James Bond's Shoes
I contributed a letter to the journal, Physics Education, to correct an error made by a previous author. The issue concerned "James Bond's Shoes" and the problem was set as follows:
Bond has been dumped onto frictionless ice by a villain who flies off leaving him to freeze to death while the villain does something unpleasant to the world. Bond has to escape from the frozen lake a quickly as possible and decides to throw away his shoes and use the corresponding recoil to propel him towards the edge of the lake. The question originally posed (by an earlier author) relates to the best way for Bond to do this. Should he throw one shoe, to get up some speed, and then the other to gain even more?.... or should he throw both at once? The original author went with the latter solution using plain reasoning, the second author "showed" this to be "flawed" by considering momentum conservation, but I showed (using a full analysis which conserved both momentum and energy) that the original author was correct. You can read the published version (including a few printed errors that I later had corrected) here (scroll down to the "Bond is Back" entry):
iopscience.iop.org/0031-9120/36/2/404/pdf/0031-9120_36_2_404.pdf
Published Resources
Over the years I have written many resources to aid my own pupils and have published a small fraction of these. Some examples can be found at:
http://www.classroom-resources.co.uk/acatalog/Advanced_Physics_Homework_.html
and:
and:
http://www.helpmeteach.co.uk/refraction-and-snells-law-calculations-r3436
and:
http://www.helpmeteach.co.uk/appliance-running-cost-calculations-r3432
Paper Related to PhD Research
A scientific paper of which I was a named author during my PhD research is referenced below:
Herbert Fröhlich
More recently I assisted with proof reading the biography of Herbert Fröhlich, a fascinating character & physicist, as a favour to the author, G.J. Hyland -- who had been a student of Fröhlich. You can find more details (and buy a copy!) here:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Zl51CQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Drunken Sailor/Santa
I have performed on stage in the Royal Navy, during my research and many times at school concerts... unfortunately one of these was caught on film. Watch it at your peril (Note: it was prepared only the night before when I was asked by our music teacher to "fill in" as they were short on acts...):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skJeMvuVjz4
Ice Hockey
I like to put my physics to practical use playing ice hockey for the Birmingham Rockets. If you want to know more then you can find us at: