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[Phys-l] Good Questions



I am looking for good questions and am hoping that the combined wisdom of my esteemed colleagues will be able to help me out. Questions I can ask my high school physics class that will cause them to apply things they have learned over the years in an effort to figure out the way things are or how they work. One such questions that I have used many times with great success follows. Perhaps it will give you more of an idea of what I am looking for.

1) What causes the contrail behind a jet airplane and what is it made out of?

I put them in small groups to work on this question for 15 or 20 minutes. By the time they are finished they have been discussing things like:

Why it gets colder as we go higher into the atmosphere?
What kind of fuel does a jet use?
What are the products of combustion of hydrocarbons?
Why is there a contrail at 30,000 feet but not on take off?
Why will water molecules stick together when it is cold and not when its hot?
etc...

Most have never even considered such questions before. And if they have they never supposed that they could figure them out on their own. When it comes to questions like this they simply rely on the declarations of "experts" rather than thinking it through. When my students experience the thrill of figuring things out for themselves it is a wonderful thing but I need more questions. I am running low. If you have any good ideas please send them my way.

Cliff Parker
Never express yourself more clearly than you can think.
- Niels Bohr