricity

3. Is this a series or a parallel circuit?

4. How could we make the bulbs shine more brightly?

5. If one of these bulbs blows will the others stay lit? Explain your
answer

6. Current can be measured using an …………………

7. Potential difference (voltage) Is measured using a ………………

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 Electricity

8. Does a component with a high resistance let more or less current

through?

9. Give two examples of static electricity?

a)

b)

10. Do insulators conduct electricity?

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 Electricity

Electricity End of Topic Practise Questions

ANSWERS

1. Will this bulb light? Explain your answer

No because the switch is open and so the current will not flow
around the circuit as it is not complete

2. What is the difference between a cell and a battery in an electrical

circuit?
A cell is what we think of as a battery but in circuits a battery is
more than one cell.

3. Is this a series or a parallel circuit?

It is a series circuit

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 Electricity

4. How could we make the bulbs shine more brightly?

Add extra cells

5. If one of these bulbs blows will the others stay lit? Explain your
answer

Yes because this is a parallel circuit

6. Current can be measured using an ammeter

7. Potential difference (voltage) Is measured using a voltmeter

8. Does a component with a high resistance let more or less current

through?
A component with a high resistance slows current and so less en-
ergy through.

9. Give two examples of static electricity?

a) lightning
b) a shock when touching a door knob after walking across a rug
or hair standing on end after removing a hat

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 5 of 6

 Electricity

10. Do insulators conduct electricity?

No. They don’t. Conductors do

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 6 of 6

 Magnetism

Lesson 1: Magnetism

Today’s Important Spellings: Attract

Temporary magnet Repel
Permanent magnet

Suggested resources:
· 2 magnets
· Selection of things to test – choose a tray full of anything from
around the house – a fork, pen, coin, sponge, cloth, plastic toy, pa-
per clips, eraser, apple etc
· Large sewing needle and paper clips

Lesson Content
Try it! To focus your child on what they already know about mag-
netism and the basics of this topic start by asking them to firstly separate
the items you’ve collected into those that the think would be magnetic
and non-magnetic. Now ask them to test the two piles and see if they are
right. Magnetic items will be attracted to the magnet.

There are only three magnetic elements

1. Iron

2. Nickel

3. Cobalt

Metals that are alloys of these elements can also be magnetic e.g. steel.

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 Magnetism

Rules of attracting and repelling

A magnet will always attract another magnetic material e.g. an iron or
steel bar that isn’t magnetised

Two magnets will either attract or repel one another, depending on how
they are arranged. Like poles will repel (N and N or S and S) but
opposite poled will attract (N and S)

Try it! Ask your child to try this out with their magnets

Making a magnet
A piece of one of these metals will always be attracted to another magnet
but it will not necessarily be a magnet. If it is not a magnet it will still act
like one when it near another magnet and so is called a temporary
magnet. It can be turned into a permanent magnet if it is repeatedly
stroked by another magnet. This lines up the tiny parts of the metal
called domains and means that the magnet will now repel other mag-
nets and not just attract them.

Try it! You can turn a sewing needle into a magnet by taking it and
stroking it at least 100 times with a magnet. The strokes must all be in
the same direction. Ask your child to test the needle as a magnet using
paperclips at the start, middle and end of the experiment. How many pa-
perclips does it pick up?

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 Magnetism

This is what you will be doing inside the needle to the domains:

Lining up domains

Destroying a magnet
A magnet becomes demagnetised when all the domains return to ran-
dom positions. This can be done by

· Banging it with a hammer or dropping it

· Heating it

· Passing an alternating current through a coil of wire wrapped

around a magnet

NB: breaking a magnet in two doesn’t destroy the magnet, it just

makes two smaller magnets.

Ask your child to write up what they have learnt today about mag-
nets and how they behave.

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 3 of 3

 Magnetism

Lesson 2: Drawing Magnetic Fields

Today’s Important Spellings: Repel

Magnetic fields Attract
Poles

Suggested resources:
· Different shaped magnets
· A4 paper
· Iron fillings
· The magnetised needle from last lesson (or make another), a piece
of foam or polystyrene and bowl of water
· A compass

Lesson Content
Magnetic fields are the areas around magnets where magnetic met-
als experience a force. You can see them using iron fillings.

