# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
(Inside Science) -- Remember as a kid sitting slack-jawed at a friend's birthday party, all as the county's cheapest magician sawed a lady in half? That's kind of what it feels like to watch Ryan Battistella squeeze tube after tube of toothpaste into the toilet on his TikTok account. In a series of three viral videos posted in late November, Batistella and a friend used a variety of techniques -- and profanities -- as they mixed up the contents of nearly half a dozen tubes of striped toothpaste, only to discover that when they squeezed the tubes, stripes still came out.

With each trial, they dug deeper and deeper into the mystery. What began as kneading an unopened tube before using it devolved into a frenzied Batistella cutting open a tube from the bottom to mix the contents with a knife, showing the homogenous grey contents to the camera before squeezing out -- you guessed it -- black-and-white striped toothpaste from the nozzle. There's a humor to watching two grown men become completely unraveled over tubes of Colgate Optic White (by the end of the third video, one of them was simply shrieking "It's a portal!" over and over), but their confusion didn't appear to be a bit. The creators were just as mystified as their audience.

More stories about fun physics from Inside Science

Where you see what looks unexplainably magical in the everyday, there's usually science at play. The comments sections of Battistella's videos were flooded with theories citing the physical properties of toothpaste and the inventive engineering of toothpaste tubes. In a very loose approximation of the scientific method, Battistella took it upon himself to tackle some of the easier-to-test hypotheses posed.

Hypothesis: The tube is divided with barriers preventing the mixing of stripes. This was disproven when cutting open the tube revealed only one interior chamber.

Hypothesis: The stripe effect is added by a deposit of color stored right up against the tube's nozzle, with special holes on the side of an interior tunnel designed to pull paste from the top -- as shown in this YouTube video of a tube of the company's Dentagard toothpaste. This was disproven when Battistella rinsed out one of the Colgate tubes completely and found no such mechanism.

To crack the case, Inside Science turned to Sergio Leite, vice president of global oral care research and development at Colgate.

The answer, as it so often is, is the simplest one: Battistella really had mixed a portion of the tube's contents together into one grey mass, and the tube had no engineering secrets that could restore the stripes. But he hadn't stirred deep enough, and some of the toothpaste had been left striped. Even though it looked like he'd squeezed for long enough to empty the whole tube, he hadn't-the grey had remained inside, inching closer and closer to the opening but cut off before its grand entrance.

It's here that the real illusion appears, says Leite. How can the tube still be so full, when we've watched what feels like an eternity of toothpaste pump out of it? The secret is in the thickness and viscosity of toothpaste. It's the same property that guarantees when you squeeze a bit onto your toothbrush, it doesn't continue running off the end. "Toothpaste is not as easy to mix as you'd think," said Leite. When you mash a full tube of toothpaste, "it may look like you're mixing, but you're not really mixing."

To demonstrate what happens on the inside of a striped tube, Leite held up an empty zip-close bag on Zoom, then filled it with a few squirts each of ketchup and mayonnaise. When nestled side by side, the deposits of each condiment remained fairly separate no matter how much he squished the bag about -- thanks to the viscosities of the substances, they were unable to fully mix with one another. All that happened was a slight blurring of the border between the two. In the video, said Leite, "what the kids are doing is kind of doing something like this. It doesn't really mix."

What about the video where Battistella mixes the paste with a knife? He really is combining some of the stripes, said Leite, but it's a much smaller portion than it looks like. "If you mix kind of in the middle [of the tube], you don't really get really the borders," Leite said. "When the kids were squeezing, and you see the stripe, you're seeing really the outer edges."

The viscosity of toothpaste, it turns out, causes the product on the edges of the tube to be pushed down and out first, rather than what's in the middle. Had Battistella continued squeezing, the paste would have eventually come out grey and mixed, said Leite, but the viscosity created the illusion that he'd emptied a larger portion of the tube than he actually had.

There's a lot of science that goes into the creation of a tube of striped toothpaste, Leite explained. When his team is developing a new product, they have to ensure that the toothpaste in every stripe has the same physical properties, which prevents one from squeezing out faster than the other. They use a science known as rheology, and it's the reason stripes even stay intact in the first place. Colgate doesn't use any fancy technology in the cap or subdivided tubes to pack their striped toothpastes -- they simply load them in the top -- in slices of sorts that look, from a bird's-eye view, like slices of pizza, explained Leite -- and the stripes are preserved thanks to even resistance to mixing.

