The phenomenon of "learning loss" during the long summer holidays is well known so to keep your physics cogs turning, here's a brief challenge. I took my camera to the Five Mile Road on Saturday and photographed cars going past. The camera was set to 5fps so every sixth picture should have been recorded exactly … Continue reading Keep the cogs turning!
Home Study Projects
Constantly going over things that you have already learned can get a bit boring so if you want to extend your knowledge over the summer holiday then it's a good idea to do so using some fresh material. Finding suitable resources can be tricky so let me suggest some materials that are provided online at … Continue reading Home Study Projects
Six Impossible Things
Most of the physics you learn at school hasn't changed for hundreds of years. It is important stuff because we know that it works and it underpins a lot of the modern world. But that doesn't mean it is right. This is the point that is made in John Gribbin's new book, Six Impossible Things. … Continue reading Six Impossible Things
Try This At Home (IoP)
You could be studying physics every day but it would be better to have some down time! So here are some ideas for experiments that you can do at home when you are taking a break from your studies. These things aren't rocket science; they're about waves, forces and the shape of space (actually a … Continue reading Try This At Home (IoP)
Future Impossible
Bell Labs has created a fantastic series of four short videos that I highly recommend. Coming from a team that is now part of Nokia, these videos focus on leading-edge information communication technologies but they do this in an extremely accessible way that shows the parts played by physicists in bringing industrial visions to life. … Continue reading Future Impossible
Hubble’s best pictures
The Hubble Space Telescope will reach its 30th birthday on 24th April 2020. To celebrate this milestone, the Physics World website is counting down its Top 10 Hubble Images. At number 10... Hubble's image of the Horsehead Nebula, which was announced on 15th April, can be viewed by clicking here. At number 9... Hubble's image … Continue reading Hubble’s best pictures
Physicists do silly things!
We all like to think of physicists as being really smart - and mostly they are - but sometimes a few of them do silly things. After all, we're only human... Physics World, the magazine of the Institute of Physics (IoP) has published an online article recounting a few examples of physicists' sillyness. You can … Continue reading Physicists do silly things!
Introduction to Flipgrid
Great though this platform is, we can't communicate directly with each other so I've created a new area where we can do just that. It's on a service called Flipgrid and you will find it at flipgrid.com/physbang. Please log-in using your school email address (I've set it that way so that the area is private) … Continue reading Introduction to Flipgrid
Stretch yourself
No matter where you are in your physics journey, there is always more to learn. Some things will be directly related to your studies and some will be just for general interest. And there are lots of websites out there that contain materials to support you as you expand your physics horizons. One website that … Continue reading Stretch yourself
Mr Tarrant's physbang 'blog 