Re: arons and dry ice

[Sam Sampere <sampere@PHYSICS.SYR.EDU>]

Don't waste your time using a dry ice puck.  If you want an excellent piece of
apparatus for demonstrating this, then go buy a "Kick 'Dis Power Puck" made by Estes.
This small hovercraft, about 9" OD, comes with NiCd batteries so you won't have to go
through the hassle of buying dry ice every year.  This thing also hovers above carpet,
not the thick shag carpet, but the low loop carpets you see in most commercial
applications.

If you give this thing a kick in the hallway, it will travel to the end of the hall,
bounce off the wall and come most of the way back.  This is way cooler to play with
than the dry ice puck.

Sam

Justin Parke wrote:

> I read in arons (sorry don't have the specific reference) earlier today the
> section on introducing Newton's laws and specifically the concept of inertia
> and the effects of forces on a body's motion.  He recommends a 50 lb piece of
> dry ice on a sheet of glass.  (!)
>
> Has anyone done this?  How big is the sheet of glass?  How big is 50 lbs of
> dry ice?  I am not sure where I will obtain these things but the idea is a
> great one...much better than 1 dimensional pasco carts or even an air table
> (since the pucks have such low mass).  Are there similar but easier things
> folks have tried?
>
> thanks for the help
>
> Justin
>
> This posting is the position of the writer, not that of SUNY-BSC, NAU or the AAPT.

This posting is the position of the writer, not that of SUNY-BSC, NAU or the AAPT.