Physics Department - Latest News!
Wellington Physics Student wins Bursary to study the Stars!
Y13 Physics student Scott Leetch has recently been notified that he is to receive a Nuffield Science Bursary to enable him to spend four weeks in Summer 2011 working on a research project in the Armagh Observatory. Scott will be working with staff at the Observatory to study “Short period variable stars”. At the end of the project he will write a Report which will be presented to the public at Queen’s University at the end of August.
Nuffield Science Bursaries are awarded to the best of Northern Ireland’s Science students, and are highly sought after. A number of pupils from Wellington College have been successful in winning a Bursary in recent years, in areas ranging from Geophysics to Agriculture and ICT.
The Physics Department is constantly looking for ways to keep our teaching up-to-date and relevant.
Some recent examples of this:
• We have changed our A Level course to the Edexcel Board, to a specification which is varied, interesting and full of modern applications and approaches. Initial feedback from students has been positive, and the results from June 2010 were very encouraging.
• During November 2010, we have completely renewed our Data Logging equipment, giving us state-of-the-art equipment for use in a range of experiments. This is an area where Wellington College has always been one of the leaders in Northern Ireland schools, and the new equipment will keep us at the forefront of developments.
• Sound engineering: This term, we have modified our GCSE course topic on Sound Waves so that all students will get to use Audacity, a software package widely used by professional sound engineers.
• Mr. Cardwell is now a Star on the Internet - see his inspiring lesson on the Solar System, posted on the O2 Learn website in December 2010 by clicking on this link: https://www.o2learn.co.uk/o2_video.php?vid=368
A Level Physics courses in Wellington College follow the new Edexcel Physics syllabus for a course that combines the essential traditional basics of the subject with new and exciting developments right up to the latest developments in astrophysics and particle accelerators.
Board: Edexcel
Y13 AS Level Physics
The AS Course is divided into 3 Modules:
Module 1 (40%)
• Motion, forces and projectiles
• Fluids: liquids (like tomato sauce, slime or syrup) and how they flow; air resistance and streamlines
• Materials: how do the uses of materials relate to their properties?
Module 2 (40%)
• Electricity and circuits
• Light waves: what they are and how they behave
• Quantum Physics: the weird and wonderful effects that happen inside atoms, and what use this is in your daily life
Module 3 (20%)
• This is a Coursework Module. This includes a Study Visit to a place where Physics is in use, followed by planning, carrying out and analysing a related experiment.
Y14 A Level Physics
The A2 Course is also divided into 3 Modules:
Module 4 (40%)
• Momentum, energy and circular motion
• Electric and magnetic fields
• Accelerators and particle physics
Module 5 (40%)
• Gases and Kinetic theory
• Nuclear decay and energy
• Oscillations and Simple Harmonic Motion
• Astrophysics and Cosmology
Module 6 (20%)
• Again this is a Coursework Module involving planning, carrying out and analysing a complex experiment.
The Physics Department encourages every pupil to think about the huge range of careers relating to Physics, from sound engineering to astronomy, from the latest hospital scanners to nanotechnology, and from designing the latest in smart materials for fashion to laser fusion research.
The best web-site for Careers related to Physics is the Institute of Physics:
www.physics.org/careers
This covers Communications, Environment, Medicine, Space, Transport, Engineering, Education and many more.
The page www.physics.org/careerlinks gives links to many other web-sites.
A fun way of looking at Science Careers is provided at www.futuremorph.org
If you are thinking about Engineering as a Career, then the website of the Institute of Engineering and Technology is the best starting place. This explains about the different types of engineering, and how to go about getting into them:
www.theiet.org/education/becomingengineer/index.cfm
You can find out about Engineering Apprenticeships here:
www.theiet.org/students/apprentices/meet-apprentices/index.cfm
