Basic Concepts on DC Circuit

The ‘D.C.’ here mean direct current. It means that the current flows in one direction in the circuit.

The direction of the direct current refers to the conventional current, and it flows out of the positive (+) terminal of the cell / battery, around the circuit and flows back into the negative (-) terminal.

[Note: the direction of the electron flow is opposite to the conventional current]

To understand DC circuit, it will be useful to relate to a river system. Refer to the 3 videos below to learn more about 01: DC circuit similar to river system, 02: Series Circuit 03: Parallel Circuit and 04: Combined Circuit.

01: How is DC circuit related a river system

02: Series Circuit

03: Parallel Circuit

04: Combined Circuit (Series and Parallel)

Now, after you have the basic concepts and rules for the circuits, let’s look at some simple example to reinforce you understanding.

Example 01: Series Circuit

Example 02: Parallel Circuit

Example 03: Combined Circuit

Example 04: PP2012P2Q7 DC circuit : pd across 2 points on two separate branches.

Hope these series of videos help in you understanding of DC circuit.

Light – Reflection

Light summary in progress 🙂

Testing for Gold

Strait Times 15 Nov 2020

BMW Backed Impeller Thrusted Electric Wingsuit Can Fly at 185 MPH

https://interestingengineering.com/bmw-backed-impeller-thrusted-electric-wingsuit-can-fly-at-185-mph?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Article&utm_campaign=organic&utm_content=Nov07

Superwhite paint can cool buildings even in hot sunlight | New Scientist

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2257749-superwhite-paint-can-cool-buildings-even-in-hot-sunlight/

Slinky Coil – Interesting Tricks and demonstrations of Transverse and Longitudinal Waves

Slink coil is usually used to demonstrate the two types of waves – transverse and longitudinal waves. But remember that when you are asked to state an example of each wave, do not quote slinky coil.

View the videos below to know more about the two types of waves.

V-I Graphs of Various Components

Overview of the V-I graphs for various components.
[Hope the graphs for thermistor and LDR are correct. If you have any better suggestions, feel free to let me know in the comments.]

Pins inside and outside of beaker filled with water – 2012 sciphy practical

A pin in the beaker of water appears higher than its actual position due to refraction of light.

In this experiment, you have to adjust the pin at the cork to a suitable height, such that the pin and the image of the pin inside the beaker of water is aligned and that ‘pins at position of no parallax’ position.

The video below guides you in adjusting the height of the pins to locate correct height.

Similar kind of experiment: Pins with Lens and mirror

Other types of experiments involving pins.

Which direction is the Friction of the wheel?

Try these two questions. The phrase ‘the wheel is driven/connected to the engine’ is important actually. Hopefully you will know how to solve them!

Solutions: Option D

Solutions: Option D

Light Experiments – Glass Block and Pins

The video include 3 different light experiments which involve glass block and pins.

Most students faced difficulties in locating the pins through the glass block. It is important to close one eye and use your master eye to view.

Hope this video helps!

In experiments like this, the sources of error include:

– the holes created by the pins are too big, hence the line drawn using the two holes may not be very precise, hence affecting the distance/angle measured (depends on experiments)

– When putting back the glass block back on the paper, the position may be not exactly the same, hence affecting the angle/distance measured.

As a precaution, it is good to ensure that the distance between the two pins are more than 4 – 5 cm. With the holes further apart, the line drawn will be more accurate.

Fiery Re-entry into Earth’s Atmosphere (updated)

This post was updated following the first astronauts launched by SpaceX returned home safely on 3 Aug 2020.

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon heat shield shown off after first orbital-velocity reentry

How do spacecraft re-enter the Earth? | HowStuffWorks

Why Is It So Difficult For A Returning Spacecraft To Re-Enter Our Atmosphere?

Returning from Space: Re-entry – PDF format

SpaceX In-Flight Abort Test

SpaceX Falcon Heavy- Elon Musk’s Engineering Masterpiece

Shuttle Atlantis STS-132 – Amazing Shuttle Launch Experience

How to Land the Space Shuttle… from Space

First astronauts launched by SpaceX return to earth (3 Aug 2020)

Not just the 3 rays

Converging Lens: The 4 Key Scenarios

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Mass Weight and Density

2015 PurePhy P1Q6 – Using Newton’s 3rd Law to find Forward Thrust

Refer to this MCQ from PurePhysics 2015P1Q6

Answer: C

Acceleration, Resultant Force, Weight and Density formula

Inertia

Understanding Newton’s 1st and 2nd Laws of Motion

1) Newton’s first law states that an object will remain at rest or in uniform motion (constant speed) in a straight line unless an external force acts on the body.

