Re: [Phys-l] Good Questions

["Sheron Snyder" <snyders@cablespeed.com>]

here may be a silly one, but it stumps my students initially?

"Why does it take two hands to handle a Whopper?"  Assumptions: Newton's 
laws covered, students know what a Whopper is and I don't mean the chocolate 
covered candy...And the Whopper has Lettuce, tomato, mayo and maybe even 
cheese.

Hope this works for you.  It may not take 15 minutes however.

Check out The Flying Circus of Physics for more Ideas.

Sheron
LCC Instructor

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cliff Parker" <cparker@charter.net>
To: "Forum for Physics Educators" <phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu>
Sent: Saturday, October 07, 2006 6:26 PM
Subject: [Phys-l] Good Questions


> 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.  One such questions that I have used many times with great
> success follows.  Perhaps it will give you more of an idea of what I am
> looking for.
>
> 1)  What causes the contrail behind a jet airplane and what is it made out
> of?
>
> I put them in small groups to work on this question for 15 or 20 minutes.
> By the time they are finished they have been discussing things like:
>
> Why it gets colder as we go higher into the atmosphere?
> What kind of fuel does a jet use?
> What are the products of combustion of hydrocarbons?
> Why is there a contrail at 30,000 feet but not on take off?
> Why will water molecules stick together when it is cold and not when its
> hot?
> etc...
>
> Most have never even considered such questions before.  And if they have
> they never supposed that they could figure them out on their own.  When it
> comes to questions like this they simply rely on the declarations of
> "experts" rather than thinking it through.  When my students experience 
> the
> thrill of figuring things out for themselves it is a wonderful thing but I
> need more questions.  I am running low.  If you have any good ideas please
> send them my way.
>
> Cliff Parker
> Never express yourself more clearly than you can think.
> - Niels Bohr
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