Odds are that you didn’t know IHS had a Physics Club, and in fact, it didn’t until this November. The concept is not a new or novel one—math and science clubs are the bread and butter of high-school extracurriculars, and the IHS Math Club, Chem Club, and Science Olympiad are all well-established in the area. Given that, Physics Club has been a long time coming.
What’s the point of having a physics club? Many IHS students become involved in physics very late in their high-school education, if at all. Ninth-grade science teachers recommend Honors Chemistry as the sophomore science course, which naturally leads to AP Chemistry in junior year; this means that Honors Physics is rarely taken, few move on to AP Physics I, and even fewer take AP Physics C, which gives priority to seniors. This short span of time to cultivate interest means that physics education doesn’t reach the audience it should. You may be familiar with the American Mathematics Competition (AMC), the tenth- and twelfth-grade levels of which honors math classes take every year. Physics has an equivalent competition: the F=ma, which physics students at IHS have historically taken, but has not been administered in two years due to lack of interest. The problem here is twofold. Along with the general lack of physics exposure at IHS, students have an erroneous impression of physics competitions as being extremely difficult when in reality only a basic understanding of mechanics is required for F=ma (past competition problems and solutions are available at https://www.aapt.org/physicsteam/2016/exams.cfm). The goal of Physics Club is to ameliorate this situation and encourage early exploration of physics.
As such, the club is structured to facilitate communal learning of physics concepts. Physics Club has just started, so it’s still experimenting with directions to go in, but underclassmen are highly encouraged to join even if they have no knowledge of physics. The whole point is to learn and explore. Physics C students and alumni are on hand to teach new members fundamentals; once members have knowledge of Newton’s Laws, rotational dynamics, and conservation, they can move on to learning competition problems and preparing for the F = ma in late January 2017. Physics Club encourages student demonstrations and plans to regularly attend talks at Cornell and invite guest lecturers from the physics department. If you’re interested in the structure of the universe or how things work in everyday life, or you just want to study for Physics C in advance, be sure to stop by and chat with us.
Physics Club meets Tuesdays in E25. Meeting dates will be broadcast over the morning announcements in advance.