Build the measurement, graphing, and practical habits that make later physics easier to follow.
Year 9
Year 9 Physics Foundations
Practical skills, springs, thermal physics, density, planetary ideas, moments, oscillations, and simple circuits.
Year 9 builds the practical confidence, graph skills, and clear conceptual models you need for later physics.
Overview
Course focus
Year 9 is about building the foundations that make later physics easier to understand. The main focus is on practical work, careful measurement, graph skills, and simple models that explain what you observe.
Across the year, you move from practical skills into springs, thermal ideas, density, planetary physics, moments, oscillations, and simple circuits. By the end of the course, you should be more confident with planning an investigation, handling data, using equations, and explaining physical patterns clearly.
Use springs, density, moments, and oscillations to practise equations through real measurements and simple models.
Connect thermal, planetary, and basic circuit ideas to clear explanations you can write and discuss independently.
Topics
Topic map for Year 9
Open a topic to see the lesson sequence, linked lesson materials, and revision support for that unit.
Topic
01Practical Skills
Develop the habits of accurate measurement, safe equipment use, method writing, graph analysis, and error identification.
Topic
02Springs
Investigate the relationship between force and extension, use Hooke's law, and apply spring ideas in practical contexts.
Topic
03Thermal
Use the kinetic theory model to explain states of matter, thermal expansion, heating, specific heat capacity, and latent heat.
Topic
04Density
Use the density equation, determine volume for regular and irregular objects, and apply density experimentally to solids, liquids, and gases.
Topic
05Planetary
Use solar cells, angle, and day length data to explain seasons and changing energy input across the Earth.
Topic
06Moments
Use the moment equation to balance systems, determine unknown weights, and plan simple weighing investigations.
Topic
07Oscillations
Define oscillations, measure time period, calculate frequency, and use straight-line graph methods to find unknown quantities.
Topic
08Resistance of a Wire
Introduce charge and circuit diagrams, use basic circuit equations, compare models of current flow, and investigate resistance in a wire.