Higher, Faster, Stronger: Overview of Chapter

Chapter 1
Salters Horners AS/A level Physics 1 Teacher Notes HFS
HIGHER, FASTER, STRONGER
Overview of chapter
Table 1.1 summarises the content and skills covered in this chapter, and Table 1.2 lists the learning outcomes
required by the exam specification. The latter are also listed as ‘Achievements’ in the final section of the
chapter in the Student Book.
Table 1.1 Summary of the chapter Higher, Faster, Stronger
Outline and reference to student materials Key points Skills Notes

Section 1.1 Introductory video and Scope of physics in
Biomechanics reading analysing and improving
performance
Section 1.2 Analysing speed Activity 1 Plotting and extrapolating Application of GCSE revision
Describing motion record data Additional Sheet 1 a graph number
Average speed
Discussion of distance Activity 2 Idea of vectors GCSE revision
and direction Additional Sheet 2
Calculations with Additional Equations for uniformly Application of GCSE revision
velocity and Sheet 3 accelerated motion number
acceleration Free fall
Activity 3
Section 1.3 Finding instantaneous Activity 4 Analysis using small time Practical work
Motion graphs velocity and intervals Use of ICT
acceleration using Application of
ticker tape, video clips, number
software ...
... and graphs Additional Sheet 4 Gradients of Application of Optional extension:
Activity 5 displacement–time and number differentiation
velocity–time graphs
Additional Sheet 5
Analysing graphical Activity 6 Area under velocity–time Use of ICT Optional extension:
records of motion to Additional Sheets 6 and acceleration–time Application of integration
find overall change of and 7 graphs number
displacement and Equations for uniformly
change of velocity accelerated motion
Timing free fall to Activity 7 Free fall Practical skills Core practical
determine g Application of
number
Section 1.4 Calculations with force, Additional Sheet 8 Force, mass and Use of ICT GCSE revision
Force and mass and acceleration Additional Sheet 4 acceleration Application of
acceleration Use of force sensor Newton I and II number
and graphing software Weight and gravitational
ﬁeld
Drawing and labelling Activity 8 Newton III Application of
diagrams to show pairs Activity 9 Equilibrium number
of forces
Section 1.5 Analysing collisions Activity 10 Momentum Practical work
Momentum using momentum Conservation of linear Application of
Relating momentum momentum number
conservation to
Newton II and III
Section 1.6 Use of key terms from Activity 11 Study skills
Summing up Part 1 Communication
Part 1
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Chapter 1

Section 2.1 Measuring and Activity 12 Vectors and scalars
Hanging on calculating forces in Activity 13 Equilibrium of forces
equilibrium Activity 14 Free-body diagrams
Activity 15 Combining vectors in 2D
Additional Sheet 9 by calculation and by
drawing
Activity 16
Resolving vectors into
Activity 17
components
Section 2.2 Obtaining and Activity 18 Stiffness Practical work GCSE revision
On the ropes analysing force- Hooke’s law Application of
extension number
Non-Hookean behaviour
measurements
Section 2.3 Applying principle of Activity 19 Principle of moments Application of
Balancing moments to extended Activity 20 Centre of gravity number
objects in equilibrium Practical work
Summing up Part 2 Communication
Part 2
Section 3.1 Discussions of Additional Sheet 10 Energy transfer and Communication GCSE revision
Energy return ‘scientific’ advertising Activity 22 conservation
shoes and of ‘energy Kinetic and potential
Activity 23
vocabulary’ energy
Ways in which society
uses science to inform
decision making
Calculating ‘energy Activity 24 Work done by force Practical work GCSE revision
return’ when Efficiency Application of
jumping ... number
Gravitational potential
energy
... and running Activity 25 Kinetic energy Application of GCSE revision
Additional Sheet 4 number
Section 3.2 Calculations relating Work done when force Application of

Speed skiing speed to distance not along direction of number
moved along slope motion
Section 3.3 Measurement of power Activity 26 Power Practical work GCSE revision
Pumping iron in physical activities Activity 27 Use of ICT
Application of
number
Summing up Part 3
Part 3
Section 4.1 Analysis of bungee Activity 29 Energy stored in Practical work
Bungee jumping jump in terms of distorted materials Application of
energy Area under force– number
displacement graph
Energy conservation
Section 4.2 Calculations relating to Energy conservation Application of
Pole vaulting pole vault records Material properties number
Section 4.3 Use of key ideas from Study skills

Summing up Part 4 Application of
Part 4 number
Chapter 1

Section 5.1 Exploration of factors Activity 30 Motion of a horizontally Practical work
Ski jumping affecting range of ski Activity 31 launched projectile Application of
jump Independence of vertical number
Activity 32
and horizontal motion
Section 5.2 Exploration of factors Activity 33 Range of a projectile Application of Optional extension
Throwing affecting range of shot- launched at an angle number work
put Use of ICT
Section 5.3 Use of key ideas from Activity 34 Practical work
Summing up Part Part 5 Activity 35 Application of
5 number
Section 6.1 Use of key ideas from Activity 36 Study skills

Summing up the the whole chapter Activity 37 Communication
chapter Application of
number
Section 6.2 Questions and Additional Sheet 11 Application of Consolidation and
Questions on the calculations number revision
whole chapter
Section 6.3 Chapter tests Additional Communication Questions illustrate
Achievements Sheets 12, 13, 14, Application of style of external
15 number test
Chapter 1
Table 1.2 Learning outcomes specified for Higher, Faster, Stronger
Statement from Examination Specification Section(s) in

