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AQA Specifications

Here are the NRP relevant specifications for the AQA exam board and links to NRP activities/pages. Further details on the full specifications for Science and Physics can be found from the AQA website here<. 

AQA GCSE Specification Links (For examination from 2010)

AQA Exam Topic  NRP Links
Physics 1/Science A/ Science B

 11. 7 What do we know about the origins of the Universe and how it continues to change? 

Candidate's skills, knowledge and understanding of how science works should be set in these substantive contexts:

        

• If a wave source is moving relative to an observer there will be a
change in the observed wavelength and frequency.  

 
• There is a red-shift in light observed from most distant galaxies.
The further away galaxies are the bigger the red-shift.

   • How the observed red-shift provides evidence that the universe is
expanding and supports the ‘big bang’ theory (that the universe
began from a very small initial point).
 

 

 Hubble's Law <

 

 AQA GCE A/AS-level Specification Links

 AQA Exam  Topic  NRP Links
GCE Physics A

 Unit 5A Astrophysics

A.1.4 Cosmology

• Doppler effect

z =  Δf/ f = v/c and ∆λ/λ = -v/c
For v « c applied to optical and radio frequencies.
Calculations on binary stars viewed in the plane of the orbit, galaxies and quasars

 

 • Hubble’s law
Red shift
v=Hd
Simple interpretation as expansion of universe; estimation of age of universe, assuming H is constant. 

Qualitative
treatment of Big Bang theory including evidence from cosmological
microwave background radiation, and relative abundance of H and He. 

• Quasars
Quasars as the most distant measurable objects.

Discovery as bright radio sources.

Quasars show large optical red shifts; estimation of distance

        

 

 

 Hubble's Law <