Advocating real-world physics classes

I agree that more physics needs to be offered in US high schools ( Physics Today March 2007, page 32 ,). All high-school students should be required to take at least one physics class. However, that class should have real-world application.

The physics that is now taught in high schools is for the few students who will go into high-energy research and is of little value to most other students. A local physics teacher told me that he had a class of “A” students and did not want any “C” students.

Judging by most physics textbooks, the authors do not know how to teach the basic physics of people’s homes. Textbook authors should learn, and then could teach, the physics involved in electrical wiring, structural support, insulation, and the safe use of electricity. For example, a student who learns that a white roof can save on the air-conditioning bill has learned something of value, without the need to calculate the rate of heat transfer.

It is a shame, too, that there is so much confusion about centrifugal and centripetal forces. Some authors use the word “centrifugal” correctly, but some think it doesn’t even exist. Rotation never moves anything inward toward its center.

Let’s give high-school students some physics that they can use in their daily lives.