Physics and Jurisprudence: A Didactic Illuminating Example

Abstract: The teaching of physics is a very important social task even when it concerns only basic physics. In fact, in this article, the case of a real trial is reported in which bad knowledge and a bad application of physics laws led a monocratic judge to issue a judgment based on erroneous physical conclusions.

The relevant thing is that the monocratic judge was misled by a technical report prepared by an alleged expert.

To highlight the mistakes contained in the technical report, firstly the physical solution of the problem will be presented and then a fairly thorough analysis of the conceptual and methodological mistakes contained in the technical report and that led the judge to erroneous conclusions.

Key words: projectile motion, momentum-impulse theorem, physics teaching, restitution coefficients, action-reaction pair