Children Physics facts and ideas

• Sir Isaac Newton is considered the most influential scientist that ever lived and in 1687 he discovered the laws of motion and gravity.
• Albert Einstein is probably the most well know Physicist. He won the 1921 Noble Prize in Physics for his work in theoretical Physics.
• When Physicists studied planets they discovered that Uranus rolls on its side like a barrel and is the only planet in our solar system to do this. They also discovered that Venus spins the opposite way to Earth.
• Due to the effect of Thermal Expansion, the Eiffel Tower can become up to 15cm taller in summer.
• Edwin Powell Hubble was an astronomer who, in 1929, discovered that there were galaxies other than the Milky way. You may have heard of the Hubble Space Telescope which was named after him. He even has a crater on the Moon named after him!
• Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, produced and detected electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength in 1895, today we know this as an X-Ray.
• The lowest location on earth is in Israel and is known as the Dead Sea. It is 400 metres below sea level.
• So why is the sun so hot? Well Physicists discovered that the Sun weighs billions and billions of tonnes and this puts immense pressure on its core which creates the sun’s power.
• The range of gravity is infinite, but it is so weak it is not noticeable. Any object that has mass will have a gravitational pull – including you - that is how you can be weighed.
• When the Astronaut Sergie Aydeyev returned to earth after 747 days in space the effect of Relativity made him a fraction of a second younger!

Some practical points to check are:

• Do you need to provide stationery or equipment? Do these need to be purchased before the lessons start?
• Are there any text books that you need to order/pay for in advance?

There are three examination boards accredited by Ofqual. These are:

AQA –One of the leading provider of GCSEs and A Levels. Used by most secondary schools and colleges in the UK.

Edexcel – Considered the UK’s largest awarding organisation, they offer both academic and vocational qualifications and testing to schools and colleges.

OCR (Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations) – Over 13,000 centres choose OCR for their A Levels and GCSEs.

Children and Young Adults

GCSE - involves studying the theory of Physics combined with some investigative work. GCSEs normally take 5 terms to complete and are usually studied full time at school or college.

A/AS Level - AS (Advanced Subsidiary) and A (Advanced) qualifications will focus on more traditional study skills. They generally take two years to complete full-time, however they are also available to part-time.

Adults

Physics can been taken into many areas at degree level.

Qualifications of teachers/tutors

There is no minimum qualification required to tutor Physics at home in the UK at present, however we would recommend you ask to see copies of qualifications held.

• Focus
• Concentration
• Mathematical
• Memory
• Reading
• Writing
• Motivation
• Organisation
• Discipline
• Written Communication

There are many benefits to introducing your child to a Physics tutor. Closing some of the holes in their learning will enable them to catch up with or creep ahead of their peers, building their confidence and enabling them to enjoy the subject.

Whether building a young child’s confidence or assisting them with exam preparation a Physics tutor is your way of helping them gain control of their learning.

The 5 most famous Physicists are generally listed as :

German born Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) had a very clear view of the problems of Physics and how to solve them from a young age. He considered each achievement a stepping stone to the next advancement. Even after retirement he continued to work on basic concepts of Physics. (Special and General Relativity)

American, Richard Feynman (1918 – 1988) was a keen populariser of Physics through books and lectures. He assisted in the development of the Atomic Bomb and was a member of the panel that investigated the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. (Quantum Electrodynamics)

Scot, James Clerk Maxwell (1831 -1879) demonstrated that electric and magnetic fields travel through space in the form of waves and at the constant speed of light. He is also known for the first colour photograph in 1861. (Electromagnetism)

Austrian, Ludwig Boltzmann’s (1844 – 1906) greatest achievement was the development of statistical mechanics; this explains and predicts how the properties of atoms work. (Thermodynamics)

Erwin Schrödinger (1887 – 1961) was an Austrian physicist who received the Noble Peace Prize in 1933 for his contributions to Physics, in particular the Schrödinger equation. (Quantum Mechanics)

Stargazing - getting started in astronomy. A very informative clip about what you might need.
 

Magnetic levitation! Reflected magnetic power between the surface and the spinning top is exactly the opposite to the weight of the spinning top. The result is floating of the spinning top.
 

Bernoulli's principle - physics experiment.

The discovery of a new particle which has been subject to a 45 year hunt!

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1901-2000. What is physics?

Nobel Laureates in Physics and Their Work.