Specific Heat Capacity - AAQ Pearson Applied Science & GCSE Physics

Complete “Ready to go” lesson with no adapting necessary!
New for AAQ Pearson Applied Science BTEC from Sept 2025 Specification
Also very suitable for GCSE particularly higher ability classes!
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This lesson covers:
•Energy units and how to convert between joules, kilojoules and megajoules with practice
•Definitions of heat and temperature with analogy of a pool and a cup of tea to try and illustrate how a colder pool can have more heat than a hot cup of tea
•Units of heat and how to convert between the two with practice
•Explanation of what happens when an object is heated (without a change of state) in terms of particles and temperature along with the factors that affect the temperature change and why
•Definition of specific heat capacity followed by examples to illustrate and build understanding with relatable examples
•How to calculate specific heat capacity using ΔQ=mcΔT with an example and how the units link to the calculation and definition. Followed by practice and application questions
•Practical where students use E=P/t to find the energy transferred to a block in a circuit and then the temperature change with their calculate energy to find specific heat capacity using ΔQ=mcΔT. Sample data is provided with answers for energy, temperature change and specific heat capacity covered as an alternative.
•Follow up questions where students use application skills to explain errors that can arise in this practical and how they affect temperature and specific heat capacity as well as practice applying specific heat capacity knowledge to explain different examples of the heating and cooling properties of different objects

NO PRINTING REQUIREMENTS (Unless you wish to print the practical/sample data tables)
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This lesson follows my usual style and contains:
•Recall starter to build retention of previously learned content
•Clear levelled learning objectives and outcomes
•Clear and modern layout utilising GIFS and Youtube
• Variety of tasks and plenaries with self assessment to assess progress
• ANSWERS INCLUDED!

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