Try it! Lay a magnet under a piece of A4 paper close to the centre.
Now gently pour some iron fillings onto the top of the paper. They will line
up following the magnetic field. If nothing seems to happen, I find just
gently tap the paper and they line up more clearly.

Now try it with a different shaped magnet. Photograph your results to

record your findings.

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 Magnetism

You should see something like this with a bar magnet

This is a diagram of what you are seeing:

NB It is really important not to pour the iron fillings straight onto a

magnet as they stick and are really hard to remove!

What is happening?
· Magnetic field lines run from the north pole to the south pole
· The magnetic field is strongest whether the field lines are closest
together
· The magnetic force is strongest at the poles.

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 2 of 5

 Magnetism

The Earth’s Magnetic Field

The earth has a magnetic field and pulls on the poles of a magnet. Sci-
entists believe the magnetic field is generated deep inside the Earth
where the heat of the planet's solid inner core churns a liquid outer core
of iron and nickel. The solid inner core is thought to be a mass of iron
about the size of the moon that is heated to several thousand degrees
Fahrenheit. Compasses are small pieces of magnetic metal that are free
to spin. These align themselves with the Earth’s magnetic field to point
towards north.

An illustration of the magnetic field of the earth

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 3 of 5

 Magnetism

A compass
The simplest compass is a magnetized metal needle mounted in such a
way that it can spin freely. Left alone the needle turns until one end
points north and the other south. You can usually figure out which end is
which from the position of the Sun in the sky, remembering that the Sun
rises in the east and sets in the west.

Compasses have a lightweight, magnetized pointer mounted on a very

low-friction pivot that is sealed inside a small plastic cylinder filled with
liquid. The pointer is built into a rectangle of plastic called a compass
card, printed with the cardinal points of the compass (north, south, east,
and west), and sometimes, the intercardinal points (north-east, north-
west, south-east, south-west).

To use a compass like this, you first figure out which direction is north.
You let the needle settle then rotate the compass card so the needle
lines up with the north-south axis and the end of the needle coloured red,
marked with an arrow, or printed 'N' points north. You can then instantly
see which direction is south, east, or west and (with the help of a map)
set off in the direction you need to go.

How a compass works

The red pointer in a compass is a magnet and it's being attracted by
Earth's own magnetism (sometimes called the geomagnetic field—"geo"
simply means Earth). As English scientist William Gilbert explained about
400 years ago, Earth behaves like a giant bar magnet with one pole up in
the Arctic (near the north pole) and another pole down in Antarctica (near

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 Magnetism

the south pole). Now if the needle in your compass is pointing north, that
means it's being attracted (pulled toward) something near Earth's north
pole. Since unlike poles attract, the thing your compass is being attracted to
must be a magnetic south pole. In other words, the thing we call Earth's
magnetic north pole is actually the south pole of the magnet inside Earth.
That's quite a confusing idea, but it'll make sense if you always remember
that unlike poles attract.

Earth's magnetic field is actually quite weak compared to gravity and friction
For a compass to be able to show up the relatively tiny effects of Earth's
magnetism, we have to minimize the effects of these other forces. That's
why compass needles are lightweight (so gravity has less effect on them)
and mounted on frictionless bearings (so there's less frictional resistance for
the magnetic force to overcome).

Try it! You can make a compass using the magnetised needle from
last lesson. Lay it on a small piece of polystyrene foam (or cork) and float
this in a bowl of water. It must be free to rotate. The needle will line up
with the earth’s magnetic field.

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 Magnetism

Lesson 3: Electromagnets

Today’s Important Spellings:

Coil
Electromagnet
Core

Suggested resources:
· 9V battery
· Copper wire
· Large iron nail

Lesson Content
A coil of wire will become magnetic when a direct current is passed
through the coil. We call it an electromagnet.

