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The New £1 coin

Have you been given one? Mr Physics got three over a week ago in his Sainsbury’s change. I am still waiting for one, and lots of people around here are waiting too. Many still haven’t seen the new £1. I am sure there is a Scientific experiment to be carried out into the way the coin is being distributed. I suspect many in the big cities have already forgotten what the old £1 coin looks like, but here they just haven’t reached us. Is this the banks? Are we not spending enough? I’d assumed that each bank would be given new coins and rapidly the old ones would be taken out of circulation. Have they been passed around in Carlisle? They’re certainly in Kirkintilloch now, and the Co-op in town has had a few, but they’ve been supplied by visitors.

Well, I am not going to go searching for one, and I have seen them, but I will be keeping note of when my first new £1 coin is handed over to me, I hope I don’t miss it! Shall I keep it or spend it?

P.S. when buying my last creme egg from Benmar Garage and trying to claim my car wash vouchers I finally got my first new £1 coin. Now I need to decide what to do with it. Then my 82 year old babysitter gave me coin number 2. They are now in circulation, although I think it’s mainly the tourists that have brought them in. Do tell me when you get one.

The Royal Mint Website gives the following details:

The current £1 coin is being replaced for the first time in over thirty years because of its vulnerability to sophisticated counterfeiters.

My comment to this is how do we know which ones are counterfeit? I think most of the £1 coins that we get are counterfeit. Why do they change them so much?

Approximately one in thirty £1 coins in circulation is a counterfeit.

That is why the Royal Mint are introducing a new, highly secure coin on 28 March 2017 to reduce the costs of counterfeits to businesses and the taxpayer.

I wonder if the money has got as far as Cornwall and Orkney yet too- you can see from the map above why it is taken some time to fill the massive gap between coins delivered to Liverpool and Glasgow. What is the reason that Sittingbourne got a delivery of the new coins?

Changing dimensions

The new 12-sided £1 coin’s dimensions are different from the current round £1 coin.
Thickness: 2.8mm – it is thinner than the round £1 coin.
Weight: 8.75g – it is lighter than the round £1 coin.
Diameter: 23.43mm – it is slightly larger than the round £1 coin, the maximum diameter (point to point) is 23.43mm.

The new coin has a number of features that make it much more difficult to counterfeit.

12-sided – its distinctive shape makes it instantly recognisable, even by touch.

Bimetallic – it is made of two metals. The outer ring is gold coloured (nickel-brass) and the inner ring is silver coloured (nickel-plated alloy).

Latent image – it has an image like a hologram that changes from a ‘£’ symbol to the number ‘1’ when the coin is seen from different angles.

Micro-lettering – it has very small lettering on the lower inside rim on both sides of the coin. One pound on the obverse “heads” side and the year of production on the reverse “tails” side, for example 2016 or 2017.

Milled edges – it has grooves on alternate sides.

Hidden high security feature – a high security feature is built into the coin to protect it from counterfeiting in the future.

11 facts about the new £1 coin

  1. It has 12 sides, reminiscent of the old threepenny piece.
  2. It is bimetallic – made of two metals.
  3. It has alternating milled and smooth edges.
  4. The Royal Mint consulted with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) to assess any impact for the visually impaired in relation to identifying the new £1 coin. User testing showed that the 12 sides of the new £1 coin and the milled edges made it easier to identify.
  5. It has a latent image; a bit like a hologram, the image changes from a ‘£’ symbol to the number ‘1’ when the coin is seen from different angles.
  6. It has micro-lettering on both sides of the coin – this is the first time micro-lettering like this has appeared on a UK coin.
  7. It also has a hidden high security feature, which replicates bank note level security for the first time on a coin, developed by The Royal Mint.
  8. The new pound coin features the fifth effigy of Her Majesty The Queen by Royal Mint Coin Designer Jody Clark.
  9. The new £1 coin will be thinner, lighter and slightly larger than the round pound; it is 2.8mm thick, has a diameter of 23.43mm and weighs 8.75g.
  10. The new pound coin was used for the coin toss at English Premiership League games on 18/19 March.
  11. While the coin enters circulation in 2017, you’ll be able to find new £1 coins dated 2016 and 2017 – as production began last year.

