Helpmyphysics

It is forty years since the crew of Apollo 11 went to the moon in a historic journey that captivated all mankind in the summer of 1969.
As a young boy aged 8 it was a fascinating and exciting time. I can always remember those summer evenings keeping up to date with reports from the BBC and ITV.
On the night of the moonlanding I was thrilled that the tv stations actually kept broadcasting well into the early morning hours. This was unheard of then.
If you want to find out what it was like in those days then click on this link which is telling the story of the epic moon mission in real time.
There is a special widget that keeps you informed about the mission as it happened in July 1969.

We choose to go to the moon.

PS I am so grateful to my late father for waking me up in the early hours of Monday July 21st 1969 to witness the most historic moment of mankind`s history to date.

Listen to the show here

Summer holidays are coming and lets hope the sun shines every day. In this podcast Mr. Mallon takes a look at the structure of our nearest star called the Sun.
Granny physics reviews another science book from her new shed. Danny Boyle`s science fiction dvd Sunshine is discussed and Mr Mallon remembers the 40th anniversary of the moonlandings of 1969.

Links in the podcast

1. Sun science
2. The Radioactive Boy Scout
3. Apollo 10
4. Sunshine
5. Sunshine Guaranteed by Marina V

Have some fun from the Institute of Physics website`s spooky physics.
Perhaps you can get your physics teacher to do some of the experiments during the last week of the session.
Click on the picture above to enter the spooky house.

The Science museum in London is celebrating 100 years. The curator has chosen the top ten scientific objects that changed the world.
Among them are the Apollo 10 command module that was used for the moon landing dress rehearsal, the penicillin culture that Alexander Graham Fleming used and the first X-ray machine.
Flick through the above slides to see the rest.

Science Museum

For all you young people sitting physics exams tomorrow I wish you all the best of luck and I hope all your studying will pay off.
Just keep calm and give it your best shot.

Best of luck from Mr Mallon

It is 40 years ago this week that NASA launched the final practice mission before landing on the moon.
It is amazing to think that in 1969 there was no internet or multi channel cable tv to follow this momentous mission.
The whole world watched the drama of the Apollo missions from only two channels BBC and ITV.
These missions `launched` many a science teacher`s career.
Nasa has a wonderful project to commemorate these missions. Click the link below to enjoy them.

Apollo X

WolframAlpha is a really special search engine that can compute your questions for you. Check out this description of how it works.
Try entering into the WolframAlpha search box words like pressure, density, velocity etc. You`ll never wonder what these units are again.
Go on experiment with this wonderful search engine and you`ll learn so much.

WolframAlpha

Hi physics lovers! Here is the latest Higher Physics video. I`ve started placing them in the Higher Zone using Screencast.
I hope you learn from these videos.
Mr. Mallon

Mr. Mallon`s Library

This week saw the release of the new Star Trek movie. Though not everybody`s cup of tea, the movie contans alot of science you can discuss with your physics teacher.
Just hope that he or she is a trekkie. If you want to read about the science in the movie then you`ll find info here at the Bad Astronomy site.
As the trekkies say, ” Live long and prosper!”
Star Trek Official Movie Site

Solar cells are photovoltaic semiconductors. They are made of a p-type and n-type semiconductors sandwiched together. When light falls on the narrow depletion junction an electron hole pair is produced. These electron hole pairs drift away and create a small potential difference.
The more light shining on the pn junction the more electron hole pairs are produced which in turn creates a larger potential difference.
The only problem is that these cells are rigid. Check out this video below and news report to find out how they are being made flexible.
Pass that solar jumper please!

• Video
• Report