I just received the following information from Kendra Redmond of the Education Division of the American Institute of Physics. I like to forward these invitations because I know how valuable these sorts of connections can be. Many years ago, I participated as a volunteer scientist in an adopt-a-scientist program called Science-by-Mail.
Has anything new been discovered in physics since Einstein?
Then consider participating in Adopt-a-Physicist, a free program for high school physics classes, hosted by the physics honor society Sigma Pi Sigma.
Adopt-a-Physicist connects high school physics students to real physics graduates who are eager to share their stories. Working in areas ranging from particle physics research to freelance writing, the participating physicists embody a huge range of careers, backgrounds, interests, and educational levels. Adopt-a-Physicist connects classes with the physicists of their choice through online discussion forums that are active for a set three-week period. Each physicist can only be "adopted" by up to three classes, making lively, in-depth discussions possible. Click here to learn more. For more details on the program and ideas for incorporating it into your physics class, browse the resources for teachers.
Spring 2014 Schedule
Teacher Registration: Now - April 3 (or until full)
A couple of weeks ago, I got an email from Jack Collins, a writer with Academic Earth, asking me to check out a video entitled “Practical Math: How to Take a Punch,” which he described as "an unorthodox approach to explaining the physics of momentum."
I was intrigued. To be honest, physics is one of my least favorite subjects and I tend to think of it as boring. This is quite unfortunate because I know it isn't true - I am fascinated by many aspects of physics, particularly those surrounding wormholes and the concept of time travel. But, when I was in school, physics was seldom taught in a way that grabbed my attention. Apart from the rare moments of watching pendulums swing (which, let's face it, isn't that exciting), I copied abstract equations from the board and frantically attempted to memorize them.
The following video is not boring. In fact, I had to laugh a bit (and cringe - hey, there's a guy getting punched here!) while I watched it. See what you think!
It's that time again! Registration is open for the fall session of Adopt-a-Physicist.
This free program connects high school students with working physicists in an effort to demystify science and promote awareness of STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) careers.
-Has anything new been discovered in physics since Einstein?
Then consider participating in Adopt-a-Physicist this fall, a free program for high school physics classes hosted by the physics honor society Sigma Pi Sigma.
Adopt-a-Physicist connects high school physics students to real physics graduates who are eager to share their stories. Working in areas ranging from particle physics research to freelance writing, the participating physicists embody a huge range of careers, backgrounds, interests, and educational levels. Adopt-a-Physicist connects classes with the physicists of their choice through online discussion forums that are active for a set three-week period. Each physicist can only be "adopted" by up to three classes, making lively, in-depth discussions possible.
Learn more here. For more details on the program and ideas for incorporating it into your physics class, browse the resources for teachers.
*Teacher Registration: Now - September 12 (or until full)
*Teachers adopt physicists: September 20-28
*Discussion forums open: October 2-22
For more information on Adopt-a-Physicist, visit http://www.adoptaphysicist.org/webdocs/about.cfm or send us an email at editor@adoptaphysicist.org
I received this information yesterday from Kendra Redmond, Program Coordinator of the Society of Physics Students at the American Institute of Physics:
Spring 2011 Schedule *Teacher Registration: Now - March 8 (or until full) *Physicist Registration: March 9 - March 14 (or until full) *Teachers adopt physicists: March 15 - March 25 *Discussion forums open: March 29 - April 18
Adopt-a-Physicist connects high school physics students to real physics graduates who are eager to share their stories. Working in areas ranging from particle physics research to freelance writing, the participating physicists embody a huge range of careers, backgrounds, interests, and educational levels. Adopt-a-Physicist connects classes with the physicists of their choice through online discussion forums that are active for a set three-week period. Each physicist can only be "adopted" by up to three classes, making lively, in-depth discussions possible. Learn more at Adopt-a-Physicist."
I was working on a poem tonight and I wanted to know how an orange-hued sunset might affect something that was the color blue. I suspected that the resulting color would be some variation on brown, but I wanted to see it for myself. Since it was too late in the day for a nice sunset, I searched online for color wheels. They were so much fun to use, and I learned so much about color, that I thought I would share my findings with you.
Mixing Colors
This Online Color Mixing Palette for Painters from About.com is easy to use. Just click the colors to add them to the mixing bowl and see what happens. If you want to examine, say, two parts blue to one part red, click on the blue square twice and the red square once. The counter keeps track of how many "parts" you've added of each primary color.
COLORCUBE's Color Paintbox is a bit trickier to use. What I liked about this simulation is that you are mixing colors other than the three primary colors of red, blue, and yellow. Instead, your tubes of online mixing paint are white, black, cyan, magenta, and yellow. With effort, you can mix the paint to create any shade along the COLORCUBE. It takes some practice to achieve the color you want!
