Updated: Dan Burns' Science on The Simpsons

My friend, Los Gatos physics teacher Dan Burns, created and maintains a collection of "science-y" video clips from The Simpsons (I keep link to the right). Executive producer of The Simpsons, Rob LaZebnik, recently sent a nice note to Dan complimenting him on the collection.

If you haven't perused the clips, you really should check them out. Once you know about them, you'll figure out how to weave them into your curriculum.

The Moon when lit by all the sunsets in the world

I shot this at about midnight 12/20/10. We lucked out in Sacramento with a break in the overcast/rain. There was still some fast-moving, low, cloud activity. But the openings were sufficient to get some snaps.

Bad Physics: Errant dispersion images are normal

I mean "normal" in both the common, regular sense and in the perpendicular, physics sense.

Attempts to replicate the classic prism image from Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon typically fall victim to the error illustrated by the image above. The primary error is to show the incident ray and the refracted ray as normal (at right angles) to the air-glass boundary. It just seems like the rays should do that.

Add to that the fact that the prism has been replaced by a tetrahedron. And why are there divisions in the dispersed color bands? Absorption spectra? What's that glass tetrahedron made of?

Here's the Storm Thorgerson original:

Ten new Wiseman tricks for Christmas

"New" for the 2010 holiday party season.



And don't forget these classics from 2009.



Get puzzled early and often at Richard Wiseman's Blog.

Man Conquers Space (Teaser IV)

The original teaser for this film debuted in 2001. Here it is 2010, and the project continues to move forward.

Teaser III (2007) probably sums up the film's concept best. It's the story of what the space program might have been. The teasers have a documentary vibe to them. The MCS site states a hope that they'll have a release date in 2011 or 2012.

Small water beats big bacony beans!

Here's a fun pic from AP Physics today. We raced a solid can of baked beans (with bacon), c.1990 against a cylindrical bottle of water. A student suggested we try catching the result using the Casio EX-FH100's multiple exposure mode. We caught this at the very end of class. The water beats the beans. But why did it win? Sloshy liquid? Smaller radius? Hmmm...

The small water was placed in front of the big beans before they were released to roll down the hill. The farther they rolled, the greater the water's lead became.

College Board makes their punt more permanent

A change is gonna come. Advanced Placement Physics B is to be split into a two year sequence. This much has been known since 2007. (Maybe even earlier than that.)

When is the change gonna happen, and what—exactly—is it gonna look like?

Details and a timetable have been promised time and time again. But there have been no deliveries just yet.

I last checked in June, since there had been a promise that details would be published in early 2010. The College Board's info page had been updated to reflect that the details would now be published in Fall 2010.

With Fall 2010 coming to a close soon, I thought it would be amusing to check in again. The page has again been updated, and the promise of details has been unhinged from the calendar.

"Reviews of AP Chemistry and AP Physics B courses and exams are complete and pending validation by colleges and universities. To allow educators sufficient time to incorporate course revisions into their teaching practice, the College Board will announce revisions two years in advance of implementation."

If the plan comes together for 2020, we'll be notified by 2018.

If nothing else, the latest revision does away with any need to update the web page. Gone is specificity. Intentional ambiguity rules!

[/rant]

Multiple exposure photography

I'm dipping a toe into multiple exposure photography.

As is so often the case in such undertakings, I have no idea what I'm doing, but cannot resist the potential for grooviness.

I just started tinkering with this nonsense the day before Turkey Break. The image-compression trickery is built into my pocketable digicam, the Casio EX-FH100. My Fujifilm HS10 can do it, too. But the FH100 is much handier.

Click the image to see more of what I've been able to get so far.

BMW ad: MythBusted!

Original post here. A BMW motorcycle is used to pull the tablecloth from under a banquet table with full formal setting. Go back and watch the videoclip.

Mythbusters story web clips: Tablecloth Chaos.

Executive Summary: Jamie was able to clear the tablecloth from under the banquet table setting. But only when he was able to get his custom bike to high speed before pulling the tablecloth. This required that the bike accelerate a distance with considerable slack in the rope.

The trick, as performed in the BMW ad, is not physics-ly possible. You simply cannot start from rest and jump to cloth-pulling speed on a motorcycle.

Shame on you, BMW.

Hat tip to Dan Burns via the AP Physics EDG.

Newton's Cradle telekinesis

My telekinesis training is moving apace quite nicely. I recently shared this result with my colleagues in the NCNAAPT.



The initial shock of the demonstration was somewhat subdued when I showed them an overhead view.



When I showed them the view from the static-cam, they no longer believed my claim of telekinesis.



O science! Must you take all the fun out of bogus claims?

I've developed a series of demonstrations involving the use of a rotational platform. The first two involve the use of Pasco's Visual Accelerometer. We do these demos in Physics 1. The third involves the Newton's Cradle. We save this one for AP Physics 2.

Demo 1: Will It Go 'Round in Circles?
What is the direction of acceleration for an object in circular motion? Tangential? Radial? Inward? Outward? Note: our students have completed the "PhyzLab: Going Through the Motions" prior to this demonstration, so they know the function of the Visual Accelerometer.

Demo 2: Will It Go 'Round in Even More Circles?
What happens to the magnitude of acceleration as the object is set farther and farther from the axis of rotation? The increase in radius suggests decreased acceleration. The increase in speed suggests increased acceleration. The Visual Accelerometer settles the matter.

Demo 3: Will It Go 'Round in Advanced Circles?
What happens when a Newton's Cradle is taken for a spin on a rotational platform? You already know the answer. In AP Physics 2, we develop an equation for the angle of the cord and interpret the equation.

And of course, a shout out to the legendary Billy Preston for the title.