AQA A Level Physics Equation Sheet

What is the AQA A Level Physics equation sheet?

When you sit your AQA A Level Physics exam, you will have access to the AQA A-Level Physics data and formulae sheet. This is a booklet which contains useful data, such as fundamental constants and values, algebraic equations, geometrical equations and a range of equations used throughout the syllabus to help you in your exam. You can find out more details about the data section of this sheet in our article about the AQA Level Physics data sheet. In this article we are going to focus on the equations which are found on pages 2 to 5 of the data and formulae sheet, sometimes students refer to this section as the equation sheet.

What is contained within the AQA Physics equation sheet for A Level?

In the AQA data and formulae sheet, the formulae and relationships section shows the equations that you need broken down by topic. It also provides a bit of context so you can see what the equations relate to. For example, you can see the equations related to the electricity topic below. Notice how the equations that relate to current and pd are grouped together.

Source: AQA Website

The formulae are arranged according to the following topics:

• Photons and energy levels

• Waves

• Mechanics

• Materials

• Electricity

• Circular motion

• Simple harmonic motion

• Thermal Physics

• Gravitational fields

• Electric field and capacitors

• Magnetic fields

• Nuclear Physics

Options topics:

• Astrophysics

• Medical Physics

• Engineering Physics

• Turning points in Physics

• Electronics

It is really important that you use the sheet provided by AQA, as other exam boards may not contain the same formulae or give the same data. Check that the sheet that you are using is the most up-to-date version - you can find this by looking on the AQA website in the Assessment resources section for AS and A Level Physics. 

What is the purpose of having an equation sheet? 

Exam boards are not expecting you to memorise all of the equations. What they do want to test is your understanding of the key concepts and how you can apply this to select the correct equation in order to solve problems.

Whilst you do not need to learn the equations off by heart on the equation sheet, it is not a replacement for fully grasping the underlying concept. Often a question requires(?) you to understand the context of the problem to select the most appropriate equation. It may require some manipulation of the values provided and is not a simple case of plugging numbers into an equation. You also need to be confident in rearranging equations which students can find tricky, especially those involving exponential values, such as the decay equations in relation to capacitors and radioactive decay.

How do I use an equation sheet?

The best way to learn how to use the equation sheet is by practising. Print one out or you may be provided with one by your school or college. Take it with you to your lessons and use it as a reference tool whenever you are solving problems so it becomes familiar to you. It is important that you don’t spend too much time searching for information in an exam so familiarity is essential. With practice, you should come to learn where the formulae for each topic can be found so you won’t spend ages trying to locate the correct equation. You also need to know what variables the symbols in the equation represent otherwise the equations are meaningless. 

A word of caution: whilst you are provided with the formulae, you need to know what units all of the quantities within the equation need to be in - these need to be learnt! If they are not in the correct unit, you need to know how to convert them so that they are - many students forget this and lose valuable marks for a simple error. 

Worked example of how to use the AQA Physics A Level equation sheet

It can sometimes be difficult to select the correct equation as often you need to utilise more than one to perform calculations. A useful technique is shown here which can help you identify which equation or equations to use.

• Highlight the physical quantities given in the question and identify their symbols, including the quantity you are calculating. It is also useful to convert any units that are not already in the correct format at this stage to make sure you don’t forget:

Source: AQA website (Paper 2 QP - Jun 2020) 

• Use the equation sheet to identify a possible equation that you could use to calculate the quantity in question, in this case current, I. Think about where the equations might be located within the sheet: 
  

  • Equations to calculate current are found in the ‘Electricity’ section and equations relating to capacitors are found in the ‘Electric field and capacitors’ section.
    

• Current cannot be directly calculated from C, E and R, so this indicates that you need to use 2 (or more) equations. 
  

• Find 2 equations that use the quantities given in the question and have one quantity not given which connects the 2 equations:

Source: AQA Website

• Here we can see that current can be calculated by the equation R = VI if V was known

• We can calculate V by using the equation E = 12CV2

• To calculate V, substitute the values into the equation:
  4.5  10−3 = ½  (10  10-6)  V 2

• Simplifying and rearranging gives:
   V = 900 = 30 V

• Now we can calculate I:
  I = VR = 3025 = 1.2 A