Clifton College Website

Physics Department

Physics is a popular subject at Clifton. All students take the subject up to GCSE; the majority doing Physics as a separate subject with some studying it as part of a "Dual Science" course.

Head of Physics
Mr Anthony Reeves BSc
Teachers
Mr Mark Dixon BSc Mr Dez Futak BSc Mr David Richardson BSc Mr Julian Noad BEng
Chief Physics Technician
Mr Phil Norman
Technicians
Mrs Gill Bevington Mr Wil Player

Teaching

The teaching is aimed to make Physics interesting and thought-provoking for those students studying it.

In Year 9 the course works through the achievements and the theories of some of the most prominent Physicists: Galileo, Archimedes, Newton and Einstein. As well as studying their work, something of the Philosophy and History of Physics is examined here to give a good background to GCSE work.

A large amount of practical work is done by the students at all levels in the Physics department. The department is well resourced with a large variety of equipment.

The AS course is the Institute of Physics backed “Advancing Physics” course and has seen a growth in popularity in the last few years. At the end of the Michaelmas term of the AS course the students give talks on Materials designed for a purpose, some examples this year being:

Kevlar used in bullet-proof vests
Gortex used in Weather-proofing
Zylex used for violin strings
Carbon-Fibre used in Hull design

An outside Industrial Scientist was involved in listening to these talks and questioning the students this year, something we plan to continue. Dr R McEwan then gave a talk of his own explaining how the work the students were discussing had real applications in his work for BAE Systems. This was organised by Clifton Scientific Trust.

Competitions, clinics and meetings

The Physics Department runs a clinic once a week in the Stone Library for students who wish to do some extra work in the Department or to ask for help.

The Department also runs a "Tricky Physics" meetings once a week for Lower Sixth and Upper Sixth in separate meetings. In these, more challenging Physics topics and enigmas are discussed over tea or coffee. The sessions are voluntary but are currently enjoyed by close to ten students each week in the Lower Sixth year. The emphasis here is on enjoying the challenges of analysing and solving problems as well as practising the ability to discuss Physics. The meetings are not constrained by any syllabus, and often interesting areas are discussed which are not on any specification.

Recent examples of topics looked at:

Estimation of the maximum wind speed needed to topple a truck
A full understanding of the workings of a car ignition circuit
The Physics of Bungee Jumping
The use of Lissajous’ figures in comparing electrical signals

The Department enters students for the National Physics Olympiad Competition every year in the Upper Sixth.

We normally achieve good results in this. This year, one student has been awarded a Gold Award and is now in the process of undergoing selection tests to be part of the British Physics team which will travel to Taiwan at the end of this year for the International Physics Olympiad. Often questions are looked at from these competitions in the weekly "Tricky Physics" meetings.

This year we have entered students in Year 11 for the National Physics Challenge, which we will continue to do.