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Phys Educ V01 151980 Prlnled ~nG r e a t B r ~ t a ~ n
Misconceptions in
physics amongst
South African
students
That many school and university students find certain
physical concepts difficult to grasp is not news. That
certainmisconceptions are widely shared amongst
such students is not news either, but the teacher who
hasto cope with those holding the misconceptions
may have both a negative and a positive reaction. On
the onehand, a given misconceptionrepresentsa
hurdlehe may be expected to help thestudent
overcome. On theother,thenature of the problem
represented by the misconception may, if he is lucky,
mean that its origin is identifiable; and if that is the
case, he may be able to dosomething about it.
In certain cases plausible hypotheses for the origins
of misconceptions may suggest themselves quite
readily. Suppose, for example, that in a pupil’s
experience of elementarymechanicsemphasis has
been laid on the application of F = ma to only the
moststereotypedproblems or laboratory situations,
while negligible attention has been paid to the correct
identification of forcesacting on realobjects in a
variety of circumstances. It is to be expected that such
a pupil would be out of his depth the moment he is
required to give even aqualitative account of the
motion of some realobject in terms of the forces
acting on it, and that he might have strange notions
about those forces. If students tend to include among
theforcesacting on an object in circularmotiona
special ‘centripetal force’, thispractice may derive
Hugh Helm is an associate professor in the
Department of Physics and Electronics, Rhodes
University, Grahamstown,South Africa. He obtained
his M S c at the University of Cape Townand his PhD
at Rhodes University. He has published papers and
books in the $elds of psychoacoustics, ionospheric
physics and physics education.He is currently a
moderator in physical science (physics section) for
the South African Joint Matriculation Board and a
member of the Education Committee of the South
African Institute of Physics.
$01 00 0 1980The l n s l ~ l u l e o Physics
0031-9120~80~020092+03
from textbook or classroom treatments of the topic
which place unduestress on theterm ‘centripetal
force’. One can imagine that pupils exposed to this
approach to circular motion might easily acquire the
idea that ‘centripetal force’ is a special force which
magically comes into being when an object is made to
go round a circle. If one has learned Newton’s third
law in the form ‘Action and reaction are equal and
opposite’-meaningless verbiage unless one defines
‘action’ and ‘reaction’, as Newton d i d - o n e may well
not be able to apply it correctly tothe simplest of
cases in which particles interact with each other.
In another sphere it is but a small step from the use
of the term ‘waveform’ to describe the kind of trace
one sees on an oscilloscope screen to conceiving of the
displayed signal itself as a wave, with a wave-
length-an idea that seems to gain firm support from
the fact that as one raises the frequency of a periodic
signal and does not fiddle with the controls,the
‘wave-length’ duly diminishes. (Thismisconception
concerning the nature of an oscilloscope signal
appears to be widespread in South Africa; I trust that
it is purely a local phenomenon.) If in the teaching of
quantitative electrostatics students are not encouraged
to estimate or even think about the amounts of charge
that might be found on charged objects in the
laboratory, and potential difference is defined for them
in terms of the ‘work done on 1 coulomb’, they might
come to hold very peculiar beliefs about the orders of
magnitude of such charges.
Misconceptions test
These are some of the misconceptions that colleagues
of mine atRhodes University and I have noticed
amongstour first-year students overtheyears.My
experience as examiner in physicsfortheSouth
African Joint Matriculation Board had indicated that
similar misconceptions were held by many of the
candidates for that examination. After living with the
problem for a while, I finally decided that while one’s
guesses about the origins of these difficulties might be
correct, it wasdesirable to obtain some quantitative
information about how widespread they really were.
This would haveanumber of advantages. Besides
providing experience in the none-too-thoroughly
explored field of misconceptionsresearch,sucha
project might enable one to pin down certain miscon-
ceptions more precisely and thus provide insights into
their nature; it could also help todramatise the
problem and so arouse wider interest in it. Further,
more detailed investigationscould follow, leading to
confirmation, modificationor
abandonment of
hypothesesconcerning
origins and
to a better
focused
strategy
for
eradicating and countering
misconceptions.
So it was that I came eventually to administer a
misconceptions test to our own first-year students and
f
to follow this up by giving an expanded version of the
original test to pupils and teachers. I decided that this
‘first-order’ misconceptions test should be made up of
multiple-choice questions. What was appealing about
this form of test wasthatcommon or suspected
misconceptionscould be used asdistracters in the
questions so thatthe relative popularity of such
misconceptions could in some sense be measured. (A
similar technique had previously been used (Doran
1972) in investigating misconceptions in science
amongst school pupils; compare also an investigation
of the concept of resistance recently reported in this
magazine (Johnstone and Mugho1 1978).) Such a test
could easily be administered to alargenumber of
subjects. No one,least of all myself, would pretend
that this approach constitutes the best way of estab-
lishing the existence of misconceptions
amongst
students or the firmness with which they are held.
Other investigators, notablyWarren (1971,1975,
