So, for those who want it in full, here is the joke I referred to earlier. A geneticist, a physicist, and a statistician are all asked by a gambler to advise him on which horse to place his money in the Melbourne Cup.
Continue readingTag: Newton’s laws
Scholarship physics questions
I’ve just been putting together a presentation for final year school children on the NZ scholarship physics exam. NZ Scholarship is awarded to the top 3% or so of students in a particular subject in a particular year, and there is some big money up for grabs. But the exam questions for scholarship are hard. Really. […]
Continue readingThe scientific method
This morning we had a school group visit us from Whakatane – about 30 year 10 students (14 and 15 year olds) – they carried out some activities in Chemistry, Earth Sciences and Physics. I led them (as two groups) in a physics activity involving catapults. After doing the boring bit (talking about how energy […]
Continue readingSophie’s law of gravitation
With reference to my entry last week, here is the bit in Jostein Gaarder’s Sophie’s World about gravity. Spot the misconception. Sophie is talking to Alberto: ‘Well, if the moon was drawn to the earth with the same foce that causes the apple to fall, one day the moon would come crashing to earth instead […]
Continue readingIs there gravity in space?
This question comes from a final year school student, trying to answer a question about astronauts in spacestations. Well, having seen numerous videos of astronauts, the answer would seem to be no. They float around quite happily, scientists refer to them as being in a zero gravity environment, their leg muscles don’t get enough exercise, […]
Continue readingWhy do we do masses on springs?
This question arises from the 3rd year dynamics paper I’m teaching at the moment. How come in lectures we only ever cover simple examples of things (in the context of this paper, moving things), like a mass bouncing on a spring, rather than realistic examples, like a washing machine or aircraft engine. It’s a fair […]
Continue readingApollo
And while I’m on the subject of the moon, I shouldn’t forget the anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. For the record, the first landing was before my lifetime, but some later ones were not. (Not that I remember them).
Continue readingWeight, Newton and the cat
Last week we thought we’d have a go at weighing our cat. See how much weight he’s put on since we got him back in February. As you can imagine, this isn’t an easy process for a number of reasons, but we just about managed it. We put the kitchen scales on the floor, put […]
Continue readingBack to Rotorua
Last Friday I skived off work (well, I took a day’s leave) – it was the last day of the break between our semesters and the last chance for a day off work for a while – and went luging again. But this comment doesn’t concern the luge, rather the sky swing which is located […]
Continue readingCatching a cricket ball
Here is a question I’ve been mulling over for a few days since I heard a cricket commentator raise it during the recent West Indies – South Africa Twenty20 match. How high do you need to hit a cricket ball in order for it to reach terminal velocity on its way down? – in other words, […]
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