this chapter
1 know and understand the distinction between base and derived quantities and their SI units 1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 2.3, 3.1
2 demonstrate their knowledge of practical skills and techniques for both familiar and unfamiliar 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 2.1,
experiments 2.2, 2.3
3 be able to estimate values for physical quantities and use their estimate to solve problems 1.4, 3.1, 3.3, 4.3
5 be able to communicate information and ideas in appropriate ways using appropriate terminology 3.1, 3.3, 3.4, 5.3
9 be able to use the equations for uniformly accelerated motion in one dimension: 1.2, 1.3
( u  v )t
s=
2
v = u + at
s = ut + 21 at2
v2 = u2 + 2as
10 be able to draw and interpret displacement/time, velocity/time and acceleration/time graphs 1.3
11 know the physical quantities derived from the slopes and areas of displacement/time, velocity/time and 1.3
acceleration/time graphs, including cases of non-uniform acceleration, and understand how to use the
quantities
12 understand scalar and vector quantities, and know examples of each type of quantity and recognise 1.2, 2.1
vector notation
13 be able to resolve a vector into two components at right angles to each other by drawing and by 2.1
calculation
14 be able to find the resultant of two coplanar vectors at any angle to each other by drawing, and at right 2.1
angles to each other by calculation
15 understand how to make use of the independence of vertical and horizontal motion of a projectile 5.1, 5.2
moving freely under gravity
16 be able to draw and interpret free-body force diagrams to represent forces on a particle or on an 2.1, 2.3
extended but rigid body
17 be able to use the equation ∑F = ma, and understand how to use this equation in situations where m is 1.4, 2.1
constant (Newton’s second law of motion), including Newton’s first law of motion where a = 0, objects at
rest or travelling at constant velocity
Use of the term terminal velocity is expected
18 be able to use the equations for gravitational field strength g = F/m and weight W = mg 1.4
19 CORE PRACTICAL 1: Determine the acceleration of a freely falling object 1.3
20 know and understand Newton’s third law of motion and know the properties of pairs of forces in an 1.4
interaction between two bodies
21 understand that momentum is defined as p = mv 1.5
22 know the principle of conservation of linear momentum, understand how to relate this to Newton’s laws 1.5
of motion and understand how to apply this to problems in one dimension
23 be able to use the equation for the moment of a force, moment of force = Fx where x is the 2.3
perpendicular distance between the line of action of the force and the axis of rotation
24 use the concept of centre of gravity of an extended body and apply the principle of moments to an 2.3
extended body in equilibrium
25 be able to use the equation for work ∆W = F∆s including calculations when the force is not along the line 3.1, 3.2
of motion
26 be able to use the equation Ek = 21 mv2 for the kinetic energy of a body 3.1
27 be able to use the equation ∆Egrav = mg∆h for the difference in gravitational potential energy near the 3.1, 4.1, 4.2
Earth’s surface
28 know, and understand how to apply, the principle of conservation of energy including use of work done, 3.1, 4.1, 4.2
gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy
29 be able to use the equations relating power, time and energy transferred or work done 3.3
P = E/t and P = W/t
30 be able to use the equations 3.2
useful energy output useful power output
efficiency = total energy input
and efficiency = total power input
Chapter 1
This chapter uses the context of sport to cover some work on motion, forces and energy. Much of this
work involves revision and extension of material from GCSE.
The chapter is designed to be taught before Good Enough to Eat (which introduces some basic ideas
about solid materials) and Spare Part Surgery (which develops some more advanced ideas about solid
materials). However, Good Enough to Eat could be taught in parallel with Parts 3 to 5 of this chapter.
There is quite a bit of GCSE revision as well as some new material. If you are confident that your
students already have a firm grasp of GCSE material, it would be wise only to spend a short time on
the revision activities or to omit them entirely. However, going over familiar ground can be valuable,
particularly in activities that help develop students’ skills in using ICT and in working with others.
There are many good ICT resources available to enhance this chapter; our recommendations are listed
in the Technician Notes along with details of suppliers.
Part 1 of the chapter shows how graphs and equations are used in the science of biomechanics to
describe and analyse uniform and non-uniform motion, for example of a sprinter. Conservation of
linear momentum is introduced. In Part 2, the equilibrium of forces in rock climbing and gymnastics
and the elastic behaviour of climbing ropes are used to introduce vector diagrams and calculations, the
principle of moments, and force–extension graphs. Part 3 introduces ideas of work and of kinetic and
potential energy in order to look into some of an advertiser’s claims for training shoes, applies the
same ideas to speed skiing, and then extends them to include power in order to analyse weight training
and other physical activities.
In Part 4, energy and elastic behaviour are brought together in a study of bungee jumping and pole
vaulting. Part 5 looks at ski jumping and shot-putting, revisiting ideas about motion and vectors from
Parts 1 and 2 in order to analyse the motion of projectiles.
Part 6 looks back over the whole chapter and helps students to draw together the physics. A recurring
theme in the chapter is that of using graphs to display data and to deduce further information from
gradients and areas.
As each part of this chapter builds on work from earlier parts, and ideas are continually being
revisited, revised and extended, it would be best if the whole chapter could be taught by one teacher.
However, if necessary, Part 2 could be taught in parallel with Part 1 and, once Parts 1 and 2 are
finished, Part 5 could be taught separately from Parts 3 and 4.
Chapter 1
1 Running
1.1 Biomechanics
The Institute of Physics 2012 schools lecture ‘Physics and the Games: a winning formula’ provides a
good introduction to this chapter. Delivered by a team of sports engineers, the lecture illustrates how
Newtonian physics underlies the world of sport and how engineering and technology are used in
sports.
The IOP’s 2004 schools lecture ‘Sport vs Physics’, delivered by a sports scientist, covers some of the
same ground and is also excellent.
Rather than showing a whole lecture all at once, short sections could be used throughout the teaching
of this chapter.
Videos of both lectures are available as downloads: go to www.pearsonhotlinks.co.uk and search for
this title.
1.2 Describing motion

ACTIVITY 1 RECORD TIMES
No sheet
This short introductory activity can be used to check that students know how to plot graphs and to introduce (or
review) the conventions for writing units and labelling axes; that is, units such as m s–1 are expressed in index
notation, and axes and tables are labelled with ‘quantity/unit’.
Speed
Additional Sheet 1
Students should be familiar with average speed from GCSE work, but the delta notation may need
some discussion. Questions on Additional Sheet 1 can be used to revise the key ideas, and to check
whether students are happy with rearranging equations and dealing with units. The worked answers
show how to include units at every step. This would also be a good opportunity to discuss precision
and significant figures.
In the right direction
Additional Sheet 2
ACTIVITY 2 VECTORS AND SCALARS

No sheet
As an alternative to the activity described in the Student Book, you could provide students with cards, each with
the name of a physical quantity (e.g. force, temperature). If each student has one card, the ‘vectors’ and
‘scalars’ could be asked to sort themselves into two groups at opposite ends of the room.
For some students, this activity will be a revision of GCSE work. Even so, students often find it difficult to
appreciate that work (motion by a force) and kinetic energy are scalars, because they are associated with
motion that is often in a straight line. Making a link with the ‘amount of fuel’ needed to do work or increase
kinetic energy might help here.
In Part 1 of this chapter, we deal only with one-dimensional motion. The examples on Additional
Sheet 2 show how positive and negative signs are used to denote directions of displacements and
velocities.
Chapter 1
Acceleration
Additional Sheet 3
Again, we hope that the calculations on acceleration in Questions 1 to 4 will be GCSE revision for
most students, and that they will already be familiar with gravitational acceleration and free fall. If
they are not, or in any case could do with a reminder, we suggest issuing Additional Sheet 3 (which
provides two worked examples) and doing some or all of the following demonstrations.
ACTIVITY 3 FREE FALL
Demonstration
No sheet
Galileo’s experiment
Show, and discuss, the dropping of two unequal masses (e.g. two pebbles). ‘Common sense’ says the heavier
one falls faster. Galileo’s counter-argument went as something like this. ‘Imagine two identical stones of equal
mass. When released from a height, they will fall side by side. If they are now glued together they will still fall
side by side, but now their combined mass is twice their individual mass.’
Guinea and feather
Demonstrate the importance of air resistance using the classic ‘guinea and feather’ in an evacuated tube.
SAFETY
Beware of implosion. Use a safety screen and ensure eye protection is worn.
Hammer and feather on the Moon

Show a video clip of Neil Armstrong dropping a hammer and feather on the moon. Go to
www.pearsonhotlinks.co.uk and search for this title.
1.3 Motion graphs

The use of graphs to describe and analyse motion is an important element of this chapter. You might
like to start with the following demonstration.
Using a motion sensor
A ‘motion sensor’ (strictly, a position sensor) for use with a computer allows students to generate and
discuss position–time graphs. Students can explore the shapes of graphs they produce when moving
towards or away from the sensor. Ask them to move so as to generate graphs with particular shapes
(harder than it sounds!). Points to bring out include: steepness of graph is related to speed of motion;
flat graph corresponds to remaining at rest.
The Student Book discusses graphs of uniform motion. It is worth spending time making sure students
know what they are doing in Questions 5 to 8 before moving on to analysis of non-uniform motion.
ACTIVITY 4 NON-UNIFORM MOTION
Activity Sheet 4
The purpose of this activity is to illustrate how measurements of position at successive small time intervals can
be used to deduce velocity during non-uniform motion, and how changes in velocity can in turn be used to
calculate acceleration. Students could be asked to plot displacement–time, velocity–time and acceleration–time
graphs from their results. You could discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using shorter or longer time
intervals. Shorter time intervals reveal changes in the velocity and acceleration, but require more arithmetic.
You might like to raise the issue of making the time intervals so short that the measurements are dominated by
uncertainties.
Beware of prolonging this activity to the point of tedium. Students will probably appreciate quite early on that
the calculations are repetitive and could be automated.
Chapter 1
ACTIVITY 5 PRODUCING GRAPHS OF MOTION

