CSEC Physics Syllabus 2026

Explore Galileo's scientific approach and its impact on physics development, connecting it to the broader scientific method.

Investigate factors affecting a simple pendulum's period, analyze experimental data using graphs, and determine gradient to find 'g'.

Learn to express measurements with appropriate significant figures, identify error types, and use and select various measuring instruments based on their suitability.

Apply the density formula ρ = m/V, deduce its unit, and determine the density of various regular and irregular solids and liquids.

Distinguish between scalar and vector quantities, use scale diagrams to find resultants, and calculate resultant vectors for parallel, antiparallel, and perpendicular cases.

Explain the effects of forces, identify different types of forces, and calculate the weight of objects using W = mg.

Understand how derived quantities and their units are formed, recall special unit names, and express derived units using index notation.

Identify situations involving turning effects, define the moment of a force, and apply the principle of moments for bodies in equilibrium.

Explain the action of common tools and devices as levers, identifying the load, effort, and fulcrum for each.

Determine the location of a body's centre of gravity and relate it to the object's stability and weight.

Investigate the relationship between force and extension for elastic materials, interpret force-extension graphs, and solve problems using Hooke's Law.

Define fundamental motion terms like distance, displacement, speed, velocity, and acceleration, and interpret displacement-time and velocity-time graphs.

Discuss historical perspectives on motion, state Newton's three laws, and apply them to explain various dynamic systems.

Define linear momentum, describe situations demonstrating its conservation, and apply the law of conservation of linear momentum.

Define energy, identify its various forms, describe energy transformations, apply the work formula, and discuss alternative energy sources for the Caribbean.

Define potential energy and calculate changes in gravitational potential energy using the formula $\Delta E_p = m g \Delta h$.

Define kinetic energy and calculate it using the expression $E_k = \frac{1}{2} m v^2$.

Apply the law of conservation of energy to problems involving conversions between different energy forms, like potential and kinetic energy.

Define and apply the definition of power (P = E/t), explain the term efficiency, and calculate efficiency in various situations.

Define pressure and apply its definition (P = F/A), relating pressure at a point in a fluid to its depth and density ($\Delta p = \rho g \Delta h$).

Apply Archimedes’ principle to predict whether an object will float or sink in a given fluid, providing relevant examples like boats and balloons.

Students will differentiate between historical caloric and modern kinetic theories of heat, understanding Joule's contribution to energy conservation.

Students will relate temperature to the direction of net thermal energy transfer and understand temperature units.

Students will identify temperature-varying physical properties and explain how thermometer design relates to its use and specific tasks.

Students will define the lower and upper fixed points on the Celsius temperature scale.

Students will relate the temperature of a body to the average kinetic energy of its constituent molecules.

Students will distinguish solids, liquids, and gases based on their intermolecular forces, molecular motion, shape, and volume using Kinetic theory.

Differentiate between pulses, progressive, transverse, and longitudinal waves, explaining their production and diagrammatic representation.

Apply the relationships between speed, frequency, wavelength, period, and amplitude using v = fλ in wave calculations.

Represent transverse and longitudinal waves using displacement-position and displacement-time graphs, extracting wave parameters from them.

Describe how sound, as a longitudinal wave, is produced by vibrating systems and propagates through a medium.

Relate the pitch of a sound to its frequency, loudness to its amplitude, and recall the normal human hearing frequency range.

Apply the speed of sound to practical situations such as thunder and lightning, and estimate its speed using echoes.

Explain charging by electron transfer (friction) and the attraction of neutral objects (induction).

Describe how like charges repel and unlike charges attract, illustrating fundamental properties of electric charges.

Define an electric field and illustrate field patterns around point charges and between charged parallel plates.

Identify practical uses of static charge like electrostatic painting and risks such as lightning strikes.

Differentiate between materials by their conductivity and explain current as electron flow, conventional current, and the Q=It relationship.

Distinguish between direct and alternating currents, analyzing current-time graphs to determine frequency and period.

Students will trace the historical developments and key scientists like Thomson, Rutherford, Bohr, and Chadwick who shaped the modern atomic model.

Students will learn about the Geiger-Marsden experiment, understand the resulting nuclear model of the atom, and be able to sketch simple atomic structures.

Students will compare the mass and charge of electrons and protons and explain why atoms are typically neutral and stable.

Students will apply nuclide notation (A=Z+N) to represent atoms and explain the concept of isotopes.

Students will relate the shell model of atomic structure to the organisation and properties of elements in the periodic table.