But the boundaries of toothpaste science are far from rigid. Customers seem to prefer the stripes to regular uniform toothpastes -- could other patterns become a reality in our tubes? "My dream would be to do a plaid, with the stripes going in both directions," said Leite. Good luck mixing that.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
(Inside Science) -- Remember as a kid sitting slack-jawed at a friend's birthday party, all as the county's cheapest magician sawed a lady in half? That's kind of what it feels like to watch Ryan Battistella squeeze tube after tube of toothpaste into the toilet on his TikTok account.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Imagine a flock of birds as they wheel across the sky: surging into a mass, flowing into ribbons that twist and turn again into fantastic shapes. If you follow one bird within the flock, you can describe its actions, the way it flaps its wings or uses its tail to brake. Yet, even if you could minutely account for the behavior of each individual bird, the shapes and patterns of their collective flight would still evade understanding.

Electrons don't flock like birds. But Debanjan Chowdhury, assistant professor of physics, faces a similar challenge when trying to describe how electrons behave in quantum materials.

For decades, scientists have been studying electrons by looking at common materials like silicon and observing one electron at a time. "Despite the complexity of electrons in silicon, we can effectively describe the material's measurable properties by focusing on each individual electron as if the others don't exist," Chowdhury says.

But lately, scientists have been excited by so-called quantum materials, in which trillions of electrons interact and influence each other-behavior that is evident in high-temperature superconductors. "These new materials exhibit counterintuitive properties that can't be described by treating these electrons one at a time," Chowdhury says. "Instead, we have to treat the electrons in these materials as one collective fluid in which electrons are strongly entangled with one another. We don't even have the right kinds of technical tools and mathematical machinery to describe their properties reliably yet."

For Chowdhury, who is a theoretical physicist, quantum materials are at once puzzles and pathways to innovation. "These materials are exciting," he says. "They hold a lot of promise to further our basic understanding of quantum mechanics as it applies to trillions of interacting electrons. They also could potentially drive the next generation of quantum technologies."

High-temperature superconductors

As an electric current flows through a normal conductor, such as copper at room temperature, microscopic interactions between the conductor and the flowing electrons create resistance. Much like mechanical friction, that resistance dissipates some of the electric current's energy in the form of heat.

By contrast, superconductors carry an electric current without the slightest loss of energy.

When superconductivity was discovered in 1911, it was observed only at temperatures near absolute zero (-273.15°C), which was a barrier to harnessing its lossless flow of energy for everyday applications. In the 1980s, however, scientists began discovering materials with a temperature threshold for superconductivity that is much higher-as high as -100°C. That's extremely cold, but it's a temperature that can be maintained using liquid nitrogen, making high-temperature superconductors far better candidates for practical applications.

Understanding the quantum phenomena that govern the flow of electrons in high-temperature superconductors could have incredible technological and even planetary implications, Chowdhury explains. As an example, he mentions power plants. Roughly 65% of the electricity that power plants generate is lost during transmission. By eliminating these losses, high-temperature superconductors could drastically reduce the carbon footprint of electricity production.

Yet numerous high-temperature superconductors belong to a broader class of materials called strange metals that continue to defy explanation. They are strange in ways never before observed-and not only in terms of their superconductivity.

At different temperatures, very different properties

Before the discovery of strange metals, observations generally confirmed that dissipation in a typical conductor increases as the temperature increases, but only to a point. Beyond that point, you can increase the temperature of the system without degrading the material's conductivity. Increase the temperature of copper from -150°C to -10°C or even 39°C on a hot summer's day, and you still have a perfectly good conductor.

When it comes to strange metals, however, there's no cap on their dissipation. Instead, their conductivity continues to degrade as temperatures rise. "You would think that... a material that can superconduct at temperatures near or below -100°C would be a very good electrical conductor at room temperature, similar to copper or silver," Chowdhury says. "Instead, these strange metals are terrible conductors under normal conditions."

Universality in strange metals

The electrons in any material are colliding constantly. As the temperature of a system drops, the electrons slow down and the time between collisions increases.

For strange metals at low temperatures, however, the interval between successive collisions is unusually short. And the strangeness doesn't stop there, Chowdhury says. The interval is precisely determined by the temperature of the system and Planck's constant, a fundamental constant of nature. This behavior holds true regardless of the strange metal's chemical makeup and regardless of the threshold temperature at which its superconductive powers emerge.

"Physicists get excited any time we see the emergence of universality, because it means that the complicated microscopic details tied to a particular material do not impinge upon the common features shared by all of the distinct compounds," Chowdhury says. "We can hope to come up with a theoretical explanation that works for all these compounds."

Chowdhury is investigating the origin of this universal time scale across disparate superconducting compounds. "This timing of electron collisions tells us that quantum mechanics is fundamentally important in understanding the basic physics that controls how the electronic fluid carries current in these strange metals," he says. "The fundamental reason behind this universal time scale is likely also responsible for driving high-temperature superconductivity."

To explain the timing of electron collisions in strange metals, Chowdhury tries to write the simplest of quantum field theories that would describe the properties of the interacting particles. "I try to build a minimal mathematical model for what the electrons might be doing," he says. "I try to come up with interesting ways to solve the puzzle using techniques and ideas inspired by developments across different subfields of physics, sometimes including even quantum information and black holes."