In other words, when a body is at rest or moving at constant speed in a straight line (constant velocity), straight away you should know it is Newton’s first law. Next you must know these 3 basics concepts about 1st law:
– forces acting on the body are balanced
– net force / resultant force acting on the body is zero
– there is no acceleration.

2) Newton’s second law states that when a net force (resultant force) acts on a body, it will cause an acceleration on the body (accelerating or decelerating).

Basically F = ma where F is the net or resultant force in N,
m is the mass in kg
a is the acceleration in ms-2

In other words, when a body is moving faster or slower (or going round a bend), you should know its Newton’s second law. Next you must know these 3 basic concepts about 2nd law:
– forces acting on the body are not balanced
– there is a net force / resultant force acting on the body
– there is an acceleration (accelerating of net force is in the direction of motion, or decelerating if the net force is opposite to the direction of motion)

Click here to know more about Newton’s 3rd Law

Electromagnetism – Reading on Electronic Balance with Magnet and Current-carry wire

Practical – Lens Experiment

The video below shows a typical lens experiment. (reference to O-Level SciPhy 2015). I will briefly go through the set-up, main steps and how to get the 1st set of readings.

In the next video, it highlights the various types of lens practical which you might have in the school lab. e.g. different kind of crossed-wire, a beaker of water as a converging lens and different kind of images formed.

Key points:
1) Make sure the object (illuminated crossed-wire), lens and screen are aligned properly.
2) Source of Error: identifying the sharpest image
Improvement: (i) Repeat the experiment a few times for the same
independent variable to identify the sharpest image.
(ii) Move the lens (or screen) forward and backward about
the sharp image, until the sharpest image is determined.
3) In general, the focal lens of the lens used in the lab is usually 10 cm or 15 cm. Most lens experiment requires you to find the focal length. There is also a easy way to quickly determine the focal length before starting the experiment.

Refer to this post for another lens experiment which is different and more challenging.

Ohm’s Law and V-I graph of various components

Newton’s Laws Typography

Parachute Jump – Speed-time graph

In a typical parachute jump, there are various distinct stages/sections as you can see from the graph in the video below.

AB = constant acceleration, free fall, a = 10 ms-2
BC = decreasing acceleration
CD = constant speed, zero acceleration
at D = the time where the parachute is fully opened
DE = constant deceleration
EF = lower constant speed, zero acceleration
FG = constant deceleration

After you have learned Dynamics, you should be able to explain each stage using forces acting on the skydiver, namely the weight and air resistance.

Refer to the video below to understand the motion at various stages and how to explain in terms of forces, esp the part on why the acceleration is decreasing during BC.

You can refer to the detailed explanation in words in the comics below. Hope this post helps you to understand better!

DC Circuit is just like a River System!

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Displacement-time and Velocity-time Graph of Ball Thrown Up / Ball Dropped

1) When a ball is thrown up and it comes down

When the ball leaves the hand, there is no upward force acting on the ball. The only force acting on the ball is its weight. This net force is opposite to the motion of the ball, hence causing the ball to decelerates. Refer to this post for the explanation (comics)

 

2) When the ball is dropped and it re-bounces back (assume no energy lost)

When the ball is released, the only force acting on the ball is its own weight. This net force on the ball is in the direction of the motion, hence causing the ball to accelerate as it falls. Note that the acceleration due to gravity is assumed to be 10 ms-2, where air resistance is negligible.

3) When the ball is dropped and it re-bounces back (in reality with energy lost)

In reality, when the ball hits the ground, there will be some energy converted to heat and sound. So the ball will never return to its original height that it was released. So how will the graphs look like?

Ticker Tape Timer

Ticker tape timer is a device which punches dots on a tape at specific time interval. The tape can be attached to a moving object. With information of the frequency of the ticker timer and the spacing of the dots, we are able to analyse the motion of the moving object.

View the following videos to understand more about the ticker tape timer and also some typical questions on ticker tape timer.

Explanation of Ticker Tape Timer

Questions on ticker tape timer

Refer to this post for another example of finding acceleration

https://evantoh23.wordpress.com/2010/10/26/20101026ticker-tape-timer-finding-acceleration/

Distance-time and Speed-time graph of 2 objects in motion

The distance-time (displacement-time) graph on the left is not related to the speed-time (velocity-time) graph. Both are of difference scenarios. But both shows the motion of 2 objects and both graph has an interception point. Do the interceptions point mean the same time in each graph?

The image below shows the basic interpretation of the respective graphs.

