Astrophysics Cosmology A level Physics

This is a lesson I used myself to teach the Cosmology concept of the Astrophysics Unit - A level Physics, AQA specification.

Learning objective: To understand how observations of light and motion are used to investigate the structure, origin, and evolution of the Universe, including evidence for the Big Bang, cosmic expansion, dark energy, quasars, and the detection of exoplanets.

By the end of the lesson learners should be able to:

Success criteria:

SC1 Describe how the Doppler effect and redshift are used to determine the motion of stars and galaxies, including binary star systems and exoplanet host stars.

SC2 Explain how Hubble’s Law, the cosmic microwave background radiation, and elemental abundances provide evidence for the Big Bang theory and an expanding Universe.

SC3 Analyse modern cosmological problems such as the Hubble tension, dark energy, and quasars, and evaluate how observational methods (e.g. redshift, transit method, radial velocity) extend our understanding of the early and evolving Universe.

Contains past paper questions that target this topic, some questions require knowledge from prior lessons. The mark scheme is also included to verify answers.

Powerpoint contains 16 slides and 9 past paper questions.