WebSights features reviews of select sites presenting physics
teaching strategies and resources, as well as shorter announcements of sites of
interest to physics teachers. All sites are copyright by their authors. This
column is available as a web page at <http://PhysicsEd.BuffaloState.Edu/pubs/WebSights/>.
If
you have successfully used a site to teach physics that you feel is outstanding
and appropriate for WebSights,
please email me the URL and describe how you use it to teach. The best site
monthly will receive a T-shirt. <macisadl@buffalostate.edu>
Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation experiments,
lessons and activities:
This past week considerable discussion took place on the
PHYS-L listserv regarding teaching Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation in the
laboratory. <https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/archives/2007/02_2007/threads.html>. John Walker's FormiLab webpage Bending Spacetime in the
Basement at <http://www.fourmilab.ch/gravitation/foobar/>
shows details for building and operating your own Cavendish torsion balance for
observing (not measuring) gravitations attraction. Such observations can be practically and readily done in the
classroom, though there are also videos on the page demonstrating a modern, and
"ancient greek materials" versions of the torsion balance. Similar Cavendish demonstrations were
done with water bottles, boxes of sand and a piece of recording tape for a
suspension by Zacharias at MIT in the 1950s.
Several PHYS-L contributors also pointed out simulations
where orbits can be modeled for multi-body solar systems. Paul Lulai of St.
Anthony Village Sr. HS points out several simulations he likes:
<http://www.ii.uam.es/~jlara/investigacion/ecomm/gravitacion/grav.html> looks at orbits
& how their paths (circular, elliptical etc...) depend on original
velocities:
<http://tinyurl.com/2ehopm>is the Maryland Virtual HS simulation of Newton's Universal
Law of Gravitation. You can state
the mass of each object, the position of each object and the simulation
will plot your data.
John Denker pointed out a motion applet from the Physics
Education Technology
project at the University of Colorado Physics Department <http://phet.colorado.edu/>
called My Solar System: <http://phet.colorado.edu/simulations/orbits/orbits.swf>.
I find this last PhET applet reminiscent of the excellent
but venerable Gravitation Ltd 5.0 shareware for Macintosh by Jeff Rommereide still freely
obtainable from <http://tinyurl.com/ywb89b>. It still runs fine on my mac under
classic, but I had to increase the virtual memory provided to the program.
Followup sites on Electronics and Professional
Development Opportunities
Pat Viele of Cornell Physics points out another collection of
Teacher and Student Internships and Opportunities at Science.gov 4.0 <http://www.science.gov/internships/index.html>
in addition to the PTEC.org website at <http://ptec.org>. I was reminded of two more
electronics teaching sites: Tony Kuphalt's All About Circuits free textbook and webpage at <http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/>
and Bill Beatty's Electronics Hobbyist page at <http://amasci.com/amateur/elehob.html>.
Doppler Effect interactive collection and
superparamagnetic effect video sites
Mike Belling, Physics teacher at Pembroke HS pointed out
these two sites:
<http://molebash.com/doppler/home.htm> The title of the website is The Doppler Effect: an
interactive lesson.
The site is focused on the Doppler effect as it relates to sound. It contains a
series of videos in which students have to predict the location of a honking
horn from either inside or outside a moving vehicle. It also contains a number
of Java applets that demonstrate the Doppler effect and sonic booms.
<http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/research/recording_head/pr/PerpendicularAnimation.html>
This Hitachi website
contains an entertaining and informative flash movie that explains how data storage
density is increasing ten-fold by orienting the magnetic bits perpendicularly
rather than longitudinally. The
movie clearly explains the concept of the superparamagnetic effect as well as
showing how magnetism is used to store data on hard drives. The video is an
exceptionally well-done parody of the old School House Rock songs that used to air on TV in the
U.S. in the 70Ős and 80Ős on Saturday mornings.
Wine Glass Resonance Video:
Ed Gruber, Science Research Coordinator /
Physics Teacher at Eastchester HS points out a nice video demonstrating
resonant vibrations and standing waves in a wine glass at <http://www.acoustics.salford.ac.uk/feschools/waves/waterglass1video.htm>. The video is in super slow-mo and shows
the standing wave clearly in the water.