There are three common states of matter; solid, liquid and gas. This statement ignores other less common states of matter like plasma (very hot) or Bose-Einstein condensate (very cold). Exam questions often ask you to explain events in terms of the behaviour of the particles involved. This is easier if you can picture how particles …
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Category:Physics
Diffusion…
Diffusion is the random movement of particles from areas of high concentration to areas of lower concentration. This happens because the particles in a liquid, solution or gas are able to move freely. The following video explains it quite nicely with a sugar lump dissolving in water as the example. . I will write about …
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Synchrotron…
The Large Hadron Collider is not the only particle accelerator worth talking about. In fact, there is one just 30 minutes south of us. The Diamond Synchrotron uses its electron beams to produce synchrotron light which is about 1 billion times brighter than the sun. The light is produced as synchrotron radiation (wavelengths adjustable between …
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Don’t Believe Your Lying Eyes…
Not really magic – it is science but optical illusions so magic-adjacent. I thought about this because of a question on a Winchester Election paper about strobe lighting. They are two quite long videos but I thought they were worth sharing, particularly for those who like optical illusions. They left me baffled but delighted. . .. If you …
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ROYGBIV…
White light is a mixture of electromagnetic radiation at different wavelengths. The human eye is sensitive to wavelengths between roughly 380 nanometres (nm) and 750 nm with its maximum sensitivity being at about 555 nm. Other species, such as certain insects, are sensitive to different wavelengths of light e.g. ultraviolet (a short video worth watching!) The …
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Density Of Gas…
Density means the mass of 1 cm3 of a substance. For example, 1 cm3 of water has a mass of 1 g – its density is 1 g/cm3. Lead, on the other hand is much denser than water. 1 cm3 of lead has a mass of 11.3 g ∴ lead has a density of 11.3 g/cm3. The …
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Big Load Of Nothing…
Your weight is determined by your mass and the pull of gravity. On Earth, gravity is about 9.8 N/kg (usually rounded off as 10 N/kg). The force of gravity causes objects to accelerate towards the centre of the Earth at 9.8 m/s/s (m/s/s is sometimes written as m/s2 or ms-2). In a vacuum, two objects …
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12 Particles Of Matter And 4? Forces Of Nature…
Nobody is expecting you to now all of this – but I think it is helpful to add a bit of context to things. And it is interesting with a good song at the end! The current standard model has four fundamental forces explaining what we see in the observable Universe; gravity, electromagnetism, the weak …
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Force & Linear Motion…
Time, Distance & Speed The average speed of a moving object is the distance it travels divided by the time it takes. At CE, this will usually be calculated in metres per second (m/s). The equation to use is… speed = distance ÷ time (or s=d/t) You may also need to calculate distance or time, …
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Density…
This picture neatly captures the idea of liquids having different densities. The lowest density liquid floats on the top and all the other layers stay as they are because of their relative densities. This must have been done very carefully because some of these liquids will mix with one another (miscible). Immiscible liquids will not …
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