Physics A-Level
Tangent
What Tangent means in Physics A-Level, as defined for AQA, OCR.
Definitions of Tangent
Exam boards and our study guides word this term in slightly different ways. Learn the version your board uses.
Check what you remember
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Reference: AQA
Drawn at the required point, with two well-separated points read on it to calculate the gradient rather than using two data points on a curve.
A line drawn at a point on a curve, used to find the gradient at that point.
Topics that use Tangent
- Capacitor charge and discharge (A-level only) (AQA A-Level)
- Analysis (OCR A-Level)
Related terms
- Area under a graph
- Capacitor charging and discharging
- Determining the time constant from a graph
- Effect of larger R or C
- Exponential decay
- Exponential fall during discharge
- Gradient
- Graph gradients, intercepts and linearisation
Using Tangent in the exam
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