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On the Cut

…..and finally the weather was good, the boat was respectable so it was off to the cut. It has been a long time since Mostly Harmless got to blast her engines out on the canal.

Mr Physics was in charge of getting us out of the marina and a turn to port to travel to the stables, one of the horse changing places when there was a rush to get passengers from Edinburgh to Glasgow in just under seven hours.

When you get on the cut it is like the canal water gently washes away all the worries and concerns, and all you can focus on is the comforting quiet hum of a deep engine ticking over without strain and the birds calling a warning in the trees. Suddenly, because you are on a boat, people stop along the towpath and want to wave at you. Funnily, you want to wave back! Now would you wave at someone as they walked passed on the towpath? No neither would I: so why the urgent desire to wave and be recognised when slowly cruising on a boat at walking pace? It is lovely to make people smile. There isn’t enough traffic on the canal so that a boat is still a rarity, although the number of hire boats has increased thanks to the Kelpies and the Falkirk Wheel. Talking of increased traffic, as Mrs Physics was dropped off on the pontoon to take some photos of Mostly Harmless to show she really was moving a Black Prince hire boat came under Townhead Bridge. Capturing the two boats passing on this stretch of the canal is unusual.

Mrs Physics, carefully guided by Mr Physics brought the boat back home to the marina, just as the wind was picking up. You can’t begin to imagine how hard it is manoeuvring 17 tonnes of 2.1 m wide, 17m long steel when the wind hits you side on. Vector addition really is seen here. Mrs Physics even got compliments about how she carefully reversed on to the pontoon and switched off the engine without crash, bang or screams. Mr Physics will never know what that encouragement meant. So maybe after several years I am getting the knack of this steering. I wish I could do a helmsman course to prove it.

I hope all you students doing exams are working hard, but also getting time to relax. It is vital to recharge your batteries (literally in the case of Mostly Harmless), switch in to the world around you and put life in context.

Well chilled! Now I can start catching up with all the work that needs doing!
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Inspiring Words for Young People

Mrs Physics has collated some inspiration quotes for young people. I hope that you find something here to grasp on to when things are going bad or well, and to remember that life can get better. Just know when to ask for help and when to share your success. People have an in-built desire to be needed, so ask if you feel you can’t deal with it; someone is there to help you through.

I was born to achieve

I create my own destiny

Champions are people like me.

I will love and respect myself every day of my life.

It’s not what happens in life, it’s my reaction to what happens.

My positive thoughts lead to positive actions.

All the resources I will ever need are within me.

Problems are opportunities that make me stronger.

Treating people with respect will assure my future.

Leaders are learners.

Risk

To laugh -is to risk appearing the fool

To weep -is to risk being called sentimental

To reach out to another -is to risk involvement

To expose feelings -is to risk showing your true self

To place your ideas and your dreams before the crowd -is to risk being called naive

To love -is to risk not being loved in return

To live -is to risk dying

To hope -is to risk despair

To try -is to risk failure

But risks must be taken, because the greatest risk in life is to risk nothing

The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing

He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow or love

Chained by his certitude, he is a slave; he has forfeited his freedom

Only the person who risks is truly free.

Dr Leo Buscaglia

Qualities of a Great Teenager

You have a strong character and will never give in to peer pressure.

You know you are unique. You know that no-one else is exactly like you.

You are totally focussed on your goals and objectives.

You know exactly where you are going in the world.

You have the ability to get back on your feet when life throws you down.

You have respect for every human being irrespective of colour, creed, country or religion.

You know that Knowledge is important to you future and the future of you kids.

You know the difference between right and wrong.

You respect and you give more than you take.

You know your life will be a mirror reflection of how you treat others.

You know that personal sacrifices now will pay for dividends later.

You know that gangs are for followers and not for leaders.

You know that drugs and excessive alcohol could ruin your life.

You know deep down that you have talents, skills and abilities.

You are always a good friend striving to offer unconditional love.

You will be a great parent to your kids.

You know that success is down to determination, hard work and a positive mental attitude.

You know that when you are old you can look back and know your life was worthwhile.

Watch your thoughts they become your words.

Watch your words they become your actions.

Watch your actions they become your habits.

Watch your habits they become your character.

Watch your character it becomes your destiny.

We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.

SUCCESS To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

As we approach exam time, be inspired by these words. Do your best, you should never be embarrassed about doing your best, whatever the result.