Moiré materials

In a distinct but related area, the Chowdhury group is collaborating with experimental physicists to explore the physics of moiré materials, a new class of materials discovered in 2018 by Pablo Jarillo-Herrero and collaborators at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Members of Jarillo-Herrero's lab put two sheets of graphene, each made up of a single atomic layer of carbon atoms, on top of each other. The research team then twisted one sheet 1.1 degrees relative to the other. The resulting system-called a moiré material because the two slightly offset sheets create a moiré pattern-hosted new and unanticipated phenomena, including superconductivity.

"There are a lot of other two-dimensional materials where you can play the same game," Chowdhury says. "The amazing thing about moiré materials is that the two sheets don't have to be made of the same material. By stacking and twisting a variety of different sheets, you have the ability to externally control the electrons' kinetic energy-how fast they effectively move in the system-in opposition to how strongly they interact with each other. For instance, one point one degree of twist in graphene is the sweet spot where the electrons almost come to a standstill due to subtle quantum mechanical effects."

In general, superconductivity arises when two electrons come together, form what is called a Cooper pair, and then start moving with a finite kinetic energy.

"So, if the electrons in two graphene sheets with 1.1 degree twist have almost no kinetic energy, how can pairs of electrons move?" Chowdhury asks. "The answer lies in topological properties [properties preserved through deformations, twisting, and stretching of objects] that are associated with the quantum mechanical wave function of the electron, combined with strong electron-electron interaction. This combination of topological properties and strongly entangled electrons provides a fundamentally new route towards engineering higher temperature superconductors."

Pushing the limits of imagination

When he's not thinking about existing and ongoing experiments, Chowdhury likes to imagine interesting quantum effects that are theoretically possible even if they lie beyond the reach of existing measurements. "I push the limits of my imagination by asking, "If we don't violate any fundamental laws of nature, and we focus on the uncharted world of entangled electrons, what else can happen? And how would we detect something like that?'" he says.

"The quantum world is fascinating, and we understand so little about it that I'm driven to make fundamental, conceptual advancements in the theory of interacting electrons," he continues. "There's an endless list of completely new phenomena no one has ever thought about that are waiting to be discovered."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Research: Electrons in a strange metal world

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Imagine a flock of birds as they wheel across the sky: surging into a mass, flowing into ribbons that twist and turn again into fantastic shapes. If you follow one bird within the flock, you can describe its actions, the way it flaps its wings or uses its tail to brake.

# data[].attributes.headline
Party Like its LK-99 (The Supposed Room Temperature Superconductor)

# data[].attributes.subject
Party Like its LK-99 (The Supposed Room Temperature Superconductor)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Claims of a room-temperature, ambient-pressure superconductor recently kicked up a storm on social media. As the dust settles, we take stock of what this experience can teach us.

On 23 July, two preprints ( https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.12008; 2023; and https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.12037; 2023) with overlapping authors appeared on the arXiv that claimed to show superconductivity at room temperature and ambient pressure in copper-doped Pb ₁₀(PO ₄) ₆ O. More colloquially, this material is called LK-99 after two of its inventors and the year that it was first synthesized. Although there have been many such claims in the past, something different happened this time: people on social media got incredibly excited.

In the weeks since then, various labs around the world have scrambled to do replication experiments and theoretical simulations, and the current consensus appears to be that there is no zero-resistance state in this material. Instead, a phase transition caused by the rearrangement of impurities seems to lead to the drop in resistance that the preprints showed. A video uploaded with one of the preprints that purported to show the sample levitating - evidence for the perfect diamagnetic response that superconductivity entails - is probably explained by more mundane magnetism. But we note that, at the time of writing, the authors still stand by their results.

However, for a short period of time, there was a flurry of interest both from professional physicists and from more casual observers. People picked the data apart, discussed the technological and societal implications if the results were correct, and even gave advice for speculation on financial markets.

Other disciplines in physics experience such surges of interest now and again, be it for a potential detection of a new particle at a collider or data from a telescope that suggests something fresh about exotic objects in distant galaxies. But this is an unfamiliar situation for many in condensed-matter physics and materials science, as the work done by these communities tends not to fire the imagination of the general public so readily.

But the response by the research community was commendable. Initial sceptical feelings of "we've been here before" were promptly superseded by the patient work of explaining the physics to people who don't have a background in the subject. And, while there were undoubtedly some under-informed opinions shared on social media, the majority of commentary was detailed, constructive and educational. Many were involved, but Inna Vishik (@InnaVishik on X), Leslie Schoop (@SchoopLab), and Michael Fuhrer (@MichaelSFuhrer) deserve particular recognition for taking the time to translate the technical details to make the ideas more accessible.