Activity Sheet 5
Additional Sheet 4
The aim of this activity is to reinforce ideas about motion, and to give students experience in using the Tracker
motion analysis software. Additional Sheet 4 gives some guidance. Make sure that they have enough time to
‘play’ with the software and become confident in using it, and that each student produces graphs of
displacement, velocity and acceleration.
ACTIVITY 6 TANGENTS AND GRADIENTS

Additional Sheet 5
For many students, this might be the first time they have encountered the idea of a tangent to a graph, and the
idea of a gradient. Make sure that they appreciate that drawing a tangent and finding its gradient is equivalent
to calculating x/t (or v/t) using a very small time interval.
For extra practice, students could use graphs of their own measurements from Activity 5. If they join the plotted
points with a smooth curve, they should then find that the gradient of a tangent on their displacement graph
gives a velocity close to the one they calculated for that time interval. They could do likewise with graphs
generated by Tracker.
Additional Sheet 5 shows how differential calculus can be used to derive analytical expressions for velocity and
time in some instances. It is intended for those students who are studying maths alongside physics and who
might appreciate seeing this application of calculus.
Going the distance

Additional Sheets 6 and 7
Students often take a while to get used to the idea of the area under a graph. Two points, in particular,
are worth emphasising. First, the ‘area’ under a graph is found using the numbers on the axes; it is not
the actual area occupied on the paper. Second, the area must extend down to zero on the y-axis; if the
graph is plotted with the y-axis starting above zero, then part of the area will be chopped off. (Areas
under graphs will be used again later in this chapter.)
Uniform acceleration
When the acceleration is uniform, the area under the velocity–time graph leads to the useful equation
s = ut + 12 at2. Additional Sheet 6 sets out this derivation in slightly more detail than in the Student
Book, for benefit of students who might appreciate a reminder about areas of triangles. The questions
on this topic use s = ut + 12 at2 in some calculations relating to free fall and to the following
demonstrations.
Chapter 1
ACTIVITY 7 FINDING g BY TIMING FREE FALL

Demonstrations followed by core practical.
Activity Sheet 7
Testing free fall by ear
Tie metal washers to a length of thin string so that the distances of each washer from the end are in the
proportions 1 : 4 : 9 : 16 : 25 and so on (see Figure 1.1). Anchor one end to the floor at the foot of a stairwell
and hold the string vertically from the top of the stairs. When the string is let go, each washer in turn hits the
floor after the same time interval, giving rise to a regular series of ‘clinks’.
Figure 1.1 Apparatus for testing free fall by ear
SAFETY
Make sure no-one can enter the stairwell as the washers are dropped by placing a student at each access
point.
Reaction time
Students could test their answers to Question 3 on Additional Sheet 6. You could also demonstrate the pub
trick of dropping a £5 note between someone’s finger and thumb: if they grasp the note as it falls, without
moving their hand down to keep up with it, they get to keep it. The time for a note to fall through its length
(about 0.12 m) is about 0.15 s – human reaction time is typically at least 0.2 s.
Non-uniform acceleration
Additional Sheet 7 shows how integral calculus can be used to derive analytical expressions for displacement
and velocity in some instances. Like Additional Sheet 4, it is intended for those students who are studying
maths alongside physics and might appreciate seeing a physical application of calculus.
Measuring g
This activity has been designated as a core practical.
Students use an electronic timer (or stopwatch) to determine g.
If they have not used light gates before, this is a good introduction; it is quite difficult to get an accurate answer.
Students could experiment with different-length cards and different distances between light gates.
The electronic timing method gives a good example of manipulating data to obtain a straight-line graph, the
gradient of which can be used to find a constant. This could be a good place to introduce error bars and the
idea of finding the uncertainty in g from the maximum and minimum gradients of the line.
Chapter 1
1.4 Force and acceleration

Additional Sheet 8
Additional Sheet 8 reminds students that an acceleration is a change of velocity, and that an
unbalanced force is required to produce an acceleration. Questions 11 and 12 in the Student Book use
F = ma. Much of this will probably be familiar from GCSE.
ACTIVITY 8 INVERSE DYNAMICS
Additional Sheet 4
Activity Sheet 8
This activity enables students to revisit the Tracker software and/or to use the results from Activity 4 to use
F = ma to perform the sort of analysis commonly used in sports science. Additional Sheet 4 might be needed to
remind them how to use the software.
ACTIVITY 9 MEASURING FORCES DIRECTLY

Activity Sheet 9
This activity is particularly valuable if students first work in groups to predict the shapes of the force–time
graphs (perhaps on a whiteboard). It could be carried out as a demonstration, using the same student each
time to carry out the exercises.
You could first remind them that change in speed and/or direction requires a force, and that force has direction.
Also, suggest that it might be easier to work out the force values at the start and end of each activity before
working out the force in the middle section. Discussion of the results leads in to ideas about weight and about
forces in pairs.
Exercise 1
With no-one on the scales, no force is registered. As the person steps on the scales, the reading increases until
it is equal to his/her weight. When the person steps off, the reading decreases to zero.
Exercise 2
SAFETY
This exercise requires a student to stand on a stool.
Ensure the stool is secure and the student gets on and off the stool with care.
The force starts off equal to the weight of the person and must end up equal to the weight of the person plus
medicine ball. The middle section of the graph will show a sudden increase to a force larger than the total
weight. This increase is caused by the person slowing the ball down. The ball is pushed upwards to slow it
down, and the ball pushes downwards on the student with an equal force. This extra force on the person is
transmitted down to the scales.
Exercise 3
The force reading will start and end with a value equal to the combined weight of the student and the 1 kg
mass. In between, there will be a sudden peak followed by a trough before it settles down to a steady value.
The peak is caused by the student pushing up on the mass – the mass will push down on the person,
increasing the total force reading. The trough is caused by the person slowing the mass down at the top, by
pulling it downwards – the mass pulls the person upwards, reducing the force on the scales.
Exercise 4
The force should start and end equal to the weight of the person. In between, there will be a very large trough
followed by a peak, before it drops back to the weight value. When standing in equilibrium, the forces on the
person are their weight down and the upwards force on their feet from the force sensor. These two forces are
balanced and the person is not accelerating. As the person drops suddenly, they are essentially falling freely
under gravity, unsupported by the scales. Thus the reading of the force sensor decreases. When the person
finally stops in the crouch position, they have to decelerate, so the upwards force on their feet has to be greater
than their weight to provide a resultant force in the upwards direction in order to decelerate them.
Chapter 1
Weight and gravitational field

