Re: 'toon physics

[Richard Goode <rgoode@porterville.k12.ca.us>]

PPARKER@TWSUVM.UC.TWSU.EDU wrote:
> > Date: Fri, 28 Jun 1996 14:42:54 -0500
> > From: sample@lyon.edu (John D. Sample)
> >
> > > But *later* some conscientious teacher is going to have to unteach that
> > > stuff along with all the cartoon physics the kids learned from TV.
> >
> > Now there is an interesting idea.  A lot of people have been talking about
> > video analysis using videos of objects falling, colliding, etc.  Has
> > anybody tried this with cartoons to show that the characters are violating
> > the laws of physics?  It might make an interesting project to "discover"
> > the cartoon laws which apply to the roadrunner in a particular case.

I regularly use cartoons in both my physics classes and in my physical science 
classes. After we study Newton's laws, We view a series of cartoons and they have a 
writing assignment based on what they see. They must describe what happened, provide a 
force diagram, and be able to describe which laws are involved and how they were 
supported or violated. Here is a link to the "Cartoon Laws"
http://www.nwlink.com/~deviant/phys.html
-- 
Richard Goode
Physics Teacher
Porterville High School

"Man does not cease to play because he grows old;
	Man grows old because he ceases to play."