| Chronology | Current Month | Current Thread | Current Date |
| [Year List] [Month List (current year)] | [Date Index] [Thread Index] | [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] | [Date Prev] [Date Next] |
Excuse this _one_time_ cross-posting. This is the only effectivetarget="l">http://www.saintmarys.edu/~rtarara/ENERGY_PROJECT/ENERGY2100.
way to
communicate with a lot of people who have downloaded my software. The
following is both an announcement and a request.
ANNOUNCEMENT
I have finished the grant portion (Ameritech Technology Grant)
that was to
produce photo-realistic, lab simulations. The original idea was
to provide
pre/post lab tools--to familiarize students with equipment and
proceduresprior to lab and to provide a way for further
exploration after working in
the lab. Secondary goals included the ability for individual
students to
'make-up' a missed lab and in rare cases, to have a class perform
a lab
virtually. I guess one could also look at this as a tool for use in
distance learning situations.
Anyway....I have completed (although I am always fixing and
tweaking) seven
modules. These include:
1) Airtracks--measure velocity, acceleration, do collisions, look
at KE/PE
on a tilted track.
2) Dynamic carts--same experiments as above but with carts and more
sophisticated timing equipment.
3) Airtable--2-D collisions.
4) Ballistic Launcher--design a study of range and/or develop an
equationfor a complex piece of equipment.
5) Springs--Hooke's Law and SHM.
6) Friction--sliding wood block, variable Normal Force, vary area of
contact--static and kinetic experiments.
7) Inclined plane--work, simple machine, mechanical advantage,
efficiencystudies.
These are all available FREE for Windows and Macs
(<www.saintmarys.edu/~rtarara/software.html>)
REQUESTS
A. As with all of the software I distribute, I am always anxious
to hear
about any problems that people might have running them. I have
limited time
to test and have only one Windows Machine (XP-Pro & decent video
card) and
one MAC (G-3 running OS 9.1) to test with. The graphics intensive
nature of
the software can complicate things--for example now under WinXP,
there are
at least 12 possible active window heights at any given resolution,
depending on user settings. I'm not sure that some programs might not
suffer visually from this. So--let me know by email if you have
any problem
and I'll try to work on them.
B. While I am done with the grant, I can continue to produce more lab
simulations IF people are finding them useful. The current set is
primarilyabout mechanics (which is where I think the technique has
maximum value) but
I am willing to try a couple more in other areas. However, I also
have a
couple of other projects in mind (new Animated Chalkboard
animations and
perhaps a new Energy Simulator game based on my class project--see
<"
need some guidance on where my efforts would be most beneficial.
So--help yourself to the software and if you can find time, drop
me a note
(to me, not the list) about how you are using the software, about
bugs in
the software, about improvements I might make, AND about other
experimentsor other animations you would like to see.
Thanks a lot,
Rick Tarara
*********************************************************
Richard W. Tarara
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, Indiana
rtarara@saintmarys.edu
********************************************************
Free Physics Educational Software (Win & Mac)
www.saintmarys.edu/~rtarara/software.html
NEW: Friction & Work lab simulations.
********************************************************