Laboratory or home experiments and related techniques etc.
They happen all around us. Raindrops fall from the sky and collide with the ground. We have all heard of black holes colliding in spacetime. More often than you'd like, random furniture collides with your harmless toes (your furniture might beg to differ). The last one might have left you wanting to cushion your furniture… Continue reading Collisions
The Course The electromagnetic force unifying electrical and magnetic forces, is one of the four fundamental forces. With gravitation, it is one of the two manifesting at a macroscopic level. A course on electricity and magnetism finds a place after an introduction to Newtonian mechanics. This course starts with techniques for computing electric and magnetic… Continue reading Kit Experiments in Electricity and Magnetism
The Course Mechanics being a first course in physics training, a balance of theory and hands-on activities gets the student ready to undertake a systematic study of other areas of physics. Accordingly they go hand-in-hand in our undergraduate first course taught at our University. On the theoretical side, a basic introduction to standard topics in… Continue reading Kit Experiments in Mechanics
This is a periscope made by students with two right angled prisms in a course on Optics taught by Physics faculty, Rema Krishnaswamy. (These kind of setups are often used in optics research to manipulate or displace a beam of light. Also look up 'Dove prism') What phenomena/concepts is this setup based on? We wish… Continue reading Exploring a periscope made with prisms
What is this session about Make abstract concepts relatable How do we help students engage with concepts from Heat and Temperature that are often at an abstract level? History of Thermal Physics Understand how people in the 1700s measured specific heat capacities and latent heat accurately and also perform a related experiment on ice calorimetry.… Continue reading Two simple experiments for a Thermal Physics classroom
What is this session about Phenomena around the Earth-Sun system Simple measurements/observations with a sundial can tell us a lot about interesting phenomena A common misconception What is the reason for the seasons? Big ideas Measuring the circumference of the Earth What do we discuss in this session? Starting with simple observations, one can build… Continue reading Making a Sundial/Fun with Shadows
What is this session about Combining a variety of tools It is now possible to combine a variety of easily available tools to do conventional lab experiments more effectively (even at home) Smartphones, free software and spreadsheets A combination of tools can enable students to record and analyse data accurately and conveniently Transferable skills Once… Continue reading An experiment on RC circuits for lockdown times
What is this session about Physics in the world around us How do we see the broader relevance of Physics concepts to the world around us? Connections within the sciences Can we blur the boundaries between disciplines and see how interrelated these fields are? Some key concepts in science How do we convey ideas in… Continue reading Using examples from Biology and Climate Science in a Physics classroom
What is this session about Scientifically rigorous experiments at home How could we do quantitative school science experiments at home with commonly available material? Connect everyday phenomena to school Physics Can we recognise and appreciate Physics phenomena at home? Can we pedagogize these, i.e. connect them to formal Physics? What do we discuss in this… Continue reading Physics at home
The Course A "proper" course in Thermal physics should ideally include labs based on (a) measurement of quantities ( eg: pressure, temperature, heat), (b) verification of physical laws (gas laws, isothermal and adiabatic processes) and (c)observation of new and interesting phenomena (Boltzmann distribution, Phase transitions). In the online version, we put together a kit with… Continue reading Kit experiments in Thermal Physics
