5.2. Heating Effect of an Electric Current
This section is CHUNKY. That is, it builds heavily upon all the electricity stuff from GCSE and piles on a huge amount more content. Initially this one certainly feels like a mountain, but with a bit of practice the problems eventually 'click' and become second nature (...hopefully).
Resistance and Ohm's Law
xx
PHET have a brilliant circuit simulation programme. Try building some series and parallel circuits with multiple components and looking at the effect on current and voltage.
Video Lessons
Chris Doner | Resistance | IB Specific | ||||
Khan Academy | Ohm's Law Intro | Resistors in Series | Resistors in Parallel | More complex circuits | ||
Physics Online | Resistance and Ohm's Law | Resistance in Series | Resistance in Parallel | Practical Tips | ||
Science Shorts | Electricity Basics (Ohm's Law) | Potential Dividers/ Resistor Combinations | ||||
Study Nova | Ohm's Law |
Resources
IB Physics | Topic 5 Notes | |||||
IB-Physics.net | Chapter 5 Summary | IB Revision Notes | ||||
Isaac Physics | Ohm's Law Introduction | |||||
Mr. G | 5.2 Teaching Notes | 5.2 Student Notes | ||||
Physics and Maths Tutor | Electricity Definitions | Electricity Key Points | Electricity Detailed Notes | Electricity Flashcards | A Level Resources - content slightly different |
Questions
Cambridge University Press | Topic 5: Add Qs | Topic 5: Add Qs MS | Topic 5: MCQs | CUP Website Link | Freely available online | |
Grade Gorilla | 5.2 (Circuit Basics) MCQ | Topic 5 (Circuits) End Quiz | Quick IB Specific Mixed MCQs | |||
Isaac Physics | Combinations of Resistors | |||||
Mr. G | 5.2 Formative Assessment | Topic 5 Summary Qs | IB Specific Questions | |||
Physics and Maths Tutor | Resistance (OCR) | Resistance MS (OCR) | Resistor Networks (Edexcel 1) | Resistor Networks MS (Edexcel 1) | A-Level Qs: overlapping content | |
Physics and Maths Tutor | Current & Resistance (AQA 1) | Current & Resistance MS (AQA 1) | MCQ Current Electricity (AQA 2) | MCQ Current Electricity MS (AQA 2) | A-Level Qs: overlapping content |
IV Characteristics
There are 5 of these SUVAT equations.
Video Lessons
Chris Doner | Resistance (IV Characteristics) | IB Specific | ||||
Physics Online | IV Characteristics | Practical Tips (Non Ohmic) | The LDR | The Thermistor |
Resources
IB Physics | Topic 5 Notes | |||||
IB-Physics.net | Chapter 5 Summary | IB Revision Notes | ||||
Isaac Physics | Electric Components | Level 5/6 Beyond IB | ||||
Mr. G | 5.2 Teaching Notes | 5.2 Student Notes | ||||
Physics and Maths Tutor | Electricity Definitions | Electricity Key Points | Electricity Detailed Notes | Electricity Flashcards | A Level Resources - content slightly different |
Questions
Cambridge University Press | Topic 5: Add Qs | Topic 5: Add Qs MS | Topic 5: MCQs | CUP Website Link | Freely available online | |
Grade Gorilla | 5.2 (Circuit Basics) MCQ | Topic 5 (Circuits) End Quiz | Quick IB Specific Mixed MCQs | |||
Mr. G | 5.2 Formative Assessment | Topic 5 Summary Qs | IB Specific Questions | |||
Physics and Maths Tutor | IV Characteristics (AQA 2) | IV Characteristics MS (AQA 2) | A-Level Qs: overlapping content |
Kirchoff's Laws
Kirchoff Practice
Kirchoff's Laws are a tricky beast to get your head around, yet they are hugely important in circuit analyses so it's worth spending some time making sure you are confident.
For practice, I can't rate the following simulation highly enough. Randomise the circuit setup by clicking 'Change Circuit', then use Kirchoff's Current and Voltage Laws to calculate the unknown currents. If you can do 5 in a row then you've got it sorted!
