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1. This Challenge was inspired
by a study of an exhibit at the Science Museum,
London. It is expected that you will want to
read Priestley's
story and read about his electrostatic
machine.
Your teacher will set you tasks
from the 'static
electricity timeline' . A summary
of these tasks is given here. The Task pages
will give links to websites that will help with
the challenge. This
link is more general and may be a
good starting point.
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These tasks are designed to be undertaken over
the summer vacation. You will be expected to give
a presentation to the group early after starting
your A/AS study. The practical tasks are not difficult,
but you will be expected to give a well prepared
presentation of your findings. You may consider
producing simple visual aids to get your ideas
across and demonstrate any practical activity.
Each presentation should not last more than ten
to fifteen minutes. |
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An important part of the
challenge is to assess your mathematical
skills. Studying physics will require
an ability to work with number.
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Use Mr. Bunge's Algebra Practice
Pages to check out your ability to rearrange
simple equations. You should not have too much
trouble with the first four lessons.
You will be able to take things further here.
It is expected that you should be able to solve
all the linear equations
When doing quantitative practical work, physicists
are always looking for a straight line to their
graph. If they find a curve then the next step
is usually to manipulate the figures in order
to find a straight line. Once you have a straight
line, an equation is easy to obtain. As this
is such a recurring technique, it is important
that you understand the equations that form
a straight line. Use Mr. Bunge's Algebra Practice
Pages again to study linear equations.
Early on in your physics course your algeba
will be tested. Are you ready ?
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Physics deals with very large
and very small numbers. You will need to become
familiar with scientific
notation.
The links below will also help
you make sense of some of these numbers.
As you will need to be able to multiply and
divide numbers expressed in scientific notation,
a good
calculator is useful.
You need to click 
in order to activate the scientific notation.
Get more information here.
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Success in a Physics course
at this level can only be achieved with research
and independent learning. Physics texts may
still the best resource but the World Wide Web
can win out by being interactive, up-to-date,
and exciting. You will be expected to search
the web for resources that may be of useful
during your study, and to share them with your
fellow students.
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Here are a few links of general
interest.
Physics
2000
Physics
Classroom
Sciencenet
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The are so many useful
web pages it is hard to know where to start.
You might like to look at a few interactive
pages. Take a lucky dip - click on a jellybean,
and see where you go! Don't expect to understand
the information fully at this stage. Simply
get a taste for what physics is about.
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This part of the Challenge is
to search the web for resources that might be
of use to you during a physics course.
It might be a good idea to find out if your
exam board has the syllabus available for download.
So you might want to start
here. Once
you have a clearer idea of some of the topics
you will be studying, you should search the
web.
There are many different search engines. Google.com
is good but there are many others to
choose from . Try the search engines below.
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