IB Physics Syllabus , Notes, Practice Papers etc.
IB Physics SL and HL Core
Both IB Physics SL and HL consist of the same core requirements that consist of the same number of hours. Both classes will cover the same 8 topics (requiring 95 teaching hours) in the order listed below with the same subtopics listed below:
Topic #1: Measurements and Uncertainties—5 Hours for Both SL and HL
| Subtopic | Subtopic Number | IB Points to Understand |
| Measurements in physics | 1.1 | - Fundamental and derived SI units
- Scientific notation and metric multipliers
- Significant figures
- Orders of magnitude
- Estimation
|
| Uncertainties and errors | 1.2 | - Random and systematic errors
- Absolute, fractional and percentage uncertainties
- Error bars
- Uncertainty of gradient and intercepts
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| Vectors and scalars | 1.3 | - Vector and scalar quantities
- Combination and resolution of vectors
|
Topic #2: Mechanics—22 Hours for Both SL and HL
| Subtopic | Subtopic Number | IB Points to Understand |
| Motion | 2.1 | - Distance and displacement
- Speed and velocity
- Acceleration
- Graphs describing motion
- Equations of motion for uniform acceleration
- Projectile motion
- Fluid resistance and terminal speed
|
| Forces | 2.2 | - Objects as point particles
- Free-body diagrams
- Translational equilibrium
- Newton’s laws of motion
- Solid friction
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| Work, energy and power | 2.3 | - Kinetic energy
- Gravitational potential energy
- Elastic potential energy
- Work done as energy transfer
- Power as rate of energy transfer
- Principle of conservation of energy
- Efficiency
|
| Momentum and impulse | 2.4 | - Newton’s second law expressed in terms of rate of change of momentum
- Impulse and force–time graphs
- Conservation of linear momentum
- Elastic collisions, inelastic collisions and explosions
|
Topic #3: Thermal Physics—11 Hours for Both SL and HL
| Subtopic | Subtopic Number | IB Points to Understand |
| Thermal concepts | 3.1 | - Molecular theory of solids, liquids and gases
- Temperature and absolute temperature
- Internal energy
- Specific heat capacity
- Phase change
- Specific latent heat
|
| Modelling a gas | 3.2 | - Pressure
- Equation of state for an ideal gas
- Kinetic model of an ideal gas
- Mole, molar mass and the Avogadro constant
- Differences between real and ideal gases
|
Topic #4: Waves—15 Hours for Both SL and HL
| Subtopic | Subtopic Number | IB Points to Understand |
| Oscillations | 4.1 | - Simple harmonic oscillations
- Time period, frequency, amplitude, displacement and phase difference
- Conditions for simple harmonic motion
|
| Travelling waves | 4.2 | - Travelling waves
- Wavelength, frequency, period and wave speed
- Transverse and longitudinal waves
- The nature of electromagnetic waves
- The nature of sound waves
|
| Wave characteristics | 4.3 | - Wavefronts and rays
- Amplitude and intensity
- Superposition
- Polarization
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| Wave behaviour | 4.4 | - Reflection and refraction
- Snell’s law, critical angle and total internal reflection
- Diffraction through a single-slit and around objects
- Interference patterns
- Double-slit interference
- Path difference
|
| Standing waves | 4.5 | - The nature of standing waves
- Boundary conditions
- Nodes and antinodes
|
Topic #5: Electricity and Magnetism—15 Hours for Both SL and HL
| Subtopic | Subtopic Number | IB Points to Understand |
| Electric fields | 5.1 | - Charge
- Electric field
- Coulomb’s law
- Electric current
- Direct current (dc)
- Potential difference
|
| Heating effect of electric currents | 5.2 | - Circuit diagrams
- Kirchhoff’s circuit laws
- Heating effect of current and its consequences
- Resistance expressed as R = V/I
- Ohm’s law
- Resistivity
- Power dissipation
|
| Electric cells | 5.3 | - Cells
- Internal resistance
- Secondary cells
- Terminal potential difference
- Electromotive force (emf)
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| Magnetic effects of electric currents | 5.4 | - Magnetic fields
- Magnetic force
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Topic #6: Circular Motion and Gravitation—5 Hours for Both SL and HL
| Subtopic | Subtopic Number | IB Points to Understand |
| Circular motion | 6.1 | - Period, frequency, angular displacement and angular velocity
- Centripetal force
- Centripetal acceleration
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| Newton’s law of gravitation | 6.2 | - Newton’s law of gravitation
- Gravitational field strength
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Topic #7: Atomic, Nuclear and Particle Physics—14 Hours for Both SL and HL
| Subtopic | Subtopic Number | IB Points to Understand |
| Discrete energy and radioactivity | 7.1 | - Discrete energy and discrete energy levels
- Transitions between energy levels
- Radioactive decay
- Fundamental forces and their properties
- Alpha particles, beta particles and gamma rays
- Half-life
- Absorption characteristics of decay particles
- Isotopes
- Background radiation
|
| Nuclear reactions | 7.2 | - The unified atomic mass unit
- Mass defect and nuclear binding energy
- Nuclear fission and nuclear fusion
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| The structure of matter | 7.3 | - Quarks, leptons and their antiparticles
- Hadrons, baryons and mesons
- The conservation laws of charge, baryon number, lepton number and strangeness
