Category: Small models
I’m sharing here a few unpretentious models of things that interest me.
For myself and my potential readers, I’ve chosen to present these models in the form of exercises.
These models have several potential purposes, in no particular order:
– To make me think
– To make others think
– To provide a basis for physical discussion
– To serve as training exercises for students who want them
– To give other teachers ideas for writing exercise topics (or even give them away as they are, if they wish!).
The exercise format is, in my opinion, the only one that can hope to achieve all these objectives at once, and encourages more reflection and constructive criticism than a lecture. Consequently, comments, whether they be suggestions for corrections, physical discussions or frank disagreements, are most welcome!
Solar wind
It would have been impossible for me to understand anything about this problem without Roland Grappin’s benevolent and enthusiastic help, thank you!
The Spacetrain™
This exercise benefited from the kind review of the Spacetrain™ engineering team. Thanks to them! Out of respect for them and for the sake of honesty, I must therefore warn that they do not agree with the assumption used in question 4 (constant Q).Indeed, the height h of the train…
Savings
It goes without saying that taking a physicist’s smoky model for financial advice would be foolish.