If we add a core it makes the electromagnet stronger. If the core is made

of a soft magnetic material, like iron, the magnet will ‘switch off’ when the
current is turned off.

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 Magnetism

Try it! You can make a simple electromagnet using copper wire,
battery and large iron nail. Set it up like this:

A simple electromagnet

You can make an electromagnet stronger by

1. Increasing the number of turns of the coil

2. Increasing the current

This is a diagram of what is happening:

How an electromagnet creates a magnetic field

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 Magnetism

Where do we use electromagnets?

1. Electric bells have an electromagnet which is switched on and off
to make the bell ring

An electric bell

2. In scrapyards to lift heavy cars and scrap metal. The magnet is

switched on to lift the car , then switched off to drop it again

Electromagnet use in a scrapyard

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 Magnetism

Scrap metal being lifted by an electromagnet

3. Electric motors

4. Generators in power stations

5. Loudspeakers

6. Image scanners in hospitals

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 Magnetism

7. The Maglev train is suspended above the rails by strong magnets

which reduces friction

How the Maglev train works

The Maglev train

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This is how an electric bell works:

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Lesson 4: Motors

Today’s Important Spellings: Magnetic field

Voltage
Current

Lesson Content
If a magnet moves through a coil of wire then a voltage is induced in
the wire, creating an electric current.

If a coil of wire is rotated within

a magnetic field then a voltage is also induced and a current flows.

This is how simple electric motors are made

Watch this YouTube clip

http://www.echo.education/url/motors

Building a simple motor

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 Magnetism

A diagram of a simple motor

How does it work?

There are two permanent magnets. They produce a steady magnetic

field so that the coil will turn when a current flows in it.

Some motors have electromagnets instead of permanent magnets.

These are made from more coils of copper wire.

Each end of the coil is connected to one of the two halves of the commu-
tator. The commutator swaps the contacts over every half turn.

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The motor is connected to a battery. When the switch is closed, the cur-
rent starts to flow and the coil becomes an electromagnet. In this case
the current is flowing anticlockwise in the top of the coil. This makes the
top a north pole. This north pole is attracted to the south pole on the left.
So the top of the coil turns towards the left. Notice that the bottom of the
coil is a south pole and is attracted to the magnet on the right.

Once the coil gets to the upright position, there is no turning force on it
because the electromagnet of the coil is lined up with the permanent
magnets. If the current in the coil were constant, the coil would stop in
this position. However, to keep it spinning, the commutator breaks con-
tact in this position. So the current stops for an instant. The momentum
of the coil keeps it going and the contacts are reconnected. However,
they are now the other way around. So, the side of the coil that used to
be a south pole is now a north pole.

The commutator will keep swapping the contacts every half turn (when
the coil is in the upright position). In this way, the motor keeps spinning.

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 Magnetism

Magnetism End of Topic Practise Questions

These practise questions can be presented to your child in any way that
is appropriate – you could do a fun quiz style, a ‘pick a question from a
box type quiz, an oral ‘let’s have a go at these together’ style or as a test
of what they have understood by setting as a ‘test’. It is entirely up to
you. You can use all of the questions or pick and choose. The answers
follow the questions

1. What are the two poles of a magnet labelled as?

2. If two opposite poles are near each other they will ………..

3. Name the three magnetic elements

a)

b)

c)

4. How can you turn a piece of iron into a permanent magnet?

5. What is the Earth’s magnetic field caused by?

6. Give two ways you can increase the strength of an electromagnet

a)

b)

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 Magnetism

7. Where is the magnetic field of a bar magnet the strongest? How

can you tell?

8. What advantage do electromagnets have over magnets?

9. What are the tiny particles in a magnet called?

10. How are they arranged in a permanent magnet?

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 Magnetism

Magnetism End of Topic Practise Questions

ANSWERS

1. What are the two poles of a magnet labelled as?

North and south

2. If two opposite poles are near each other they will attract.

3. Name the three magnetic elements

a) iron

b) nickel

c) cobalt

4. How can you turn a piece of iron into a permanent magnet?

Stroke it repeatedly with another magnet.

