IB Physics/Measurements and Uncertainties (2016)

In taking IB Physics, you have made a two-year commitment to understand the fundamental rules of our universe, and, more importantly, understand the ways in which we investigate and refine our knowledge of them.

It must not be forgotten that Physics is an experimental science; it only moves forward through the infinite cycle of thinking that we, as humanity, know something, disproving it with experiments, creating a new theory to account for the inconsistency we see and establishing limitations on the old theory, and trying again.

Understanding perfectly the unique mathematical framework that is used to describe quantities that we can measure from real life, and uncertainty that arises from testing ideas against real life, is of critical importance to understanding the rest of the physics ideas we will encounter in the syllabus.

So begins the first topic in the IB Physics Course. It is broken into three sub-topics, regarding measurements in physics, uncertainties in physics, and the differences between and applications of vector and scalar quantities. 5 hours of teaching and learning time is recommended.