It is also worth reflecting on the role that preprints have played in the story. One can certainly argue that many of their advantages were on full display here: rapid dissemination of results, a low barrier for entry for anyone who wanted to contribute to the discussion, and a quick resolution of the debate. Also, without the preprints and resulting replication experiments, some of the other interesting facets of the material's behaviour would not have been discovered.

But one can also argue that exceptional and high-profile cases such as this do not necessarily translate well into normal practice. In some sense it was fortuitous that the material in question is relatively straightforward to synthesize: many labs around the word had the equipment and expertise to get involved and that will not always be the case. Also, tens of groups put a substantial amount of effort into verifying the initial results and that is somewhat inefficient.

In contrast, traditional peer review would probably have handled the situation differently. It is likely that referees would have had a string of technical questions for the authors to respond to, and would probably have suggested extra measurements that would make the data more robust. Either the authors would have been able to do those or not, and that would have decided the fate of the paper. Although it would have taken longer, the amount of work required in that situation would have been much less.

But finally, returning to the unusual amount of attention that this story generated for condensed-matter physics, it is likely that this would not have happened without the preprints. Regardless of the outcome for the superconductivity in LK-99, it was a helpful opportunity to have a meaningful discussion of the physics and to highlight the exciting potential impact of contemporary research.

So, it would be ideal if the community could find a way to keep its new-found fans engaged. Collectively, we have started to unpack fascinating physical concepts - magnetism, transport, band structure - and their implications for technology in a way that it seems many found more accessible than they usually are. But this story also addresses gritty solid-state physics problems such as the role of impurities and the details of what makes a material practically useful. These issues are often glossed over, but in this case they could not be ignored.

As negative as social media can often be - not all publicity is good publicity, after all - the story of LK-99 shows that thoughtful, constructive engagement can be successful. So, we leave it as a challenge - to ourselves as much as anyone - to participate.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Nature Physics - Claims of a room-temperature, ambient-pressure superconductor recently kicked up a storm on social media. As the dust settles, we take stock of what this experience can teach us.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
"science videos" science "science education" "science literacy" veritasium misconceptions physics education astronomy "science songs" chemistry biology teach...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An element of truth - videos about science, education, and anything else I find interesting.

# data[].attributes.headline
Physics and Maths Tutor Revision Questions

# data[].attributes.subject
Physics and Maths Tutor Revision Questions

# data[].attributes.body
This is our usual go to place for questions and practice.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Revision for AQA Physics GCSE, including summary notes, exam questions by topic and videos for each module

# data[].attributes.body
Interesting YouTube videos which describe the strange and wonderful Universe.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
science universe space "black hole" life virus climate history education evolution biology humanism

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Animation videos explaining things with optimistic nihilism since 12,013. We're a team of illustrators, animators, number crunchers and one dog who aim to spark curiosity about science and the world we live in. To us nothing is boring if you tell a good story.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The History Center's thirteen online exhibits engage a very broad audience - from elementary school students to historians of science. Visit our gallery to learn more about Marie Curie's discovery of radium or the three physicists who revolutionized our information age: the transistor.

Over 50 teaching guides on the history of physics, astronomy, and other physical sciences, highlight contributions across the diverse community of scientists. These teaching guides meet national educational standards, can fit into social and natural science courses, and are available for free on this site.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The History Center's thirteen online exhibits engage a very broad audience - from elementary school students to historians of science. Visit our gallery to learn more about Marie Curie's discovery of radium or the three physicists who revolutionized our information age: the transistor.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A physics degree is a great starting point for a career in scientific research, as well as in a range of careers in the business, finance, IT and engineering sectors

Job options

Jobs directly related to your degree include:

Jobs where your degree would be useful include:

Remember that many employers accept applications from graduates with any degree subject, so don't restrict your thinking to the jobs listed here.

Take a few minutes to answer the Job Match quiz and find out what careers would suit you

Work experience

Make the most of any opportunities to gain relevant work experience, such as a placement or year out in industry as part of your degree. Use this time to gain practical skills to complement your academic studies and to build a network of contacts.

Get involved with specialist groups and relevant professional bodies, such as the Institute of Physics.

If you want a career in science, look for part-time or vacation work in a laboratory as a laboratory technician or assistant. Vacation work or summer internships that develop teamwork, leadership and communication skills are also helpful.

Whichever career you're interested in, getting relevant experience will help boost you chances of getting a job. For example, if you want to be a teacher, try to get experience in the classroom observing and working with students.

Search for placements and find out more about work experience and internships.

Typical employers

Employers of physics graduates include academic institutions, schools and colleges, government research organisations, the armed forces and industry.

Industries employing physicists are varied and include:

aerospace and defence

education

energy and renewable energy

engineering

health and medicine

instrumentation

manufacturing

meteorology and climate change

nanotechnology

oil and gas

science and telecommunications.