5. What is the Earth’s magnetic field caused by?

The molten iron and nickel in the earth’s outer core.

6. Give two ways you can increase the strength of an

electromagnet

a) increase the current

b) increase the number of coils of wire

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 Magnetism

7. Where is the magnetic field of a bar magnet the strongest? How

can you tell?

At the ends – the field lines are closest here

8. What advantage do electromagnets have over magnets?

They can be switched on and off

9. What are the tiny particles in a magnet called?

Domains

10. How are they arranged in a permanent magnet?

They are lined up

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 4 of 4

 Space Physics

Lesson 1: The History of Observing the Solar

System

Today’s Important Spellings: Copernicus

Solar system Elliptical
Star Telescope
Aristotle Relecting
Geocentric model Refracting
Heliocentric model

Lesson Content

What is the solar system? It is our Sun and everything that

travels around it. Our solar system is elliptical in shape. That means it is
shaped like an egg. The Sun is in the centre of the solar system. Our so-
lar system is always in motion. The larger an object is, the more gravity it
has. Because the Sun is so large, its powerful gravity attracts all the oth-
er objects in the Solar System towards it. At the same time, these ob-

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jects, which are moving very rapidly, try to fly away from the Sun, out-
ward into the emptiness of outer space. The result of the planets trying to
fly away, at the same time that the Sun is trying to pull them inward is
that they become trapped half-way in between. Balanced between flying
towards the Sun, and escaping into space, they spend eternity orbiting
around their parent star. It has taken the whole of human history for us to
understand this.

Observing the sky through History

The very earliest people, knew much more about the moon and the
planets and the stars than most people do today. That's because they
lived mainly outside, without electric lights blocking out the sky, and they
saw every night how the moon and the planets moved.

By about 3500 BC (and maybe long before that), people thought of these
moving things in the sky as living beings - gods, with their own human-
like personalities. If the moon and the planets were gods, they could af-
fect the lives of people, and so the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians
began to chart the movements of the planets and the moon to try to pre-
dict the future. They identified hundreds of constellations of stars, drew
star maps, and created the idea of horoscopes and the signs of the Zo-
diac. These early astronomers all thought that the earth was the centre of
the universe, and that the moon, the sun, the planets and the stars all
went around and around overhead in the sky.

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Around 600 BC, the Greek astronomer Thales rejected this idea that the
moon and the stars were gods. Instead, Thales suggested that the earth
was a round ball, and that the moon was lit by light reflecting from the
sun. If the earth was round, then you could think of the moon and planets
and stars and sun as going all the way around the earth. In 585 BC, Tha-
les used this idea to become the first astronomer to successfully predict
an eclipse of the sun. By about 430 BC, Anaxagoras had followed up on
Thales' ideas to show exactly what caused eclipses.

In 400BC, Aristotle realised that the Earth was a sphere and that the dif-
ferent stars could be seen from different positions on the Earth’s surface.
Soon the Pole Star, which is visible from all countries in the Northern
Hemisphere, was being used to guide ships at sea.

Aristotle wrongly believed that the earth was at the centre of the universe
and that the Sun, Moon, planets and stars moved around the earth in cir-
cular orbits supported by crystal spheres. This is known as the
geocentric model.

Two hundred years later, about 250 BC, Eratosthenes calculated the cir-
cumference of the earth, and shortly after that Aristarchus figured out
that the earth went around the sun, instead of the other way around, by

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considering the curved shadow of the earth on the moon during an

eclipse of the moon.

Aristarchus also figured out that the sun had to be a lot bigger than either
the earth or the moon, and that the stars must be much, much farther
away than the moon or the sun. Even though Aristarchus was right,
though, most scientists thought he must be wrong - how could the stars
really be that far away? It just seemed unlikely.

By 130 AD, Buddhist travellers from India had apparently brought news
of these new Greek ideas to China, where Zhang Heng knew that the
moon was a ball lighted by the sun, and understood eclipses. Sadly,
meanwhile the Greeks had rejected this whole line of thought, and Ro-
man astronomers like Ptolemy had gone back to thinking that the sun
and stars went around the earth, rather than think that the stars were so
far away.

