Archive for the ‘Physics’ Category
Monthy Python does density
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: September 3, 2008
2:28 in: Sir Pedivere: What also floats in water? Peasant 1: Very small rocks? King Arthur: A duck. Sir Pedivere: Exactly, so logically, if . . .? Peasant 2: she weighs the same as a duck, she’s . . . make of wood. Sir Pedivere: And therefore? All: a witch! It somehow seems all too [...]
Particle Physics and the LHC: some useful resources
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: September 3, 2008
- In: Education | Physics | Science
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The Large Hardon Collider is due to be turned on this day next week (Wednesday, 10th of September), so it’s not a bad time to put together some useful resources to show to the troops to give them some idea of what it’s all about. At just under 5 minutes, the Large Hadron Rap isn’t [...]
The mystery of magnetism
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: August 1, 2008
Floating rings used to demonstrate magnetic repulsion Sometimes the most basic question can be the hardest to answer. “How do magnets work?” is one such question. If you’re a teacher like me you’ll probably end up using fancy terms like “North and South Poles” and “Opposite Poles Attract”, and may even go on to demonstrate [...]
Murray Gell-Mann – why I took Physics
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: May 22, 2008
Murray Gell-Mann, the Nobel prize-winning scientist who ‘discovered’ quarks and took the word from Joyce’s Finnegans Wake, thought that Physics at high school was “the dullest course I had ever taken”, and he only applied to study physics at university “to please my father”. Taken from; When we were kids: how a child becomes a [...]
Dublin Alchemist Cafe: Professor Steve Fuller
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: May 14, 2008
- In: Education | Physics | youtube
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Hope to take myself into the city tomorrow for a little intellectual stimulation. The Dublin Alchemist Cafe, as it says itself: is a forum for the discussion of important and interesting scientific issues that is much more informal and accessible than a public lecture. Tomorrow Steve Fuller, Professor of Sociology at University of Warwick will [...]
Last-week-of-term activities
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: May 14, 2008
- In: Education | Physics | syllabus | youtube
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What do you do to entertain a class of sixth years who reckon they have earned the right to not work in their final week? Today I introduced them to the intriguing character of Nikola Tesla It seemed to go down well. Tomorrow I’m hoping to try getting them to listen to a podcast; in [...]
My tip for the Leaving Cert Physics paper
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: May 13, 2008
- In: Education | Particle Physics | Physics | youtube
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The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in CERN will be the world’s largest particle accelerator when its construction is completed sometime this Summer. It’s a pretty big deal if you are a particle physicist, and even if not you are still likely to be bombarded with the news when it is finally switched on. ‘Tips’ aren’t [...]
Fun with the Van der Graff and Animoto
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: May 1, 2008
- In: Education | Physics | Science | Static Electricity | youtube
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We had the usual fun with the Van der Graff today. The weather was rather accommodating, and it tallied nicely with the last class before the long weekend. I have never got a student’s hair to stand up dramatically, but i was drying the canvas belt with a hairdryer when I realised I could help [...]
When is a kilogram not a kilogram?
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: May 1, 2008
- In: Education | Physics | Science | youtube
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Many physics students will be familiar with the fact that the prototype kilogram is kept in a high-security vault in Paris. What I didn’t realise was that the mass of this specimen is changing, albeit very slightly. So here’s the question; if this is the one and only true version of the kilogram, and it [...]
More youtube and some Flickr
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: April 25, 2008
Decided it was time to see what I could do with Flickr, so I spent the day taking photos of Junior Cert Science demo apparatus. The plan is that I will show this to students and they will have to name the demonstration. Hopefully it will help the second-years revise for Summer exams. It must [...]
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