1976) and Viennot (1974,1975), have used free-
response tests and interviews with considerable
success in the investigation of misconceptions in
mechanics; for example. I felt that the advantages of
such approaches could for the moment be sacrificed
in favour of quickly obtaining some quantitative
information from a large sample.
The list of misconceptions featured in the test was
not intended to be exhaustive; it simply reflected some
of those of which my colleagues and I had been
painfully aware. Thus the domain of the test included,
besides the misconceptions already listed:
(a) the belief that linear momentum is only
conserved in elastic collisions;
(b)misunderstanding of theconnection between
kelvin temperature and gas behaviour;
(c) the belief that onlythe kinetic energy of the
‘molecules’ of a solid increases when the temperature
of a solid is raised;
(d) misconceptions or confusion about e m f . and
potential difference;
(e) difficulties with current conventions (in South
Africa the superstition prevails in certain quarters that
the‘electron current’ convention is bothup-to-date
and somehow ‘right’, and this is reflected in most of its
school textbooks);
(f) the belief that a current-carrying conductor in a
magnetic field experiences a force as aresult of an
interaction between the field of a conductor and the
external field;
(g) the belief that the e.m.f. induced in the
secondary of a transformer results from the coil being
cut by magnetic field lines jumping in and outof it;
(h) the belief that the source of energy released in
nuclear fission is the loss of mass or the destruction of
matter.
Besides questions concerned with these points and
others mentioned earlier in this article, several others
were included to test knowledge or comprehension of
concepts or topics of fundamental importance.
Reliability
Although each question had four optional answers, the
answer list attachedtothe test provided for five;
candidates were asked to choose the additional option
if they felt they simply did not know the answer to the
questionconcerned.This was intended to reduce
guessing and to allow for the possibility that the topic
dealt with in a question had not yet been studied by
the candidate.
To ensure that the test had face validity at least, I
submitted it to my colleaguesfor scrutiny, inviting
them to check its questions in respect of relevance to
their purpose and freedom from ambiguities of
wording. In theseways I hoped toproduce a test
consisting of questions which would evoke responses
properlyrelated to thecandidates’understanding of
the chosen concepts or topics.
The original test was given to physics IA (physics
major) students at Rhodes University at the beginning
of their course in 1975. It was composed of all but
questions 8, 12, 15, 19 and 20 of the test shown here
in abbreviated form. Discrimination indices (c.f. Ebel
1972) were computedfor each question fromthe
responses of the Rhodes group. Although such indices
are of limited usefulness in this context, an appreciable
negative value for a discrimination index might mean
that the question concerned was defective. None of the
questionsproved to be anomalous in thisway.I
therefore decided that the items of the original test
formed a reasonable basis for a test to be used in a
larger-scale investigation amongschool pupils and
teachers.
Apart from this I made no attempt to establish any
measure of the reliability of the test (c.f. Ebel 1972,
Thyne 1974). Elsewhere I have discussed the problems
in this connection in detail (Helm 1978); suffce it to
say here that
(a) the test is criterion-referenced rather than norm-
referenced, and it is generally agreed that traditional
techniques of item analysis areinappropriateto
criterion-referenced tests;
(b) the concept of internal consistency is, I believe,
of dubious relevance to the kind of misconceptions test
I have drawn up; and
(c)afundamental difficulty in thisconnection is
thatthereappearsto be no establishedtheoretical
basis for misconceptions studies.
Lack of ameasure of reliability means thatthe
standarderrors of themeasurements of miscon-
ceptions obtained with the test are notknown.
The enlargedtestwas eventually given to 460
school pupils and 65 teachers, and an account of the
results was published in SouthAfrica in due course
(Helm 1978). The chronology of the administration of
the test to these groups is as follows. Thetestwas
93
 The test
(To
save
space,
only
some of thequestionsare
reproduced in full. Inthecaseofothers,thecorrect
responses and the most popular distractors are shown.)
(1)
The diagram shows a stationary trace on the screen of a
cathoderay
oscilloscope which is connected
to
a
microphone. Which one of the following quantities is a
suitable label for the quantity x?
(a) wavelength of the sound
In the arrangement shown, block B slides on a smooth ( b ) period of the sound.
table. The force F acting on B is exerted by (a) block A,
( b ) the earth, (c) the string, (6) the pulley.
(2) A man pulls sideways on a string which is attached
to the leg of a table. The reaction to the force exerted by
the man is exerted by (a) the string, (b) the table, (c) the
earth, (6) the floor.
(3) .- .
(1) (2) Thediagramshowsanelectron in auniform electric
Particles (1) and (2) are a long way from the rest of the field. At the instant shown, itis moving in the direction of
universe butquiteclose toeachother.Themass of the arrow S. The direction of the electric force on it is
particle (1) is half that of particle (2), andthetwo given by (a) arrow(l), (b) arrow (2), (c) arrow (3),
particles exert gravitational forces on each other. If the (d)arrow S.
arrow above represents the force exerted by (2) on (1) in
magnitudeanddirection, which O N E of the following (11)A model Van deGraaffgeneratorwhose main
arrows represents the force exerted by (1)
(a) + (b) + (c)+ (4 -
(4) In the following account of the forces acting
on (2)?