By 1514, the Polish astronomer Copernicus published a small book

proving that the earth actually went around the sun, as Aristarchus had
thought more than a thousand years earlier. Still many people - most
people - did not believe Copernicus, and his cause had to be defended in
the later 1500s by Galileo, and again in the 1700s by Isaac Newton.

This model is called the heliocentric model

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Telescopes
A telescope is an instrument used to see objects that are far away. Tele-
scopes are often used to view the planets and stars. Some of the same
optical technology that is used in telescopes is also used to make bin-
oculars and cameras.

The two most important properties of a telescope are:

Light gathering ability - The better a telescope can gather light, the bet-
ter you will be able to see far away stars and faint objects in the night
sky. This feature is usually determined by the size of the aperture of the
telescope. The larger the aperture, the more light the telescope can
gather.

Magnification - The magnification of a telescope describes how much

larger the telescope can make objects appear.

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There are two main types of telescopes. One type uses lenses to magni-
fy the image. Telescopes that use lenses are called refracting tele-
scopes.

The other type uses mirrors to focus the light of the image. These tele-
scopes are called reflecting telescopes. Reflecting telescopes use
mirrors instead of lenses to focus the light. A convex mirror is used to
gather light and reflect it back to a focal point. In order to get the light out
of the telescope, another mirror is used to direct the light to an eyepiece.
There are various designs of reflecting telescopes, but the original de-
sign by Isaac Newton is still popular today.

Refracting Telescopes
Refracting telescopes use lenses to bend the light to a specific focal
point such that the object will be magnified to the viewer.

The basic refracting telescope has two lenses. The first lens is called the
objective lens. This lens is a convex lens that bends the incoming light
rays to a focal point within the telescope. The second lens is called the
eyepiece. This lens takes the light from the focal point and spreads it out
across the retina of your eye. This makes the object seem much closer
than it really is.

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History of the Telescope

The first telescope invented was a refractor invented by Dutch lensmaker
Hans Lippershey in 1608. Galileo made some improvements and first
used the telescope for astronomy. The refractor was further improved by
astronomer Johannes Kepler around 1611. Kepler used a convex lens for
the eyepiece. Although this made the image appear upside down, it im-
proved the usability of the telescope.

In the late 1600s, Isaac Newton developed the reflecting telescope using
mirrors instead of lenses.

The Hubble Space Telescope

One of the most famous telescopes in the world today is the Hubble
Space Telescope. This telescope was put into orbit around the Earth in
1990 by the Space Shuttle. Being outside the Earth's atmosphere allows
the Hubble to view outer space without background light. This has ena-
bled it to take some amazing pictures of faraway stars and galaxies.

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 Space Physics

Fun Facts about Telescopes

· The successor to the Hubble Telescope is the James Webb Space
Telescope. It is planned to be launched in 2018.

· The first telescopes were used by sea merchants and the military.

· Most observatories are built on mountaintops where the air is

thinner and cleaner.

· A lot of astronomers today work remotely from the actual

telescope. They control the telescope using computers over the
internet.

· The largest refracting telescope in the world is located at Yerkes

Observatory in Wisconsin.

Ask your child to write up either the history of the telescope or

the history of the understanding of the universe.

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Lesson 2: The Solar System and Beyond

Today’s Important Spellings: Mars

Solar system Jupiter
Star Saturn
Mercury Uranus
Venus Neptune
Earth Luminous
Galaxies Non-luminous
Universe

Lesson Contents

Eight known planets and their moons, along with comets, asteroids, and
other space objects orbit our star, the Sun. The Sun is the biggest object
in our solar system. It contains more than 99% of the solar system's
mass. Astronomers are now finding new objects far, far from the Sun

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 Space Physics

which they call dwarf planets. Pluto, which was once called a planet, is
now called a dwarf planet.

