LETTERS

Abstract

The Editor welcomes letters, by e-mail to ped@iop.org or by post to Dirac House, Temple Back, Bristol BS1 6BE, UK. Maths for physics? As a maths graduate working as a university research associate I should be well qualified to support my daughter, who has just started AS-level physics, with the maths she needs for the course. There seems to be little integration between the maths and physics departments, so that maths needed for physics has not yet been covered in maths lessons. This is a problem I remember from my own school days, but the shorter timescale and modular nature of the AS and A2 levels means that it is essential that this mismatch of knowledge is resolved now. I would like to know whether physics teachers in the UK have encountered this problem and whether there is a deficiency in the maths syllabus in relation to the requirements of the AS and A2 levels in Physics or whether this is a problem peculiar to my daughter's school. Eleanor Parent of A-level student, Sheffield, UK Help! Fire! Is there a crisis in physics education? Is physics didactics coming to an end? Yes and no. Being a delegate from Norway at the on-going conference Physics on Stage (6-10 November 2000) at CERN in Geneva, I have had the opportunity to discuss this with people from all over Europe. Yes, there is a crisis. (Look at the proceedings for details on this.) I'd like to take a broader look at this situation. Like Hari Seldon in Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, I believe that there is nothing like a real crisis to get things going... Famous is the quote from the American Patent Office around 1890: 'Everything has been invented that could be invented'. Fortunately, this spurred action. The Michelson and Morley experiment heralded a most exciting period for physics. Just a cosmic blink later we put a person on the Moon. Coming back to the crisis - I am certain that in the near future we will see an interesting development within curriculum, presentation, outlook and attitude towards physics. Vegard Engstrom Physics Education Student Trondheim, Norway Energy and mass I stand accused [1] of 'adding to the confusion which is rife in this topic area'. The topic in question is E = mc2, which is being discussed in connection with its appearance in A-level syllabuses. One may (as I sometimes do) have qualms that such a topic (with numerical questions) be taught to children with a background of classical physics only. However, it is there, and the article under discussion [2] was meant to provide a meaningful and helpful insight into an experiment that (a) cannot be described by Newtonian mechanics, and (b) prepares the ground for relativity. Cockroft and Walton, in the first transmutation of a nucleus by an accelerated proton, observed the following reaction: The masses of the nuclei involved were known (measured by Aston [3]), the kinetic energy of the proton beam known, and the kinetic energies of the helium nuclei were measured. Even if relativity had not been invented, a classical physicist would have noticed that something non-Newtonian was going on-and come up with the observation that the kinetic energy 'gained' (ΔE) was related to the mass 'loss' (Δm) by c2. Further experimentation with other nuclei would have revealed the same connection: ΔE = (Δm)c2. This is a very clear, insightful, experimental example of a breakdown of Newtonian mechanics, one that an A-level student could appreciate with understanding and interest. Since the models/theories of physics are designed to describe experimental results and observations, he or she would be wanting to know what was happening to Newtonian physics. Whether or not the student was capable of appreciating relativity at this point, the insight that something is wrong with Newtonian mechanics would be firmly established. The points raised by Keith Atkin belong, in my opinion, at the later stage, when the first relativity course is being presented, and the relationship between mass and energy developed. His reference [4], 'Energy has mass' by Bondi and Spurgin, and a letter [5], 'Mass and energy' by Peierls, presenting a different point of view, provide food for thought.