Physics graduates also move into careers outside of science. Popular options include banking and finance, as well as the software, computing and consultancy industries. Other areas include accountancy, law and transport.

Find information on employers in engineering and manufacturing, information technology, science and pharmaceuticals and other job sectors.

Skills for your CV

Studying physics develops your understanding of core physics and gives you a range of subject-specific skills in areas such as astronomy, computational and experimental physics, condensed matter, dynamics, electromagnetism and quantum mechanics.

You also develop transferable skills valued by a range of both technical and non-technical employers. These include:

problem-solving skills and a pragmatic and analytical approach

reasoning skills and the capacity to construct logical arguments and grasp complex problems

research and data analysis

numeracy skills, helpful for finding solutions to scientific problems, mathematical modelling and interpreting and presenting graphs

practical skills, such as using technical equipment

the ability to communicate complex ideas and use technical language correctly, discussing ideas and taking on other viewpoints

teamworking and project management skills

effective time management and organisational skills

competence at using specialist software packages and some programming.

Further study

Some physics graduates go on to further study at postgraduate level in order to enhance their knowledge of a particular area of physics. Relevant subjects include:

astrophysics

quantum physics

particle physics

mathematical physics

thermodynamics

nanotechnology.

Another option is to complete a teaching qualification, for example a PGCE (PGDE in Scotland), to pursue a career as a physics teacher. A PhD may be the appropriate route if you wish to work in scientific research.

There are also opportunities to take courses in marketing, finance, business, law, IT and journalism, depending on your career interests.

For more information on further study and to find a course that interests you, see Masters degrees and search postgraduate courses in physics.

What do physics graduates do?

The most popular job for those employed in the UK is IT professional with 22% reporting this as their most important activity. The top ten jobs also include business, research and administrative professionals, teaching professionals, natural and social science professionals, finance professionals, engineering professionals, business associate professionals and IT technicians.

For a detailed breakdown of what physics graduates are doing after graduation, see What do graduates do?

Graduate destinations data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What can I do with a physics degree? | Prospects.ac.uk

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What can I do with my physics degree? Find how studying physics can help you to develop a range of skills that can be applied in many areas, both scientific and non-technical.

# data[].attributes.headline
OPhyiscs - Good for Visualising A-Level Principles

# data[].attributes.subject
OPhyiscs - Good for Visualising A-Level Principles

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
oPhysics: Interactive Physics Simulations

Select a simulation from one of the above categories or click on a category to see descriptions of the simulations for that category.

The oPhysics website is a collection of interactive physics simulations. It is a work in progress, and likely always will be. Content will be added as time allows.

All of the content on this site was created by me, Tom Walsh. I retired after teaching high school physics for 27 years, and AP Physics for 25 years. Please click my name above to send me feedback about these simulations or suggestions for new simulations I could create.
Most of the animated illustrations and all of the interactive simulations on this site were created using the wonderful GeoGebra software. GeoGebra is a free program that makes it very easy to create animations and simulations for anyone with a good understanding of math or physics. To browse or search for pre-made math and physics simulations (including those used on this site) and for more information about the software please visit their website: www.geogebra.org.
Please feel free to use any of the content on this site for non-profit educational purposes.

10/2/2022: Added Electron Charge to Mass Ratio Lab (In Electricity and Magnetism).

10/2/2022: Added Image Formation with Convex Lenses (In Light).

10/2/2022: Added Perfect Card Shuffling (In Fun Stuff).

About oPhysics

About The Author

About GeoGebra

Permissions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
oPhysics: Interactive Physics Simulations Select a simulation from one of the above categories or click on a category to see descriptions of the simulations for that category. The oPhysics website is a collection of interactive physics simulations. It is a work in progress, and likely always will be.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website.

If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked.

To log in and use all the features of Khan Academy, please enable JavaScript in your browser.

Welcome to the Physics library!

Physics is the study of matter, motion, energy, and force. Here, you can browse videos, articles, and exercises by topic. We keep the library up-to-date, so you may find new or improved material here over time.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Physics library | Science | Khan Academy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Physics the study of matter, motion, energy, and force.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Online Physics Courses - AcademicEarth.org

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Physics deals with matter as it relates to space and time, particularly while in motion. This major has applications in many professional fields, particularly tech-driven industries and lab sciences like biology, chemistry and geology. Degree programs in physics are offered at virtually every accred…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A levels - To get on to an engineering-related degree, you will usually require a minimum of two A levels, with three A levels and A/B grades required for the most popular courses. Entry requirements range from CCC to AAA, with the universities and colleges most commonly asking for ABB. Maths A level is normally essential, with many universities requiring or preferring a second A level in physics. As an alternative to physics other universities may accept subjects linked to science, computing, maths, or design.

