[Phys-L] Re: Looking for self-contained, active "Physics Challenges"

[cblehman at AOL.COM (Cherie Lehman)]

Hi Mark,

I like the bowling ball activity.

How about a laser target shoot? You could set up a laser and a target
and have participants use say 3 mirrors to bounce the beam to the
target. High school students love this activity. Well -- they love
anything that has to do with lasers actually.

You could also set up some sort of center of mass activity. How about
the one where you have the person stand 2 foot lengths away from a
wall. You put a chair against the wall, have the person bend at the
hips and put the top of his/her head against the wall. Then the person
tries to pick up the chair. Most women can pick up the chair because of
their lower center of mass. Most men can't.

Just off the top of my head.

Cheers,
Cherie Lehman

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Lucas <lucas@LUCAS.PHY.OHIOU.EDU>
To: PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU
Sent: Fri, 07 Oct 2005 08:16:27 -0400
Subject: Looking for self-contained, active "Physics Challenges"

  Hi,

We're preparing for a department open house for the local community over
the next month. In addition to posters, the standard demos and a few
staged demonstrations, we're looking to have several "Physics
Challenges"
around the building.

The idea is to have a task, preferably active, that helps people figure
out something about physics while giving them a goal for which to shoot.
These tasks would be 'staffed' by a physics student.

One that we've done in the past is a bowling ball slalom, where the
participant is asked to propel a bowling ball around several cones
using a
broom, run it in a circle twice around the end cone, and return. The
object is to do it as fast as possible. Here participants quickly
realize
that a bowling ball has a lot of inertia, and that to get it to turn,
you
have to apply a force perpendicular to the direction of motion.

This activity is something everyone can do (though not necessarily
well),
doesn't require much equipment, they have to 'figure something out' to
do
better, and it makes a decent physics point.

Right now for a variety of reasons my creative juices are 'pbflt' (to
use
a technical term). Does anyone have suggestions?

Thanks!
Mark Lucas


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Mark Lucas                                      email: lucasm@ohiou.edu
252D Clippinger Lab                             phone: (740)597-2984
Department of Physics and Astronomy             fax:   (740)593-0433
Ohio University
Athens, OH 45701