The physics of everyday things;
twelve weeks of learning through the Uttoxeter and
district U3A
Welcome to an
opportunity to learn about the physics behind some of things
that we come across in our everyday lives; together with the
necessary underpinning knowledge.
This web page is a work in progress with the intention of
providing access to information to support your learning.
|
Session |
Date |
Title |
Content |
Learning resources |
|
|
1 |
16.09.2022 |
Initial session | Exploring
potential topics and, through cooking, looking at what
'hot' means |
Click here to see Jenny's notes for this session and here for an image of the whiteboard showing possible topics | |
|
2 |
23.09.2022 |
Introduction
proper |
Exploring
and agreeing topics to be covered. More on heat-related
things including cooking. |
Click here to see Jenny's notes for this session, here to see Brownian motion in action in a smoke cell and here to read more about it. | |
| 3 | 30.09.2022 | More
on heat and heat transfer |
Exploring
more about how heat energy can be transferred from one
place to another |
Click here to see Jenny's notes for this session. | |
| 4 | 07.10.2022 | Turning
forces |
Exploring
forces that act at a distance away from a fulcrum |
Click
here
to see Jenny's notes for the session |
|
| 5 | 14,10.2022 | Levers in the human body | Click here to see Jenny's notes for the session | ||
| 6 | 21,10,2022 | Fundamentals of electricity | Today we start to
consider what electricity is and go on to look at static
electricity |
Click here
to see the PowerPoint slides used in the session and
here
to see Jenny's notes. Here you can see more information about static electricity generally and here about conductors and insulators. |
|
| 28.10.2022 | Half term |
A rest from
Wilfred House this week |
|||
| 7 | 04.11.2022 | Electricity in conductors | Considering
factors relating to electricity in conductors: voltage,
current, resistance and also generation, distribution
and use. |
Click
here
to see the sides used in the session and here
to see Jenny's notes. |
|
|
8 |
11.11.2022 |
Flight |
Today
we looked at some of the principles underlying
heavier-than-air flight. |
Click
here to
see Jenny's notes on flight generally and here
for her notes on aircraft controls. The Bernoulli principle that explained lift to O-level physics learners in the 1970s is now maligned but worthy of further reading; links to follow. |
|
|
9 |
18.11.2022 |
Jet
engines |
An
intriguing insight into jet engines and how they work. |
Click
here to
see the slides used on the day. Here
is a link to the part of NASA'a site about engines
and here
tells more about jet engines specifically. |
|
|
10 |
25.11.2022 |
The
physics of music (1) |
An
introduction to the physics that underpins the creation
of musical sounds in a variety of instruments. |
Please
click here
to see the slides used on the day and here
to see Jenny's notes that join up the nuggets of
learning from Friday beautifully. |
|
|
11 |
02.12.2022 |
A little more on
the physics of music |
Recapping
resonant cavities and strings and how the lengths of
these enable musicians to play different notes on a
variety of instruments. |
Please click here
to see the slides used on the day and here to see
how to play a nose flute |
|
| 12 | 09.12.2022 | Winding up and
looking forward |
Supplemental Information
A number of links to information to support and extend your
learning will appear here over the course of the sessions.
The BBC have a series, presented by Hannah Fry, in a similar
mould too which you can follow here
This site was
created on 19th September, 2022 and was last updated on 23rd
November, 2022.
Please mail me on DaveInElderCourt@gmail.com if you have any
feedback about the content of this page. Your input will help
to improve it for others.