 

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Quotes for Students

There is a debate on Sputnik, the Scottish Physics teachers’ Forum, about displaying good quotes around the Physics Department. Since starting this website I have looked at several quotes and I think some of the quotes of Carl Sagan are fantastic.

My favourite to inspire all students is

“Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.”
― Carl Sagan.

but closely followed behind it is the following little gem.

“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” ― Carl Sagan, Cosmos

I would love to have included the poem by Dorothy Law Nolte “Children Learn What They Live” and I have permission to upload it here, but it must be password protected and I’d need to take it down after 4 years and pay again. I’m afraid that much as I believe people should get full rights for writing and holding the copyright, but budget won’t sustain that, so I suggest you check it out for yourself. It is online in loads of places.

To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science.

Albert Einstein

and here are a couple of worryingly true quotes that seem to be even more pronounced in the UK with the latest education system.

We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology. Carl Sagan

I think we are a long was from a society that embraces innovation.

Once you have an innovation culture, even those who are not scientists or engineers – poets, actors, journalists – they, as communities, embrace the meaning of what it is to be scientifically literate. They embrace the concept of an innovation culture. They vote in ways that promote it. They don’t fight science and they don’t fight technology. -Neil deGrasse Tyson

 

I remember that this made an impression on me at school but I didn’t even know it was one of Einstein’s. I wonder if it was. I suspect it was a culmination of several people’s work.

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.

One more on the benefits of getting educated and wisdom.

You’re blessed when you meet Lady Wisdom,
    when you make friends with Madame Insight.
She’s worth far more than money in the bank;
    her friendship is better than a big salary.
Her value exceeds all the trappings of wealth;
    nothing you could wish for holds a candle to her.
With one hand she gives long life,
    with the other she confers recognition.
Her manner is beautiful,
    her life wonderfully complete.
She’s the very Tree of Life to those who embrace her.
    Hold her tight—and be blessed!- Proverbs 3 The Message

So I wanted to think of a quote for myself, to sum up everything, but I am just not that clever!

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End of Term

Well I made it to the end of term, but it was crawling to the end post. Although I must share the comments made by one of the staff, who is getting married during the holidays. I was signing out for two weeks and one day without having to go in to school, (although I am not sure I’ve ever managed to stay away for all of the holidays) when I had a cracking conversation over the signing out sheet. It went something like this

Mrs Physics, “So when is the big day?”

Groom-to-Be, “Tonight”

“Tonight? Surely not”

“Don’t you mean the lottery? Tonight I find out if I’ve won the millions.”

“Well will you still get married if you win the lottery?”

“That’s what the lady asked,” she said “Will you still love me if you win millions?”

To which the Groom-to-Be answered, “Yes, but I’ll miss you!”

That’s just what I needed to start the holidays, but I am still not in a making sense mode.
Its time to chill out, get some exercise and catch up. I hope Groom-To-Be has a great wedding and comes back after the holidays. Personally I’d rather you not win the lottery as you cheer me up on the cold dark mornings, but if you do spend it well!

Converting metres & centimetres, length, area and volume

Many people incorrectly assume that as there are 100 cm in a metre then there must also be 100 cm2 in 1 m2 and 100 cm3 and 1 m3. Working through the pictures below should convince you that there are:

100 cm in 1 m but
10,000 cm2 in 1 m2
and 1,000,000 cm3 in 1 m3

Length

1 m = 100 cm

Area

1 m2    = 100 × 100 = 10 000 cm2

          = 104 cm2

Volume

1 m3    =  100 × 100 × 100 = 1 000 000 cm3

          = 106 cm3

one litre = 1000 cm3

1 l = 1000 cm3

1 m3 = 1000 l

Now read this post in conjunction with the one on units for area and volume! The units for area are square metres and the units for volume are cubic metres. Don’t confuse either of these with metres square or metres cubed!

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Difference between Square Metres and Metres Squared

Updated 13/05/2023 (see below)

International System of Units Logo

Metre is the unit of length in the SI system and square metre is the SI units for calculating area.  The confusion arises when we see square metre written or spoken. People cannot make out the difference between square metre and metres squared and assume they are the same, which they are not!