To have examples of the graphs with values and the step-by-step how to find the time it overtakes, refer to the videos below.

Finding the exact time where the overtaking takes place.

Understanding Free-Fall (acceleration due to gravity)

On earth, the gravitational field strength is 10 N/kg and the acceleration due to gravity is 10 ms^-2.

That means when you release an object from you hand, the object will fall with increasing speed. The acceleration is a constant 10 ms-2 (acceleration due to gravity). Simply put, it means in 1 second, the speed of the object will increase by 10 m/s.

In general, if there is no air resistance or air resistance is negligible, the speed-time graph is a straight line with constant gradient and passes through origin, i.e. speed is directly proportional to the time.

If there is air resistance, there is a maximum constant speed if the object continues to fall. Hence the graph is different.

More importantly, remember that any object that you released on earth, whether there is air resistance or no air resistance, the initial acceleration when it is released is always a constant 10 ms^-2!

Refer to the video for the explanation and some examples.

Kinematics Graphs of ball thrown up and come down

When a ball is thrown up vertically from a height and the falls to the ground, the various kinematic graphs below shows the same motion of the ball.

Fixing up as positive, if the ball is going up, it’s displacement and velocity will be in the positive region. When it falls, the direction is opposite, hence it’s in the negative portion.

Recall that the gradient of a velocity-time graph represents the acceleration. Using this concept, it will be easier to understand that the acceleration is a negative constant acceleration, thus – 10 ms-2.

(Thanks Maria for suggesting this post and the addition of acceleration-time graph)

Click here to refer to the post related to this motion.

Velocity-time and Displacement-time Graph for a ball being thrown up

Velocity-time and Displacement-time graph for Ball thrown up and comes down

Double-Insulated Appliance – Air purifier in the classroom

Double-insulated appliances are common around us. The air purifiers in our classroom are one good example.

In these appliances, only two wires are needed, namely Live and Neutral wires. Earth wire is not required as the casing is made of insulator like plastic for this case.

The classic air purifier in our classroom

The “double squares” symbol means that this appliance is double-insulated.

As you see, the earth wire is not required.

How to connect the variable resistor (rheostat)

The variable resistor (rheostat) is a device to control the size of the current by adjusting the resistance on the variable resistor. Hence just device can be used to adjust the brightness of the bulb or the fan speed.

 

How to read ammeter and voltmeter

In general, the ammeter and voltmeter can be read to 2 decimal place. Hence all recordings must be in 2 d.p.

Ammeter is a device to measure the size of the current. It is connected in series and it has very low resistance.

How to read an ammeter

Voltmeter is a device to measure the potential difference between two points on the circuit. It is connected in parallel and it has very high resistance (no current should flow through them).

How to read a voltmeter

 

Why the fuse and switch must be on the live wire?

A common mistake is to state that the reason for switch to be on the live wire is “so that the switch can turn on/off the appliance”. This explanation is wrong.

Refer to the view for the reason why switch and fuse must be on the live wire.

In general, in the event where the fuse is blown or the switch is open, it disconnect the appliance from the high potential of the live wire. So the appliance will no become ‘live’ and it is save to touch even though there is a fault.

 

Why do we need earth wire and fuse?

Simply put, electric appliance can be very simple with just a live wire bring in the current and a neutral wire to bring the current out. The appliance can just work like this forever (without the hassle of having earth wire, fuse etc), provided there is no electric fault developed.

Both the earth wire and the fuse are safety features to protect the user and the appliance respectively. Take a look at the video below to understand the rationale.

Recall these notes given:

 

Click here for other related posts

double-insulation

3 pin-plug

 

Sharing at Ai Tong School

Thankful to be able to share my work with this group of wonderful and nice science teachers from Ai Tong School. Thank you for the invitation! Hope your PLT will be a success!

16th March 2020

The Uncle (aka Physics Guru) in coffeeshop

This uncle is able to hang the bags on the side of the table while enjoying his coffee in peace.

How did he do that?!

So as long as the wooden chopstick is strong enough, he can hang a few bags like this.

Another type of gadget to hang your bags by the table is this. As long as the centre of gravity (CG) is directly below the support area (area of the hanger in contact with the table), the bag will not fall.

It is the same working principle as most balancing toys.

Black is a good emitter of infrared radiation

In theory, we have learned that

Dull (matt/rough) and black surface is a good emitter and good absorber of infrared radiation.

In this simple demonstration, the container sides are painted white matt, silver smooth and black matt.

Hot water is poured into the container and the thermal energy is conducted to the whole container. The temperature of the container is more or less uniform.

Using a infrared thermometer, we measure the temperature of the different surfaces.

