Related papers: Introductory physics: The new scholasticism
Theory of Relativity (Special and General) is one of the most influential theories of the 20th century and has changed the way we view the world. It is part of many undergraduate curriculums and it is often suggested that it should be…
Modern physics is largely defined by fundamental symmetry principles and Noether's Theorem. Yet these are not taught, or rarely mentioned, to beginning students, thus missing an opportunity to reveal that the subject of physics is as lively…
Our main goal is to develop plans to increase physics enrollment. Once again we thoroughly analyze the problem from the beginning and reach the conclusion that the most appropriate starting point in this direction should be to look into…
Special relativity is no longer a new revolutionary theory but a firmly established cornerstone of modern physics. The teaching of special relativity, however, still follows its presentation as it unfolded historically, trying to convince…
We believe that economists have much to learn from educational research practices and related pedagogical innovations in other disciplines, in particular physics education. In this paper we identify three key features of physics education…
These lecture notes and example problems are based on a course given at the University of Cambridge in Part III of the Mathematical Tripos. Fluid dynamics is involved in a very wide range of astrophysical phenomena, such as the formation…
Starting from basic physical principles, we present a novel derivation linking the global wind power to measurable atmospheric parameters. The resulting expression distinguishes three components of the atmospheric power (the kinetic power…
The question of whether extreme value statistics should be introduced into courses for physics students has been broached recently. Here it is argued that the topic should be taught but the many and varied physical applications should be…
We review recent relativistic hydrodynamic simulations of jets, and their interpretation in terms of the results from linear stability analysis. These studies show that, interpreted naively, the distribution of synchrotron intensity will in…
Identifying the relevant physics principles is a central component of problem solving. A major goal of most introductory physics courses is to help students discern the deep similarities between problems based upon the physics principles so…
Theories in physics usually do not address ``the present''or ``the now''. However, they usually have a precise notion of an ``instant'' (or state). I review how this notion appears in relational point mechanics and how it suffices to…
There are two strong clues about the quantum structure of spacetime and the gravitational dynamics, which are almost universally ignored in the conventional approaches to quantize gravity. The first clue is that null surfaces exhibit…
Textbooks play a fundamental role in teaching and learning in school science classrooms. In this paper we investigate the presentation of the nature of the electromagnetic field in a dozen of the world's most popular introductory university…
The physics that underpins modern technology is based on Einstein's theories of relativity and quantum mechanics. Most school students complete their compulsory science education without being taught any of these Einsteinian concepts. Only…
We investigate studnets' use of words used in everyday language as well as in physics. We find students are more likely to identify and explain the meaning of the word as it is used in physics when they have become familiar with the…
We discuss the work-kinetic energy theorem and the mechanical energy conservation theorem in the context of general physics courses. The motivation is the fact that all modern texts on introductory mechanics show the same conceptually…
This lecture note covers Relativistic Kinematics, which is very useful for the beginners in the field of high-energy physics. A very practical approach has been taken, which answers "why and how" of the kinematics useful for students…
Most science classes and in particular Physics are delivered through traditional teaching methods. More specifically, in the traditional stand-and-deliver lecture, the information was transmitted unilaterally from the teacher to the student…
We consider a body immersed in a perfect gas, moving under the action of a constant force E along the x axis . We assume the gas to be described by the mean-field approximation and interacting elastically with the body, we study the…
The illuminating role of differential forms in electromagnetism is seldom discussed in the classroom. It is the aim of this article to bring forth some of the relevant insights that can be learnt from a differential forms approach to E\&M.…