Made From Dots, from the Teachers' Lab's The Science of Light pages, explores the same theme as COLORCUBE and explains the reasoning behind these choices for mixing colors:
"A magazine printing press usually can only print four colors: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. Our eyes and brain put colors together from the colored dots. Printers (and the computers they use to help them) print the dots in special grids that do not overlap."
Made From Dots shows you what different percentages of cyan, magenta, and yellow saturation look like when they overlap and how our brain perceives the resulting mixture of dots. I found it challenging at first to predict the resulting colors, but it became easier the longer I practiced.
However, keep in mind that mixing colors online is different than mixing them in real life. For example, if you mix every drop of paint in the rainbow of oils on your palette, you will create a blob of blackish paint for your canvas. This is known as the subtractive color method. You start with a white page and end up with a darker mixture of paint.
Online, however, you start with an essentially black screen. Colors are mixed on the computer using the additive color method and you wind up with a lighter image than what you began with. You can read more about additive and subtractive color methods at Janet Lynn Ford's Color Worqx pages.
Color Wheels
Color wheels can be fun to make. Little Brother made one in preschool using a sheet of heavy-duty construction paper, a straw, and a pin. His wasn't a full color wheel, but just two alternating colors of red and yellow. When you spun the wheel, the whole thing looked orange.
Here's a lovely COLORbasics segment from Lisa Viger on painting a color wheel:
According to numerous web sources, including Home Science Tools, if you punch a hole through the middle of a real color wheel and spin the thing fast enough, all of the colors seem to disappear and the wheel will look white. The logic behind this is that white light is a mixture of all of the colors of the spectrum. (But it is still hard to fathom!)
After poking around on YouTube for awhile, I've come to the conclusion that while this result is true in theory, it's difficult in real life to get your color wheel spinning fast enough for the effect to work. According to the Physics Archive at Argonne National Lab's NEWTON Ask a Scientist, Vince Calder wrote that "the color wheel must rotate quickly enough so that each color segment superimposes the other two in 1/25 of a second or less."
Do you have any fun experiences to share about color or color wheels? Let me know in the comments.
Adopt-a-Physicist connects high school physics students to real physics graduates who are eager to share their stories. Working in areas ranging from particle physics research to freelance writing, the participating physicists embody a huge range of careers, backgrounds, interests, and educational levels. Adopt-a-Physicist connects classes with the physicists of their choice through online discussion forums that are active for a set three-week period. Each physicist can only be "adopted" by up to three classes, making lively, in-depth discussions possible. Learn more at Adopt-a-Physicist.
Fall 2010 Schedule *Teacher Registration: Now - September 28 (or until full) *Physicist Registration: September 29 - October 4 (or until full) *Teachers adopt physicists: October 5 - October 15 *Discussion forums open: October 19 - November 9
Years ago, when I worked at a state environmental agency, I participated in a program with a similar idea: Science-by-Mail. At that time, I was "adopted" by several classrooms of gradeschoolers. The kids worked through a specific set of problems and sent me their findings. I wrote back and tried to be encouraging and helpful. One year, they worked on pinhole cameras, which I remember distinctly because I knew next to nothing about the subject and had to hit the reference books. Another time, we discussed the science behind making gingerbread houses. It was a fun and worthwhile project. I'm sure that Adopt-a-Physicist will be a rich and rewarding experience for physicists and students alike.
Who knows? You could connect with the next Benjamin Franklin, Sir Isaac Newton, or Albert Einstein!
The Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics is this Friday, so it's a great time to review the Science of the Olympic Winter Games. NBC paired up with the National Science Foundation to create sixteen short videos on the science behind everything from curling to hockey. (Note: I had difficulty accessing these videos from the official NBC Olympics website. You can also view them at NBC Learn.)
Want to learn about Newton's Three Laws of Motion? Check out speed skating. Forms of energy? Try hockey. Angular momentum? View aerial skiing and figure skating. How is math used at the Games? Watch Mathletes.
I found these videos to be entertaining, educational, and a nice introduction to individual members of the U.S. Olympic Team. (For those outside of the U.S., humor us when viewing the patriotic parts!) Mathletes and Short Track Speed Skating were particularly well done.
I can't wait for the Games! How about you?
[Update: Right after I posted this, I headed to Twitter and found out that there are also lesson plans for grades 6-9 to go with this series on Lessonopoly. How awesome is that?]
