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Mötesplats Rydberg: Arturo C Martí "Simultaneous use of smartphone sensors in physics experiments and students’ difficulties in physics of fluids"

Europe/Stockholm
Rydbergsalen (Fysiska institutionen-Physics Department)

Rydbergsalen

Fysiska institutionen-Physics Department

Description

In this colloquium I will discuss two current issues in the teaching of Physics. The first is the use of a lessexplored feature of the smartphones: the possibility of measuring simultaneously with more than one sensor. Indeed, this is a characteristic that simplifies experimental setups allowing to perform a great deal of experiments, even outdoors, avoiding the dependence on delicate and expensive instruments and, last but not least, reducing the costs. To illustrate, in the field of mechanics simultaneous use of the accelerometer and gyroscope (angular velocity sensor) or in optics experiments synchronous use of the ambient light and orientation sensors have been proposed. The second issue deals with the physics of ideal fluids as studied at the introductory level in the firstyear university courses. An in-depth understanding of this topic requires, in addition to a knowledge of the concepts of classical mechanics (statics, kinematics and dynamics), knowledge of the specific concepts to fluids among them streamlines, pressure, material derivatives, and conservation of different physical quantities such as momentum in control volumes. I will discuss some of the conceptual difficulties faced by college students in understanding hydrodynamics of ideal fluids. We based our study in the analysis of hundreds of written exams of first-year Engineering and Science university students complemented with several oral interviews. Using these inputs, we identified a series of misconceptions held by the students.