Practical work
IB physicists are required to complete 40 (SL) or 60 (HL) hours of practical work as part of their course.
| Section of course | Number of hours (approx.) |
|---|---|
| Recommended practicals | 15 SL / 20 HL |
| Internal Assessment | 10 |
| Group 4 Project | 10 |
| Additional classtime practicals | 5 SL / 20 HL |
Some schools will ask you to maintain a lab book logging all required and additional classtime practicals to develop towards the Investigation marking criteria.
Recommended practicals
The Subject Guide details certain experiments that could be examined in Paper 3. You could attempt each of these during your course in person or on a simulation such as PhET or Algodoo.
Use this as a revision checklist for the apparatus, methods and analytical techniques that you should know for the exam.
| Group | Topic | Title |
|---|---|---|
| SL/HL | 2.1 | Determining the Acceleration of Free-fall |
| SL/HL | 3.1 | Investigating Specific Heat Capacity by Electrical Method |
| SL/HL | 3.1 | Investigating Specific Heat Capacity by Method of Mixtures |
| SL/HL | 3.1 | Investigating Specific Heat of Fusion |
| SL/HL | 3.1 | Investigating Specific Heat of Vaporisation |
| SL/HL | 3.2 | Investigating Boyle's Law |
| SL/HL | 3.2 | Investigating Charles' Law and Absolute Zero |
| SL/HL | 3.2 | Investigating Lussac's Law (The Pressure Law) |
| SL/HL | 4.2 | Investigating Resonance - Determining the Speed of Sound |
| SL/HL | 4.4 | Determining the Refractive Index of Glass by Real and Apparent Depth |
| SL/HL | 4.4 | Investigation Refraction of Light, Refractive Index and Critical Angle |
| SL/HL | 5.2 | Investigating factors that affect Resistance |
| SL/HL | 5.3 | Determining the EMF and Internal Resistance of a cell |
| SL/HL | 7.1 | Investigating Radioactivite Decay and Half-Life |
| HL only | 9.3 | Determining the Wavelength of Laser Light Using Young's Double Slits |
| HL only | 11.2 | Investigating a Diode Bridge Rectification Circuit |
Option practical work
These experiments are referred to in the subject guide but will not be tested in the opening questions of Paper 3.
| Engineering only | B.1 | Investigating Energy Transfer and Energy Loss of a Rolling Ball |
| Imaging only | C.1 | Investigating the Focal Length of a Converging Lens |
| Imaging only | C.2 | Investigating the Optical Compound Microscope |
| Imaging only | C.2 | Investigating a Simple Optical Astronomical Refracting Telescope |
Group 4 Project
The Group 4 Project contributes 10 hours to your practical work. It is compulsory for all IB Diploma Programme students but not assessed.
Enjoy!
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