GCSE Physics resources
AQA GCSE Energy
Track energy by defining a system, naming the stores that change and identifying the transfer pathway.
Start here
Define the system before naming the stores. For a falling object, gravitational potential energy decreases and kinetic energy increases. For a battery-powered motor, chemical energy is transferred electrically to kinetic and thermal stores.
Core learning content
Start with this short teaching sequence for Energy Stores and Changes. Read the model, use the visual, then test your recall before moving into examples and exam practice.
Define the system before naming the stores. For a falling object, gravitational potential energy decreases and kinetic energy increases. For a battery-powered motor, chemical energy is transferred electrically to kinetic and thermal stores.
Choose the system boundary first. A transfer can be useful for one system and unwanted for another, but energy is never destroyed: it ends up in named stores. The strongest descriptions say which store decreases, which store increases and how the transfer happens.
Choose a relationship because of the physical change in the question, not because it is familiar. Kinetic energy: Eₖ = ½mv² (J, kg, m/s). Gravitational potential energy: Eₚ = mgh (J, kg, N/kg, m). Elastic potential energy: Eₑ = ½ke² (J, N/m, m). Keep the unit next to each value while you substitute.
Write a three-part chain: system boundary, store that decreases/increases, transfer pathway. Add the useful and unwanted outcomes if the question asks about efficiency. Before writing, underline the command word and identify the information that matters. Keep a calculation as equation, substitution and answer with unit; keep an explanation as a linked chain using because, so or therefore. Finish by checking that the final sentence answers the exact context in the question and that the number, direction or conclusion agrees with the evidence given.
Retrieval practice
Answer without looking back first. The feedback explains the model, so a wrong answer still helps you learn.
Mini quiz 1
Mini quiz 2
Mini quiz 3
Try it
How does changing the useful outcome change the unwanted transfer?
What to notice: the readout and written explanation remain available if you do not use the controls.
Worked examples
Cover the answer, attempt the method and then compare your physics language as well as the number.
The gravitational potential store decreases and the book’s kinetic store increases through mechanical work. Some energy is transferred by heating the air.
Energy is transferred electrically from the chemical store of the battery to the car’s kinetic store, with some transferred to thermal stores and by sound.
Energy is transferred mechanically from the bicycle’s kinetic store to the thermal stores of the brakes, tyres, road and surroundings.
Misconception clinic
Each of these is tempting because it sounds almost right. Replace it with the precise physics before you meet it in a question.
Independent practice
Use the working space first. Reveal the guidance only after you have committed to an answer, then improve the exact part that would gain the next mark.
The trolley’s kinetic energy store increases.
Energy is transferred electrically from the supply to the thermal stores of the heating element and water, with some transferred to the surroundings.
Electricity is a transfer pathway. Energy is transferred from stores to other stores; it is not used up or destroyed.
The cyclist-bicycle kinetic store decreases; thermal stores of the brakes, tyres, road and air increase.
Infrared radiation transfers energy from a hot radiator to its surroundings.
Energy is redistributed into other stores, including less useful thermal stores, but is conserved overall.
Questions pupils ask
Energy questions become easier when you name the system, track the stores that change and identify the transfer pathway. Then choose an equation only when the physical change requires it.
Read the snapshot, attempt the worked examples without looking, complete the mini quizzes and then use the practice questions to check your wording and method.
Next step
Physics sticks when you move between explanation, retrieval and application.