For example

The correct size of the room

If a square room has a length of 2 metres and is 2 metres in breadth, you can easily calculate its area with this formula.

Area= Length x BreadthA=l × b
2 metres x 2 metresA = 2 m × 2 m
4 square metresA = 4 m2

The room has an area of 4 square metres, 4 m2.

If you say that this is 4 metres squared what you mean is an area which has the length of 4 metres and you are multiplying it by a breadth of 4 metres which would give you an area of 16 square metres. 

Overestimating the size of the room by giving the wrong units.
An Area = 4 metres squared
4 metres x 4 metres
16 square metres m2

So if someone asks you the correct area of the room mentioned originally, you should say that the area is 4 square metres  or 2 metres square both of which are correct answers, but the 4 m2, 4 square metres is standard.

  • But beware more confusion arises as 1 m × 1 m = 1 square metres while 1 metre squared is also the same size as 12 = 1 metre square. You just get there by different routes.

Even though the unit looks like it is written as metres squared you pronounce it square metre.

Hope this clears any confusion you might have on this one!

Actually I ought to put a post script in!

The same applies to volumes
The correct SI unit for volume is cubic metres, (or in Chemistry they might use cubic centimetres). If you say metres cubed you mean that this is the length of one side and you need to cube this value to get the volume.

This cube could be described as 125 cubic centimetres or 5 centimetres cubed.

I wasn’t sure that I ought to have posted this, but it looks like it is less well understood than I imagined, definitely my only popular post!

Just to show I am right, here is the page from the NPL site. The people in the UK responsible for measuring.

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March 2024

For those in the US, here is the equivalent link https://www.nist.gov/pml/owm/metric-si/si-units-area

Thanks to Andy and Gareth Lewis Maths tuition for these additional thoughts.

Hi, the examples that you have given for metre square and square metre are incorrect.
2 metre square = 4 square metre (2×2=4)
2 square metre = 1 metre x 2 metre (1×2=2)

Andy

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Good article. Andy’s alternative examples are also correct.

As well as the difference in size between square metres and metres squared (except when you have zero of each or one of each) there is a difference in shape. A metre square is a square with sides one metre in length – it refers to the shape and the side length, not the area. By contrast, a square metre is an area and can be any shape. A square metre could, for example, be in the shape of an oblong of dimensions 50cm x 2m, or in the shape of an A0 sheet, or 16 A4 sheets in any pattern.

After all the comments on here I decided to contact the people who know this stuff as metrology  is their business. 

So I contacted the NPL (National Physical Laboratory), this is

Andrew Hanson, MBE BSc (Hons) CPhys, Outreach Manager, National Physical Laboratory, Hampton Rd | Teddington | Middlesex | UK | TW11 0LW

From P162 of the SI Brochure (most recent – 9th edition 2019), the area unit definition is:

NAME: square metre

SYMBOL: m2

Almost certainly unchanged from when you first wrote your blog item.

As an example from the definition, spoken ‘9 square metres’, written ‘9 m2‘ are both 9 times the area of the unitary square metre.

The confusion arises from reading m2 as the words ‘metres squared’. These words are NOT defined in the SI system. So with no formal meaning, ‘9 metres squared’ could indeed be taken to mean 9×9 m2 or 9 m2 – there is no definitive statement one way or the other.

I think that m2 should be said out loud as ‘square metres’, so don’t take your blog item down, by all means say I agree.

Actually, if you just do the right/formal thing – use the words ‘square metre’ out loud and write as m2, and never, never even whisper ‘metre squared’, there is NO CONFUSION.

A formal way to do describe things with well defined, precise, scientific language avoids the types of problem you describe.

However, common parlance is commonly improperly used to describe scientific parameters, and these words without clear meaning cause confusion.

Most people don’t discriminate – though metrologists, and people who set and mark exam papers take care to get it right.

I am sure people passionate about English who know dictionary meaning of words are similarly riled by common misuse.

SI-Brochure-9Download
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updated January 2020

For those in the US, https://www.nist.gov/pml/owm/metric-si/si-units-area

From flowers to fission

I’ve just spent the weekend away with a few friends. One was a friend I made in hospital when Mrs Physics was fighting with her gallstones and the doctor’s were trying to do a  Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatogram (ERCP) without waking her up or making a hole in her pancreas.

