ISPP REMINDER
OCTOBER, 2008
OUR NEXT MEETING...
...is at Oak Park-River Forest High School
Wednesday                         
October 14, 2006                  
6:30-8:30 PM               

Click here for a map, directions and parking information.
Kevin McCarron, 708.434.3195

Come and see what phood and physics phun Kevin will provide.

Our last meeting…

…was at Chicago State University on September 11. We were welcomed by our host Sam Bowen, along with Mel Sabella and several other CSU faculty and students. Attendance was good (over 40 people), including several just beginning or preparing to begin their physics teaching careers.

Roy Coleman (CPS, retired) got us started with a demo using a cane. He held the cane in front of him and began to spin it, then asked: In what direction is it spinning? Several said: clockwise. Roy pointed out that “clockwise” may not be a familiar term to students who have seen only digital clocks! He told us that he has a clock and a watch that rotate “backwards” (counterclockwise?) that he has used to confuse students. (The clock is available at www.thingsyouneverknew.com item # JM-1936 for $14.98.) He walked while spinning the cane and we saw that we used the same “clockwise” description no matter where we were seated – the description was independent of the location of the observer. Roy reversed the direction of rotation and told us how he developed the idea of a vector normal to the plane of rotation based on a right hand rule.

Announcements… A Calendar of future meetings was distributed, thanks to Paul Dolan. Gordon Ramsey (Loyola U) encouraged us to look at the AAPT website for information about the Winter Meeting to be held in Chicago, February 12-16, 2009. Local high school teachers will be able to attend on Monday, February 16, for little or no charge. Local folks (the physics alliances) will do the demo workshop. If you want to participate contact Tom Senior at tomseniorphysics@yahoo.com. Mel Sabella passed our brochures on the Science Chicago events for September and October (www.sciencechicago.com).

FUTURE MEETINGS…

October 10-11

(Fri-Sat)

ISAAPT – Illinois State, Normal

 

October 22

(Wednesday)

Oak Park/River Forest High School

Kevin McCarron

November 8

(Saturday)

CSAAPT – Crystal Lake High School

Scott Beutlich

December 2

(Tuesday)

DePaul University

Gerry Lietz/John Milton

January 14 or 21

(Wednesday)

Tri-Physics (25th annual), Elmhurst College

Mark Timko/Earl Swallow

February 12-16

(Thu-Mon)

Joint AAPT/AAAS - Chicago

http://www.aapt.org/

March ??

 

Thornridge High School

Brian Sievers

March/April ??

(Saturday)

CSAAPT

 

April 14

(Tuesday)

Lake Forest College

Scott Schappe

May 4

(Monday)

Northwestern University

Art Schmidt

June 2

(Tuesday)

MSI or Columbia College

Ruth Goehmann or Pete Insley

 

Carl Martikean (Thornton Township High School) told us that teachers (with “.edu” email) can get a great price on Microsoft Office 2007. (Google theultimatesteal.) He also recommended to Games and Utilities website at UNC Wilmington (http://people.uncw.edu/ertzbergerj/msgames.htm). Then Carl demonstrated a “Hot Wheels Radar Gun.” It is a genuine microwave radar device made by Mattel. He read about it in a newspaper article that told of an 8-year old boy checking traffic. Carl thinks it is no longer available ay Toys-R-Us or Wal-Mart, but found it on e-Bay for about $25. It reads either mph or km/h and rounds to the nearest integer. It also operates in a 64/1 Hot Wheels mode with about a 2 meter range.

Someone asked if it could be connected to a computer and Larry Alofs asked how the microwaves were generated, but no one knew. (Editor’s Note: I got 128000 Google hits for “hot wheels radar gun,” including a detailed take-apart analysis with more links at http://www.edparadis.com/radar/.)
 

Bill Blunk (retired) mentioned an advantage of having taught for many years – contact with former students. One of these, a pilot, sent Bill some wine (Moselland Arsvitis Riesling) with an unusual bottle. Looking through the back of the bottle one finds that it is clear glass that acts as a cylindrical lens and produces an image of the picture on the label, Edition Nr. 13 "Vinorell" von Heinz Ames Mosellandschaft bei Kinheim. (Bill says his 1967 College German is rusty, so we’ll have to translate for ourselves.)
John Milton (DePaul University) likes to teach his students in algebra-based physics about scaling relationships. He made up a set of small cardboard boxes. Four of them have sides with lengths 2, 2.52, 2.88 and 3.17 cm. He asks the students to calculate and compare the surface areas and volumes. The volumes are in ratios of about 2:3:4:5.

Mel Sabella and Joel Hofslund (CSU) had us try parts of “Light and Shadow,” a CSU Physics Van activity similar to one developed at the University of Washington. We were to shine two point sources (lensless maglights) on holes in a mask and predict the patterns we would see on a viewing screen in a box. We saw the difference between using fairly large openings and pinholes, and the effect of using a noncircular opening. It was helpful to have color filters available – we could see which image came from which source.

Debbie Lojkutz (Joliet West High School) distributed several new teacher bags.

 

Jeremiah Campion (student teacher at Bogan High School) challenged us with a mystery tube (PVC, of course). When he pulled on one of the lower strings the other lower string got shorter and then the upper strings shortened. Pulling on an upper string likewise affected the other three strings. After we had seen several examples, pulling on different strings we were asked to imagine how the strings were connected inside the tube, that is, to create a model of the apparatus and discuss how we might make one. After some discussion we were shown two possible methods of constructing this device, having the strings intertwine directly or through a wire or string loop.

Gerry Lietz reminded us of some similar types of apparatus, such as a can with a twisted rubber band inside where the ends are held in place by toothpicks, and two cans, one inside the other, with an offset weight in the inner can. He described the rolling motions one might expect from these arrangements.

Brandon Smith (Simeon High School) recommended the Flip Camera available at Costco as a good buy that can be used for making short videos.

John Milton recommended a look at Dean Baird’s PHYZ home page (http://homepage.mac.com/phyzman/phyz/index.html). He has made some video clips with a camera capable of shooting at up to 1200 frames/second. Dean talked about these at the High School Share-A-Thon at the summer AAPT meeting. The clips on his web site include Mentos Mints eruptions, water balloons, and tuning forks.

Debbie Lojkutz brought some old, but functional, ticker tape timers, of the original PSSC “doorbell” design, and offered them as giveaways.

Thanks to our CSU hosts and our presenters. This was a first meeting for several people, including some who are preparing for physics teaching careers. We hope they will continue to benefit from our phenomenological physics phun.

Reported by John Milton

For any information regarding ISPP contact John Milton at DePaul University, Physics Department, 2219 N. Kenmore Chi. IL 60614. Phone: 773-325-4238. e-mail jmilton@depaul.edu or glietz@condor.edu. ISPP home page: http://condor.depaul.edu/~glietz/ispp/ispp.html

BRING FRIENDS                                                         BRING IDEAS ! !                                     SEE YOU THERE ! ! !