on a
dome has a diameter of 100 mm is producing sparks in
thelaboratory.Theamount of chargepresent on the
dome just before a discharge takes place is of the order
of(a) C or less, (b) IO-’C, ( c ) 1 C, (6) 10’ C.
block resting on a table, which step is FALSE?
(a) A block at rest on a smooth table has two forces
acting on it, viz theearth’sgravitationalforce on it,
downwards, and the force of the table on it, upwards.
(b) The block is in equilibrium.
(c) From Newton’s third law,it follows that ...
..
(d) . these two forces must be equal and opposite.
( 5 ) A stone on the end of a string is swung round and
round in avertical circle. Atthetopmostpoint of its Aproton(charge 1.6 X C) movesfrompointA to
orbit, the forces actingon it (excluding air resistance) are point B in theelectric field shown. If thepotential
( b ) thegravitationalforce of theearthandthe difference between Aand B is 200 V, theelectrical
downward pull of the string potential energy lost by the proton equals
(c) the gravitational force of the earth, the downward
pull of the string and the centripetal force 1.6 x 1 0 - 1 ~
(6) the gravitational force of the earth, the downward (a)
200
pull of the string and the centrifugalforce.
(6) Two toy cars collide on a table. Which O N E of the ( b ) 1.6 X lo-’’ X 2005
following statements best
describes
the
essential
condition under which the momentum of the two cars
will be conserved in this collision?
(a) The resultant force exerted by external objects on (13) Whichone of the following statementscomes
the cars is zero during thecollision. closest to a correct definition of the e.m.f. of a battery?
(c) The collision is elastic. (c) Thepotential difference between itsterminals
when it is delivering no current.
(7) ‘Thevolume of a given mass of an ideal gas kept (d)The amount of energy per unit charge converted
at
constant pressure is proportional to
the kelvin from chemical to electrical formwithin the battery.
temperature of the gas’. The above assertion is:
( a ) a statement of Charles’ law (14)
(c) adeductionfromtheexperimentallydetermined
behaviour of gases
(d) consequence
a of
theway in which kelvin
temperature is defined.
(8) Which ONE of the following statements is correct?
When the temperature of a lump solid of matter is raised,
( a ) only the kinetic energy of the molecules increases
(c) both the kinetic energy and the mutual potential
energy of the molecules increase A high resistance voltmeter is connected between points
(6)the kinetic energy of the molecules increases while P and Q in the circuit illustrated here. The battery has
their mutual potential energy decreases. negligible internal resistance. Switch S is open, as shown.