The questions on Additional Sheet 8 are about weight, mass and force. Students’ answers to these
questions should indicate whether they are familiar with these ideas from GCSE or whether they need
some discussion. The idea of weight being a force is important at later stages in this chapter, so it is
worth sorting out any misconceptions now.
Pairs of forces
Newton’s third law can cause problems. We recommend emphasising the following points: (i) all
forces come in pairs, (ii) in each of these ‘Newton III’ pairs the two forces always act on different
objects and (iii) both forces are of the same type (e.g. both gravitational). We also recommend
avoiding the conventional archaic statement that ‘to every reaction …’, since it does not effectively
convey the essential aspects of the law in language that is readily understood, and is likely to be
repeated parrot-fashion without much real understanding.
1.5 Momentum
This section focuses on momentum, a quantity that some students might have met at GCSE. At this
stage in the A-level course, the treatment of linear momentum is limited to its definition, its vector
nature and its conservation in one dimension – which is related to Newton’s second and third laws of
motion.
The chapter Transport on Track, in the second year of this course, uses Newton’s second law
expressed in terms of rate of change of momentum, and brings in the idea of impulse. The later chapter
Probing the Heart of Matter addresses momentum conservation in two dimensions.
Momentum conservation
Emphasise to students that momentum is such a useful quantity because it is conserved in all
interactions. If a situation arises where total momentum appears to change, that can only be because an
external force is acting – in other words, one or more of the interacting objects has been left out of the
calculation.
The subject of conservation of momentum with reference to Newton’s laws will be revisited in
Transport on Track. For our purposes now, the key point is that momentum is always conserved and
that this conservation arises ‘automatically’ as two interacting objects always exert equal-sized forces
on each other (Newton’s third law).
ACTIVITY 10 CONTACT SPORTS
Activity Sheet 10
This class practical or demonstration should ideally be carried out using an air track, but if need be, it can be
done with trolleys on a friction-compensated runway.
Provided you choose fairly simple combinations of mass, momentum conservation will probably seem ‘obvious’
– for example, a moving vehicle collides with and sticks to a stationary vehicle of the same mass, and both
move off together with half the initial velocity. Even students who have not previously met momentum
conservation will probably predict this outcome of the demonstration.
Collisions between objects of similar mass will model collisions between participants in a contact sport, and
collisions between objects of fairly dissimilar mass will more closely model collisions between a foot, hand,
racket or bat and a ball. Considering the ratio of the masses involved together with the ratio of final velocities
could be useful.
Include some ‘collisions in reverse’ – ‘explosive’ separations of two vehicles initially at rest, which then spring
apart because of a suddenly extending spring or the repulsive effect of two like magnetic poles. This is a good
reminder to students of the vector natures of velocity and momentum, as you end up with a final total
momentum of zero, despite two vehicles being obviously on the move after the ‘collision’.
If momentum does not appear to have been conserved, consider whether the objects can really be considered
an isolated system – have any external forces ‘got in on the act’? You could discuss how much your
experimental ‘before and after’ momentum totals would have to differ before you could conclude that
momentum is not conserved.
Chapter 1
1.6 Summing up Part 1

ACTIVITY 11 SUMMING UP PART 1
No sheet
We strongly recommend that students take some time to look back over Part 1 of this chapter, since it covers
many important ideas, many of which will be needed again in later parts of the chapter.
Point out that, although students have seen the physics in sporting contexts in this chapter, any context could
appear in the examination. Question 17 exemplifies this.
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
Here and elsewhere, the Student Book suggests possible topics for further investigation. These are intended to
give students ideas for a practical Extended Project. Encourage students to make a note of any topics that
appeal to them, but resist the temptation to explore them now – there will probably not be time.
2 Climbing and balancing

2.1 Hanging on
This section uses a series of linked activities to develop ideas about combining and resolving vectors.
Students with a strong mathematical background and aptitude could be asked to work through this
section independently of the teacher, in pairs or small groups – a lot of good learning can take place
like this. In order to identify any problems, students can be asked to discuss with you their results from
the activities and their answers to the questions in the Student Book. On the other hand, students
whose maths background is weak will probably need a lot of support and should not be left to struggle.
ACTIVITY 12 FORCES IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS
Activity Sheet 12
This is a first qualitative look at the directional aspect of forces, starting from an intuitive symmetrical
arrangement. We recommend using climbing ropes and doing the activity in a large space. It is not essential to
use climbing ropes but their use is strongly recommended so that students have an opportunity to handle the
material they are studying: later they will have an opportunity to reflect on their construction.
Alternatively, use bench pulleys and slotted masses as shown in Figure 1.2.
Figure 1.2 Alternative set-up for Activity 12

Referring to Figure 1.20 in the Student Book, encourage students to argue how the tension in ropes 1 and 2
must be much higher than that in rope 3, even though they haven’t yet acquired the right technical vocabulary
of resolving forces into components.
Similarly, they should be able to convince each other of the impossibility of the arrangements in Figure 1.20.
Chapter 1
Combining displacement vectors

It is probably worth following through rather carefully the discussion on displacement vectors in order
to get the language and notation fixed before forces appear as vectors. Have at the back of your mind
the logical sequence displacement, velocity, acceleration, force. The ‘head-to-tail’ construction for
addition, although perhaps less intuitive for force addition than a parallelogram construction, is to be
preferred as it forces the separation of a ‘free-body’ diagram from a ‘force vector’ diagram and there is
no temptation to superimpose one on the other.
ACTIVITY 13 VECTOR POLYGON
No sheet
The point here is for students to see that the order of drawing (i.e. the order of vector addition) does not affect
the resultant, so insist that students draw their diagrams carefully.
If you have an interactive whiteboard, draw some vectors of random magnitude and direction and ask students
to combine them.
Combining force vectors by drawing

ACTIVITY 14 FORCES IN EQUILIBRIUM
Activity Sheet 14
A force board is not strictly necessary (clamped pulleys could be used), but even an improvised one made out
of pegboard makes the whole arrangement much less likely to collapse in a cascade of slotted masses. The
most convenient starting arrangement is the symmetrical 120° one, and one can then move away from that in
controlled steps. In Figure A14.2(b) on the sheet, the residual vector OP can be attributed to experimental
uncertainties in the measurements of angle, and regarded as some measure of the effect of friction at the
pulleys.
ACTIVITY 15 WHAT STOPS A ROCK CLIMBER FALLING?

Activity Sheet 15
It is possible with care to persuade yourself (and students) from the photograph that three forces in equilibrium
do pass through the same point. Encourage students to think in terms of pairs of forces as discussed in Section
1.4 – fingers on rock and rock on fingers, arm pulling on rest of body and body pulling on arm, foot pushing on
rock and rock pushing on foot, and so on. The idea of a boundary around a system, with internal and external
forces, is a very powerful one and is the beginning of analytical thinking. Introduce free-body diagrams at this
point. They are a very useful aid to analysing a situation, particularly if a resultant force has to be found.
Combining force vectors by calculation

Mathematically fluent students will probably work through this section and the next very easily, but
those with weaker mathematical backgrounds will probably need to spend some time carefully getting
used to the trigonometry involved. Maths notes 6.2–6.5 should help students to get to grips with this
and become confident in manipulating sines and cosines on their calculators.
Resolving a force into perpendicular components
Additional Sheet 9
Additional Sheet 9 goes through the ideas of components and resolution in slightly more detail than
the Student Book, and might help those students who need a bit of extra support here.
ACTIVITY 16 COMPONENTS OF FORCE VECTORS
Activity Sheet 16
This activity is intended to reinforce the idea of components and equilibrium. It is worth emphasising that having
zero resultant force is a necessary but not sufficient condition for equilibrium – a couple (a pair of equal-
magnitude, opposite parallel forces not passing through the same point) produces a torque, so the forces are
clearly not in equilibrium although the zero-resultant condition is satisfied. The reason for choosing two
perpendicular directions when resolving is simply for the purposes of problem solving, to produce two
convenient simultaneous equations.
Chapter 1
1
In Question 25, it might be worth pointing out that, when  is small, T is proportional to .

ACTIVITY 17 MODEL OF TYROLEAN TRAVERSE
Activity Sheet 17
This is a much simplified version of the actual set-up: it avoids any discussion of elastic forces, which of course
in practice provide the equilibrium. However, it is worth doing in its own right and has some surprising features
which give an opportunity for open-ended mini-investigation work, either now or later in the course when the
students have an opportunity for extended practical work. The final section of the sheet should be treated as
optional extension work for mathematically inclined students.
It is not intended that all students are exposed to the theory set out here, but you might use your discretion in
introducing important snippets, particularly the behaviour of the sine and cosine functions for angles around 0°
and 90°.
Figure 1.3 Forces involved in a Tyrolean traverse

