I have added a few new things to my web site http://www.physicsweb.com which you might want to download.
There is a new program to simulate the interference of two
transverse waves. You can set the wavelength, amplitude, phase, speed,
and direction of each wave and with the appropriate settings can
illustrate standing waves, beats, and harmonics. The program can be run
as a series of still pictures or in a continuous animation.
The program was written in Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0. Unlike earlier
versions of Visual Basic, this version produces fully compiled code
which runs faster than would a typical Basic program. You need to have
Windows 95 and a mouse to use the software. There is no documentation
yet, but the interface is intuitive and you should be able to learn it
with only a few minutes of experimenting.
I have also added fifty-five multiple choice questions on
kinematics, many of which I believe go beyond the standard fare.
In addition I made some minor changes to a few of the questions on
the simulated achievement test that was already posted at the site and
one correction to the answer key. A comprehernsive set of explanations
for the answers is coming.
The text material was wriiten with Microsoft Word 97. Since there
are compatability problems between Word 97 and other word processors and
even with earlier versions of Word, I have also posted the Microsoft
Viewer 97. This is a freeware utility (whose wide distribution Microsoft
encourages) that allows people without Word 97 to view, print, and cut
and paste from Word 97 documents. However, you cannot edit documents
with the viewer. The posted viewer runs under Windows 95.
Microsoft also has a viewer that runs under Windows 3.x. There is
not enough room at the site to post the second version, but I have
provided a link to the appropriate place on Microsoft's own web site.
Finally, I also re-formatted the web site itself so that it is more
readable in both Netscape and Internet Explorer and at all the common
screen resolutions.
Hope you find some of the stuff useful.
--
Ed Schweber (edschweb@ix.netcom.com)
Physics Teacher at The Solomon Schechter Day School, West Orange, NJ
To obtain free resources for creative physics teachers visit: http://www.physicsweb.com