The tyranny of GCSEs
Deep within the workings of an electric motor lies a split-ring commutator. It reverses the current flowing through the coil every half rotation so that the force on the coil also reverses as it spins between a pair of opposing magnetic poles.
If ever it was necessary to recall such esoteric minutiae, the time is now – if you are 16 years old and facing the prospect of GCSE exams, that is. Hundreds of thousands of children in Years 11 and 13 are currently in the middle of exam season, but for what purpose?
I cited the electric motor because I teach science in a secondary school in the West of England. Much earlier in my life, I achieved a PhD in atomic physics without needing to know anything about the innards of the motors in my research lab, but now I explain them every year to classes of children in intricate detail.
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