94

The reading on the voltmeter is (a) 0 V, ( b ) 1 V, (c) 3 V,
(4 4 v.
(15)
An electron, travelling from 0 to P via R,, will lose
(c) the same energy asit would in travelling via R , .
(6) twice as much energy as it would in travelling via
R,.
Thediagramshowsthecrosssectionofacurrent-
carrying wire in auniformmagnetic field which is
directed upwards. The conventional current direction is
into the paper. The direction of the force experienced by
the wire is given by arrow ( b ) 2, (d)4.
(17) The reason why the wire in the previous question
experiences the force is best given by which O N E of the
following statements:
( a ) Thechargecarriers in the wire all experience
forces, because they are charges moving in a magnetic
field.
(b) The magnetic field of the wire interacts with the
external magnetic field.
Thediagramshowstheend viewof a long, current-
carrying solenoid. The magnetic field of this solenoid is
virtually confined to the space inside it. The current in
the solenoid is increasing at a steady rate. A wire loop S,
just inside the solenoid, has ane m f . of 2 V induced in it.
The e m f . induced in wire loop T which surrounds the
solenoid, will be approximately equal to (a) 0 V, (b) 1 V,
(c) 2 V, (6) avalueimpossible toestimate, since not
enough information is given.
(19) WhichONE of
the
followingexperimental
techniques can most successfully be used to reveal the
wave-like behaviour of electrons?
(a) Passing a beam of electrons through a crystal.
(b) Measuringtheenergiesoftheelectrons in the
photoelectric effect.
(c) Deflecting an electron beam in a cathode-ray tube
by means of an electric field.
(4 Deflecting an electron beam in a cathode-ray tube
by means of a magneticfield.
(20) Which O N E of the following statementsbest
explains the release of energy in nuclear fission?
(a) Matter is converted into energy.
(b) Mass is converted into energy.
(c) The energy associated with the orbiting electrons
is released.
(d)The internal energy of the system is less after the
reaction than before it.
given first to 334 standard 9 and 10 (approximately
equivalent to 0-level and first-year A-level) physical
science pupils from five ‘white’, English medium
schools
administered by theCape
Education
Department in the Eastern region of the Cape
Province (one school from each of five towns), and to
126 standard 9 and 10 physics and physical science
pupils from two private schools (‘public schools’ in the
UK sense) from this region. Later, 65 of the delegates
to the sixth national convention of ‘white’ science and
mathematicsteachers held in Durban in July1975
took the test. The circumstances in which they did so
are worth describing. At the beginning of an extended
seminar on issues in the teaching of physics at high
school,Idistributed the test tothose present, who
were then given adequate time in which to complete it.
The remainder of the seminar consisted of an intensive
discussion of the content of the test with the teachers;
their contributions to this suggested that, carelessness
apart, their recordedanswers to thequestions were
determined by the extent of their understanding of the
underlying physics rather than by possible obscurities
or ambiguities in the wording of the questions.
Results
Table 1 summarises the performance of the different
groups on the test. It is clear that theschool and
university groups performed in broadly similar fashion
on the test. On a number of questions (1-3,5-9, 11,
15-20) only aminority (in some cases a very small
minority) of the candidates was able to select the right
answer; moreover, in the case of nearly all these
questions, certain incorrect options were very popular
with the candidates.
As might have been expected (and hoped!), the
percentages
indicating
the numbers of teachers
answering the questions correctly were on the whole
substantially higher than thoseobtained from the
other groups. However, detailed examination of table
1 shows that only in the case of one question (12) did
as many as 80% of this group select the right answer;
that in a number of cases (questions 5, 8, 9, 13, 17, 18
and 20) there was a strong similarity in performance
between the teachers and the other groups; and that
