Carl Caves has a helpful two pager, tips for solving physics homework problems. It nicely emphasises the importance of drawing a clear diagram, dimensional analysis, thinking before you calculate, and checking the answer.
He also discusses moving from homework problems to "real world" problems, e.g. research. Then, just formulating the problem is crucial.
I wonder if the goals of some Ph.D projects might be revised if the supervisor and/or student simply combined dimensional analysis with a realistic order of magnitude estimate. Just doing the exercise might also significantly increase the students understanding of the underlying physics.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Lamenting the destruction of science in the USA
I continue to follow the situation in the USA concerning the future of science with concern. Here are some of the articles I found most info...
-
Is it something to do with breakdown of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation? In molecular spectroscopy you occasionally hear this term thro... -
I welcome discussion on this point. I don't think it is as sensitive or as important a topic as the author order on papers. With rega...
-
Nitrogen fluoride (NF) seems like a very simple molecule and you would think it would very well understood, particularly as it is small enou...
No comments:
Post a Comment