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Re: [Phys-l] Good Questions

On 10/07/2006 06:26 PM, Cliff Parker wrote:
I am looking for good questions and am hoping that the combined wisdom of my
esteemed colleagues will be able to help me out. Questions I can ask my
high school physics class that will cause them to apply things they have
learned over the years in an effort to figure out the way things are or how
they work.

Here's a simple one:

Suppose you are sitting on the bottom of an ordinary swimming pool, several
feet below the surface. You have an ordinary hose that leads to open air at
the surface. You breathe in through the hose, and breathe out bubbles (to
ensure that the hose doesn't fill up with exhaled air).

This scheme is not widely used. Why not?


On 10/07/2006 06:51 PM, Hugh Haskell wrote in part:

Here are some others:

What causes rainbows and why are they seen where they are?

This is a tremendously interesting question with an interesting answer,
but it seems IMHO non-responsive to Cliff's request, because it is unlikely
that HS students will figure out the right answer.

Why can a baseball or golf ball curve horizontally in its trajectory?

Again a fascinating question, but it is unlikely that HS students will
figure out the right answer. There are numerous widespread conceptions
about this. Perhaps the worst misconception is that "simple" fluid
dynamics problems are simple to analyze.

Why is the sky blue (and the sunset red)?

Again this is the subject of widespread misconceptions. I know quite a few
Ivy League physics professors who have gotten this one wrong when I asked
them. Therefore it seems a stretch to expect HS teachers to figure this
out ... let alone HS students.

The relative humidity of the atmosphere over the Antarctic continent is typically less than 10%.
If the ground is covered by a thick layer of ice, why is the humidity so low?

Again, not easy to figure out. The answer is fairly understandable in hindsight,
but I don't think that's what Cliff was asking for.