Revised Nuffield Advanced Physics

The Nuffield Foundation revised and republished Nuffield Advanced Physics in 1985. The original carefully-thought-through structure of the course was retained but there were significant changes in the form of the published resources.

The project decided to include all the topics in the core A-level syllabus produced by an inter-board working group. This meant making sure that certain topics, not emphasised in the original course, were given due attention (for example, statics, kinetic theory of gases, circular motion and thermal conduction).

At the same time the project also agreed to add a few other topics which seemed particularly important for the 1980s such as nuclear and other sources of power, and some increase in the work done in electronics using integrated circuits.

To make room for these additions it was necessary to omit some of the material in the original course. Among items which were either omitted or treated more briefly were: X-ray diffraction and unit cells; ionic crystals; the speed of mechanical waves; ionisation by electron bombardment; induction motors; special relativity; the propagation of electromagnetic waves.

Also some of the more detailed work was been omitted from the last two units on statistical thermodynamics and quantum mechanics.