Course Nº II · Science

The Quiet Physics of Everyday Things

Doors that swing wrong, kettles that whistle, spoons that bend in tea — eight lessons in noticing.

Foundation5h 24m985 readers4.7 of five

Classical mechanics tends to be taught as a set of rules to be applied. In this course we treat it as a set of permissions to look closely at things you thought you understood. Eight lessons, each anchored to a single household object.

Bring a kitchen, a notebook, and a willingness to be wrong about a kettle. We will derive equations only when an equation tells us something a sentence cannot.

Table of contents

Twelve lessons, in order.

  1. 01

    A household demonstration 1

    Plate I — a demonstration.

  2. 02

    A household demonstration 2

    Plate II — a demonstration.

  3. 03

    A household demonstration 3

    Plate III — a demonstration.

  4. 04

    A household demonstration 4

    Plate IV — a demonstration.

  5. 05

    A household demonstration 5

    Plate V — a demonstration.

  6. 06

    A household demonstration 6

    Plate VI — a demonstration.

  7. 07

    A household demonstration 7

    Plate VII — a demonstration.

  8. 08

    A household demonstration 8

    Plate VIII — a demonstration.

Outcomes

  • 01Translate a domestic observation into a clean physical claim
  • 02Recognise when an everyday phenomenon hides a deeper symmetry
  • 03Write up an experiment as if it were a paragraph in a longer essay

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