An example of a teaching analogy:
"In a high jump competition…when the bar is very high, only a small per cent of athletes will be able to successfully get over. This is analogous to a chemical reaction which has a very large activation energy so that only a small percent of molecules have sufficient energy to reach the activated complex stage and react.
When the bar is set quite low, it takes less energy for the jumper to get up to the necessary height to clear the bar, resulting in a greater per cent of successful jumps. This is analogous to the action of a catalyst …. it provides a reaction mechanism which decreases the activation energy required to reach the activated complex stage. This produces a greater fraction of successful collisions and a faster reaction rate."
Source: Murray Hart, retired science teacher, previously posted at scienceanalogies.com
Read examples of scientific analogies
Many examples of science analogies are listed in 'Creative comparisons: Making science familiar through language. An illustrative catalogue of figurative comparisons and analogies for science concepts'. Free Download.
