08 Mar $100 Term Test Challenge
Calling PMC J2 PHYSICS & MATHS students! How to play? Come on any of the time slots below in The Physics Cafe Paya Lebar to take either the Physics or Maths Challenge in 60 mins. It’s free, so just turn up to test…
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28 Feb The Physics Cafe Movie Marathon 2018
Reserve a Seat for the Movie Marathon www.pmc.sg/movie This annual event is organised to help students get ready for the first JC2 common test (usually after the march holiday). Existing students and non-existing students are welcome to attend. You will be watching a video recording of…
05 Nov What you need to know about Stellar Evolution?
Stellar Evolution Stars form from enormous clouds of hydrogen atoms, pulled together by the force of gravity. As the cloud collapses, gravitational potential energy is converted to kinetic energy of the atoms (they are all “falling” toward their common center of mass). If…
28 Oct 5 reasons students flock to The Physics Cafe
by The Straits Times The tutors are stars Forget social media influencers and music chart-toppers. Follow stellar tutors to clinch A grades on your examination scripts. Mr Dave Sim, the founder of The Physics Cafe and The Maths Cafe, taught physics for six years…
07 Oct What do you need to know about Introduction to the Universe?
Introduction to the Universe (IB Option E1) 209 Seconds video showing cosmic scales: Powers of Ten video zooming out from earth to edge of universe : A photo showing why the Milky Way is called that: A photo…
30 Sep What do you need to know about Nuclear Physics and Radioactivity ?
Nuclear Physics and Radioactivity Radioactivity is spontaneous and random. The probability that an atom will decay remains constant for the entire life of the atom. If you think about it, this is really strange. How can it not matter whether a uranium atom…
23 Sep What do you know about Atomic Physics ?
Atomic Physics Rutherford Experiment (aka Geiger-Marsden) My summary Rutherford shot alpha particles at a thin film of gold foil Most of the alpha particles went right through Some had high angles of deflection He was shocked when a small number…
10 Sep What do you need to know about Thermal Energy?
Thermal Energy Transfer / Greenhouse Effect Some Background IB calls this topic Thermal Energy Transfer, but really it’s about the greenhouse effect and climate change. Calling it Thermal Energy Transfer it sounds more physics-y. Climate change is of course a controversial…
20 Aug What do you need to know about Quantum Physics?
The sequence of development of quantum mechanics, summed up for IB students, from me: (1) Hydrogen atoms emit a discrete spectrum of light. This is our first evidence that energy levels in the atom are quantized. What a mystery! Physicists have never seen something like this before. (2)…
12 Aug What do you need to know about Oscillations and Waves?
a a Thermal physics provided the transition from macroscopic physics to microscopic physics, and electricity is all about electrons, so why are we backtracking now to talk about bouncing springs and wiggling strings? It’s because waves are going to be essential, ultimately, to our…
