Teacher Notes
mainly for teachers but also for the interested student!
Welcome to the Teacher Notes section of my website. Here you will find materials that can be used to clarify concepts, clear up misconceptions, enhance teaching, challenge students, and promote conceptual understanding and critical thinking.
Check here periodically for new additions, improvements, corrections etc.
The files are divided within the five topics of the Guide but, occasionally, some files may belong to more than one topic.
Files that have been edited are denoted by &. It is a good idea to download the files only when you want to use them so that you will always have the most updated version.
LAST UPDATED: 14/05/2024
- Jun/23 Kinematics graphs: a basic skill
- Jun/23 Motion under gravity
- Jun/23 Free body diagrams and Newton's third law
- Jun/23 Free body diagrams and Newton's second law
- & Jun/23 Ball on an accelerating wedge
- Jun/23 Ball on movable inclined plane
- & Jul/23 Friction
- Jul/23 Conservation of energy
- Jul/23 Average power
- Jul/23 The power of the work-kinetic energy relation
- & Jul/23 A study of air resistance
- Jul/23 A peculiar problem of motion under gravity
- Aug/23 Motion on a vertical circle
- Aug/23 Circular motion and work done
- Aug/23 Circular motion and work done, again!
- Aug/23 Walter's problem
- Aug/23 An impressive demonstration
- & Sep/23 Ball falling off a sphere
- Sep/23 Rolling ball falling off a sphere
- Sep/23 Energy transfer
- Sep/23 Maximum possible energy transfer
- Oct/23 Projectile motion
- Oct/23 Two problems on projectile motion
- Oct/23 Energy density
- Oct/23 On centripetal acceleration
- Oct/23 A neat problem in energy conservation
- Oct/23 A human powered helicopter
- Oct/23 Pendulum meets peg
- Nov/23 Variable mass and rockets
- Nov/23 The leaking carriage
- & Nov/23 Conservative forces
- Nov/23 A problem in rotational motion
- Nov/23 An equilibrium problem requiring intuition
- Nov/23 A problem on torques
- Nov/23 A puzzle with velocities of points on a ring
- Nov/23 The three cylinders problem
- & Dec/23 A problem with angular momentum
- Dec/23 Invariant interval
- Dec/23 Birthdays and Doppler
- & Dec/23 Spacetime diagrams
- Dec/23 Is seeing believing?
- Dec/23 An instructive relativity problem
- Dec/23 The pole in-the-barn paradox
- Dec/23 Cue hitting snooker ball
- Dec/23 Rolling without slipping
- Feb/24 A problem with a math connection
- Apr/24 Scales in the Universe
- Apr/24 An impulse problem
- Apr/24 An unexpected motion
- May/24 A specimen paper relativity question
Topic A
- Jun/23 Internal energy
- Jun/23 A temperature difference puzzle
- Jun/23 Cooling curve for a radiating sphere
- Jun/23 Temperature during melting
- Jun/23 Fun with emissivity
- Jun/23 Stars are made of gas
- Jun/23 Derivation of gas pressure
- Jun/23 Another derivation of gas pressure
- Jun/23 Earth equilibrium temperature
- Jun/23 Molar specific heat capacities
- Jun/23 Hydrogen in the Sun
- Aug/23 The missing equation!
- Sep/23 Resistance increases with temperature
- Sep/23 So you bought a Carnot air conditioner!
- Sep/23 Another view of entropy
- Jan//24 A basic problem in thermodynamics
- Jan/24 The Planck radiation law
- Jan/24 About rms speed
- Jan/24 The black body peak puzzle
- Mar/24 Demonstrating black body radiation
- Apr/24 A circuit problem often gotten wrong
- Apr/24 Wrong methods can give the right answer
Topic B
- & Jun/23 SHM
- Jun/23 Wave graphs
- Jun/23 Longitudinal waves
- Jun/23 Reflection from an open end
- Jun/23 Standing waves or interference?
- Jun/23 Standing waves
- Jun/23 SHM equation
- Jun/23 The Huygens principle
- & Jun/23 Single slit diffraction
- Jul/23 Least time
- Jul/23 A longitudinal wave puzzle
- Jul/23 A resonance problem
- Jul/23 A problem on elastic energy in SHM
- Jul/23 Forced oscillations
- Jul/23 Resonance and energy conservation
- Aug/23 Ball oscillating in a bowl
- Nov/23 Another missing equation
- Feb/24 About phase difference
- Mar/24 It's hard to believe but it's true
- Mar/24 A problem on driven oscillations
- Apr/24 Two problems on the Doppler effect
- Apr/24 Standing waves and SHM
- Apr/24 A common exam question
- Apr/24 The approximate Doppler formula
- Apr/24 A challenging problem
- May/24 Energy and oscillations
Topic C
- Aug/23 Magnetic force on current
- Aug/23 Origin of magnetic force on wire
- Sep/23 Chiara's problem on magnetic forces
- Sep/23 Induced emf in a rotating coil
- Sep/23 Non-Coulomb electric fields
- Sep/23 Electrical effects and SHM
- Sep/23 The aurora
- Sep/23 The Hohmann transfer orbit
- & Sep/23 The gravitational slingshot
- Sep/23 Asteroids attacking Earth
- Sep/23 A qualitative problem
- & Nov/23 The binary star system
- Nov/23 Estimate of the drag force on a satellite
- & Nov/23 Gravitational potential and work done
- Nov/23 Electric potential
- & Nov/23 Gravitational potential and work done
- Nov/23 Negative mass?
- Nov/23 EM and Newton's third law
- Nov/23 Making planets
- Dec/23 Is the Earth moving away from the Sun?
- Jan/24 Questions based on an induction experiment
- Jan/24 Force between point charge and neutral sphere
- Feb/24 Loop entering magnetic field
- Apr/24 Meteorites again
- May/24 Flux and monopoles
- May/24 A basic induction problem
Topic D
- & Jun/23 Energy released
- Jul/23 Mass defect
- Jul/23 Binding energy per nucleon
- Jul/23 Why is energy released
- Jul/23 Nuclear density
- Jul/23 The de Broglie hypothesis
- Jul/23 Bohr condition and de Broglie
- Jul/23 Quantized flux
- Jul/23 The Thomson model of the atom
- & Jul/23 Antiparticles
- Aug/23 Nuclei as protons and electrons
- Aug/23 The decay constant and probability
- Aug/23 Why alpha decay?
- Aug/23 Oppenheimer
- Sep/23 What about momentum conservation?
- Sep/23 The relation between luminosity and mass
- & Sep/23 The HR diagram
- Sep/23 Electron degeneracy pressure
- Jan/24 Heisenberg's pencil
- Mar/24 On the photoelectric effect
- Mar/24 Radiation or gas pressure?
- Mar/24 A problem on the Compton effect
- Apr/24 Helium and the Sun
- Apr/24 Compton vs photoelectric
- May/24 Iron or nickel?