COMPREHENSIVE PHYSICS IA GUIDE: STEP BY STEP GUIDE

INTRODUCTION

Struggling with your IB Physics IA? You’re not the only one. Every year thousands of students
around the world are asked to perform an independent physics experiment and write up a report
as part of their Diploma Programme. This is not a simple task, and we at IB Better want to help
you through it. Therefore, we have compiled this guide of all the most important steps to take
when doing your IA, from beginning to end. Take a look below, and feel free to share with
your friends!

1. FIND A SUITABLE TOPIC

This is the first and perhaps also the most important decision to make about your IA. Your
choice of topic can make or break your investigation – so make sure you spend plenty of time
thinking it over.

Many students get caught up in the “personal engagement” part of the assessment, and think
they need to find something that is somehow relevant to their personal life in order to score
highly. Remember, however, that this only counts for 8 % of your grade, and that there are also
plenty of opportunities to show personal engagement in other ways (more on that later). Finding
a good topic is about so much more than this aspect.

A good starting point is to look through the syllabus. Try to think about whether there is
anything you have covered in class that you found enjoyable and would like to investigate
further. Perhaps you have even spotted some links between different phenomena?

Your goal should be to find a topic where you can test the relationship between only two
variables while keeping everything else constant. So remember to try and keep it simple –
simpler topics are easier to handle well and therefore usually score higher marks.

The investigation should be experimental, so ideally there should already be an equation

relating the two quantities. An example would be testing how the intensity of light from a

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 𝑃
source varies with distance away from that source, which is governed by the equation 𝐼 = 4𝜋𝑟2 .

Your job is simply to test whether this relation holds true!

If you’re stuck, consider checking out our list of 35 Physics IA Ideas: Simple and Score High
Marks!

2. DESIGN THE EXPERIMENT

It is important that whatever topic you choose, you have the equipment necessary to perform
the given experiment. At this stage it could therefore be useful to write down a plan for how
you will set up your experiment, including as many details as you possibly can.

For example, for the intensity vs distance experiment mentioned above, you would need a light
source, an intensity measurement device such as a photometer, and a bench long enough that
you could get measurements for a large range of distances.

While it is nice to be creative, try to design your setup should be such that the experiment can
be done in a normal classroom or at your school. If you need special arrangements, it might be
harder to perform the experiment well.

Try to also make it clear at this stage what exactly the data you record will be, and how you
will record it.

If you find that you don’t have the equipment necessary to perform your experiment, your topic
might be too complicated. Return to step 1 and try to find something else!

3. RECORD DATA

Once you have designed a good experiment, you need to perform it!

Data recording is all about keeping structure. Write down all the numbers you measure,
including control variables like temperature (which should be kept constant). Software like
Excel or Logger Pro can be useful in doing this in a structured way.

Once you have performed the experiment, repeat it! The more times you repeat your
experiment, the lower your random errors will be. For a short experiment, five repeats should

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be a minimum. However, it is important to ensure that all repeats are done under the same
conditions.

4. ESTIMATE YOUR UNCERTAINTIES

There will definitely be random errors in your experiment, and likely also some systematic
errors; it is important that you are able to identify these.

The systematic errors could come from your equipment; for example, if you are using a
stopwatch or other digital meter, there will always be an associated error of ±1 on the last digit.

They could also come from your experimental technique. Take a moment to think about
whether there are any additional uncertainties in your recordings due to “human” factors such
as reaction times.

Random errors, on the other hand, are separate from your equipment or technique and can only
be reduced by repeating the experiment many times. The errors come from fluctuations in the
quantity recorded, when what you want is actually the average value over time.

Hence, taking the average over several measurements should give you the best estimate; taking
half of the range of the measurements gives you your random uncertainty.

In your data recordings, indicate the uncertainty on every value that you have measured. If both
random and systematic uncertainties are present, use whichever one is larger and make a note
of this in your report.

5. PRODUCE A LINEAR GRAPH AND EXTRACT RESULT

After getting your results with uncertainties, it is time to check whether the relationship you
are trying to test actually holds up.

The easiest way to do this is to produce a linear graph. It is possible to do this by hand, but you
will get a more precise result if you have access to a mathematical computer software to help
you. Your school might provide you with this; otherwise, Microsoft Excel always works!

If you expect a linear relationship between the two variables you have measured (such as
between energy and height in the equation 𝐸 = 𝑚𝑔ℎ) then you simply produce a series of

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points corresponding to your measurements, and draw a best-fit line through it using your
preferred software (or by eye if no software is available).

𝑃
If the expected relationship is not linear, such as 𝐼 = 4𝜋𝑟2 which was mentioned above, then

you should linearize it. This means that you manipulate your variables such that a linear curve
is produced when you plot them.