Our solar system is elliptical in shape. That means it is shaped like an

egg. The larger an object is, the more gravity it has. Because the Sun is
so large, its powerful gravity attracts all the other objects in the Solar
System towards it. At the same time, these objects, which are moving
very rapidly, try to fly away from the Sun, outward into the emptiness of
outer space. The result of the planets trying to fly away, at the same time
that the Sun is trying to pull them inward is that they become trapped
half-way in between. Balanced between flying towards the Sun, and es-
caping into space, they spend eternity orbiting around their parent star.

Stars
Stars are the only objects in space that give out heat and light- we call
this being luminous. Planets, moons, asteroids and comets all shine in
the night sky because they reflect the light from stars so they are non-
luminous. The heat and light given out by the Sun allows life on Earth.

Our galaxy
Millions of solar systems, each with their own star at their centre, are
grouped into giant structures called galaxies.

Our galaxy is called The Milky Way. It is like a spinning spiral disc with
four arms. Our solar system is about two-thirds of the way from the cen-

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 Space Physics

tre along one of the arms, which is known as Pegasus . The galaxy's
arms are where most of the dust and gases are concentrated and where
most stars are born. The relatively flat arms spin at 250 kilometres a
second around a bulging centre. This centre is thought to contain a su-
permassive black hole with a mass exceeding 50 times that of the sun
that sucks in entire stars. The Milky Way is vast. It would take an object
travelling at the speed of light (over 1 billion kilometres per hour), 51,000
years to travel from one side to the other. All the galaxies that exist
make up the universe.

The Planets in our Solar System

Your child should learn the order of the planets from the Sun:

1) Mercury 2) Venus 3) Earth 4) Mars 5) Jupiter 6) Saturn

7) Uranus 8) Neptune

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© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 4 of 7

 Space Physics

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 Space Physics

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 Space Physics

Ask your child to write a fact file of the planets and their key facts.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/solarsystem/

Ask your child to watch this clip

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 7 of 7

 Space Physics

Lesson 3: Days and Years

Today’s Important Spellings: Revolution

Rotation Orbit
Axis
Revolving

Suggested Resources:
· Torch
· Globe
· Lamp with no shade

Lesson Content
Day and Night
A day on Earth is 24 hours – this is the time it takes for the earth to com-
plete one complete rotation on its axis.

The Earth's axis is an invisible line through the centre of the earth. It is
not straight up and down, but tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees.

It takes 24 hours to complete one rotation. However, sunlight shines only

on the half of the Earth facing the Sun. That half has day the other half is
dark and has night.

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 Space Physics

Try it! This phenomenon can also be observed with the help of a
torch or a table lamp focused on a globe, which is made to rotate. Your
child can see the lit side of the globe and the side in shadow.

Other planets in our solar system rotate at different speeds and so have
different day lengths. Jupiter and Saturn rotate the quickest and so a day
is only 10 hours. Venus is the slowest rotating planet – one day on Venus
is nearly 6000 hours.

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 Space Physics

Years

A year on Earth is 365.25 days long. This is the time that it takes for the
Earth to rotate once around the Sun. The movement of the Earth around
the Sun in a fixed orbit is called as revolving. One full orbit around the
sun is one revolution. The Earth revolves around the Sun because of
gravity. The Earth really rotates 365 ¼ times during each revolution. The
calendar always has 365 days, after every 4 years, the earth has made
one extra rotation. However, one extra day is added to the month of Feb-
ruary once in every four years forming a leap year with 366 days.

Try it! Demonstrate this with a lamp with no shade acting as

the Sun and the globe should be moved around the Sun egg shaped
orbit, spinning on its axis as it goes.

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 Space Physics

Ask your child to write how and why we have day and night and
years.

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 Space Physics

Lesson 4: How do we get Seasons?

Today’s Important Spellings: Autumn

Rotation Winter
Summer Phases of the moon
Spring Lunar month

Suggested Resources:
• Globe
• Lamp with no shade

Lesson Contents
We learnt last lesson that the earth is tilted on its axis at 23.5 degrees.

It is this tilt that causes our seasons – spring, summer, autumn and win-
ter. The northern and southern hemispheres have opposite seasons –
when it is winter in the northern hemisphere it is summer in the southern
etc.

