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.
Before you revise
Choose an answer from memory. Your result tells you what to watch for in the guide.
Core revision guide
Energy Stores and Changes questions become manageable when the central model, evidence and exam method are kept together. Read the explanation, test the misconception and then apply the idea without looking back.
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.
Misconception clinic
Read each belief, say what is wrong with it, then compare your correction.
Tempting idea: Calling light, sound or electricity an energy store.
Use instead: 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.
Tempting idea: Saying energy disappears instead of naming where it is transferred.
Use instead: 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.
Tempting idea: Leaving out the transfer pathway.
Use instead: 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.
Retrieval practice
Worked examples
These examples expose the difference between a secure energy stores and systems method and the common error “Calling light, sound or electricity an energy store.”.
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.
Exam precision
Do this: 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.
Independent practice
Write an answer before opening the marking guidance. Then edit the exact phrase or step that would gain the next mark.
Marking guidance: Award one mark for the precise statement shown in the model answer.
Model answer: The trolley’s kinetic energy store increases.
Marking guidance: 2 marks are available for relevant, linked physics points that match the model answer.
Model answer: Energy is transferred electrically from the supply to the thermal stores of the heating element and water, with some transferred to the surroundings.
Marking guidance: Award up to 3 marks for distinct physics points joined into a clear cause-and-effect chain.
Model answer: Electricity is a transfer pathway. Energy is transferred from stores to other stores; it is not used up or destroyed.
Marking guidance: 2 marks are available for relevant, linked physics points that match the model answer.
Model answer: The cyclist-bicycle kinetic store decreases; thermal stores of the brakes, tyres, road and air increase.
Marking guidance: Award one mark for the precise statement shown in the model answer.
Model answer: Infrared radiation transfers energy from a hot radiator to its surroundings.
Marking guidance: Award up to 3 marks for distinct physics points joined into a clear cause-and-effect chain.
Model answer: Energy is redistributed into other stores, including less useful thermal stores, but is conserved overall.
Questions pupils ask
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.
Calling light, sound or electricity an energy store. 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.
Useful next steps