Figure 1.3 shows the forces involved. Referring to Figure 1.3 and resolving horizontally,
T1 cos1 = T2 cos2
and since for small angles cos1  cos2  1, we can write
T1  T2 (= T) (1)
In the experimental arrangement the slight inequality is taken care of by friction at the pulley, allowing the
hanging masses to be the same at either side.
Resolving vertically,
T sin1 + T sin2 = W
or, from Equation 1 and using the small-angle approximation sin  
W
T ( θ θ 
(2)
1 2
Figure 1.4 defines some useful parameters.
Figure 1.4 Definitions of some parameters for analysing the Tyrolean traverse
Remembering that angles are small,
y y
1 = and 2 =
a b
so that
y (a  b )
1 + 2 =
ab
and, from Equation 2,
Wab Wab
T= = (3)
y (a  b ) 2 yL
provided b is not ‘too small’.
Chapter 1
If x is the horizontal displacement of the suspension point from the centre, then
a = L + x and b = L – x
and Equation 3 becomes
2 2
W (L  x )
T=
2 yL
or, rearranging for y,
WL Wx
y= – (4)
2T 2LT
Equation 4 gives a parabolic variation of y with x from a maximum value of WL/2T at the centre.
It should be possible to fit a parabola to a plot of experimental values of x and y.
An interesting geometrical curiosity follows from the constraint of Equation 2 that 1 + 2 is constant (provided
both are small). This means that the angle at point P in triangle PQR remains constant. The consequence of
this is that as the ‘climber’ is pulled across the traverse, P is forced to move on the arc of a circle with QR as
the chord. (It can be shown that the radius of the circle is TL/2W.)
Following on from Activity 17, Question 22 is quite challenging – it involves simultaneous equations
as well as trigonometry. It might be best avoided by the mathematically timid, but for students whose
maths is quite strong it is a good exercise in problem solving (and in writing down their working
carefully!).
2.2 On the ropes

In Section 2.1 ropes have been modelled as ‘infinitely strong, infinitely stiff’ – although the modelling
has not been explicit, the fact that it has been there could now be drawn out of students, leading into a
discussion of strength and elasticity in the context of real ropes.
Traditionally, stiffness (or force constant) has been regarded as the constant of proportionality in
Hooke’s law (in much the same way as, quite wrongly, the definition of resistance has often tied in
with a statement of Ohm’s law: it has taken the development of non-ohmic materials and components
to break that link). Here we make a virtue of necessity, with the introduction of an increasingly wide
range of non-Hookean materials (which the test materials in Activity 18 by and large are), and define
stiffness simply as tension/extension, with no implications as to its constancy. (Note that stiffness is
not generally the same as the gradient of the force–extension graph, although it is obviously true that if
the gradient increases so also does the stiffness, defined in this way. A not trivial point is whether,
when for example we discuss the increasing stiffness of rubber as the molecules are straightened out, it
is more appropriate to consider F/x rather than F/x.)
The materials suggested can undergo significant strains before breaking and quick trials are needed to
check that the ‘marker’ doesn’t disappear over the pulley. An instructive teaching point arises here –
students can see the need for some sort of marker over a scale, but do not always realise that its initial
position defines the initial unstretched length under test even though the whole length (including that
over the pulley) is being stretched. A not uncommon sight is students setting up metres of fibre across
the laboratory (appreciating that the more you start with, the more it stretches) but then putting the
marker near the clamped end!
ACTIVITY 18 TENSION AND EXTENSION
Activity Sheet 18
This a version of the ‘standard arrangement’ commonly used for testing metal wires. Even fine threads are
surprisingly strong. Students left to their own devices may well end up with 4 or 5 kg hanging, with obvious
hazards. It is possible to purchase stout bags with brass eyelets to be filled with 1 or 2 kg of sand for this type
of testing – this is certainly preferable to delicately poised slotted masses.
SAFETY
Students should keep their feet clear of suspended masses (in case they fall). They should wear eye protection
and not lean over stretched threads.
Chapter 1
Hooke’s law
You might like to discuss with students the status of a physical ‘law’ that is only obeyed in some
circumstances, as opposed to Newton’s laws of motion (discussed in Part 1), which are always obeyed.
If students are familiar with Ohm’s law (which they will use in the chapter Technology in Space) they
should appreciate that its status is rather like that of Hooke’s law.
Drop tests
For two short videos that show drop-testing of climbing ropes, visit www.pearsonhotlinks.co.uk and
search for this title.
2.3 Balancing
This section extends the consideration of equilibrium to include extended objects: not only must the
resultant force be zero, but there must also be no resultant turning effect (due to non-aligned forces).
In defining the moment, or turning effect, of a force, students need to appreciate that the point about
which the moment is calculated needs to be specified and that the crucial distance is that between the
specified point and the force’s line of action.
ACTIVITY 19 EXPLORING MOMENTS
Activity Sheet 19
There are two parts to this activity.
Seesaw
This part involves suspending weights from a ruler in such a way as to maintain equilibrium. Students may well
have carried out a very similar activity much earlier in their educational lives. Even so, it illustrates such an
important principle that it is worth revisiting. The final challenge – positioning a single weight in such a way as
to produce equilibrium when a ruler is suspended off-centre – should be approached as a theoretical prediction
to be checked experimentally, rather than by trial and error.
Wobble board
This part is meant as a fun reminder about moments and equilibrium, and can also lead to a discussion about
experimental methods and uncertainty in measurement. (Note that experimental uncertainty is formally
introduced in the later chapter Good Enough to Eat.)
Students should work in pairs or threes. In a group of three, two students can observe opposite edges of the
board, keeping a tally of how many times the edge touches down. A student on the wobble board is not simply
allowed to ‘park’ one edge down for long spells. They must be actively trying to remain balanced
The observing students will have to ensure they do not ‘double count’ if a circular board is being used. The
simpler version of the test requires students to count how many times the edge of the wobble board touches
down over a 30 second test period. However, as this does not take into account the time spent ‘down’, an
improved version automatically counts – in seconds – how long opposite edges of a board touch down. It could
be worthwhile to show, or at least describe, both methods and, in any case, to discuss the merits of each
method: counting instances versus (automatically) counting total time spent touched down.
Students should appreciate that balancing is easier the wider apart they place their feet. An interesting
discussion could consider how to improve the reliability of their results. While the test is quick enough to redo a
number of times to calculate a mean score, ask students to consider if they are really comparing like with like:
is there any evidence that they get ‘better’ with repeated attempts and thus more practised?
Students are asked to estimate the moment due to the weight of one side of their body when they are
balanced. While they should fairly easily determine that the force involved is half their weight, determining the
perpendicular distance of the centre of mass from the pivot point could be more challenging. It may be
sufficient that they realise that, with an arm outstretched, the centre of mass of that half of the body is much
closer to the body midline than a simple halving of the distance from body midline to fingertip.
SAFETY
Although the distance a student could fall is short, ensure students are aware of – and keep their distance from
– surrounding hazards should they overbalance. Avoid fingers getting trapped below the board while it is in
use.
Chapter 1
Moments and centre of gravity

This discussion in the Student Book extends the rather loose definition of centre of gravity given in
Section 2.1. Students will probably also come across the term ‘centre of mass’. For all practical
purposes these terms can be used interchangeably: the two ‘centres’ are only in different places if an
extended object is in a significantly non-uniform gravitational field.
ACTIVITY 20 CENTRE OF GRAVITY
No sheet
This short activity involves suspending various plane shapes, including silhouettes of gymnasts, in order to
locate their centres of gravity. It demonstrates that the centre of gravity of a flexible object (for example, a
human body) is not at a fixed location, but depends on how the mass is distributed – many gymnastic moves
involve adjusting the shapes and positions of limbs, head and torso so that their centre of gravity is directly over
a narrow base, such as a single hand or foot.

