1st module

1st semester

Dott. Luigi Gratton

A.A. 1998/99

PROGRAMME

 The course essentially concerns on the critical actuation of experiments and on practical activities that are significant in teaching Physics. In both sections the following themes will be emphasized:

- Accidental and systematic errors of measurements; uncertainty calculation in indirect measurements.
- Didactic discussions on possible proposals of presented experiments in the upper high-school.
- Innate ideas of students on various fields of Physics.
- Didactic effectiveness of practical activities.
- Various audiovisual supports on the most relevant subjects in Physics teaching will be shown.

 Matter properties and termology:

- Geometrical quantity measurements (lenghts, areas, volumes) by direct and indirect methods. Trigonometric methods.
- Stretching of a spring and of an elastic. Various kinds of forces in nature. Frictional forces and viscous forces.
- Density of solids, liquids and gases. The Archimedes’ principle and floating. Surface tension. Capillarity. The atmospheric pressure.
- Calibration of a mercury thermometer and of an NTC. Effects of heating on bodies. The time that a thermometer takes to reach thermal equilibrium. Various kinds of thermometers. Phase changes of water and other substances. The fusion of wax. The evaporation of a liquid and vapor pressure.
- States of matter. Crystals observed with a microscope. The Brownian motion observed with a microscope. Boile’s law of an ideal gas. The kinetic theory of gases.
- The specific heat of substances and the heat capacity of bodies. Latent heat of transformation. The calorimeter and the measurement of the fusion heat of a substance (ice).
- The measurement of the solar constant and greenhouse effect.

REFERENCE TEXTS

V. ZANETTI, Teoria ed esperimenti di fisica, Zanichelli Editore, 1993
THE PROJECT PHYSICS COURSE, Moto nei cieli, Zanichelli Editore, 1974
 PREPARAZIONE DI ESPERIENZE DIDATTICHE