In order to connect physics and engineering curriculum to the real world it is important for students to understand how their learning applies to possible career opportunities.
Friction isn’t just for walking and getting scrapes on your arm. Friction is a major concern in biomedical research, too. So are falling boxes. This Education Transfer Plan introduces two practical classroom physics projects that directly relate to real-world jobs.
The goal of this ETP is to expose students to the industry project management procedures while working on the classic Egg Drop Project in a Physics Classroom.
Students learn the basics of photovoltaic cells and create a whole-class kinetic model to explain the processes behind them. Students use this information to engineer a photovoltaic cell to generate the most electricity possible using different berry juices.
When my students think about mechanical engineering they probably envision car designs, robots, or helicopters: however, the structures engineered by researchers in my summer fellowship are rarely larger than a grain of sand.
Students of general physics II or higher will work in teams to apply a solar battery charger circuit to charge using a solar panel. Students will find the maximum efficiency of the solar panel.
We usually navigate our worlds using limited “tools” like our eyes, hands, feet, and ears. As such we typically surround ourselves with object sizes that are within 3-4 orders of magnitude to our own bodies and participate in events that typically take seconds, maybe hours.
Quantifying the settling velocity (terminal velocity) of a spherical particle in a liquid is of importance because it relates to areas in industry that process and transport suspensions of particles.
As part of a mini-unit on Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, I will first conduct a brief survey of students’ attitudes toward the relevance of quantum physics. I will then discuss with the students the usefulness and practical applications of quantum mechanical tunneling.