From this simple demonstration, we can conclude that dull black surface is the best emitter of infrared radiation and smooth silver surface is the worst emitter of infrared radiation.

 

Radiometer – Thermal Transfer

Radiometer is a device for measuring the amount of infrared radiation. It consists of freely pivoted rotor with four vanes perpendicular to one another. The vane surface is painted alternate black and silver. The rotor is enclosed in a partial vacuum glass bulb.

In general, when exposed to infrared radiation, the rotor will spin. The greater the amount of radiation, the faster the rotor spins.

The actual working principle is actually much more complicated. Refer to the videos below for detailed explanation.

For our context in O-level, we can briefly explained based on what we learned. As the vanes of the rotor are exposed to infrared radiation, the black side of the vane absorbs more radiation as it is a good absorber of radiation and hence its at higher temperature. The silver side reflects the radiation. The air molecules at the black side will get heated up and gain more kinetic energy. Hence rate of collision is higher and the air molecules collide on the black side with more force than the silver side. This results in a net force on the black surface and the rotor spins in a specific direction as shown in the video.

The more complicated theory how radiometer works

 

Gravity Flying Jet Suit

Jet Suit Flight and Talk by Richard Browning

Setting Record

Real Ironman

Another kind of jet suit by another company

Convection Toy – Angels Carousel

This simple toy is made possible using convection current in the air.

The ‘fan’ of the carousel is similar to the windmill we are familiar with.  Just that the kinetic energy of the wind is created by the stream of hot air rising up from the bottom. It is the opposite of an electric fan.

The Standing Broom Challenge

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/10/us/nasa-broom-standing-upright-meme-trnd/index.html

Fiery Re-entry into Earth’s Atmosphere

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon heat shield shown off after first orbital-velocity reentry

How do spacecraft re-enter the Earth? | HowStuffWorks

Why Is It So Difficult For A Returning Spacecraft To Re-Enter Our Atmosphere?

Returning from Space: Re-entry – PDF format

SpaceX In-Flight Abort Test

SpaceX Falcon Heavy- Elon Musk’s Engineering Masterpiece

Shuttle Atlantis STS-132 – Amazing Shuttle Launch Experience

How to Land the Space Shuttle… from Space

Metal is a good conductor – paper over metal gets burned slower

The paper over metal or over plastic/wood will get burned faster?

Everyone knows that metal is a good conductor of thermal energy. But for experiments like this, many would have guessed it wrongly.

A paper is wrapped over metal and insulator (plastic, wood etc) and is exposed to the flame, the paper over the insulator becomes charred faster and burned faster.

The paper over the metal takes a longer time to be charred and burned. This is because metal is a good conductor of thermal energy. When the spot (paper over metal) is exposed to the flame, the metal conducts the thermal energy away from that spot to other parts of the metal. So the temperature increase at that spot is slower, hence the ignition temperature of the paper (approx. 230oC) will be reached much slower, compared to the spot where the paper is over an insulator.

Water is a poor conductor

In the three states of matter, in general, solid is the best conductor as the particles are closely packed in an orderly manner, hence thermal energy can be passed down by the collision of the particles in the solid faster.

On the other hand, liquid and gas are relatively considered poor conductor. Gas is the worst conductor as the particles are far apart.

The following experiment demonstrates that water is indeed a poor conductor of thermal energy.

An ice cube is kept at the bottom of the boiling tube by the net. The water at the top of the boiling tube is heated and started to boil. But the ice is not fully melted.

This shows that thermal energy transferred through the water from heated water at the top to the ice is weak, hence indicating that water is a poor conductor.

How about thermal transfer through convection current? In this experiment, the heated water at the top expands, the volume of the heated water increases, becomes less dense and remains at the top. The cooler water, which is denser, remains at the bottom. Hence there is no convection current formed throughout the entire water in the tube. So thermal energy transfer to the ice cube through convection is not present here.

Balloon at reduced pressure

A partially inflated balloon is placed inside a sealed container as air is pumped out of the by syringe. As the pressure of the container is reduced, the volume of the balloon increases. The pressure inside the balloon decreases.

Note that the pressure inside the balloon is not equal to the pressure of the container. The number of air molecules in the balloon is fixed. As the pressure of the container decreases, this creates a pressure difference inside and outside the balloon. This causes the balloon to expand and its volume to increase. The number of air molecules per unit volume inside the balloon decreases, hence pressure inside the balloon decreases.

But as the balloon is elastic, the wall of the balloon is stretched. Hence the pressure of the balloon will be greater than the pressure of the container. Refer to the video below.