Vanden Physics

Science and entertainment

2009-11-01T16:53:00.000-08:00

After reading a recent email from recent graduate Troy Weber, I got to thinking about how much science is intermixed (or should be) with the entertainment industry. Troy is taking a physics class at Cal Poly and uses animation software to explore some basic physics principles.

Animation and some unique video editing software is pretty much standard these days in movies and on TV. Here's a cool collection of 100 years of special effects in movies...

Not all movies however incorporate correct physics principles, sometimes for obvious reasons (dramatic effect, fiction, etc..) Here a link to a website discussing the good and not so good physics in movies... http://www.intuitor.com/moviephysics/

Kinematics Graphing

2009-09-07T19:48:00.000-07:00

This past week we've taken a look at velocity and acceleration. Making graphs of distance vs. time, velocity vs. time, and acceleration vs. time of many things that are in motion around us is a tough but important skill in understanding motion. This week's goal will be to understand the kinematic graphs of an object in free-fall. Remember, the Acceleration graph shows changes in velocity and the velocity graph shows changes in distance. In calculus, these are derivitives, but just think of them as slopes. Here's a nifty video of the graphs of a spring bobbing up and down.

Ready to Move to New Room!!

2009-08-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

Our new Physics room in H-1 is finally ready for class on Tuesday, Aug. 25. There is a lot on display, perhaps you may even find a jug of popcorn kernels. They represent the current amount of nuclear weapons in the world. In the mid-60's there existed over 60,000 nuclear warheads, mostly in the US and USSR. Luckily, non-proliferation treaties and active decommissioning have reduced that number to around 20,000 total in the world. Still scary to think that just two small weapons were used to devastate Japan and end WW2. Here's a nice video on the topic....

So worth worrying about? Was the Manhattan Project good for science? This topic may be applicable to Chapter 1, Question number 4.

Seeing Blue?

2009-08-07T09:33:00.000-07:00

Check out this color illusion I found on the Bad Astronomy Blog...
The stripes in the BLUE spiral are the same color as the stripes in the GREEN spiral!! Look in close and you'll see Green stripes next to Magenta stripes and our brain compares them to make it look more Blue. The stripes are actually mostly green with a splash of blue!! Just another reason why we can't always trust our senses. "We make up our own reality as we go along", a comment made on the Bad Astronomy blog.

CircumHorizon Arc

2009-07-18T18:23:00.000-07:00

So I just returned from yellowstone and while waiting for a geyser to blow, we spotted a rare Circumhorizon Arc in the sky. It is formed by Ice crystals in high cirrus clouds dispersing light from the sun, similar to a rainbow. There are lots of cool atmospheric optical effects out there, just keep an eye out for them. Click here for a link to an explanation of many of them.

Room Change

2009-07-02T11:12:00.000-07:00

Well this week we moved tables from R-2 into H-1, my new classroom. We are currently ordering cabinets and some new technology to modernize the room as best we can. If all goes well it will be in place by the start of school.

Back to physics stuff - here's a clever video/rap some students made about Relativity

Good Phun!!

Moving on...

2009-06-20T17:01:00.000-07:00

Well I've completed most of my changes to the blog/website. Now the links work and such - the Title is kinda cheesy, but that can come later. Here's a cool video that makes one think about the impact technology has on learning.

Vanden Physics and Robotics

2009-06-19T17:55:00.000-07:00

Summer is officially underway and so many changes are in store for the upcoming year. New Principal, larger class sizes, missing teachers, and my relocation to H Wing. I'll periodically post messages and such here about this and that pertaining to physics, robotics, and Vanden in general.