- The nature and range of the strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force and electromagnetic force
- Exchange particles
- Feynman diagrams
- Confinement
- The Higgs boson
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Topic #8: Energy Production—8 Hours for Both SL and HL
| Subtopic | Subtopic Number | IB Points to Understand |
| Energy sources | 8.1 | - Specific energy and energy density of fuel sources
- Sankey diagrams
- Primary energy sources
- Electricity as a secondary and versatile form of energy
- Renewable and non-renewable energy sources
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| Thermal energy transfer | 8.2 | - Conduction, convection and thermal radiation
- Black-body radiation
- Albedo and emissivity
- The solar constant
- The greenhouse effect
- Energy balance in the Earth surface–atmosphere system
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Additional Higher Level Topics
These 4 topics are only for IB Physics Higher Level students—60 hours total for HL only
Topic #9: Wave Phenomena—17 Hours for HL Only
| Subtopic | Subtopic Number | IB Points to Understand |
Simple harmonic motion
(HL ONLY) | 9.1 | - The defining equation of SHM
- Energy changes
|
Single-slit diffraction
(HL ONLY) | 9.2 | - The nature of single-slit diffraction
|
Interference
(HL ONLY) | 9.3 | - Young’s double-slit experiment
- Modulation of two-slit interference pattern by one-slit diffraction effect
- Multiple slit and diffraction grating interference patterns
- Thin film interference
|
Resolution
(HL ONLY) | 9.4 | - The size of a diffracting aperture
- The resolution of simple monochromatic two-source systems
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Doppler effect
(HL ONLY) | 9.5 | - The Doppler effect for sound waves and light waves
|
Topic #10: Fields—11 Hours for HL only
| Subtopic | Subtopic Number | IB Points to Understand |
Describing fields
(HL ONLY) | 10.1 | - Gravitational fields
- Electrostatic fields
- Electric potential and gravitational potential
- Field lines
- Equipotential surfaces
|
Fields at work
(HL ONLY) | 10.2 | - Potential and potential energy
- Potential gradient
- Potential difference
- Escape speed
- Orbital motion, orbital speed and orbital energy
- Forces and inverse-square law behaviour
|
Topic #11: Electromagnetic Induction—16 Hours for HL Only
| Subtopic | Subtopic Number | IB Points to Understand |
Electromagnetic induction
(HL ONLY) | 11.1 | - Electromotive force (emf)
- Magnetic flux and magnetic flux linkage
- Faraday’s law of induction
- Lenz’s law
|
Power generation and transmission
(HL ONLY) | 11.2 | - Alternating current (ac) generators
- Average power and root mean square (rms) values of current and voltage
- Transformers
- Diode bridges
- Half-wave and full-wave rectification
|
Capacitance
(HL ONLY) | 11.3 | - Capacitance
- Dielectric materials
- Capacitors in series and parallel
- Resistor-capacitor (RC) series circuits
- Time constant
|
Topic #12: Quantum and Nuclear Physics—16 Hours for HL Only
| Subtopic | Subtopic Number | IB Points to Understand |
The interaction of matter with radiation
(HL ONLY) | 12.1 | - Photons
- The photoelectric effect
- Matter waves
- Pair production and pair annihilation
- Quantization of angular momentum in the Bohr model for hydrogen
- The wave function
- The uncertainty principle for energy and time and position and momentum
- Tunnelling, potential barrier and factors affecting tunnelling probability
|
Nuclear physics
(HL ONLY) | 12.2 | - Rutherford scattering and nuclear radius
- Nuclear energy levels
- The neutrino
- The law of radioactive decay and the decay constant
|
Options
As a part of the IB Physics course, you cover additional subjects of your choosing from the list below (typically you don’t choose, but rather your teacher does).
Whichever option(s) you or your teacher chooses you will cover 3 or 4 topics (15 hours total) for SL and an additional 2 or 3 topics (25 hours total) for HL.
Option A: Relativity—15 Hours for SL and HL
| Subtopic | Subtopic Number | IB Points to Understand |
| The beginnings of relativity | A.1 | - Reference frames
- Galilean relativity and Newton’s postulates concerning time and space
- Maxwell and the constancy of the speed of light
- Forces on a charge or current
|
| Lorentz transformations | A.2 | - The two postulates of special relativity
- Clock synchronization
- The Lorentz transformations
- Velocity addition
- Invariant quantities (spacetime interval, proper time, proper length and rest mass)
- Time dilation
- Length contraction
- The muon decay experiment
|
| Spacetime diagrams | A.3 | - Spacetime diagrams
- Worldlines
- The twin paradox
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Additional HL Relativity Topics—10 More Hours for HL
| Subtopic | Subtopic Number | IB Points to Understand |
Relativistic mechanics
(HL ONLY) | A.4 | - Total energy and rest energy
- Relativistic momentum
- Particle acceleration
- Electric charge as an invariant quantity
- Photons
- MeV c^–2 as the unit of mass and MeV c^–1 as the unit of momentum
|
General Relativity
(HL ONLY) | A.5 | - The equivalence principle
- The bending of light
- Gravitational redshift and the Pound–Rebka–Snider experiment
- Schwarzschild black holes
- Event horizons
- Time dilation near a black hole
- Applications of general relativity to the universe as a whole
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