Visit ETV's "educational web portal" at Knowitall.org. You can try out simulations and interactive learning lessons on a number of topics, including science. Check out the Science Activities & Simulations at NASA Online and explore topics like Lightning & Static (my favorite), Lift, and How Sound Travels. Or visit Kids Work! and test drive your new job at the virtual hospital -- a medical lab technician, pharmacist, or a public relations specialist -- as part of Job Play. If that doesn't grab you, drop by The Hobby Shop, where you can look at items like fruit flies under a virtual microscope, run a virtual chemistry experiment, or "throw" water balloons with the catapult (it took me three tries to hit the target!).
Recently, I found a science gem through Laura of The Crayon Virtuoso (thanks, Laura!). Science Simulations is a series of physics-based game-like simulations from the University of Colorado at Boulder's Physics Education Technology program. Once you can download these programs, you can modify the conditions of the simulation to see what happens. I especially enjoyed shooting a bowling ball and a buick out of a canon (complete with the "boom" and resulting splat!) in the Projectile Motion simulation. It took a few adjustments, but I finally hit the target. There's also a page with nearly 300 Teacher Ideas and Contributions to accompany the simulations. Have fun!
Yesterday, I bought my small son a Valentine's Day balloon. We picked a nice helium-filled mylar and I was very picky to get a full one because I wanted to get my money's worth (those balloons are expensive!). But when we took it outside, the balloon didn't look full at all.
At first, I was mad. "But I checked!" I thought. "I was careful to get a fully inflated balloon." When I thought about it more, I realized something. So I decided to keep the balloon and test my theory. And I was right! When I took the balloon into my house, lo and behold, it was full again.
What was going on? There was about a 50 degree F temperature difference between the store (roughly 75 degrees F) and the outdoors (25 degrees F). The molecules of helium gas in my balloon moved slower in the colder temperature. This decrease in molecular activity caused the volume of gas to decrease in the balloon. So, even though there was the same amount of helium in my balloon both times, the volume of space it took up changed because of the temperature difference.
You know, I've often heard that fact about gases, but it's just been something I took on faith. Seeing my balloon deflate -- and realizing why -- was fun!
Last night, I saw this commercial where a guy crushes a bowling ball with his bare hands. It was a dramatic scene with the ball shattering into little pieces. The ball was obviously hollow. I thought to myself, "How silly is that? Of course bowling balls are solid."
Then I had another thought. "If bowling balls are solid – and roughly the same circumference – why do they weigh different amounts? Maybe they aren't solid after all."
It turns out that bowling balls have an outer shell and an inner core. There are four popular types of bowling ball shells in use today – plastic, urethane, resin, and particle (a mix of resin and ceramic or glass particles) – according to Bowlers Paradise.
I expected the inner cores to be simple, round, metal spheres, but as it turns out, that’s not the case. This diagram from the United States Bowling Congress shows how cores come in all different shapes and sizes, which affect the ball’s spin and how it hooks as it rolls down the lane. Lighter balls have a core made of foam; heavier balls use polymers and resins (A tip of the hat to Victoria Junior College in Singapore for that information).
If you are interested in the physics behind bowling ball mechanics (or you need an unusual topic for your next science report), be sure to check out "Harry" the robot, described by the USBC as "an approximately seven-foot tall robotic bowling ball thrower." USBC researchers use Harry "to help test balls, lanes, pins and oil patterns." (I had no idea!)
While looking for the answer to what lies inside a bowling ball, I discovered the next generation of bowling, courtesy of Brunswick. In Brunswick's Virtual Bowling, a player throws a small ball down a real lane, but there are no pins. Instead, you get to knock down virtual pins (like video ketchup bottles) on a video background (like a ketchup factory). If you can’t wait for virtual bowling to hit your nearest arcade, try out the USBC Games page!
See animals in a whole new light at this week’s website, Infrared Zoo.
Humans only see a small portion of the light spectrum. What we see is known as visible light. Infrared is the portion of the light spectrum that includes heat emissions. Normally, we can’t tell whether most things are hot or cold just by looking at them, but these photos were taken with a special camera.
Some animals, like pit viper rattlesnakes, perceive infrared light. This ability is thought to help them detect and catch prey. Be sure to visit the Warm and Cold-Blooded page for an eye-catching comparison of what it means to be a warm or cold-blooded animal. My favorite pictures are the ones of the warm-blooded humans holding the cold-blooded animals (a scorpion and a gecko). You can tell that the humans are regulating their body temperatures because “colder” colors are visible along the outside edges of the body with “warmer” colors near the center of the body or body part. The scorpion and gecko’s body temperatures match their surroundings so they are nearly all one color – a cold one. Check out the scorpion’s tail – it is actually warmer where the person is holding it.
