fizzics » AH Physics

advanced higher physics past papers 2001-2011

mrmackenzie — Wed, 23 May 2012 09:48:42 +0000

Past papers and solutions (a mixture of official marking schemes and specimen answers) for 2001 to 2011 are not available on the advanced higher physics revision page.

how satellites rule our world

mrmackenzie — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:02:28 +0000

BBC2 showed a really good programme about satellites last night. This screenshot showing a satellite passing over the Highlands is taken from about 17 minutes into the show. Click on the picture to visit the BBC’s own page about the documentary.

It was quite eye-opening to see just how much modern society relies on satellite technology.

You can download the entire programme using the link below.

AH investigation report

mrmackenzie — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 15:19:00 +0000

This week is your last chance to submit a draft of your investigation report for proof reading. I have already given you a copy of the SQA guidelines for candidates. You might also find the attached uncertainties document helpful. Pay special attention to the final page; reports that fail to account for calibration uncertainty will be penalised by the external marker.

If you are struggling with uncertainties in Excel, have a look at the two linest documents I posted earlier this year.

dropping a slinky

mrmackenzie — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:41:28 +0000

Ria asked if a slinky really stops in mid air when it is released. Eoin helped us to find out the answer.

It’s easier to see what happens if you watch a slow motion version.

Or even slower motion.

Why does that happen?

beautiful equations

mrmackenzie — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 12:43:32 +0000

Those of you not out celebrating New Year might have spotted a programme called Beautiful Equations on the BBC schedule. The programme follows an artist as he asks about five famous physics equations.

One of the featured equations should be familiar to you from unit 1 of the AH Physics course;

Hopefully you recognise this as Newton’s equation for the gravitational force between two bodies. I have extracted the nine minutes or so relating to Newton’s work and embedded it below.

The link below will download the entire programme, which also looks at , time dilation in special relativity, the Dirac equation and Stephen Hawking’s work on black holes.

decommissioning Dounreay – Bang Goes the Theory

mrmackenzie — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 23:35:15 +0000

This week’s episode of Band Goes the Theory was about the Fukushima disaster in Japan. Part of the programme was filmed at Dounreay, where Dallas investigated the methods being used to decontaminate the site. You can watch the part about Dounreay by playing this clip.

The whole programme is available for download using the link below (large download).

AH – help using Excel

mrmackenzie — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 09:18:08 +0000

This tutorial will help you with adding a line of best fit to your LO3 graph. If you use the linest function, you can extract useful information on gradient and intercept of the line. There are also screenshots to show how error bars can be added to individual points.

Excel Tutorial: Using LINEST function, Plotting a graph, Adding Error Bars

I have added a download link to a short pdf on the use of linest.

AH LO3

mrmackenzie — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 12:58:25 +0000

You completed the practical aspect of your LO3 task today.

For next week, please process your data so you can show me

complete table of results
a graph of centripetal force vs the square of angular velocity
sample calculations for your uncertainties.

This will probably be easier to complete if you use a spreadsheet program such as Excel or OpenOffice. You will need diagrams for the procedure section of your LO3 report. Scanned images of the apparatus are available here.

AH uncertainties solutions

mrmackenzie — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Here are the answers to your uncertainties exercise. Please compare these to your own solutions and ask me about anything you don’t follow.

AH uncertainties homework

mrmackenzie — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 14:47:11 +0000

Here is an electronic copy of the uncertainty questions you should attempt before Monday. Remember to check which type of combination is appropriate for each situation before starting the question.