Upgrade Your Physics
New: Sample BPhO questions can be found here. Test yourself with these fun problems and then check the solutions here to see how well you did.
On this page, you can also find some notes produced by the British Physics Olympiad, to you 'Upgrade Their Physics'
These notes were produced by Anton Machacek, Head of Physics at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe; Academic Visitor in the sub-department of Atomic and Laser Physics, University of Oxford and valued member of the British Physics Olympiad Committee
The notes were originally written to help students preparing to compete in the International Physics Olympiad, and aim to bridge the gap between British A2 level courses and the IPhO syllabus. However, they may also be of use to any students interested in furthering their knowledge and understanding of advanced-level Physics.
Documents available, click to download:
- Upgrade Your Physics - complete document (729 kb)
- Upgrade Your Physics - Introduction and Contents
- Upgrade Your Physics 1 - Linear Mechanics
- 1.1 Motion on a Line
- 1.2 Going Orbital
- 1.3 Fluids - When Things Get Sticky
- 1.4 Questions
- Upgrade Your Physics 2 - Fast Physics
- 2.1 The Principle of Relativity
- 2.2 High Speed Observations
- 2.3 Relativistic Quantities
- 2.4 The Lorentz Transforms
- 2.5 Questions
- Upgrade Your Physics 3 - Rotation
- 3.1 Angle
- 3.2 Angular Velocity
- 3.3 Angular Acceleration
- 3.4 Torque - Angular Force
- 3.5 Moment of Inertia - Angular Mass
- 3.6 Angular Momentum
- 3.7 Angular Momentum of a single mass moving in a straight line
- 3.8 Rotational Kinetic Energy
- 3.9 Summary of Quantities
- 3.10 Rotational Mechanics with Vectors
- 3.11 Motion in Polar Co-ordinates
- 3.12 Motion of a Rigid Body
- 3.13 Questions
- Upgrade Your Physics 4 - Vibes, Wiggles and Light
- 4.1 Oscillation
- 4.2 Waves and Interference
- 4.3 Rays
- 4.4 Fermat’s Principle
- 4.5 Questions
- Upgrade Your Physics 5 - Hot Physics
- 5.1 The Conservation Of Energy
- 5.2 The Second Law
- 5.3 Heat Engines And Fridges
- 5.4 Entropy
- 5.5 Irreversible Processes And The Second Law
- 5.6 Re-Statement Of First Law
- 5.7 The Boltzmann Law
- 5.8 Perfect Gases
- 5.9 Radiation Of Heat
- 5.10 Questions
- Upgrade Your Physics 6 - Sparks and Generation
- 6.1 Electrostatics – When Things Are Still
- 6.2 Magnetism – When Things Move
- 6.3 Circuits – Putting It Together
- 6.4 Questions
- Upgrade Your Physics 7 - Small Physics
- 7.1 Waves And Particles
- 7.2 Uncertainty
- 7.3 Atoms
- 7.4 Little Nuts
- 7.5 Questions
- Upgrade Your Physics 8 - Practical Physics
- 8.1 Errors, And How To Make Them
- 8.2 Errors, And How To Make Them Worse
- 8.3 Systematic Errors
- 8.4 Which Graph?
- 8.5 Questions
- Upgrade Your Physics 9 - Appendix
- 9.1 Multiplying Vectors
- 9.2 Dimensional Analysis
