Dr Maths Physics's blog

“My battery is low and it is getting dark” made nerds everywhere get a bit weepy last month. However, as Scott Manley explained in his video, Opportunity never actually sent a message with those words. The data in transmissions NASA received showed that Opportunity’s batteries were indeed low (the solar panels were only generating 22 W-hrs a day) and the sky was getting dark . . .

I'm currently working on a new resources page, where you'll find useful links and some resources created by me. There will be both exam board specific resources and generalised ones . . . watch this space!

My husband and I got married at the exact moment of the autumnal equinox of 2016. Why? Partially opportunistic as we wanted to get married late September anyway. But the reason why it was an opportunity worth taking is it actually is a significant time of year for astronomy nerds. As Neil deGrasse Tyson has commented on, New Year is actually a non-event as when the year starts is completely arbitrary. However, it’s not a coincidence Christmas is near the winter solstice and that the date of Easter Sunday is usually the first Sunday after the first Full Moon occurring on or after the March equinox. Speaking of Neil deGrasse Tyson, my dad wore a waistcoat that he would be jealous of for my wedding . . .

This is an animation from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln showing the retrograde motion of Mars.

Warning: This might get ranty . . .

This year I didn’t have any Year 13s, so I did not spend Thursday with my heart in my mouth. No, that will be me next Thursday for the GCSE results. So, this year I get to just be an observer. What did I see? Well, lots of ‘congratulations to everyone who got their A-level results today’. Everyone? I suppose it’s a nice sentiment, but unless everyone did fantastically, congratulating everyone is actually a rather empty sentiment. For many, congratulations is deserved. Over a quarter of entries got A or A*.

There are a lot of comparisons of statistics from last year . . . [read more]

I'm not the only awesome tutor called Clare in the world, apparently. Dr Clare Daykin is doing a 100 km walk for charity this September. Check out her story:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ClareandLaurieDaykin

I'm feeling very pleased with my ratings on First Tutors so far. 5/5 based on 5 ratings! . Plus top ratings from my referees and some nice badges.

If you feel safer finding a tutor via a site that has been recommended by The Good Schools Guide, you can find me there. The disadvantage is they ask for a one-off fee to get my details but here you can have my details for free.

A least you have the reassurance that I'm a highly rated tutor on there!

My TES resources have been downloaded over 9,000 times! You can check them out here.

via GIPHY