Excuse this _one_time_ cross-posting. This is the only effective way to
communicate with a lot of people who have downloaded my software. The
following is both an announcement and a request.
ANNOUNCEMENT
I have finished the grant portion (Ameritech Technology Grant) that was to
produce photo-realistic, lab simulations. The original idea was to provide
pre/post lab tools--to familiarize students with equipment and procedures
prior to lab and to provide a way for further exploration after working in
the lab. Secondary goals included the ability for individual students to
'make-up' a missed lab and in rare cases, to have a class perform a lab
virtually. I guess one could also look at this as a tool for use in
distance learning situations.
Anyway....I have completed (although I am always fixing and tweaking) seven
modules. These include:
1) Airtracks--measure velocity, acceleration, do collisions, look at KE/PE
on a tilted track.
2) Dynamic carts--same experiments as above but with carts and more
sophisticated timing equipment.
3) Airtable--2-D collisions.
4) Ballistic Launcher--design a study of range and/or develop an equation
for a complex piece of equipment.
5) Springs--Hooke's Law and SHM.
6) Friction--sliding wood block, variable Normal Force, vary area of
contact--static and kinetic experiments.
7) Inclined plane--work, simple machine, mechanical advantage, efficiency
studies.
These are all available FREE for Windows and Macs
(<www.saintmarys.edu/~rtarara/software.html>)
REQUESTS
A. As with all of the software I distribute, I am always anxious to hear
about any problems that people might have running them. I have limited time
to test and have only one Windows Machine (XP-Pro & decent video card) and
one MAC (G-3 running OS 9.1) to test with. The graphics intensive nature of
the software can complicate things--for example now under WinXP, there are
at least 12 possible active window heights at any given resolution,
depending on user settings. I'm not sure that some programs might not
suffer visually from this. So--let me know by email if you have any problem
and I'll try to work on them.
B. While I am done with the grant, I can continue to produce more lab
simulations IF people are finding them useful. The current set is primarily
about mechanics (which is where I think the technique has maximum value) but
I am willing to try a couple more in other areas. However, I also have a
couple of other projects in mind (new Animated Chalkboard animations and
perhaps a new Energy Simulator game based on my class project--see
<http://www.saintmarys.edu/~rtarara/ENERGY_PROJECT/ENERGY2100.htm>) so I
need some guidance on where my efforts would be most beneficial.
So--help yourself to the software and if you can find time, drop me a note
(to me, not the list) about how you are using the software, about bugs in
the software, about improvements I might make, AND about other experiments
or other animations you would like to see.
Thanks a lot,
Rick Tarara
*********************************************************
Richard W. Tarara
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, Indiana
rtarara@saintmarys.edu
********************************************************
Free Physics Educational Software (Win & Mac)
www.saintmarys.edu/~rtarara/software.html
NEW: Friction & Work lab simulations.
********************************************************