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Re: The Good Stuff



Tim,
In response to the first part of your message about projectile motion, I
always have several high school seniors who envision careers in the
military as pilots, etc. I point out to them that calculations of
trajectories was very important in the Gulf War with the SCUDS on mobile
launchers and the patriot missiles. And being married to a former Marine
Corps Officer who served in Vietnam, I can attest to the stories I have
been told about the necessity for pilots and others to strategically
place artillery and other s hells. This usually gets their attention, and
that of the girls in the class as well.
As far as nuclear physics goes, I stop mechanics in November, and do a
unit on nuclear physics and take my students to both Fermilab and Argonne
in suburban Chicago. This trip has been a highlight of my classes since I
began it 6 years ago. I have to cut short the unit on magnetism in the
spring, but nuclear physics and quarks seems "more interesting and
important" to my high school seniors than magnetism. Of course, we have
to discuss how the protons and anti-protons are kept from colliding with
the walls, so we get in some discussion of magnets and superconductors as
well.
You might try this some time if your classes aren't too large since you
are close enough to Chicago for the trip.

Patti Mason
Delphi High School
Delphi, IN