Scottish Highers - Entry requirements for Highers (the most common qualification) range from ABBB to AAAAB, with universities or colleges most frequently requiring AABBB. Occasionally, universities ask for Advanced Highers to supplement Highers. If Advanced Highers are requested, universities or colleges typically ask for AA.

Biotechnology and chemical engineering degrees typically require two science A levels, or Scottish Highers, with biology/chemistry respectively required or preferred as one of the subjects. In addition to A levels or Scottish Highers, you will also need five GCSEs or equivalent (A- C) including science, English, and maths.

Vocational courses - Other Level 3/Level 6 qualifications (e.g. Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma in Engineering or Construction and Built Environment, SVQ Scientific, Technical and Formulation Processing (SCQF Level 6)) may be accepted as an alternative to A levels/Highers by some providers. It's essential that you check alternative entry requirements with universities or colleges.

Selection

Some universities may require students not taking A levels maths to complete an additional aptitude test in mathematics and or mechanics.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A levels - To get on to an engineering-related degree, you will usually require a minimum of two A levels, with three A levels and A/B grades required for the most popular courses. Entry requirements range from CCC to AAA, with the universities and colleges most commonly asking for ABB.

# data[].attributes.body
An online tool for solving equations and visualising functions - this is not a tool to do your homework!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Uh oh! Wolfram|Alpha doesn't run without JavaScript.

Please enable JavaScript. If you don't know how, you can find instructions . Once you've done that, refresh this page to start using Wolfram|Alpha.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Wolfram|Alpha: Making the world's knowledge computable

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Compute answers using Wolfram's breakthrough technology & knowledgebase, relied on by millions of students & professionals. For math, science, nutrition, history, geography, engineering, mathematics, linguistics, sports, finance, music...

# data[].attributes.headline
Phet - Good All Round Simulation Website 

# data[].attributes.subject
Phet - Good All Round Simulation Website 

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Over 1.1 billion simulations delivered

160interactive simulations

97language translations

3001teacher-submitted lessons

Founded in 2002 by Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman, the PhET Interactive Simulations project at the University of Colorado Boulder creates free interactive math and science simulations. PhET sims are based on extensive education research and engage students through an intuitive, game-like environment where students learn through exploration and discovery.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Founded in 2002 by Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman, the PhET Interactive Simulations project at the University of Colorado Boulder creates free interactive math and science simulations. PhET sims are based on extensive education research and engage students through an intuitive, game-like environment where students learn through exploration and discovery.

# data[].attributes.body
Make sure you pick AQA GCSE

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
University of Sussex - BSc Physics

I help students achieve outstanding results by creating lessons specialising in exam techniques!

Oxford PAT exam approaching? Develop the tools needed to dissect complex problems, devise ingenious solutions, and handle challenges with confidence in our 2-day intensive PAT Exam Preparation Course on September 23-24th. Book your place now!

AS & A-Levels from 2015

OCR

Physics A

Physics B (Advancing Physics)

International A-levels (IAL)

Legacy A-levels in the UK

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Past papers, mark schemes, practice questions by topic and video solutions for AQA, Edexcel, OCR, WJEC and CAIE Physics A-Levels

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Promoting physics and bringing physicists together for the benefit of all

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This qualification is linear. Linear means that students will sit all their exams at the end of the course.

Subject content

1. Energy

2. Electricity

3. Particle model of matter

4. Atomic structure

5. Forces

6. Waves

7. Magnetism and electromagnetism

8. Space physics (physics only)

Assessments

Paper 1:

What's assessed

Topics 1-4: Energy; Electricity; Particle model of matter; and Atomic structure.

How it's assessed

Written exam: 1 hour 45 minutes

Foundation and Higher Tier

100 marks

50% of GCSE

Questions

Multiple choice, structured, closed short answer and open response.

Paper 2:

What's assessed

Topics 5-8: Forces; Waves; Magnetism and electromagnetism; and Space physics.

Questions in paper 2 may draw on an understanding of energy changes and transfers due to heating, mechanical and electrical work and the concept of energy conservation from Energy and Electricity.

How it's assessed

Written exam: 1 hour 45 minutes

Foundation and Higher Tier

100 marks

50% of GCSE

Questions

Multiple choice, structured, closed short answer and open response.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This qualification is linear. Linear means that students will sit all their exams at the end of the course. 1. Energy 2. Electricity 3. Particle model of matter 4. Atomic structure 5. Forces 6. Waves 7. Magnetism and electromagnetism 8. Space physics (physics only) Paper 1: What's assessed Topics 1-4: Energy; Electricity; Particle model of matter; and Atomic structure.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Opening of the LHCb detector in 2018. Credit: CERN, LHCb Collaboration.

The observation of elusive, exotic particles is the key objective of countless studies, as it could open new avenues for research, while also improving present knowledge of the matter contained in the universe and its underlying physics. The quark model, a theoretical model introduced in 1964, predicted the existence of elementary subatomic particles known as quarks in their different configurations.

