Aaargh! Physics!!

[Byatt]

One of the classic examples being Div and Curl in thermodynamics. Still gives me nightmares

My personal headache is tensor calculus in special relativity - which is what I was trying to work on until this thread appeared...oh dear.

[midzt]

Looks like I'll be having fun for the next 4/5 years. :S

[GreenPiggy]

Any idea where you are going yet?
Don't worry too much about special Relativity, you won't have to do much of it

[midzt]

I want to do automotive engineering, so hopefully it would become easier to learn as I would be more interested in it.

[RVF500]

Seems we could save a whole lot of money by replacing non-functioning teachers with google.com

Call me old fashioned, but aren't teachers supposed to teach?

[GreenPiggy]

Google doesn't quite work on it's own RVF, I am a physics teacher.
The concepts involved in electricity are pretty difficult to grasp at first glance, this is why people get tutors

[Byatt]

Don't worry too much about Special Relativity, you won't have to do much of it

Not in the long term, but this exam in the summer looms large - and I'm the sort of person that likes understanding everything, so not getting this is a bit of a bugbear.

Seems we could save a whole lot of money by replacing non-functioning teachers with google.com

Call me old fashioned, but aren't teachers supposed to teach?

Wikipedia, surely, not google, always a handy resource in these circumstances, I find.

Would still much rather have a decent lecturer though, difference between learning a subject with/without one is like night and day.

[RVF500]

Well, judging by the first post I'm sure that it was stated that the teacher hadn't actually taught them anything. Which was why the thread was started. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I do understand that the concepts are not easy at first glance having dealt with electricity and electromagnetism as regards RF propogation as a job back in the days of HF and VHF radio for the purposes of path analysis. Quite possibly before the author of this thread was even born (don't even think of asking me to do it now, too complicated ). I also took physics at GCE O level. Yes, it was hard. Which is why one needs a teacher to teach imho. I'm sure you would agree. As a teacher yourself, I've read several of your previous threads so I'm aware of that. I also happen to agree with a lot of what you have previously said on the subject.

Fortunately you were on hand to help out in this case. My point is that you shouldn't have needed to be. I contract, enter into agreements with companies for which I provide a professional service. If I fall short of that service then they dispense with my services pretty rapidly (it hasn't happened yet, touch wood). While I do what I'm contracted to do they pay me (pretty well). It's kinda black and white. Maybe this has coloured my thinking as regards employment. Maybe it's a bit simplistic. When it falls to the education of an individual though, well you've read previous posts of mine so you know where I stand on that subject.

[GreenPiggy]

It tends to be a sore point with most teachers when people say if a pupil comes out of a lesson with the wrong concept then it is automatically the teachers fault.
ps - this is in no means criticising you midzt as your teacher probably sucks

[RVF500]

Exactly green. Midzt hasn't come out saying that the wrong concept has been taught or that the teaching was misunderstood, but that nothing has been taught. It appears out of frustration midzt has come on to an open forum to ask for help. It's not as if no attempt has been made to grasp the concepts in question. Just the opposite. That's pretty bad criticism in itself. It's good to see someone show the initiative to get up off their backside and hunt out the answers themselves.

I'm not criticizing teachers as a whole, but when one is responsible for the future of another by ones actions, or lack thereof, then that responsibility should be taken seriously. It appears in this case at least, that it isn't.

[RoGuE|SaBeR]

First A2 Physics module on Wednesday....

...woo hoo...

[Stoo]

the right teacher makes a hell of a difference, but it's also down to the way that the person learns, a complimenting pair can make even the most difficult subjects a walk in the park

[Stewart]

An Amp(Current) is a coulomb per second, a coulomb is 6.2 × 10^18 electrons.
Therefore the amount of electrons arriving per second is simply the current times the number of electrons

A volt is a joule per coulomb so the energy of each electron is Voltage divided by the number of electrons per second(above)


It is the speed the electrons travel through a material.
It changes depending on the material.


where n is the number of electrons per cubic metre
A is the cross sectional area of the wire
v is the drift velocity of the electrons
Q is the charge of an electron

You know all of these apart from n(unless you know what material it is travelling through in which case I can find out)

Duh.

[Howard]

Duh.

[midzt]

Was supposed to hand in the homework today, but the teacher gave us a help sheet and a few extra days to do, cos basically noone knew what drift velocity was and how to work it out.

The only time I do homework properbly and we get extra days to do it. Grrr!

[KBeee]

So.. does that mean you can rewire my house?
Hehehehe