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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.

happy birthday leaplings!

mrmackenzie — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 08:01:39 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56zlm9qhVGc

capacitors – charge, energy and graphs

mrmackenzie — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:12:51 +0000

We’ve just completed the topic on capacitors in dc circuits, finishing off with a detailed study of the graphs obtained for current & voltage against time when a capacitor is charged or discharged through a series resistor. There are some additional notes and practice questions at the end of this post but please watch the clips first.

This introduction to capacitors from the nice people at Make Magazine is a good starting point.

The S-cool revision site has some helpful notes and illustrations on capacitor behaviour; try page 1 (how capacitors work) and page 2 (charging and discharging).

Here is a video that covers some of the areas we discussed in class. Ignore the maths at the end of each section of the film, you won’t need it. Notice how the man in the film uses a lightbulb, rather than an ammeter, to show when the current is large or small. Clever, eh?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfL3QWJSCu0

One use of capacitors you should know about is the flashing lamp. We’ll cover this application next week.

I compared normal electrolytic capacitors to a 10F supercapacitor, and we observed its superior performance in terms of energy storage. This video goes one step further and shows the fun you could have with an ultracapacitor. Do not try this at home!

Of course, you can always make your own capacitor with paper and electrically conductive paint.

Now download the pdf below. It contains notes to help with your prelim revision and some extra capacitor problems.

Thanks to Fife Science for the original pdf from Martin Cunningham.

site maintenance

mrmackenzie — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 22:21:50 +0000

I am moving this site to a new hosting company during the holidays. You might notice some broken links or missing videos. Please let me know by leaving a comment so I can fix anything I have missed.

Past papers are currently unavailable on the AH, Higher & Int2 pages. Some (not all) can be found by typing “pastpaper” in the search box at the top of the page.

Thanks.

shortlisted!

mrmackenzie — Tue, 03 May 2011 21:36:11 +0000

Thank you to everyone who voted for this blog in the education blog awards. Fizzics has made it to the last 10 and the judges will decide on a winner later this month.

Mr Connor from Golspie has also made it to the last 10 teacher blogs, so Highland teachers make up 20% of the shortlist for teacher blog of the year!

nominated for teacher blog of the year

mrmackenzie — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 16:52:31 +0000

I’ve been nominated for the 2011 Education Blog Awards in the Teacher Blog category. You can vote for my blog by clicking on the picture below. The last day for voting is 30th April.

how do you eat yours?

mrmackenzie — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 12:18:43 +0000

More fun from the people at Nottingham University. Happy Easter!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6GyJBgBk2o

pumpkin chemistry

mrmackenzie — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:13:29 +0000

This Halloween video from Nottingham University is pretty cool.

back to school

mrmackenzie — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:38:14 +0000

We had 7 weeks of summer holiday this year and it still didn’t seem long enough! Hope you had a great holiday and hope you remember to come back on Tuesday.

So what about the exam results, then?

There were great performances at all levels, from Standard Grade to Advanced Higher. Congratulations to you all!

Thanks to Jose Picardo for the animation.

Physics is making big bucks in the Scottish economy

mrmackenzie — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 19:55:38 +0000

I found a press release from the Institute of Physics saying that Physics provides a staggering £8 billion for the Scottish economy.