for several of the remaining questions (1, 2, 6, 7, 11
and 15) 51% or less of the group selected the right
answers while an appreciablenumber selected the
fallacious options popular with other groups.
A
number of these teachers were well qualified and
experienced, and all of them were interested enough in
the cause of improving science teaching to attend a
convention for science teachers. As the
group
consisted of teachers from three
South African
provinces and represented a wide range of ages and
levels of experience, this incidental sample of teachers
could perhaps be regarded as a random sample of the
morededicated ‘white’ physical science teachers in
95
Table 1 Percentages of groupsselecting particular b Question
RU CED PS TS T
options. Correct answers are marked with asterisks. no (33) (65)
(460
(126)
(334
Only the more popular options are shown. The total or 320) or 446)
number in a group is given at the head of the column. 1 a 39 49 41 47 15
( 1 4 standard 9 pupils from one of the CED schools b 42 41 32 39 37
did not attempt questions 6 , 7, 9 and 13-20 inclusive *C 15 9 25 13 48
because they had not yet covered thismaterial in 2 *a 9 12 21 15 51
b 73 56 56 56 32
class.) RU indicates physics IA students at Rhodes
3 a 79 62 68 64 34
University: CED, Cape Education Department; PS, *d 14 23 24 23 63
privateschools; TS, combinedperformance of the 4 a 3 17 14 16 9
schools group: T, performance of the teachers *C 67 57 43 53 59
5 *b 6 12 8 11 29
C 36 29 44 33 20
South Africa. In the light of this it can fairly be said d 30 27 30 28 31
that the performance of the group must give rise to 6 *a 30 25 22 24 48
C 36 50 48 50 32
concern about the state of our physics teaching.
7 a 52 32 22 29 28
Assuming that the results of this investigation do C 12 11 16 13 26
point towards the existence of widely held *d 9 8 18 11 43
misconceptions or widely experienced difficulties in 8 a 30 31 30 54
schoolphysics in South Africa, onereturnsto the *C 26 40 30 29
hope expressed at the beginning of this article-that if d 30 17 26 17
the origins of proven misconceptions can be identified, 9 a 88 86 76 83 80
something can be doneabout removing them. Of *b 6 5 14 8 17
10 *a 36 31 28 30 57
course, such a possibility depends on the educational
b 21 28 29 28 20
context. In South Africa a significant feature of this 11 *a 15 16 21 17 43
context is the use of a limited number of textbooks on d 6 12 21 14 23
which many teachers lean very heavily and which e 70 51 24 44 25
may influence or be influenced by the content of 12 a 16 24 18 5
examination papers. (When I once asked a co-author *b 41 42 42 80
of a much used text in physical science why he and his d 16 18 17 8
colleague had included a certain unsatisfactory kind of 13 C 58 40 40 40 40
*d 15 46 34 43 46
problem in themechanicssection of their book, his
14 a 6 15 8 13 20
answer did not surprise me: ‘When we looked through *d 64 50 56 52 71
the past examination papers of the . . . Department of 15 *C 10 10 10 43
Education, we found that questions based on this type d 39 60 45 26
of problem came upin all but one of them’.) 16 b 21 40 32 38 18
In such a milieu it is to be expected that if certain *d 36 44 56 47 65
misconceptions or errors of commission or omission 17 *a 18 20 37 25 32
appear in textbooks and examinationpapers,they b 58 43 35 41 55
might be reflected in pupil and teacher performance on 18 a 24 7 22 11 28
*C 6 15 9 13 18
asuitably designed test. As far as my owntest is d 39 43 56 47 34
concerned, this has proved to be the case. Questions 1, 19 *a 23 19 22 58
2, 6 , 8, 9, 17 and 20 featuremisconceptions to be b 16 17 16 11
found in South Africantextbooks and examination d 27 14 24 5
papers, and thosetaking the test showed decided e 19 35 24 20
preferences for the corresponding distracters in these 20 a 17 19 17 20
questions.The
performance on
certain
other b 8 12 9 37
C 24 23 24 5
questions, such as numbers 3, 5, 7, 11 and 15, may be *d 11 6 10 22
related to textbook treatments of the topics concerned
which are either superficial or unintentionally
misleading as a result of misplaced emphasis (e.g.
repeated use of the term ‘centripetalforce’).