She was a delightful young woman who was brought into the ward following her bedside table, which had a pair of young trendy short boots and the most splendid flower arrangement I’ve ever seen. The residents of the ward were making judgements about the person who belonged to the boots and flowers. Despite this young woman being a modern kinda girl she had a homely attitude to life. We shared a liking for Lady Grey tea (her friends call it lady tea), early nights in and lots of laughter.

The flowers were from her previous boss Andrea’s Florist Stranraer, where she worked as a florist after leaving school at 16. Despite obvious talent, my friend wasn’t content with life as a florist and decided to join the navy as a medic. She joined the NAVY on 17th January 2010  HMS Raleigh in Plymouth- which isn’t even a ship! After 6 ½ years and her hospitalisation she had been determined to leave her desk job in the navy to train as a submariner (person who works on a submarine).

We spent the first night away discussing all the non classified training she had done since she left hospital and collected Charlie the dog as a companion.

She started her training in June 2016. My friend commented “The people on my course were awesome” and so everyone passed.

As part of the submariner training she learned about Biology and especially the formation of cells, meiosis and mitosis, and effects of radiation on cells, cancers tumours. Lots of maths, which they didn’t tell her about. She completed loads of calculations and fell in love with Avogadro and his number. Her confidence had rocketed since I saw her in hospital. In her Health Physics course she learned about doses, does rate, Gray, millisieverts, decay factor (half life/ time) the inverse square law and decays as well as all about the workings of a nuclear reactor.

Some of the Physics was practical linking how a submarine escape depends on the gas laws, especially Boyles’ Law. The group got to play with atmosphere equipment and the gear to detect gases on the subs. As it is the medics who are responsible for atmosphere on board. Maximum permissible levels of contaminants, 60 min emergency, 24 hour and 90 day limits were all part of the training and my friend was obviously confident to use all of these numbers, although she didn’t tell me what they needed to be. The atmosphere is sampled regularly. As part of the Health and Safety the course covers shielding , policy, half value, law and legislation.

Information on the atmosphere of the submarines is shared with NASA as there are links between the confines of a submarine and a spaceship. Whether they have a similar smell I have no way of knowing, but I was assured there is nothing like the smell of a submarine, not that it was unpleasant, it is just unique.

Escorted by tugs, Royal Navy submarine HMS Astute sails up the Clyde estuary into her home port of Faslane, Scotland for the first time following the journey from Barrow-in-Furness shipyard.
*** Local Caption *** LA (phot) JJ MASSEY

Her boss has visited the Roll’s Royce who make the submarine reactors and stated that it was not as high tech place as you’d imagine.

I could see that during the last six months my friend has become so excited by Physics and the other Sciences and was totally enjoying what she had learned. Now I am sure when she was at school she never thought that this would be what she would be doing, and could never think that this would be her day job. So what you know is that you don’t know what you might one day be using, so start learning when it is easy as it gets harder with age.

Thanks for coming away, and for sharing your experiences, see I never mentioned the pirates or the other thing!

P.S. I’ve been offered a trip for students to see what they do at the Submarine Base- would you like to come?

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About Me just took off

Oh every time I think I’ve cracked this wesbite stuff things go wrong again. Kids, learn from this. Find out how something works before you try to use it!

I’d got my About Me page, all set up and I was quite pleased and thought that I could leave it indefinitely. It looked ok, I’d put links in from each section and Callum had made a front book that was a direct link to the post.

The other day I posted  a new post on “usefullinks” and it appears this has removed my page on About Me. Now I still haven’t got my head around the difference between a page and a post. I can do a static front page and it fills up the whole page and doesn’t do columns so looks nicer, but why does any page, other than the front page vanish into the ether?

I am sure I will read up on it, at which point I will have to go through every section again and change the link! Oh dear, this really is taking up a lot of my time and no one but me is reading it anyway.

Time for bed, should have had my SAD light today and more tea. I’d feel so much better.

Oh boy, now I am really really confused. It appears I didn’t need to change the custom link in each section as it found it automatically. Explain that one! Why is it a link can detect the About Me, even when it has changed from a page to a category? Oh well it is working now so I am going to go to bad and hope it still works in the evening.

Still waiting for someone to offer to tutor me on Building a Website, I’ll teach them AH Physics in return!

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