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The UK is in the Northern hemisphere.

One hemisphere points toward the sun as the other points away. The
hemisphere that points toward the sun is warmer and gets more light --
it's summer there, and in the other hemisphere it's winter. This effect is
less dramatic near the equator than at the poles, since the equator re-
ceives about the same amount of sunlight all year. The equator doesn’t
have four seasons. The poles, on the other hand, receive no sunlight at
all during their winter months, which is part of the reason why they're fro-
zen.

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 Space Physics

Try it! You should ask your child to demonstrate this with a lamp with-
out a shade to be the sun and with the globe. Move this around the lamp
into the four positions on the diagram and ask them to tell you which
season we are experiencing in the northern hemisphere and why.

SUN AND MOON

The sun has a relationship with the moon, too. The light we see when the
moon shines at night is really reflected light from the sun. The relative
positions of the sun and moon also create solar and lunar eclipses. This
might make it seem like the moon is nothing without the sun, but it does
some important jobs for the Earth. The moon regulates the Earth's orbit,
and it causes the ocean tides. The moon orbits the earth.

The Moon travels around the Earth.

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 Space Physics

The revolution of the Moon around the Earth makes the Moon appear as
if it is changing shape in the sky. From Earth we see the Moon grow from
a thin crescent to a full disk (or full moon) and then shrink back to a thin
crescent again before vanishing for a few days. The lit part of the Moon
always points the way to the Sun.

The changing shape of the bright part of the Moon that we see is called
its phase.

What causes part of the Moon to be lit up?

The moon is illuminated because it reflects the light from the sun. The
part of the moon facing the sun is lit up. The part facing away from the
sun is in darkness. The phases of the Moon depend on its position in re-
lation to the Sun and Earth. As the Moon makes its way around the
Earth, we see the bright parts of the Moon's surface at different angles.
These are called "phases" of the Moon.

The phases of the moon work in a cycle starting with the new moon.

There are eight phases of the moon and the phases are named after
how much of the moon we can see, and whether the amount visible is
increasing, or decreasing each day.

It takes our Moon about 29.5 days to completely cycle through all eight
phases. This is known as a Lunar month

Why are the phases different in each hemisphere?

The Moon orbits near the equator of the Earth. In the northern hemi-
sphere, we're standing on the opposite side of the globe from countries
in the southern hemisphere i.e. we are "upside down" from each other!
We therefore see the Moon from a completely different vantage point
from each other.

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 Space Physics

Try it! Ask your child to keep a moon diary for the next month. They
should record the shape of the moon once every few days. They should
use the diagrams here to name the phase they are seeing.

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 Space Physics

Lesson 5: Gravity and its Effects

Today’s Important Spellings: Weight

Gravitational force
Isaac Newton

Lesson Content
Gravity is a force that acts between all objects that have mass. The force
of gravity between two objects depends on

1. The mass of the objects- the greater the mass of the object the
greater the force of gravity between them
2. The distance between the objects

The force of gravity between two tennis balls is too small to notice be-
cause they both have a small mass but the gravity between two planets
is large because the planets are huge. Gravity keeps the moon in orbit. It
also keeps the plants in orbit around the Sun. Plus it keep us attracted to
the Earth’s surface.

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 Space Physics

Weight is the name given to the force that acts upon the mass of an ob-
ject. Your weight is the force of the Earth’s gravitational field pulling your
mass downwards. Our weight should be measured in newtons(N).

Weight (N) = Mass (kg) x gravitational field strength (N/kg)

On Earth the gravitational field is 10N/kg. On bigger planets in our solar

system it is larger and so your weight would be heavier as well. On
smaller planets and our moon the gravitational field strength is smaller
and so your weight is lighter. This is why astronauts appear to jump when
they walk on the moon.

If something falls, it will fall with an acceleration caused by the force of

gravity. This is called the acceleration of free fall.

It is said that Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) saw an apple fall from a tree
and accelerate under the force of gravity.

