Pearson Edexcel International GCSE in Physics · 4PH1 · Free · no account needed
Topic 2 · Electricity
Current as flowing charge, voltage as energy per charge, resistance as opposition — plus mains safety, series and parallel circuits, component characteristics and static electricity.
Every lesson here ends the same way: learn it, teach it to an AI pupil who asks the awkward question, then defend it against the thinker with the strongest claim on it — free · no account needed.
9 lessons, covering 28 specification statements.
What you need to know — the 28 statements, and where each one is taught
Every statement this topic carries, in the specification's own numbering, with Incandio's restatement of what it asks and the lesson that discharges it. Tick them off against your own copy of the specification: this is the topic's revision checklist, not a summary of it. Incandio is aligned to this specification. It is not published by, endorsed by or affiliated with Pearson, and it reproduces none of Pearson's wording — the statement numbers are given so you can check every lesson against your own copy.
| Statement | What it asks | Taught in |
|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | Use the units ampere, coulomb, joule, ohm, second, volt and watt | Charge and Current |
| 2.14 | Current as the rate of flow of charge | Charge and Current |
| 2.15 | Use Q = I × t | Charge and Current |
| 2.16 | Current in solid metallic conductors is a flow of negatively charged electrons | Charge and Current |
| 2.8 | How current in a series circuit depends on applied voltage and the other components | Resistance and Ohm's Law |
| 2.10 | The qualitative effect of changing resistance on current | Resistance and Ohm's Law |
| 2.13 | Use V = I × R | Resistance and Ohm's Law |
| 2.7 | Why a series or parallel circuit suits a particular application, including domestic lighting | Series and Parallel Circuits |
| 2.17 | Why current is conserved at a junction | Series and Parallel Circuits |
| 2.18 | The voltage across components in parallel is the same | Series and Parallel Circuits |
| 2.19 | Calculate currents, voltages and resistances for two resistive components in series | Series and Parallel Circuits |
| 2.9 | How current varies with voltage in wires, resistors, filament lamps and diodes, and how to investigate it | Current–Voltage Graphs, LDRs and Thermistors |
| 2.11 | How the resistance of LDRs varies with light and thermistors with temperature | Current–Voltage Graphs, LDRs and Thermistors |
| 2.12 | Lamps and LEDs indicate the presence of a current | Current–Voltage Graphs, LDRs and Thermistors |
| 2.20 | Voltage as energy transferred per unit charge; the volt as a joule per coulomb | Voltage as Energy per Charge |
| 2.21 | Use E = Q × V | Voltage as Energy per Charge |
| 2.3 | Why a current in a resistor transfers energy and raises temperature, and its domestic uses | Electrical Power and Energy |
| 2.4 | Use P = I × V, and apply it to choosing a fuse | Electrical Power and Energy |
| 2.5 | Use E = I × V × t | Electrical Power and Energy |
| 2.2 | How insulation, double insulation, earthing, fuses and circuit breakers protect device and user | Mains Electricity and Safety |
| 2.6 | The difference between alternating mains current and direct current from a cell | Mains Electricity and Safety |
| 2.22 | Identify common electrical conductors and insulators | Static Electricity |
| 2.23 (practical) | Practical: investigate how insulating materials can be charged by friction | Static Electricity |
| 2.24 | How electrostatic charges are produced by the loss and gain of electrons | Static Electricity |
| 2.25 | Attraction between unlike charges and repulsion between like charges | Static Electricity |
| 2.26 | Explaining electrostatic phenomena in terms of electron movement | Uses and Dangers of Static Electricity |
| 2.27 | The dangers of electrostatic charge, such as when fuelling aircraft and tankers | Uses and Dangers of Static Electricity |
| 2.28 | Uses of electrostatic charge, such as photocopiers and inkjet printers | Uses and Dangers of Static Electricity |
The lessons
- Charge and Current — What is actually moving in a wire, how fast it is really going, and why the arrows on every circuit diagram point the wrong way. (2.1, 2.14, 2.15, 2.16)
- Resistance and Ohm's Law — What slows the electrons down, the one equation that ties the whole topic together, and when it stops being true. (2.8, 2.10, 2.13)
- Series and Parallel Circuits — Two ways of joining components, and why every building in the world is wired one of them. (2.7, 2.17, 2.18, 2.19)
- Current–Voltage Graphs, LDRs and Thermistors — The shapes four components make on a graph, and two resistors that deliberately refuse to stay the same. (2.9, 2.11, 2.12)
- Voltage as Energy per Charge — What a volt actually is — and why knowing that turns three separate equations into one idea. (2.20, 2.21)
- Electrical Power and Energy — Why a wire carrying a current gets hot, how fast a device uses energy, and how to pick a fuse. (2.3, 2.4, 2.5)
- Mains Electricity and Safety — What is different about the electricity in a wall socket, and the four things that stand between it and you. (2.2, 2.6)
- Static Electricity — Why rubbing two things together charges them both — and why only one kind of particle is ever responsible. (2.22, 2.23, 2.24, 2.25)
- Uses and Dangers of Static Electricity — The same effect that makes a jumper crackle can set a fuel tanker alight — and can print a photograph. (2.26, 2.27, 2.28)