Physics Software

I.T. RESOURCES FOR PHYSICS
We have built up a range of I.T. resources which cover nearly all aspects of the course and which we feel sure you will find useful and indeed essential at various stages of the course.

Intranet
Lots of useful web sites have been researched and placed on the Intranet in the Physics Links section so that you can quickly find a site relevant to what you are studying. We are in the process of scanning in a complete set of notes covering the AS and A2 parts of the course so that you have access to an alternative set of information from your textbooks and class notes. The Target Sheets for each part of the course will be made available on the Physics pages. These summarise in one place all the study resources available for each topic that you study. Many web sites are also specified on the relevant Target Sheet for a given topic and can be accessed by clicking on the link on the Target Sheet.
Very importantly, these sheets guide you towards further independent study and homework that you should be doing in order to make maximum progress. This work is at different levels according to your requirements at the time and it is not expected that you will have the time or the need to complete every item on these sheets.

Crocodile Clips
Crocodile Physics is a simulator covering electricity, electronics, optics, force and motion, oscillations and sound.
It includes 100 activities and numerous example experiments, which you can access at any time by clicking the home button on the main toolbar, or by using the links on the page marked "Start Here". Alternatively, you can choose a toolbar from the Home Screen to make your own simulation. You can also read a QuickStart guide introducing the software. The oscilloscope or graph display is particularly useful for seeing what is happening to circuits or systems that change state as time goes by. Circuits prepared in Crocodile Clips can be imported into PCB Wizard for creating a printed circuit board.

Advancing Physics AS 2000
Use this integrated resource to look up information, watch short video clips, run simulations, mathematically model real life situations and practice answering questions. The CD for this software has been developed by the Institute of Physics to support an AS level Physics course and contains a full A-Z glossary of A level Physics, physics models, computer tools, images and tables - all fully searchable.

Maths for Physics
Use this to revise the bits of maths that have gone rusty and to teach yourself some of the new techniques introduced during the course. You can track your own progress using the built in scoring system on the self-test sections having watched and listened to a presentation of the correct method. The range of maths available is growing as we receive more sections of the course.

Datadisc
You use this software with the data logging equipment during practical work in the lab. to take measurements under computer control. It has many powerful data processing aids to help you analyse your measurements.

Softlab
This is a useful alternative to Datadisc for logging. It uses a novel drag and drop approach to placing icons for sensors, meters, tables and graphs on the screen as you design your measurement set-up.

Warwick Spreadsheet System
This is a clever way of saving time when you want to mathematically model the behaviour of a physical system using a spreadsheet to carry out all the many calculations. The behaviour is displayed on graphs and it is easy to change the parameters controlling the system to answer questions like "What happens if I change ……….?"

Physics Lab Simulator
This simulation software models the behaviour of a wide range of common systems that you will be studying at some point in the course. Some of the parameters affecting the behaviour can be altered to investigate the effect on the system.

Lancaster Particle Physics
Use this to experience what it is like to unravel the complexities of a particle accelerator collision event and work out what exotic new particles have been created in the process. Real collision data is included towards the end.

Skyglobe
Use this to help you identify what you can expect to see in the night sky and to study the motion of the planets.

Painless Physics
This acts as a PowerPoint presentation of some key ideas.

Millikan Oil Drop Simulation
Use this to experience the frustration of trying to measure the charge carried by a single electron in this simulation of a very famous but difficult experiment.

CD ROMS
In addition to the software provided over the college network there are several single user CD ROMS in the LRC or the Physics department which may be borrowed for use in college. Titles include Redshift ("The most powerful desktop planetarium ever created"), Encyclopaedia of Space and the Universe, Planets, Atomic Age and more.