Newton concluded that

· The Moon was continually falling towards the Earth but never
reaching it.
· He thought that the force of gravity kept the Moon falling and
calculated how fast it would have to fall in order to keep orbiting the
Earth but never reach it.
· The force of gravity is what keep objects in the solar system in their
orbits

The gravity of the Moon is felt weakly on Earth but is strong enough to
affect the tides and the oceans.

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 Space Physics

Satellites in Orbit

NASA says: A satellite is a moon, planet or machine that orbits a planet

or star. For example, Earth is a satellite because it orbits the sun. Like-
wise, the moon is a satellite because it orbits Earth. Usually, the word
" satellite " refers to a machine that is launched into space and moves
around Earth or another body in space.

Artificial satellites keep going round the Earth without power. The only
thing holding up a satellite is the force of gravity from the earth. A launch
rocket takes the satellites into space and sets them into motion at hthe
correct height and speed. A high orbit has a less curved path than a low
orbit, so its speed can be less.

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 Space Physics

Satellites orbiting the Earth

A Comet’s Orbit
Comets are icy objects that release gas and dust as they orbit the Sun.
The solid part of a comet is called the nucleus and is mainly made of fro-
zen water, dust and sometimes other frozen substances such as ammo-
nia. Solar radiation heats the nucleus and gives it an atmosphere of gas
and dust called the coma. A comet has a highly-elliptical orbit around the
Sun. When the comet is closest to the Sun, the gravitational force of the
Sun on it is at its greatest and the comet speeds up.

A comet

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 Space Physics

Space Physics End of Topic Practise Ques-

tions
These practise questions can be presented to your child in any way that
is appropriate – you could do a fun quiz style, a ‘pick a question from a
box type quiz, an oral ‘let’s have a go at these together’ style or as a test
of what they have understood by setting as a ‘test’. It is entirely up to
you. You can use all of the questions or pick and choose. The answers
follow the questions.

© Echo Education Physics Module KS3 Page 1 of 6

 Space Physics

1. Is the moon luminous or non-luminous?

2. What does the gravity of the moon effect on Earth?

3. Which of these would astronomers use to study the planets? A

microscope, binoculars or a telescope?

4. What do stars radiate (give out)? What is our Solar System’s star
called?

5. When it is day in Australia it is …………….. in the UK. Why?

6. The earth is tilted on its axis at an angle of …………………….

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 Space Physics

7. Label these seasons if the picture on the left shows UK in summer

8. Weight is measured in Newtons. What would your weight be on

Earth if your mass was 90kg and Earth’s gravity is 10N/kg.

9. If the gravitational field on the moon is smaller, would you weight

more or less?

10. Before scientists realised that the Sun is at the centre of our
solar system which planet did they think was there?

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Space Physics End of Topic Practise Ques-

tions: Answers
1. From the sun outwards: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter,
Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

2. Is the moon luminous or non-luminous?

Non-luminous – it reflects light rather than giving out its own

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3. What does the gravity of the moon effect on Earth?

Tides and oceans

4. Which of these would astronomers use to study the planets? A

microscope, binoculars or a telescope?

Telescope

5. What do stars radiate (give out)? What is our Solar System’s

star called?
Heat and light. The Sun.

6. When it is day in Australia it is night in the UK. Why?

When Australia is turned towards the Sun, the UK which is on the oppo-
site side of the planet is turned away. As the Earth rotates on its axis day
and night alternate.

7. The earth is tilted on its axis at an angle of 23.5 degrees

8. Label these seasons if the picture on the left shows UK in

summer. Clockwise starting on left: summer, spring, winter,
autumn

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 Space Physics

9. Weight is measured in Newtons. What would your weight be on

Earth if your mass was 90kg and Earth’s gravity is 10N/kg.

Weight = mass x gravity = 90 x 10 = 900N

10. If the gravitational field on the moon is smaller, would you

weight more or less?
You would weigh less as gravity is less although your mass
would stay the same.

11. Before scientists realised that the Sun is at the centre of our
solar system which planet did they think was there?

The Earth

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