You might like to revisit the Tyrolean traverse at this point. In Activity 17 the tension was provided by
the hanging masses over the pulleys and remained effectively constant. In reality, the two ends are
fixed to convenient rock pinnacles and the weight of the climber increases the angles which the two
parts of the rope make to the horizontal. At the same time there is now an increase in the length of the
rope itself, which affects the tension: the amount of sag, for a given position of the climber on the
rope, is thus determined in a rather complicated way by a combination of the climber’s weight and the
elastic properties of the rope.
A brief outline of the situation for the symmetrical case (climber in the middle) is given here. As
before, it is not suggested that students are exposed to it: its purpose is to act as a background starting
point if you or your students might be considering more extended investigative work in this area and
need to be aware of some of the design considerations.
We assume that the natural length of the rope is 2L, so that with no suspended mass the rope is fixed
horizontally under effectively zero tension (obviously not quite possible in practice – the rope would
need to be massless).
Then if s is the stretched length of one half of the rope and y is the sag in the middle,
s2 – L2 = y2
(s + L)(s – L) = y2
and if y is small, (s + L) ≈ 2L, giving
2
s–L≈– y (5)
2L
which is the increase in length of one half of the rope.
Also, resolving vertically,
2T sin = W
and, using a small-angle approximation for sin
 y
2T   ≈ W (6)
L
It is convenient to introduce here the modulus of the rope  which appears more commonly in applied
maths texts, and here we do have to model the rope as Hookean.  is defined by the relation
 extension 
tension =   natural length 
 
Chapter 1
Then
 ( s  L) y2
T= =
L 2L2
from Equation 5. Substituting this relation for T into Equation 6,
 2   y
2  2    = W
 2L  L
within the limitations of the approximations, or, finally,
 y 3 
W =  3 
 L 
This cubic law is quite a surprising one (and can be a good source of non-SHM vibrations!). Not
surprisingly, the more general case when the climber is towards one end is much more difficult to
analyse theoretically, and is best left to open-ended investigation.
In a quick test of this relation using a piece of string (which is not known for obeying Hooke’s law
particularly well) attached across a doorway, with a maximum load of 20 N (90 mm sag), a graph of
log W against log y was reasonably linear, with a gradient of about 3.2.
No sheet
In discussing the questions posed in this activity, students are preparing for Parts 3 and 4 of this chapter as
well as reviewing their work from Part 2.
If you have a force sensor, you could demonstrate force–time graphs for some of the fibres that students used
in Activity 18 – making a link with Activity 9 from Section 1.4. The results are as shown in Figure 1.5. Talk about
the magnitude and duration of the forces: a large force acting for a short time has the same effect as a smaller
force acting over a long time.
Figure 1.5 Force–time graphs obtained in drop tests

Mathematically inclined students can be asked to show that, for a rope that obeys Hooke’s law and where there
is no energy dissipation, the maximum tension in a drop test is inversely proportional to stiffness (this might be
best done after they have studied Parts 3 and 4 of this chapter).
Chapter 1
3 Working out work

3.1 Energy return shoes
Students may own, or at least be familiar with, the latest high-tech designs of trainers. They might also
be persuaded by manufacturers’ claims to buy particular brands, based on the ‘scientifically tested’
properties of the shoes. This section examines whether there is any justification for the claim that
‘energy return’ shoes enhance sporting performance.
ACTIVITY 22 SELLING SCIENCE
No sheet
This is a discussion activity to get students thinking about the context and asking questions that will be
answered by applying the physics of this section: work, kinetic energy and gravitational energy. You could ask
students to bring in any brochures they may have which make ‘scientific’ claims for trainers, as well as the
shoes themselves. The original Z-CoiL advertisement is no longer available on the company’s website – the
company now focuses on pain relief as the main benefit of its footwear, rather than athletic performance.
Similar energy return shoes made by Spira were banned by the International Association of Athletic
Federations in 2005.
Students may also know of the MBT (Masai Barefoot Technology) shoes, very popular in the first decade of the
21st century but now being questioned.
(Go to www.pearsonhotlinks.co.uk and search for this title.)
Energy
Additional Sheet 10
In common with many current texts, we have avoided referring to ‘forms’ of energy, though we do
think that some labels (e.g. gravitational energy, elastic energy) can be helpful when describing energy
transfers. Students are sometimes puzzled by the notion of potential energy – encourage them to think
of it in terms of something that could be made to move, whereas kinetic energy is involved when
something is moving.
The reading on Additional Sheet 10 addresses some issues about the baffling nature of energy.
Students could be asked to read it at any point in Part 3 or 4 of this chapter. This short article
acknowledges that although physics uses models and analogies for energy, its real nature is
mysterious. Energy is compared to money – they are both accounting systems. When students meet
the idea of efficiency, this can be represented in the analogy by converting money between different
currencies – you always lose a ‘commission’ in the exchange.
ACTIVITY 23 TALKING ENERGY
No sheet
This discussion is intended mainly as GCSE revision, and to establish vocabulary for talking about energy.
The point of the ‘thought experiment’ is to make students realise that communicating information, or indeed
making anything happen at all, requires an energy transfer.
Work
Work is introduced as a way of measuring energy. The formula for work done when the force is not in the
direction of motion is covered in Section 3.2.
It is worth discussing whether someone holding a weight is doing work. Students may find it bizarre that the
person is not doing work, since they will get tired. Although no external work is done on the weight, our muscles
use chemical energy simply to remain extended or contracted.
The idea of efficiency is introduced here because it is useful for discussing situations where not all the energy
is transferred in a desired way. In the chapter Technology in Space, students meet efficiency again in the
context of electrical power supplies.
Using the formula for work, an estimate of the amount of energy stored in ‘energy return’ shoes is made. In
reality, the research was done with computer analysis of the time-varying forces on thousands of individual
elements of the shoe. You might ask students to identify the assumptions made in the simple calculation – an
important one is the assumption that the force is constant over time and over distance.
Chapter 1
Kinetic and potential energy

To see whether the energy returned by the trainers is likely to improve athletic performance, students need
formulae for gravitational and kinetic energy. These will probably be familiar from GCSE. You might want to
draw attention to the arbitrariness of the zero of gravitational potential energy. Note that we have used delta
notation here, to emphasise the point that it is the change of height that matters and that it is only sensible to
talk about the change in gravitational energy, not its absolute value.
ACTIVITY 24 GRAVITATIONAL ENERGY IN A JUMP

No sheet
Students need to measure the height through which they can jump. They can do this by first reaching up as
high as they can to make a chalk mark on a wall and then jumping as high as possible to make another mark.
Alternatively, students can estimate the energy from mass of basketball player  80 kg, height jumped  50 cm.
Students should find that the energy returned by the shoes is about 1% of the energy transferred in a jump.
You could point out that they are in fact measuring weight  jump-height – and remind them about weight as
discussed in Section 1.4.
Another link to Part 1 (Section 1.3) comes in the derivation of the formula for kinetic energy, which uses
equations for uniformly accelerated motion.
ACTIVITY 25 KINETIC ENERGY IN RUNNING

No sheet
For this activity, students could either measure their speed now (e.g. using Tracker) or refer to their results from
Activity 4. Alternatively, they could estimate it from mass of sprinter ≈ 60 kg, sprinting speed ≈ 10 m s–1.
Again students should find that the returned energy is about 1% of the kinetic energy of a sprinter.
The questions at the end of this section (particularly Question 35) make a link with Section 3.2.
3.2 Speed skiing

This short section brings ideas about vector components from Section 2.1 together with ideas about
work and energy. The context of speed skiing is used to derive a formula for work done when the
force is not along the direction of motion.
A quick search on the web will produce several short videos of speed skiing.
3.3 Pumping iron

The need for ‘fast strength’ in virtually all sports is the context for introducing power. A distinction is
then made between short-term, explosive power sports and longer, endurance activities, and students
will learn that the composition of athletes’ muscles is a major influence on which type of sport they
excel at. Students can then measure their own power in both types of activity, and relate it to the
energy they obtain from food.
Power
The ‘sports’ definition of P = Fv is shown to be equivalent to the standard ‘physics’ definition of
power in terms of energy.
Measuring power
ACTIVITY 26 THE POWER OF AN ATHLETE
Additional Sheet 4
This activity could be set as an open-ended challenge. Students will need to devise ways to deduce force and
velocity from a video clip – force can be deduced from measurements of acceleration and from measurements
or estimates of mass. It might be useful to refer students back to Activities 5, 6 and 8 and the accompanying
sheets. With some clips, there is motion towards or away from the camera, which makes it difficult to deduce
the actual velocity or acceleration. This point could be discussed with students – they will in fact be measuring
the transverse components of these vector quantities.
Chapter 1
ACTIVITY 27 ENERGY DEMANDS

No sheet
In this activity, encourage students to make sensible estimates using the data provided. There is no one right
answer.