Interpretation
It would be satisfying to infer from all this that
solutions the
to problems posed by these
misconceptions lie ready tohand.The ‘plausible

96
hypothesis’ that the triumvirate of teachers, textbooks
and examination papers is responsible, especially the
first of these, seems to find a good measure of support
from the results of the test, and theremedy is obvious.
In that case
one might say that the
results
commented on here are of direct relevance to South
Africaonly, although they may have their parallels
elsewhere. But it is surely notas simple as this.
Anyone who has listened at length to students giving
their own accounts of physical phenomena will know
that some, at least, of the misconceptions featured in
my test are symptomatic of very deep seated
misunderstanding. It is altogether too much to hope
that this kind of misunderstanding can be eliminated
for future generations simply by correcting textbooks
and examination papers and somehowensuring that
teachers say more of the right things than they used
to.
Two problem areas highlighted by the test, namely
difficulties with force exerting agents (questions 1 and
2) and with potential difference (questions 12 and 15),
can be used to illustrate this point. To answer
questions1 and 2correctly, one needs to be able to
identify the agentsexertingforces on the different
elements (e.g. block or man) of the system concerned.
Without this kind of ability one cannot successfully
applyNewton’ssecond law to the prediction of the
motion of the elements of such a system, or work out
themagnitudes of importantforces acting within it
(e.g. the tension in the string in questions 1 or 2). With
the aid of suitable examples and of rules for identifying
agents, teacher and textbook might help pupils to get
parts of this story right; but if such pupils are wedded
to Aristotelian notions of force, they are likely to be
defeated bythe subtleties associated with under-
standing a system composed of interacting elements.
Clearly it is important to lookfor evidence of such
‘Aristotelian notions’ (loose talkabout ‘the force of the
object’ is one clue) and to try to counter them.
There may be another, more fundamental source of
difficulty in this area, namely that in their present state
of intellectual development, certain pupils or students
are constitutionally unable to grasp thecomplexities of
suchproblems. The answers to thequestions on
potential difference lend some support to this idea. A
fair number of pupils gave the correct answer to what
was in essence a straightforward plug-in problem on
the relation W = qv (question 12) but could not cope
with the application of the same relation tothe
potential difference between two points in acircuit
(question 15). The difficulty with thelatterquestion
may arise from lack of familiarity with the use of this
‘formula’ in the new context, but it is worth noting that
whereas question 12 represents an application of W =
qv which can be handled in a ‘concrete’ way in the
Piagetiansense (c.f. Collea et a1 1975),question15
cannot be so handled-it calls for a more subtle
appreciation of potential difference. In particular it
requires the student to make use of the conservative
character of the electric field, on which the definition
of potential difference rests.
Some additional evidence on this point has become
available from results obtained in 1976 and 1977 with
adiagnostictest on potential difference which was
given to sixth formers and university students in the
United Kingdom andSouth Africa. Among its 31
questions were the original questions 12 and 15 of the
misconceptions test and a ‘concrete’ question on the
conservative aspect of the electric field. Thelatter
showed two different paths connecting the same two
points in a field and askedfora comparison of the
amounts of work done by the field on acharged
particletakenalongthesepaths.A total of 244
students took this test. Of the 152 who answered my
original question 12 correctly, only 53 were also able
to pick the right answer to the original question 15.
153 students answered the new questioncorrectly,
whereas only 53 of them chose the right answer to 15.
Ways forward
In these and other cases the misconceptions revealed
by students’ responses may be calling attention to a
general mismatch between students’ intellectual
development and the demands made upon them by the
content of their courses. In Piagetian terms such
pupils may be using ‘concrete’ ratherthan ‘formal’
reasoning patterns. In such cases removal of
misconceptions would require not only accuracy of
exposition of the spoken and printedwordbut also
careful
attention to educational
the context.
Understanding of difficult, abstract concepts needs to
be built up with the aid of plenty of hands-on
experience, reinforced at the right time with proper
conceptual language.
In the light of all this it may now seem that theview
expressed at the beginning of this article-that one
might be able to ‘do something about’ misconceptions
one
has identified-is too naively optimistic
altogether. Yet there are things onecan do.Some
misconceptions in physics can be linked to or
reinforced by errors in textbooks, ill conceived
examination questions or carelessness in exposition by
teachers, and such failings can and should be attended
to. As to the deeper problem raised above, solutions
can be framed only in the most general terms. But we
can assert that what we need is experience, experi-
mentation and evidence; and concerning thelast
mentioned, I submit that there is still a need for
information on misconceptions, obtained by a variety
of means. Widely held misconceptions may be telling
us something immensely importantabout ourselves,
our studentsand our methods of instruction.The
music critic Hans Keller has often pointed outthat
the best kinds of musical analysis can help us
continued on p105
97
 cause.Therefore, in terms of bulk solids, theforce