Quarks and antiquarks (the anti-matter equivalent of quarks) are predicted to be constituents of various subatomic particles. These include "conventional" particles, such as mesons and baryons, as well as more complex particles made up of four or five quarks (i.e., tetraquarks and pentaquarks, respectively).

The Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) experiment, a research effort involving a large group of researchers at different institutes worldwide, has been trying to observe some of these fascinating particles for over a decade, using data collected at CERN's LHC particle collider in Switzerland. In a recent paper published in Physical Review Letters, they reported the very first observation of a doubly charged tetraquark and its neutral partner.

"In the past decade, the LHCb experiment has done pioneering work in the discovery of so-called exotic particles," Yasmine Sara Amhis, physics coordinator of the LHCb experiment, told Phys.org, "The LHCb discovered the first pentaquark in 2015, and this opened the road to many other findings. The primary objective of LHCb's research into exotic particles is to discover which tetraquarks and pentaquarks exist and to map their properties, especially uncovering the other particles they decay into and their quantum numbers."

Currently, there are several different phenomenological models describing tetraquarks and pentaquarks, particularly predicting how quarks are bound to form these particles. By observing these particles and measuring their properties, the LHCb collaboration could help to determine which of these models are correct, while also identifying discrepancies or inaccuracies.

As part of their recent study, the researchers analyzed data collected during the LHC's first two experimental runs. These spanned across a period of two years, between 2011 and 2018.

"The analysis that led to this discovery is very sophisticated and is fair to say is an example of one of the most 'difficult' studies performed within our collaboration," Amhis explained. "The origin name of the LHCb experiment stems from the historical primary topic of research, which focused on b-quarks and their products. The pair of tetraquarks which are reported in this paper were observed thanks to a technique called amplitude analysis. This approach replies on the quantum behavior of particles and their ability to interfere between each other."

The complex analysis carried out by the LHCb collaboration could be described as a combined analysis focusing on symmetries. Symmetries are of crucial importance in particle physics and play a major role in the so-called Standard Model, the guiding theory of particles and the forces governing them.

"Symmetries are also powerful because they allow to derive similarities and relations between particles," Amhis said. "Isospin, the symmetry that related the two particles listed in this paper, says that their mass and width to be the same. This allows the combined analysis to be more sensitive to the properties of these particles than a single analysis of each isospin partner could have been."

To date, the LHCb collaboration published over 600 papers, observing several particles and physics phenomena for the first time. Most of their studies confirmed the robustness and reliability of the Standard Model of particle physics, yet some of them also led to exciting new discoveries.

"Papers like this one show that discoveries, including some unexpected ones, remain possible," Amhis said. "More than 70 new hadronic particles have been discovered at the LHC, by far most of them at LHCb, As we learn more about which hadrons exist and their properties, we gain new understanding of the strong force, one of the four fundamental forces in nature, which binds quarks into hadrons. This understanding in turn opens new doors in searching for physics beyond the Standard Model, by reducing theoretical uncertainties associated with such searches which are caused by an imperfect understanding of the strong force."

The recent work by the LHCb could soon inform further theoretical and experimental studies examining the physics of tetraquarks. Meanwhile, the LHC's third data collection run has begun, and the collaboration has significantly upgraded its equipment.

During this third run, the LHCb expects to collect five times more data per year compared to previous experimental runs. Their hope is that this new data will lead to more fascinating discoveries and observations.

"The improved detector is expected to gain another factor of two in the study of hadrons in particular, for a total factor of 10," Amhis added.

"In addition, LHCb now has a much-improved system for injecting gases into the detector volume, so it can study not only proton collisions but also the collision of protons with a wide variety of nuclei. This opens yet another door to the understanding of exotic hadrons, by studying their formation in different types of collisions. In our next works, we plan to pursue all axes to gain a deeper understanding of these particles: searching for new exotic hadrons, measuring the properties of known exotic hadrons more precisely, and looking for known and new exotic hadrons in different types of collisions."

More information: R. Aaij et al, First Observation of a Doubly Charged Tetraquark and Its Neutral Partner, Physical Review Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.041902

© 2023 Science X Network

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
LHCb collaboration observes a doubly charged tetraquark and its neutral partner for the first time

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The observation of elusive, exotic particles is the key objective of countless studies, as it could open new avenues for research, while also improving present knowledge of the matter contained in the universe and its underlying physics. The quark model, a theoretical model introduced in 1964, predicted the existence of elementary subatomic particles known as quarks in their different configurations.

# data[].attributes.body
Dear Langton Student,

Welcome to our one stop shop for all of our useful links involving Physics and Engineering!

I will keep the link to this pinned at the top of our Teams so you can access, but there is a broad range of resources that you can find here that will help you with your studies. Any questions speak to your teacher!