No sheet
This revision activity is best done with students working in groups. If students have not previously made or
used concept maps, the idea may need some discussion. One approach is to write key words on sticky notes
and arrange them on a large sheet of paper, and then add arrows and brief notes (and/or diagrams and/or
equations) to illustrate the connections.
Alternatively, students could download the FreeMind software, which will allow them to produce an interactive
revision map.
4 Stretching and springing

4.1 Bungee jumping
Bungee jumping is the context for measuring elastic energy from the area under a graph, and to give
students more practice in applying the conservation of energy. This section begins with a description
of what it’s like, and a brief history of the sport. The main focus, though, is the ‘bungee challenge’,
where students perform their own (model) bungee jump.
Analysing a bungee jump
Three main approaches have been used to solve problems in this chapter – forces, momentum and
energy. The last is much simpler for analysing the bungee jump, since the force on the jumper varies,
and so does their momentum. (The momentum of the Earth also varies, as total momentum is
conserved.) Students often ask how one knows the best way to tackle a problem. One good strategy is
to look for something that remains unchanged throughout the event being studied – here, conservation
of energy provides a good strategy, whereas force varies so is a less helpful thing to consider.
Discussing and plotting changes in elastic energy, gravitational energy and kinetic energy as the
jumper goes through the stages in Figure 1.54 of the Student Book is a very useful exercise to do
before starting the practical work.
Measuring elastic energy
Elastic energy is found using the area under a force–extension graph, bringing together and revising
ideas from Sections 1.3 and 2.2 of this chapter.
ACTIVITY 29 BUNGEE CHALLENGE
Activity Sheet 29
The accompanying sheet guides students through the challenge, in which they use a graph of elastic energy to
predict the best launch height for a model bungee jumper of a given mass using a given length of elastic.
If students were to plot all the graphs themselves, they would gain valuable experience but the whole activity
might become too long and reduce motivation. We therefore suggest that you provide a graph of elastic energy
versus extension for the students. Activity Sheet 29 includes such a graph for a piece of Gold-Zack knitting
elastic whose initial length was 50 cm. If you use a different type of elastic, you will first need to plot a force–
extension graph (try weighting the elastic with small pieces of adhesive tack) and then generate a graph of
energy versus extension.
Testing the predictions can be a whole-class event: students line up with their bungee jumps prepared
according to their own predictions. Then each jump in turn is tested and evaluated. Using the approach
suggested, there is usually a good range of results, with some hitting the floor, some stopping too high, but
quite a few getting within the specified limit.
Chapter 1
You might like to adapt the activity in order to predict the mass of jumper who could jump from a given height
using a given length of elastic. To do this, plot the Eel graph against h rather than against x. (Eel is zero for
h < l.) The Eg graph drawn by students would then start at the origin and would cross the Eel curve at the
desired height. The mass can then be found from the gradient of the graph. (Predicting the length of elastic
needed for a jumper of given mass to ‘jump’ through a given height is somewhat more complicated and is not
recommended.)
With some students, you might want to analyse the bungee jump mathematically. The situation is complicated
by two factors: first, the stiffness k of a Hookean cord depends on its length; and second, elastic cord does not
obey Hooke’s law. For a cord that does obey Hooke’s law, the following analysis applies.
Figure 1.6 Analysis of a bungee jump

From Figure 1.6,
h=l+x
Using conservation of energy,
gravitational energy lost in falling through height h = elastic energy transferred to cord when extended
by x
1 1
mgh = 2 kx2 = 2 k(h – l)2 (7)
so we can easily find the mass that will be brought to rest by a given cord after falling through a given height:
2
k(h  l )
m= (8)
gh
Or, we can use Equation 7 to obtain a quadratic equation in h,
2 2
1 kh kl
mgh = 2 k(h – l)2 = + – hkl
2 2
 mg 
 l
h2 – 2  k  h + l2 = 0 (9)
which can be solved (quite messily) for h using the quadratic formula:
 mg   1  2kl 
h=l+     (10)
 k   mg 
Similarly, one can obtain an expression for the length l that would bring a given mass to rest after dropping
through a given height. However, this is complicated by the fact that k is not a constant but depends on
l (k  1/ l). You could set the exercise as a challenge for mathematical masochists, but try it yourself first!
4.2 Pole vaulting

This section is really revision of what has gone before. Students use energy conservation to analyse a
pole vault, using v2 = 2gh to predict the maximum height for a vaulter. They might be surprised that
the mass of the vaulter (at least in this simple model) is irrelevant!
Students could investigate the energy transfers in a model pole vault. If they follow the procedure suggested,
they will probably find that their predicted vault height is much lower than that achieved by real pole vaulters –
probably because their model pole transfers energy much less efficiently than the glass fibre poles used by real
vaulters.
Chapter 1

As Section 4.2 really constitutes a ‘summing up’ activity, this section does not contain a further such
activity. Questions 47 to 50 bring together various aspects of energy in a variety of non-sporting
contexts.
5 Jumping and throwing

5.1 Ski jumping
ACTIVITY 30 SKI JUMP
Activity Sheet 30
Ensure sand does not get into the tube. The ball bearing should have sand removed carefully before relaunch.
Students should appreciate that increasing the launch height increases the speed with which the skier leaves
the ramp, and increasing the drop height increases the time for which the skier is travelling. The accompanying
activity sheet guides students through the analysis of the ski jump data, which is a good exercise in getting
straight-line graphs from data and checking the validity of assumptions.
ACTIVITY 31 PROJECTILE MOTION

No sheet
As well as carrying out a quick demonstration with squash balls and looking at strobe photographs, you might
like to demonstrate projectile motion using the classic ‘pearls in air’ – a jet of pulsed water drops, moving in a
parabolic trajectory ‘frozen’ using a strobe light.
The Technician Notes describe the set-up. Tilt the water jet to make a parabola. Adjust the flow rate and
vibrator voltage until a clear stream of drops emerges. Adjust the frequency of the strobe until a frozen set of
droplets is seen. A shadow of the drops should be seen on the white screen. It should be reasonably clear that
the horizontal velocity is constant, while the vertical velocity is increasing.
Projectile motion
This pulls together ideas about velocity, acceleration, displacement and free fall along with ideas about
resolution of vectors.
ACTIVITY 32 PARABOLIC TRAJECTORY

No sheet
This graph-plotting activity will probably be very quick for students with a mathematical bent.
5.2 Throwing
The range of a projectile
All students should work through the derivation here.
Non-mathematicians will probably find it quite difficult.
Using a computer model
This work and Activity 33 can be regarded as optional extension work, suitable probably only for
those students who have worked easily through the analysis of projectile motion and who have a
reasonable aptitude for maths and computation.
Chapter 1
ACTIVITY 33 RANGE OF A PROJECTILE

Activity Sheet 33
For the first part of this activity, students need to be familiar with the general solution of a quadratic equation.
Let them have a go at deriving the range equation before issuing the sheet that accompanies the activity. For
the second part, they need to be experienced in using spreadsheets and with using angles in radians. This
would not be a good activity in which to use spreadsheets for the first time (there are better opportunities for
this in the chapter Technology in Space). A Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet containing the data is available.

