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Science notebooks Cambridge IGCSE

The science book

Read the idea. Try it as you go.

The same explanations and investigations as the lessons, gathered in one reading room. Good for revision and for reading aloud in class.

Biology · IGCSE 0610 · 8 of 52 modules ready

Living things and keys · Topic 1

  1. Is it alive?

    The seven characteristics of living organisms, and how to test whether something is alive

  2. Naming with a key

    Dichotomous keys: naming organisms by features you can see, and building a key of your own

  3. Species and scientific names

    Species, two-part scientific names and, in the Supplement, what DNA shows about relationships

Kingdoms and animal groups · Topic 1

  1. Plant or animal? The vertebrates

    Plant or animal kingdom, and the five groups of vertebrates

  2. The arthropods

    The four groups of arthropods: insects, arachnids, crustaceans and myriapods

  3. Supplement: five kingdoms, plant groups and viruses

    Supplement: the five kingdoms, ferns and flowering plants, and viruses

Cells under the microscope · Topic 2

  1. Plant and animal cells

    Plant, animal and bacterial cells: what a microscope shows and what each structure does

  2. Specialised cells and organisation

    New cells from cell division, specialised cells and the levels from cell to organism

  3. Magnification

    Magnification and actual size, in millimetres and micrometres

Diffusion and active transport · Topic 3

  1. Diffusion and cell size

    Diffusion, surface area to volume ratio and the factors that change the rate of diffusion

  2. Diffusion in living things

    Diffusion through cell membranes: gases in the lungs and leaves, and dissolved substances

  3. Active transport

    Active transport against a concentration gradient, with protein carriers and energy from respiration

Osmosis · Topic 3

  1. Water and membranes

    Water as a solvent, partially permeable membranes and osmosis, with dialysis-tubing bags

  2. Potato in sugar solutions

    Plant tissue in solutions of different concentrations: the potato investigation, turgor and plasmolysis

  3. Water for whole organisms

    Water potential in organisms: root hairs, wilting, red blood cells and food that keeps

Food tests · Topic 4

  1. What food is made of

    What food is made of: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen; big molecules from small ones

  2. Testing foods

    Testing foods: iodine, Benedict's, biuret, the emulsion test and DCPIP, each beside a water control

  3. The structure of DNA

    The structure of DNA: a double helix of two strands, with A paired to T and C to G (Supplement)

Enzymes · Topic 5

  1. Catalysts in living things

    Catalysts and enzymes: the active site, the enzyme–substrate complex and why each enzyme has one job

  2. Temperature and enzymes

    Timing amylase at different temperatures: optimum temperature, collisions and denaturation

  3. pH and enzymes

    Amylase at different pH values: buffers, optimum pH and the shape of the active site

How plants make food · Topic 6

  1. What photosynthesis makes

    Glucose and oxygen from carbon dioxide and water, using energy from light, with chlorophyll in the chloroplasts

  2. What a leaf needs: the starch investigation

    The starch test, destarched plants and controls for light, chlorophyll and carbon dioxide

  3. What the plant does with its sugar

    Starch, cellulose, respiration, sucrose and nectar; nitrate and magnesium ions

Chemistry · IGCSE 0620 · 7 of 51 modules ready

States and changes of state · Topic 1

  1. Same water, three states

    Properties and particles of solids, liquids and gases

  2. Where does the heat go?

    Melting, boiling, evaporating and the heating curve

  3. Cooling it back down

    Condensing, freezing and the cooling curve

Gases under pressure · Topic 1

  1. Squeeze a gas

    Pressure and volume at the same temperature, explained with particles

  2. Warm it, cool it

    Temperature and volume at the same pressure, explained with particles

Diffusion · Topic 1

  1. A smell you can't see

    Diffusion in gases and liquids, explained with randomly moving particles

  2. Lighter, faster

    Why lighter gas particles diffuse faster (Supplement)

Mixtures and separation · Topic 12

  1. Where did the salt go?

    Solvent, solute and solution

  2. What gets through the filter?

    Residue, filtrate and dissolved salt

  3. How can the salt return?

    Recovery and choosing a solvent

  4. Which separation should come first?

    Build and explain a method

Crystallisation · Topic 12

  1. Can any more dissolve?

    Saturation at a specified temperature

  2. Why do crystals appear as it cools?

    Concentrate, test and cool

  3. Collect the crystals. Follow the liquid.

    Filter, blot and explain the method

Distillation · Topic 12

  1. Can we get the water back?

    Recover the solvent

  2. What if both liquids can escape?

    Compare changing fractions

  3. Which method fits this mixture?

    Choose and justify a method

Paper chromatography · Topic 12

  1. Can one colour hide several substances?

    Prepare and develop the mystery dye

  2. What can the pattern tell you?

    Compare spots and question purity

  3. Measure travel, then reveal what you cannot see

    Measure Rf and locate colourless substances

Physics · IGCSE 0625 · 7 of 43 modules ready

Measuring and the pendulum · Topic 1

  1. Read the scale

    Reading rulers and measuring cylinders, and measuring small distances by multiples

  2. Time the swing

    Timing with clocks and timers, and the period of a pendulum from many swings

Speed and motion graphs · Topic 1

  1. The story of a journey

    Speed, velocity and average speed; reading distance–time graphs and finding speed from the gradient

  2. The area under the line

    Speed–time graphs, and the distance travelled from the area under the line

Acceleration, falling and drag · Topic 1

  1. Acceleration

    Acceleration as the change in velocity per unit time, from data and from the gradient of a speed–time graph; deceleration and the friction in brakes; free fall with g = 9.8 m/s²

  2. Falling and drag

    Drag in liquids and air resistance in gases; falling with and without them; terminal velocity and the parachute

Mass, weight and density · Topic 1

  1. Mass and weight

    Mass and weight: what a balance measures, newtons, and the gravitational field strength g = W / m on Earth, the Moon and Mars

  2. Measure a density

    Density as mass per unit volume, and how to measure it for a regular solid, an irregular solid and a liquid

  3. Float or sink

    Floating and sinking: predicting from densities which objects float and which liquid floats on another

Gas pressure and temperature · Topic 2

  1. Squeezing a gas

    Gas pressure from particles hitting the walls, as a force per unit area; squeezing a gas at a steady temperature, and pV = constant with its graphs

  2. Heating a gas at a fixed volume

    Heating a gas at a fixed volume, in particle terms; the kelvin scale and T = θ + 273

  3. Thermal expansion

    Thermal expansion of solids, liquids and gases, why gases expand most, and where expansion is useful or a problem

Specific heat capacity · Topic 2

  1. Heating a block of aluminium

    Internal energy and temperature; specific heat capacity, its definition and c = ΔE ÷ (m Δθ); measuring it for a solid, and why an insulating jacket improves the result

  2. Measuring the specific heat capacity of water

    Measuring the specific heat capacity of water; why water warms and cools slowly, and where that matters

Melting, boiling and evaporation · Topic 2

  1. Melting and boiling

    Melting and boiling at fixed temperatures; melting and boiling points of water; heating and cooling curves, and condensation and solidification

  2. Evaporation and cooling

    Evaporation: the more energetic particles escape from the surface, so the liquid left cools; how an object in contact with an evaporating liquid cools

  3. What changes the rate of evaporation

    What changes the rate of evaporation: temperature, surface area and moving air; how evaporation differs from boiling