Physics is a major part of science which deals with topics of matter and energy. It is a subject which helps students in analyzing various concepts critically. Physics comprises of various laws, equations, calculations and derivations which are very vital to understand the fundamental concepts of the subject.
Students often tremble with fear at the very mention of the word ‘Physics’. I still remember an incident of my childhood when I once asked my Dad if I could change my school because I don’t want to study Physics!
Well, escaping or avoiding a subject is not a solution. Students need to face it with proper understanding. However, you may think understanding a subject like Physics is not a cakewalk. But if students are made to understand the concepts properly, a subjectcan become very interesting. Once their teachers or the parents clear the conceptual gap between the theoretical concepts and the understanding, Physics becomes the most interesting subject.
Students often have the curiosity to know anything and everything that they see. If parents and teachers make these curiosities clear with examples, it is quite natural that children will have a better understanding. Examples help children to connect easily and anything which we can see or touch or hear creates a lasting impression in our minds.
So, if you are a parent or a teacher and your child is facing some problems in understanding Physics, make use of examples. You can use both real- life examples as well as the practical examples. Today, we are going to discuss about how you can make your child understand Physics through real-life examples.
Basic issues in understanding:
Before we elaborate on various real-life examples, you need to understand the problems which students face in understanding Physics. These issues are-
- The main problem in understanding Physics is concept clearing. Being unable to understand these concepts properly, they lag behind their classmates. With a lack of understanding, they fear in proceeding ahead. You can follow How to do well in physics in 10 steps for better understanding.
- Teachers often have to abide by a deadline to complete the fixed syllabus. In this rush, they often leave some topics completely untouched or do not indulge into its details.
- Physics involves a lot of mathematics. Students who are weak in mathematics fear in moving ahead with this subject as they are scared of calculations, equations and laws.
- In the present education system where students are loaded with assignments and homework, they are not left with enough time to devote in understanding this subject. Thus their doubts remain unclear which result in poor understanding and poor marks.
Real-life examples:
Real-life examples make it easy for students to connect with a subject and understand it properly. These are the examples which simply don’t fade away from your mind but create a lasting impression. These are the examples which we come across in our day to day life and are a part of our day to day activities.
We have listed some major real-life examples which will create a better understanding of Physics.
These examples are-
- A Balloon which sticks to the wall-
Take a balloon which is in proper condition. Now rub it into someone’s head. While the balloon gets rubbed, it picks up electrons from the person’s hair and gets negatively charged by friction. Now place this balloon against the wall. Since the wall acts as an insulator, it does not steal the electrons acquired by the balloon. Instead the charges are moved in a way that the positive charges start moving closely to the negatively charged balloon.
Due to this, the negative charges of the wall get moved away at a far away possible area. This process where charges get rearranged is known as polarization. You may think why it gets stuck if there is a force of repulsion between the wall and the balloon. It is here that Coulomb’s way works. According to this law, the distance is inversely proportional to force thus when opposite charges are closer together, the force of repulsion falls prey to the force of attraction. This results in the balloon getting stuck in the wall.
- Balancing a see-saw-
If two people having different weights sit on a see-saw by maintaining the same distance from the axis of rotation, it is impossible for that see-saw to get balanced. Unless there is equal torques, the system does not get balanced. If the level arm gets increased, its system gets balanced.
Here, level arm = smallest distance from the axis of rotation which is always perpendicular to force. This can be done if the person with a heavy weight sits at a position close to its center while the person with a light weight needs to sit as far as possible.
- Roller Coasters-
You must be fond of roller coasters but have you ever wondered how it works? Well, roller coasters work due to conservation of energy. The first hill is always the highest one as it needs to accumulate enough energy to go through all the elevations.
Once a car goes down, the Potential Energy (PE) goes down whereas its Kinetic Energy (KE) goes upwards. Now if you add together the Potential Energy and the Kinetic Energy, you will see that it is equal to the Potential Energy that the car had when it was on the first hill.
- Fouette Turns-
Whenever a ballerina turns, it is an example of conservation of angular momentum. The girl performing the ballerina will move and extend in a way that increases her rotational inertia. This is because her mass is far away from the axis of rotation. This decreases her rotational velocity as angular momentum is conserved.
- Check which among a bouncing ballor a solid ball is able to knock a block over-
As per Newton’s third law, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Thus it’s quite natural that a bouncing ball can easily knock a block over. This is because when the bouncing ball touches the block, there are many forces acting on that block. When the ball pushes the block, it pushes it too. The ball now bounces on the block in a way which it makes it fall.
These are some of the most effective real-life examples that we have come across till now. However, it is better to contact a physics expert who can make you understand these vital concepts of physics in a more better and expert way. You can even take help from various physics online websites (experts) who will enlighten your concepts on Physics with more effective real-life examples.
Hurry up and clear all your doubts through these experts and who knows you may become a physicist soon!