5th Gear Loop the Loop
Category: physics
Maybe this is a little old (in internet age), but it is a great example. Here is the Loop-the-loop stunt from the show Fifth Gear
Posted by Rhett Allain at 6:10 PM • 9 Comments • 1 TrackBacks
Dot Physics
What happens when you take some basic, introductory physics and apply them to cool things you see? Dot Physics happens. This blog looks at movies, experiments, demos and other topics typically aimed at the introductory physics level.
Profile
Rhett Allain is an Associate Professor of Physics at Southeastern Louisiana University. He
enjoys teaching and talking about physics. Sometimes he takes things apart and can't
put them back together.
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- Some Python notes
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August 31, 2009
August 28, 2009
Millikan Oil Drop without the Oil
Category: physics
The Physics Teacher article (The 'Nut-Drop' Experiment - Bringing Millikan's Challenge to Introductory Students, L. McCAnn and E. Blodgett) shows a variation of the oil drop experiment that gets the same idea across. Instead of looking at the motion of a charged drop of oil, students will look at the motion of a container with different number of metal nuts in them (unknown number of nuts). Instead of finding the charge on one electron, the students will find the mass of a single nut.
Posted by Rhett Allain at 2:26 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 26, 2009
Harry Potter and the Order of Teaching
Category: education
The Order of the Phoenix shows at least three different examples of teachers and teachings in the movie.
Posted by Rhett Allain at 12:44 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 23, 2009
Underwater explosion analysis
Category: physics
I wonder how fast that water was moving up right after the explosion. Too bad the video doesn't have a scale. Well, it kind of does - there is that ship. I am terrible at ship identification though. Maybe I can use my favorite scaling trick - assume the stuff is on the surface of the Earth.
Posted by Rhett Allain at 10:30 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 22, 2009
Podcast vs. Lecture. Let the battle begin
Category: education
I support our new podcasting lecture overlords. If all you (as an instructor) are doing is stuff that could be a podcast, then why not have it as a podcast? I don't think that you should force students to come to class just because....I have no idea. The above article mentions that some professors have their lectures on iTunes university, but limit the number of downloads to encourage students to come to class.
Posted by Rhett Allain at 4:27 PM • 3 Comments • 1 TrackBacks
Parkour Physics: Wall Climb
Category: physics
Forgive me if I don't know the official parkour term for this move. This is where you have two walls that are close to each other and you vertically climb them. Here is a shot of Mark Witmer (from Ninja Warrior) doing the wall climb
Posted by Rhett Allain at 12:16 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 18, 2009
How a silly online guessing game works
Category: DIY
I got this question. How does this game work? Really, this is one of those silly things that gets forwarded a lot.
Posted by Rhett Allain at 8:32 PM • 14 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Student Letters from the Future
Category: physics
I wrote two letters (for two different classes). These are letters from the students of the near future to themselves in the present. this first one is for a non-majors lab. In this lab, I let them turn in "informal"...
Posted by Rhett Allain at 10:33 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
August 17, 2009
Modeling vs. Art
Category: science
I have been reflecting on my recent failure to realize that the Giant Water Slide Jump was fake (more analysis here). I think the guys that made this video did a really good job on several levels. First, the motion...
Posted by Rhett Allain at 2:45 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Hydrino and good PR
Category: physics
guess Blacklight Power must have great advertising. Ok, so what is this whole Blacklight-hyrdino thing? Honestly, I am not fully familiar with it, but basically this guy says that you can get energy by getting the electron in hydrogen to go to a lower energy level than ground state. Here are a few good links regarding this hydrino stuff.
Posted by Rhett Allain at 8:16 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
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