. acting on a solid is proportionai to the deformation it

1

\
produces-this is Hooke’s law for solids. The
\ L ” explanation of thermalexpansion in terms of the
, K
asymmetry of thepotentialenergycurve is clearly
and concisely given by Cooper (1976).
Although students should be madeawarethat
equation (2) is the basic statement of Hooke’s law, it is
not suitable for characterising the elastic properties of
\ a material. This is because the force constant k in this
\ equation depends on the dimensions of the material.
\ For instance, a small helical spring will have a smaller
\ force constant than a big spring. (Strictly, the elastic
\ properties of a helical spring depend onthe shear
l modulus and on Young’s modulus.) For thisreason
L Hooke’s law for materials is stated in terms of
Potential energy
0

Figure 1 Potential energy curve C is an algebraic sum of

- Young’s modulus,a parameter which is independent
of the dimensions or shape of the material.
positive potential energy curve A due to repulsive forces, and
negative potential energy curve B due to attractive forces References
Cooper R F 1976 Phys. Educ. 11 289
- 25.2 Farrell C J 1976 Phys. Educ. I I 390-1
v,= - R Kittel C 1966 Introduction to Solid State Physics 3rd edn
where the energies are in units of electron volts. (Chichester: Wiley) pp99, 105
Solving the equation Tabor D 1975 Phys. Educ. 10 487

25.2
2.4 X 104exp(-Rl0.3) - -=
R O’
one finds R = 228 pm. Now Kittel (1966) gives the
ionic radii for Cl- and Kt to be 18 1 pm and 133 pm,
respectively. Therefore, point R, in KC1 crystal would
be reached by squeezing the ionstogether to a
distance much less than the sum of the two radii.

Hooke’s law
It now remains to relate the potential energy curve to
Hooke’s law. This can perhaps most easily be done by
stating Hooke’s law in the form.
F = -kr
where F is the force that tends to restore a particle to
its equilibrium position, r is the displacement of the
particle from its equilibrium position and k is the force
constant. From equations (1) and (2) the student who
has been introduced to calculus can easily verify that
V(r) = +kr2.
Equation (3) is that of a parabola. Since the potential
energy curve forthe atoms is parabolicnear the
equilibrium position R,, aforce that displacesthe
atom from its equilibrium position to nearby position
R, -t r will be proportional to thedisplacement r (this
force is equal and opposite to the force in equation
(2)). Consequently, relatively small forces which cause
small displacements of atoms from their equilibrium
positions are proportional to the displacementsthey
continuedfrom p97
to ‘understand our understanding’ of musical
masterpieces. The concerned physics
teacher will
surely find that understanding his students’miscon-
ceptions will enable him to promote their
understanding of vital concepts.
(2)
References
Collea F P, Fuller R G, Paldy L G and Renner J W 1975
Workshop on Physics Teaching and the Development of
Reasoning (American Associationof Physics Teachers)
Doran R L 1972 J. Res. Sri. Teach.9 127-37
Ebel R L 1972 Essentials of EducationalMeasurement
(New Jersey: Prentice-Hall)
Helm H 1978 South African Journalof Science 74 285-90
Johnstone A H and Mugho1 A R 1978 Phys. Educ. 13 46-9
Thyne J M 1974 Principles of Examining (London:
University of London Press)
Viennot L 1974 Bull. Soc. Fr. Phys.March 35-46
Viennot L 1975 Bull. Soc. Fr. Phys. July 59-70
Warren J W 1971 Phys. Educ. 6 74-8
Warren J W 1975 Phys. Educ. 10 327-8
Warren J W 1976 Phys. Educ. 1 1 52-4

105