GCSE Physics Cheat Sheets

14 free one-page cheat sheets across six areas of GCSE Physics: magnetism and electromagnetism, energy, electricity, atomic structure, forces, and space physics. View any sheet online, or download and print it.

Magnetism and electromagnetism

  • Magnetism & Fields

    Magnetic poles and field lines, the field around a current-carrying wire, the right-hand grip rule, solenoids, and what makes an electromagnet stronger.

  • Motor Effect & Induction

    The motor effect and F = BIl, Fleming's left-hand rule, electric motors, electromagnetic induction, generators, and step-up and step-down transformers.

Energy

  • Renewable & Non-renewable Energy Resources

    Non-renewable vs renewable energy resources, their reliability, environmental impacts, main uses, and UK trends driving the shift to renewables.

  • Energy Stores & Transfers

    The 8 energy stores, 4 ways energy can be transferred, conservation of energy, useful vs wasted energy, and reducing wasted energy.

  • Key Energy Equations

    Six core energy equations covering kinetic, gravitational potential, elastic potential, specific heat capacity, work done, and efficiency, with worked examples.

Electricity

  • Series & Parallel Circuits

    Series vs parallel circuit rules for current, voltage and resistance, plus electrical power and energy formulas with worked examples.

  • Circuit Components & I-V Graphs

    I-V characteristics of ohmic conductors, filament lamps, and diodes, plus resistance behaviour of thermistors and LDRs.

  • Current, Voltage & Resistance

    Circuit symbols, charge and current flow, potential difference and resistance equations, energy and charge, and resistance of a wire experiment.

  • Mains Electricity & the National Grid

    A.C. vs D.C., the three-core cable, mains safety and fuse calculation, and how the National Grid uses transformers to transmit power efficiently.

Atomic structure

  • Radioactivity

    Alpha, beta, gamma and neutron radiation types, radioactive decay equations, randomness, activity, count rate, and reading the half-life graph.

  • Radiation Hazards & Uses

    Background radiation sources, irradiation vs contamination, effects on living tissue, precautions, and practical uses of alpha, beta and gamma radiation.

  • Nuclear Fission & Fusion

    Nuclear fission and fusion reactions, chain reactions, the mass-energy relationship, and a comparison of fuels, by-products, conditions and current uses.

Forces

  • Scalars, Vectors & Forces

    Scalars vs vectors, contact and non-contact forces, free-body diagrams, resultant force, and the relationship between weight, mass and gravitational field strength.

Space physics

  • The Life Cycle of Stars

    How a star's mass determines its life cycle, from dust and gas cloud through main sequence, red giant or supergiant, to white dwarf, neutron star, or black hole.

Frequently asked questions