School of Physics UNSW High Schools: Resources

Links to HSC Physics Resources

General Pages
- FAQ for high school physics, collecting and answering many of the questions put by students, mainly in New South Wales, to the
- Bulletin Board for high school physics.
- A simple introduction to calculus. Some of the most important ideas used in introductory physics.
- Physics questions: a forum for discussing physics questions that fall outside the syllabi of most courses.

Pages on Mechanics
- PhysClips: a multi-media, multi-level introduction to mechanic
- The Foucault Pendulum at the University of New South Wales. Does the earth go around the sun and how do you know?
- What are coriolis forces and why do the major ocean currents and winds go clockwise in the Northern hemisphere and anti-clockwise in the South?
- Using a vanilla slice to demonstrate various material properties.
- The physics of sailing: how boats can sail upwind, how they can sail faster than the wind, etc.
- The monkey and the hunter. Featuring a slow motion video of this classic physics question.

Pages on Electricity and magnetism . AC is an area in which animations really are helpful for understanding phase differences and phasor diagrams, so we made some.

Relativity
- Relativity in ten minutes - or ten hours. Can relativity be understood by someone with little or no background in physics?
  "Einstein Light" uses animations and film clips to explain relativity at a range of levels.
Pages related to quantum physics
- Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and the musician's uncertainty principle.
- Downloadable notes on Bohr and the hydrogen spectrum. A simplified account written for high school or introductory physics students.
- The quantum mechanics of cricket.
Pages related to thermal physics
- Thermal radiation (and why clothes work).
- Superheating and microwave ovens: why you should be careful boiling water in microwave ovens.
- Boiling and freezing: the effects of solutes and of pressure: a simple, non-technical (biologist-friendly) account.
Pages on miscellaneous topics in physics
- The electromagnetic spectrum
- The physics of speech, including helium speech and why it makes your voice sound funny.
- Cosmology, Teleology and Danish Grandmothers: a critical examination of the argument for design in the universe.
- What is the green flash and what causes it?
- How big is a meteor? A simple calculation to determine the size from its perceived brightness.

External Sites
- PhET Physics Education Technology
- AMPS The Australian Multimedia for Physics Students website.