Video Lessons
Chris Doner | Circuit Analysis | Potential Dividers | IB Specific | |||
Khan Academy | Kirchoff's Current Law | Kirchoff's Voltage Law | ||||
Physics Online | Kirchoff's 1st Law | Kirchoff's 2nd Law | Potential Dividers | Solving Circuit Problems | ||
Science Shorts | Kirchoff's Laws | |||||
Study Nova | Kirchoff's Laws | Circuit Analogy 1 | Circuit Analogy 2 | Circuit Analogy 3 |
Resources
IB Physics | Topic 5 Notes | |||||
IB-Physics.net | Chapter 5 Summary | IB Revision Notes | ||||
Isaac Physics | Kirchoff's Laws | |||||
Mr. G | 5.2 Teaching Notes | 5.2 Student Notes | ||||
Physics and Maths Tutor | Electricity Definitions | Electricity Key Points | Electricity Detailed Notes | Electricity Flashcards | A Level Resources - content slightly different |
Questions
Cambridge University Press | Topic 5: Add Qs | Topic 5: Add Qs MS | Topic 5: MCQs | CUP Website Link | Freely available online | |
Dr French's Eclecticon | Electrical Circuits | Electrical Circuits Solutions | Link to Dr French's Site | Extension: Pre-University Material | ||
Grade Gorilla | 5.2 (Circuit Basics) MCQ | Topic 5 (Circuits) End Quiz | Quick IB Specific Mixed MCQs | |||
Isaac Physics | Kirchoff's Laws | Potential Dividers | ||||
Mr. G | 5.2 Formative Assessment | Topic 5 Summary Qs | IB Specific Questions | |||
Physics and Maths Tutor | DC Circuits (OCR) | DC Circuits MS (OCR) | DC Circuits (AQA 1) | DC Circuits MS (AQA 1) | A-Level Qs: overlapping content | |
Physics and Maths Tutor | Electricity (Edexcel 1) | Electricity MS (Edexcel 1) | Electricity (Edexcel 2) | Electricity MS (Edexcel 2) | A-Level Qs: overlapping content | |
Physics and Maths Tutor | Potential Divider (AQA 2) | Potential Divider MS (AQA 2) | Circuits (AQA 2) | Circuits MS (AQA 2) | A-Level Qs: overlapping content |
Resistivity
Resistivity is a materials property.
Video Lessons
Chris Doner | Resistance (Resistivity) | IB Specific | ||||
Khan Academy | Resistivity and Conductivity | Conductivity not on IB | ||||
Physics Online | Resistivity | Resistance and Temperature | Practical Tips | |||
Science Shorts | Resistivity | Practical Tips | ||||
Study Nova | Resistivity |
Resources
IB Physics | Topic 5 Notes | |||||
IB-Physics.net | Chapter 5 Summary | IB Revision Notes | ||||
Isaac Physics | Resistivity | |||||
Mr. G | 5.2 Teaching Notes | 5.2 Student Notes | ||||
Physics and Maths Tutor | Electricity Definitions | Electricity Key Points | Electricity Detailed Notes | Electricity Flashcards | A Level Resources - content slightly different |
Questions
Cambridge University Press | Topic 5: Add Qs | Topic 5: Add Qs MS | Topic 5: MCQs | CUP Website Link | Freely available online | |
Grade Gorilla | 5.2 (Circuit Basics) MCQ | Topic 5 (Circuits) End Quiz | Quick IB Specific Mixed MCQs | |||
Mr. G | 5.2 Formative Assessment | Topic 5 Summary Qs | IB Specific Questions | |||
Physics and Maths Tutor | Resistivity (Edexcel 1) | Resistivity MS (Edexcel 1) | Resistivity (AQA 2) | Resistivity MS (AQA 2) | A-Level Qs: overlapping content |
Power Dissipation
We previously look at power in Section 2.3, specifically mechanical power when doing work. Here we come back to this idea with a bit of a look into electrical power.
Video Lessons
Chris Doner | Power in Electric Circuits | IB Specific | ||||
Khan Academy | Electric Power | |||||
Physics Online | Electrical Power | Electrical Work Done | ||||
Study Nova | Power Dissipation |
Resources
IB Physics | Topic 5 Notes | |||||
IB-Physics.net | Chapter 5 Summary | IB Revision Notes | ||||
Isaac Physics | Electrical Power | |||||
Mr. G | 5.2 Teaching Notes | 5.2 Student Notes | ||||
Physics and Maths Tutor | Electricity Definitions | Electricity Key Points | Electricity Detailed Notes | Electricity Flashcards | A Level Resources - content slightly different |
Questions
Cambridge University Press | Topic 5: Add Qs | Topic 5: Add Qs MS | Topic 5: MCQs | CUP Website Link | Freely available online | |
Dr French's Eclecticon | Electrical Circuits | Electrical Circuits Solutions | Link to Dr French's Site | Extension: Pre-University Material | ||
Grade Gorilla | 5.2 (Circuit Basics) MCQ | Topic 5 (Circuits) End Quiz | Quick IB Specific Mixed MCQs | |||
Mr. G | 5.2 Formative Assessment | Topic 5 Summary Qs | IB Specific Questions |
Additional Resources
IB Questions
A question by question breakdown of the IB papers by year is shown below to allow you to filter questions by topic. Hopefully you have access to many of these papers through your school system. If available, there may be some links to online sources of questions, though please be patient if the links are broken! (DrR: If you do find some broken links, please contact me through the site)
Questions on this topic (Section 5) are shown in pale green.
Use this grid to practice past IB questions topic by topic. You can see from the colours how similar the question topic breakdown is year by year. The more you can familiarise yourself with the IB question style the better - eventually you will come to spot those tricks and types of questions that reappear each year.