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The Role of Dimensional Analysis in Teaching Physics

Physics Education 2016-11-26 v3

Abstract

Dimensional analysis is a simple qualitative method for determining essential connections between physical quantities. It is applicable to a multitude of physics problems, many of which canbe introduced early on in a university physics curriculum. Despite the relative simplicity of theapproach, it is rarely included in physics curricula. Here, we apply dimensional analysis to find the radiated power from an electric dipole. Employing dimensional analysis, we demonstrate a straightforward way to derive the latter without the need for complex mathematical treatments.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1308.6164,
  title  = {The Role of Dimensional Analysis in Teaching Physics},
  author = {Michaela Reichelova and Aba Teleki},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1308.6164},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

11 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-22T01:16:39.666Z