Energy in the National Curriculum, 2014
KS3 Physics
Pupils should be taught about:
Energy
Calculation of fuel uses and costs in the domestic context
- comparing energy values of different foods (from labels) (kJ)
- comparing power ratings of appliances in watts (W, kW)
- comparing amounts of energy transferred (J, kJ, kW hour)
- domestic fuel bills, fuel use and costs
- fuels and energy resources.
Energy changes and transfers
- simple machines give bigger force but at the expense of smaller movement (and vice versa): product of force and displacement unchanged
- heating and thermal equilibrium: temperature difference between two objects leading to energy transfer from the hotter to the cooler one, through contact (conduction) or radiation; such transfers tending to reduce the temperature difference: use of insulators
- other processes that involve energy transfer: changing motion, dropping an object, completing an electrical circuit, stretching a spring, metabolism of food, burning fuels.
Changes in systems
- energy as a quantity that can be quantified and calculated; the total energy has the same value before and after a change
- comparing the starting with the final conditions of a system and describing increases and decreases in the amounts of energy associated with movements, temperatures, changes in positions in a field, in elastic distortions and in chemical compositions
- using physical processes and mechanisms, rather than energy, to explain the intermediate steps that bring about such changes.
Matter
Energy in matter
- changes with temperature in motion and spacing of particles
- internal energy stored in materials.
KS4 Physics
Energy
- energy changes in a system involving heating, doing work using forces, or doing work using an electric current: calculating the stored energies and energy changes involved
- power as the rate of transfer of energy
- conservation of energy in a closed system, dissipation
- calculating energy efficiency for any energy transfers
- renewable and non-renewable energy sources used on Earth, changes in how these are used.
The structure of matter
- calculating energy changes involved on heating, using specific heat capacity; and those involved in changes of state, using specific latent heat
