The use of probabilistic concepts is suggested to explore, with high school pupils, main differences in the behaviour of solids, liquids and gases. The idea of correlation is introduced with reference to macroscopic systems and then applied to describe the link between particles in solid liquid and gases: the analysis of the graphs of the radial distribution function allows pupils to construct a representation of how the three states of matter are differentiated by the nature of their order and to explain phenomenological observations. Results of a first trial of the proposal with pupils attending the last year of high school are presented.
Using the idea of correlation to understand liquid behaviour
DE AMBROSIS VIGNA, ANNA;MASCHERETTI, PAOLO;TEDESCO, PATRIZIA
2006-01-01
Abstract
The use of probabilistic concepts is suggested to explore, with high school pupils, main differences in the behaviour of solids, liquids and gases. The idea of correlation is introduced with reference to macroscopic systems and then applied to describe the link between particles in solid liquid and gases: the analysis of the graphs of the radial distribution function allows pupils to construct a representation of how the three states of matter are differentiated by the nature of their order and to explain phenomenological observations. Results of a first trial of the proposal with pupils attending the last year of high school are presented.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
