The C21 Project
Real World Physics Problems for Undergraduate and High-School Students
What is it?
Online teaching materials and
resources for university
instructors and high school
teachers.
http://c21.phas.ubc.ca
All resources deal with realworld phenomena or real-world
applications.
Is it working?
Data from workshops and
teaching evaluations:
Teachers find the web resources
useful and would use them in
class
Students find the examples
interesting and motivating
If high voltage is
so dangerous,
why transmit
electricity that
way?
Can plants be used to fuel
my car?
Are cycle commuters, who take an
extra shower, doing more damage to
the environment than those who
commute by car?
How much force
can the body
withstand upon
impact?
What physics is covered?
The physics is still the same but
presented in different contexts:
Conservation of energy, Newton’s
laws, heat transfers, energy and
work, electricity and magnetism,
kinematics, etc. are applied to
examples of sustainability and the
environment, the human body and
animals, earth climate…
Does it pay to cover your roof
with solar panels in Vancouver?
How much energy does
our body use? How do we
keep cool when it is really
hot out? Can we justify
eating more when
studying?
How much energy does it
take to move a person or
a tonne of freight from A
to B?
How far away can a
cheetah be from a
gazelle and still be
guaranteed to catch it?
Why?
Physics is often seen as something that
happens in the lab and as something that
is not relevant in everyday life, especially
by non-physics majors.
Examples with strong real-world
connections and interactive teaching
methods have the potential to change
students’ attitudes towards science.
Real-world examples are also much more
motivating for students to carefully look at.
Lack of such resources in textbooks.
It takes energy to
fly. How much?
All bodies emit
radiation. So why
don't we all shine in
the dark?
…instead of asking this:
What compensation for doppler
shifts do bats perform to keep their
echoes within their hearing range?
v
L

What examples are shown?
Show pictures and hooks. These can be
distributed all over the poster. The rest of
the points is in textboxes (except maybe
example).
Can wind turbines actually be
used to harness a substantial
amount of power?
How it works:
We can ask this…
How long do you have to ride your bicycle
to burn off a doughnut?
Or
As you probably know, cycling uphill is a
lot harder than cycling on a flat terrain.
How much harder? Consider the
following: …
Obviously, bicycling questions are much
more interesting than questions about
blocks on frictionless ramps such as the
one below. Our resources show that we
can answer such real-life question with
basic physics and a little bit of
information that is available on web.
Why does your cat have a
better chance of surviving a
fall from a large cliff than
you do?
What resources are available: Lecture
notes, multiple-choice question, problem
questions, take-home experiments (all
with solutions), videos.
When does a car have the same
fuel efficiency as a bicycle?
How long do you have to ride your
bicycle to burn off a doughnut?
d
A block starts at the bottom of a frictionless ramp
with the initial speed v=15 m/s up the ramp. It
slides up the ramp and then shoots into the air.
Eventually the block lands on a plateau, which is
level with the top of the ramp (see the figure
below). The ramp is L=10 meters long and makes
an angle  = 30o with the horizontal.
What is the magnitude of the deceleration of the
block on the ramp?
What is the velocity of the block when it leaves the
ramp?
At what distance d from the top of the ramp does
the block land (on the plateau)?
Why do you feel dizzy if you
stand up too quickly?
What single system could be
added to a gasoline car to
improve its city driving fuel
economy by 30-40%?
People:
Georg Rieger, Chris Waltham, Andrzej Kotlicki,
Theresa Liao, Rachel Moll, Shaun Dychko,
Angela Ruthven, Janelle van Dongen, Oren Rippel,
Chenchong (Charles) Zhu, Brittany Tymos, Claire
Wheeler, Mathew (Sandy) Martinuk, Anoushka Rajan
Acknowledgements:
This project is funded by TLEF and SSHRC
How fast does a
nerve signal travel?
The bigger the
better?
Which planetary characteristics
contribute to producing a mean
surface temperature that makes
Earth habitable?