The manipulated variables should be proportional to each other, i.e. separated by some constant
1
factor. In the above example this would mean that 𝐼 and 𝑟2 , which are separated by the constant
𝑃
factor 4𝜋, should be plotted against each other.

Once the best-fit line has been drawn, how do you see how well the relationship holds?

A good way to do this in physics is to look at your linear fit parameters, that is, the gradient
and y-intercept of your graph. This is because these quantities are related to physical constants,
and you can thus check how closely they align with what you expect them to be.

For example, if you are graphing 𝐸 against ℎ then the gradient should be 𝑚𝑔. If you divide this
by the mass of the object you should get a value for 𝑔, which you can compare to the real value
of 9.81 m s−2.

6. CALUCLATE UNCERTAINTIES ON FINAL RESULT

To properly compare your results to real physical values, it is vital to include an estimate of
your uncertainties.

In some software, errors parameters such as the gradient are automatically given along with
the parameter itself. If that is not the case, then you need to calculate them yourself.

The method of doing this is part of the core syllabus (section 1.2), so look back in your notes
or textbook to see how to do it. If you would like a concise and simple explanation, we also
have it right here as part of our online IB Better Physics course (INSERT LINK)!

7. EVALUATE YOUR RESULT

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After having finished all the practical work for the experiment comes one of the most important
parts of the investigation – the evaluation (worth 25 % of your mark!).

This is where you look back at everything you have done and reflect over it as a whole,
including pointing out key results and possible errors.

From the gradient of your graph you should have extracted a value of some physical quantity
with uncertainties. A fundamental part of your evaluation is to compare this to what you would
expect it to be.

For example, in an experiment to determine 𝑔, the expected value is 9.81 m s−2. If you get
something like 9.7 ± 0.2 m s−2, your result is consistent with the expected result as it is within
your range of errors.

If your result is not consistent with the real value, don’t worry too much! There are actually
loads of marks to be obtained by doing a thorough analysis of why you got the “wrong” result
– try to be creative in looking over your experimental setup and procedure again to identify
possible sources of error.

These could include systematic errors, leading to your result being shifted away from its actual
value – or it could be that you have simply underestimated your random errors, i.e. that your
uncertainty range is too small. Identifying what the issue is and properly justifying your view
of how it affected the result is very important in this case!

If on the other hand you got the “right” result, it might still be a good idea to look at your
random errors, i.e. your uncertainty range, and discuss if there was any ways that they could
be reduced (the smaller your error range, the better). You might even have some small
systematic errors to be identified!

Make sure to also explicitly discuss what your results mean for the relationship that you are
𝑃
investigating. For example, in the case of investigating 𝐼 = , you would likely not see a
4𝜋𝑟2

good linear relationship for small values of 𝑟. This is because the relationship only holds when
the light source is far enough away to be treated as a point source, something that should
definitely be pointed out in the evaluation.

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 8. WRITE UP YOUR REPORT

After having finished everything else, the only thing remaining is to make sure that everything
is written up nicely in your report. Make sure to take this part as seriously as the others, as the
report is ultimately what your teacher will base your grade on!

The report should be structured nicely, with a clear introduction, main body, and conclusion.

In the introduction, which should be relatively short, you should have little bit of background
on the experiment itself, how you came up with the idea, and why you think this area of study
interesting. You could also include some theoretical background on the relation you are
investigating here.

The main body should contain separate sections for theoretical background (if not part of the
introduction), experimental setup, results, analysis and evaluation.

It might also be useful to split the “analysis” section into two: one for calculation of the result
itself, and one for error analysis.

At the end should be the conclusion, where you have a short summary what your main results
of your investigation are. This should also summarise the sources of errors and how each one
affected the result of the experiment.

Make this as concise as you can – extended discussions should come earlier, in the “evaluation”
section

In the conclusion you should also suggest how the experiment could be improved or extended
to get a better result for the next hypothetical researcher to attempt it. Try to be realistic when
doing this; just saying things like “better equipment” or “better technique” doesn’t cut it – try
to think of what specifically you yourself could have done differently if you were to do the
experiment again.

While there is no official word count for your Physics IA, the IB recommends that the report
is between 6 and 12 pages, so make sure that you keep an eye on your page number.

After having written the full report, put it away for some time then come back to it and read
through it again with full focus on improving grammar, spelling, and conciseness – this goes
directly under the “communication” criterion which is worth 17 % of your mark. Having
someone else look over it before you hand in is also generally a good idea.

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CONCLUSION

The IBDP Physics IA is certainly a big task that can seem daunting to anyone. Our hope is that
if you follow the points laid out above, you will feel safer and more secure that you are doing
the right thing. Feel free to treat them as a checklist to structure your work around.

If you want more resources from us, check out our online courses for learning and revising
your IB diploma subjects.

If you want more free resources and online courses, head over to www.ibbetter.com