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Bicycle wheels are just one of the many items that retired physics professor
Dr. Elwood Schapansky will use for a hands on show in a virtual world.
The show took place as planned. It was attended by only a few children
from the public elementary school, but had a large number of home
schooled children, along with their parents. In addition the local high
school physics teacher attended, along with his entire class of eight
students. It made me feel so good to have them there.
Because of the unusual nature of this show, and the apparatus used for
demonstrations, I present here a brief outline of the presentation, along
with partial explanations of the concepts explored. The presentation took
about an hour and twenty minutes, with questions afterward. I hope this
proves helpful to the reader. Below is my outline for the show.
Physics4Phun
PhysicsforFunwithElwoodSchapanskySchapansky@aol.com
September4,2009
I.
II,
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
Introductiontotheshowmyfirstphysicslessonatageeight
TheoceanofairweliveinAtoms,Air,andAirPressure
1.
Creatingavacuumwithboilingwater
2.
Smashingacokecanwithatmosphericpressure(verydramatic)
3.
Smashingagalloncanslowly,withatmosphericpressure
4.
SmashingaplasticbottlewithaFoodSaver
5.
Invertingaglassofwaterusingacardtoholdthewater
6.
Siphonsandbarometers
7.
Atomshaveafingerprintshowingthecolorofsodiumlight(donewithaburner)
NewtonsFirstLaw:MassandInertia
1.
Galileoandtheinclinedplanefrictionfoolsus
2.
Usingabicyclewheel,withverticalaxis,todemonstraterestandconstantmotion
3.
Droppingarestingcoinintoaglassusingabroom
4.
Breakingastick,restingbetweentwopaperloops,bystrikingsharply
5.
Breakingeithertoporbottomstringattachedtoamass
6.
Drivingonahammerheadbystrikingthehandle
NewtonsSecondLaw:Netforceandaccelerationmovingfasterandfaster
1.
Howdomultipleforcesadduptozero?Whatdoesthatmean?(Vectorquantities)
2.
Usingtherotationofthehorizontalbicyclewheeltoillustrateunbalancedforce
3.
Weightandmass
NewtonsThirdLaw:Foreveryforceintheuniversethereisanequalandoppositeforce
1.
Whatpushesonuswhenwewalk?Whathappensonice?
2.
Weight.Whatisthereactionforce?Canwebeweightlessonearth?
3.
StaticandslidingfrictionasrelatedtoglacierlandingsAngleofrepose
Machinesandtheconceptofwork
1.
Pullinganailbyhandhammerandcrowbarasmachines
2.
Mechanicaladvantagepulleysandropesasmachines
RotationalMotionwheels,gyroscopes,propellersandprecession
1.
Bicyclewheeltorque,angularmomentumandprecession
2.
SpinningTops(madewiththelatheinmyworkshop)funtoyandprecessiondemonstrator
StaticelectricityDirectandAlternatingcurrent
1.
StaticElectricitywheredoesitcomefrom?
2.
DirectCurrentcircuitelements,shortcircuitsandopencircuits
3.
AlternatingCurrenttransformersandvoltagecontroldemonstratedbywoodburning
pencil,cookingahotdog,anddisposablecameras(whichcontainacapacitor)
I.
My first physics lesson, short-circuiting a 6V battery. As a child I
watched my father test car batteries by sliding a wire across the terminals
and listening for the snap of a good battery. I tried it and did not slide the
wire. The short circuit caused the wire to glow red and burned my hands
badly. My first physics lesson. It made me want to know why.
II.
A tablespoon of water is boiled in a soda can to eliminate the air
inside. It is then turned upside down into a pan of water, creating a good
vacuum, so it implodes violently. This is exciting and great fun.
Here I use an inclined plane to show static friction to be greater than sliding
friction. One can also talk of the angle of repose of piles of sand or rock
A tug-o-war is set up between two people, with one person pulling on the
pulley, and the other on the free end of the rope, which is tied to a post at
the other end. The mechanical advantage of two easily allows the person
on the rope to win.
propellers and tops, and is also why so many good pilots have trouble
flying a tail-dragger airplane the type of airplane commonly used in bushAlaska.
I make tops on my home lathe, and make one model that is suspended by
a string, on a bearing, on the top of the top. When released horizontally, the
spinning top precesses, just like the bicycle wheel. I picked this idea up
while in Russia, where it was used as a toy.
A standard spinning top, above, and the top with the bearing which
allows it to spin horizontally, and precess
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VIII. Static electricity - demonstrated with bits of paper, comb and fur.
DC circuits - demonstrated by shorting a battery with a small copper wire,
vaporizing it, and showing the need for a resistor in the circuit. Then a bulb
was placed in the circuit, which lit normally. An open circuit was shown by
removing the wire from one terminal of the battery.
It was explained that transformers require a changing current to operate,
and thus we in the United States chose AC for our power-distribution. A
step-down transformer was used to heat a homemade wood burning tool.
A step-down transformer, on the left, and an autotransformer were used to provide a controllable
low voltage to the home-made wood burning pencil, shown top left.
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A pair of copper wires was connected to a 120V wall plug. The extreme
danger of this was explained and then a hotdog was used to short-circuit
the wires. The hotdog was cooked and then later eaten by a participant.
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