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=//**Essex Physics -**// The aim of this website is to provide resources for school-level Physics teaching.=

Follow the links below for current information about how physics knowledge is used in the world. I hope this will provide a window through which to view the wonderful universe we live in. There are also links to my own notes on various topics, and links to teaching and careers resources.


 * Why study physics?** - some would view physics as the bedrock on which most scientific development stands and therefore it has had, and continues to have, a huge impact on our development. The study of physics can provide a method for approaching problems and sifting the possible (i.e. what is likely to be correct) from the impossible (what is found to be incorrect). Moreover, for many it will be instrumental to their future lives and careers either through its application to them (e.g. in medical physics), its application by them (e.g. in engineering, architecture or research, for example), or simply in developing more rigorous ways of thinking (see "The Scientific Method" below). The scope of physics is //everything//: [|Scale of the Universe 2].

Site navigation:


 * Physics in space
 * Physics in the news
 * Useful links
 * Wonder Wall


 * Physics learning notes (various topics)
 * Teaching resource links
 * Teaching quotes and ideas
 * Physics lesson plans


 * Careers in physics

And finally, if you have had enough physics, how amount some chess...


 * Time for a break - chess
 * Or: a comic take on applications of physics (yoda power? Throwing a ball an 0.9c?) - [|What if - xkcd]

The Scientific Method:
1. Guess (i.e. make a model of how you think the world works) 2. Work out the consequences of your guess - what does your guess mean about how the world will behave? 3. Compare those consequences to observations of the real world. e.g. conduct an experiment to see if nature behaves in the way you predicted. //**Then either:**// 4a. If nature behaves in the way you predicted you have a theory for how the world works (which is valid unless, or until, a later experiment proves it wrong). //**Or**// 4b. If nature does not behave in the way you predicted, i.e. your experimental results are not the same as the consequences you computed, the YOU ARE WRONG. Make another guess! (i.e. amend or replace your model).

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