LC Physics Equipment

With the announcement yesterday that €12,000,000 will be made available to schools to allow for the purchasing of equipment in the run-up to the introduction of new specifications for the leaving cert sciences, I'm sure many teachers are wondering today just how to spend that money (when it arrives)

The amount varies between €13,000 and €22,000 depending on the size of the school and a few other factors but each school will inevitably have their own specific needs - depending on how well equipped they are to start with, and how long long established they are etc.

There will also be some decision to be made about buying a few big-ticket items as opposed to many smaller - but easily lost or broken - items.

It occurred to me that an obvious starting point would be to look at the practical-work requirements for the new specifications, so I did a trawl through the three documents for all references to collecting primary data. The document is here - but its also all copied in below.

Its important to note that many of these references will be confusing, or even meaningless, unless viewed alongside the relevant entry in the physics specification which creates context. This is only meant to be a checklist in terms of lab equipment.

Primary Data References in SC Physics Contextual Strands

1.  investigate constant and varying linear motion using primary and secondary data

2. verify the law of addition of vectors using primary and secondary data in one and two dimension

3. verify Newton’s 2nd law of motion using primary and secondary data

4. investigate the principle of conservation of momentum using primary and secondary data

5. investigate the force needed to compress or stretch an object using primary and secondary data

6. verify Hooke’s law for elastic objects using primary and secondary data

7. investigate the principle of conservation of energy using primary and secondary data

8. verify at least one model to determine 𝘨 using primary data and all four using secondary data

9. analyse the suitability of materials for use as thermometers using primary and secondary data

10. determine specific heat capacity using primary data (solid or liquid) and secondary data (solid and liquid)

11. determine the specific latent heat using primary data (vaporisation of steam or fusion of ice) and secondary data (vaporisation of steam and fusion of ice)

12. verify models for refraction using primary and secondary data

13. verify the model for a particular string using primary and secondary data

14. investigate the wave nature of light and determine its wavelength using primary and secondary data

15. model the relationship between current flowing through and the voltage across a diode in forward and reverse bias using primary and secondary data

16. verify the relationship between current flowing through and the voltage across an ohmic conductor using primary and secondary data

17. verify the relationship between current flowing through and the voltage across an ohmic conductor using primary and secondary data

18. investigate the relationship between current flowing through and the voltage across non-ohmic conductors using primary and secondary data

19. investigate the effect of varying temperature on the resistance of a conductor using primary and secondary data

20. model resistances in series and parallel in electrical circuits using primary and secondary data