The Physics Department

# data[].attributes.body
For The Love of Physics – Walter Lewin

Paradox – Jim Al-Khalili

A Brief History of Time – Stephen Hawking

The Trouble with Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science and What Comes Nex – Lee Smolin

Atom – Pierz Bizony

Black Holes, Wormholes and Time Machines – Jim Al-Khalili

Bad Science – Gen Goldacre

A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson

Why Don’t Penguins Feet Freeze – NewScientist

The Grand Design – Stephen Hawking, Leonard Mlodinow

Newton – Peter Ackroyd

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Thinking about studying physics and astronomy? Find out why you should study it, entry requirements, and what jobs you can do with physics and astronomy degrees.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Introduction to Maths for A Level Physics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Introduction to Maths for A Level Physics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
-=An illustrated List of Animation Topic Categories=-

Astronomy
This category includes a wide variety of introductory astronomy topics, including Coordinate Systems, Eclipses, Phases of Venus and much much more.

Mechanics
This category includes a wide variety of material from introductory mechanics, including projectile motion, circular motion, kinematics, oscillations and so much more.

Electricity and Manetism
Here we find a large number of 3-D animations on challenging topics from Electriciy and Magnetism (E&M) includng Field and Field line visualizations for both Magnetic fields and Electric Fields, Gauss's Law and its application, field sources, Electromagnetic Induction, and lots more.

Optics
Optics animation categories includes color theory, image formation, aberrations, and diffractions.

Thermodynamics
Animation categories for thermodynamics include kinetic theory, heat and thermoddynamic cycles.

-=Papers and Presentations=-

360 Video Animations and Simple Virtual Reality for Introductory Physics PSU University COllege Fall 2018 Physics Meeeting

360 Images and Video Animations for Physics and Astronomy (poster) AAPT Winter 2018

Animations for Introductory Physics and Astronomy APS Mid Atlantic Section 2014

High Speed Movies for Introductory Physics Lab AAPT 2013 Summer Meeting

Artificial Video for Video Analysis, MichaelR. Gallis The Physics Teacher 48, 32 (2010): draft paper and zipped files:1D activities files,2D activities files,Millikan virtual lab files (large file),all activities files, (large file).

Animations for Physics and Astronomy Project: an Update AAPT 2010 Summer Meeting

3-D Animations for Introductory Electromagnetism, MichaelR. Gallis presented at CPS-AAPT 2005 Spring Meeting -Presentation
Elementary Animated Illustrations of Geodesics using POV-Ray , Michael R. Gallis (unpublished)

Animations for Introductory Courses, Dr. Michael R. Gallis and Dr. Ping Wang presented at the 2004ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition:-Presentation-Paper

See also Visual Mathematics by Dr. Michael R. Gallis and Dr. Ping Wang

See also Other Projects visual and interactive projcets can be found via Dr Gallis's Homepage

These works are licensed under aCreative Commons License.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An illustrated List of Animation Topic Categories=- Astronomy This category includes a wide variety of introductory astronomy topics, including Coordinate Systems, Eclipses, Phases of Venus and much much more. Mechanics This category includes a wide variety of material from introductory mechanics, including projectile motion, circular motion, kinematics, oscillations and so much more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Lessons and revision tips to help you in your GCSE & A-level studies. Have a look around and see if there’s something just for you. If not, go to the Discord: https://discord.com/invite/pyvnUDq to suggest what I can do next!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Offshore windfarm (Image courtesy: iStock/ssuaphoto)

I just sat in on a press conference about how physicists are contributing to the study of climate change.

As a physicist writing for a physics publication, I often find it very difficult to cover stories about physicists tackling problems outside of "mainstream" physics. The problem is that I usually don't know enough about the other discipline - be it botany, climatology or whatever - to really know if what the physicist has done is relevant.

One way to find out is to call up a botanist (say) and ask them. But it's often the case that they are completely unaware that physicists are working in their field, and they speak a completely different language so it can be difficult to understand their take on the work.

Climate change offers rich seams of data and complex systems for physicists to study, and I'm guessing that research funds are not hard to come by. But despite the endless calls for more interdisciplinary collaboration, I fear that many physicists are tempted to look at climate change from a purely physics perspective - and miss the chance to make a more significant contribution.

I raised my concerns with the panel and John Wettlaufer of Yale University said that it was very important for physicists working outside the mainstream "to have a genuine interest in learning about someone else's problem". However, he admitted that "not many people want to do this".

Brad Marston of Brown University added that it was important that physicists try to publish their work in general-interest journals such as the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, where they will be peer reviewed (and hopefully read) by non-physicists.

Extreme rainfall events can be correlated over thousands of kilometres, study reveals

JPhys Complexity™

No article publication charges to publish in the journal in 2023. Find out more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Physicists and climate change - Physics World

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
How physicists are contributing to the study of climate change