In Question 52, it is assumed that students are familiar with Roadrunner or similar cartoons which are
available from YouTube.
ACTIVITY 34 WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
No sheet
This is a variation of the classic ‘monkey and hunter’ story. When students have predicted the outcome, it can
be demonstrated. The Technician Notes describe the set-up.
Initially, show that the ‘villain’ falls whenever the circuit is disconnected. Then show how the circuit is
disconnected by the ‘bullet’ breaking the tinfoil.
Then do the following:
● Connect the shorting lead across the terminals attached to the ‘gun’.
● Switch on and support the ‘villain’ from the electromagnet.
● Carefully align the ‘gun’ with the centre of the ‘villain’ by looking down the barrel from the mouthpiece end.
● Place the marble ‘bullet’ in the gun and move it to the mouthpiece by gently blowing from the opposite
end.
● Connect the foil strip across the muzzle between the two crocodile clips.
● Disconnect the shorting lead.
● Blow. The marble ‘bullet’ breaks the foil, which disconnects the electromagnet circuit. Thus both ‘villain’
and ‘bullet’ start dropping vertically at the same instant (and the ‘bullet’ should enter the ‘villain’).
It is a good idea to let a few students do this. To save time searching for the ‘bullet’ after each firing, have some
spares, as well as spare tinfoil already cut to size.
SAFETY
Hygiene is essential when using the blowpipe. Ensure the mouthpiece has been sterilised, and only allow one
person to blow it.
The ‘bullet’ can emerge at high velocity. It can also bounce out of the ‘villain’ can. Students should be
positioned so that there is little chance of impact with any of them. Ensure that the ‘bullet’ is fired so that it is
below the height of everyone’s eyes. Ensure eye protection is worn.
ACTIVITY 35 FORCE TO KICK A FOOTBALL

Activity Sheet 35
This is another classic. It probably works better as a student-assisted demonstration, with a discussion that
reviews some of the work from the chapter. The Technician Notes give details of the arrangement.
● Stick a 10 cm square of foil to the shoe of a student using adhesive tape.

● Stick foil to the football with adhesive tape and support the ball on three small lumps of modelling clay on
a table.
● Connect the two bits of foil to the long leads using crocodile clips.
● Fit the leads into the ‘make-to-count’ sockets of the scaler.
● The time of contact is measured with the scaler.
● The time of flight can be measured with a camcorder or video camera, or calculated by measuring the
1
height of the bench and then using s = 2 gt2.
● The horizontal velocity can then be calculated from the time of flight. Next, using the contact time, the
average acceleration during the kick can be found and hence the average force exerted during the kick.
Chapter 1
As an alternative to this activity you could analyse a football video clip, for example, from the Tracker site.
Air resistance.
Encourage students to keep a record of any topics that might appeal to them for future investigation.
6 Link the learning: Last lap

6.1 Summing up the chapter
The three activities in this section are all designed to get students to look back over their work and
consolidate their knowledge and understanding. In each one, they could work either individually or in
pairs. We strongly recommend that you make time for students to do at least the ‘summary’ part of
Activity 36, and to do Activity 37.
ACTIVITY 36 SPORTS CONSULTANT
No sheet
This activity is intended to get students thinking about appropriate styles of writing, as well as looking back over
the whole of their work from this chapter.
ACTIVITY 37 USING GRAPHS

No sheet
In this activity, students could collaborate to produce a wall chart. Encourage them to think about the
presentation, as well as the content.
6.2 Questions on the whole chapter

Additional Sheet 11
These questions are somewhat longer and more demanding than those used earlier in the chapter.
Students should be encouraged to review what they have learned before they tackle them. The answers
to these questions are given on Additional Sheet 11; they are not in the Student Book.
6.3 Achievements
Additional Sheets 12, 13, 14 and 15
The tests on Additional Sheets 12 and 14 test a subset of the Achievements and illustrate the styles of
question that students are likely to encounter in the external tests. Additional Sheets 13 and 15 contain
the mark scheme for the test – for your own use or for students to mark one another’s work.
Chapter Test 1 (Additional Sheet 12) covers the content of Parts 1 and 2 of this chapter, while Chapter
Test 2 (Additional Sheet 14) covers Parts 3–5 (energy and projectiles). Each test is intended to be sat
in 30 minutes: you might want to run them end-to-end, making a single one-hour test, if the length of
your class sessions allows this.
In the external test, there will be about 10 coded-answer questions followed by several questions that
will each require one or more short answers. There will be no choice of questions, and the test will be
presented in a question–answer booklet. Refer to the specification document and sample assessment
materials for further guidance.
Note that, in addition to the test paper, students will need to refer to the student data and formulae
sheets; the lists in these sheets are the same as those that will be used in the external tests. You will
need to copy the lists for distribution to students.
Chapter 1
Further reading
For your own interest and for passing on to students. Note: the journal Physics Education is distributed
free of charge to centres affiliated to the Institute of Physics.
Part 2
Reali, G., Stefanini, L. (1996) An important question about rock climbing. European Journal of
Physics 17: 348–52 (and references therein).
Part 4
Martin, T., Martin, J. (1994) The physics of bungee jumping. Physics Education 29: 247–8.
Minz, P. (1993) The physics of bungee jumping. Physics Teacher 31(8): 483–7.
All parts
Physics Education Vol. 39 No. 4 (IOP Publishing, July 2004): a special issue, ‘Extreme sports: new
contexts for studying materials and mechanics’.

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Higher, Faster, Stronger: Overview of Chapter

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Chapter 1

Salters Horners AS/A level Physics 1 Teacher Notes HFS

HIGHER, FASTER, STRONGER

Table 1.1 Summary of the chapter Higher, Faster, Stronger

Outline and reference to student materials Key points Skills Notes

Outline and reference to student materials Key points Skills Notes

Section 3.2 Calculations relating Work done when force Application of

Section 4.3 Use of key ideas from Study skills

Outline and reference to student materials Key points Skills Notes

Section 6.1 Use of key ideas from Activity 36 Study skills

Table 1.2 Learning outcomes specified for Higher, Faster, Stronger

Statement from Examination Specification Section(s) in

1.2 Describing motion

ACTIVITY 2 VECTORS AND SCALARS

Hammer and feather on the Moon

1.3 Motion graphs

ACTIVITY 5 PRODUCING GRAPHS OF MOTION

ACTIVITY 6 TANGENTS AND GRADIENTS

Going the distance

ACTIVITY 7 FINDING g BY TIMING FREE FALL

Figure 1.1 Apparatus for testing free fall by ear

1.4 Force and acceleration

ACTIVITY 9 MEASURING FORCES DIRECTLY

Weight and gravitational field

1.6 Summing up Part 1

2 Climbing and balancing

Figure 1.2 Alternative set-up for Activity 12

Combining displacement vectors

Combining force vectors by drawing

ACTIVITY 15 WHAT STOPS A ROCK CLIMBER FALLING?

Combining force vectors by calculation

Figure 1.3 Forces involved in a Tyrolean traverse

Figure 1.4 defines some useful parameters.

provided b is not ‘too small’.

2.2 On the ropes

Moments and centre of gravity

2.4 Summing up Part 2

Figure 1.5 Force–time graphs obtained in drop tests

3 Working out work

Kinetic and potential energy

ACTIVITY 24 GRAVITATIONAL ENERGY IN A JUMP

ACTIVITY 25 KINETIC ENERGY IN RUNNING

3.2 Speed skiing

3.3 Pumping iron

ACTIVITY 27 ENERGY DEMANDS

3.4 Summing up Part 3

4 Stretching and springing

Figure 1.6 Analysis of a bungee jump

4.2 Pole vaulting

4.3 Summing up Part 4

5 Jumping and throwing

ACTIVITY 31 PROJECTILE MOTION

ACTIVITY 32 PARABOLIC TRAJECTORY

ACTIVITY 33 RANGE OF A PROJECTILE

5.3 Summing up Part 5

ACTIVITY 35 FORCE TO KICK A FOOTBALL

● Stick a 10 cm square of foil to the shoe of a student using adhesive tape.

6 Link the learning: Last lap