IB Physics Topic 5 Notes
This page contains our IB Physics notes for topic 5. By reading each one of these notes, you will fully cover the content for IB Physics 'Nuclear & Quantum Physics'.
Chapters
E1: Atomic structure
E1: Further atomic structure (HL)
E2: Quantum physics (HL)
E3: Radioactive decay
E3: Further radioactive decay (HL)
E4: Fission
E5: Fusion & stars
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Evidence for the atom
Topic E focuses on nuclear physics. To fully understand this, you need to know the model of atomic structure. In early atomic modelling, three individuals were very important:
- Democritus considered the structure of matter, concluding that if one kept dividing matter, one would reach a particle that is indivisible, the atom.
- Dalton then took this one step further and decided that matter could be divided into different elements, which themselves were composed of atoms of different masses.
- Thomson fired electron beams at electromagnetic fields, determining the size and charge of an electron in the process. Using this knowledge, he developed the plum pudding model of the atom, which was composed of electrons in a matrix of positive matter.
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