VIRGINIA
INSTRUCTORS of
PHYSICS
9:00 - 9:30 Hello's ...Coffee and donuts provided by UVa 9:30 - 10:00 VIP Business10:00 - 10:15 What VaPEN will look like in the future (...next year?)10:15 - 12:00 Image Processing for Teaching: Beyond Digital Video H.I.P. physics (CD ROM motion analysis and more) by Dr. Bob Kolvoord (author, editor and more of *H.I.P. Physics*.) See extended description below12:00 - 1:30 Lunch (You will have to provide your own lunch ...restaurants are near by.) 1:00 - 1:30 Collect freebies: catalogs, demo write-ups, lab tips and more, (over laps lunch). 1:30 - 3:30 PASCO Scientific presentation: "Computer Usage in the Lab" See extended description below
At out last fall meeting everyone left with something. We are doingit again! ...And the meeting is free!
Many physics teachers are starting to explore the use of digitalvideo as a part of their instruction. The "Image Processing forTeaching" (IPT) project provides a powerful medium to excite allstudents about physics. Image processing provides a powerful set oftools to do both qualitative and quantitative analysis with imagesfrom a variety of sources, including digital video. The opportunitiesfor exploration and discovery are vast, opening up the world ofphysics to students from a variety of backgrounds and abilities.Mathematics is present at every stage and can be used to helpstudents integrate mathematics and physics into situations outsidethe traditional classroom.
Classroom applications of image processing have proved to be both aneffective and efficient way to augment physics instruction. Fromsimple applications using captured digital video in place of thestandard laser disk to studentUs own projects, image processing opensup a world of exploration and discovery for all students. Evenstudents who have not fared well in the traditional physicscurriculum can learn using digital images.
In this talk, Dr. Kolvoord will show a variety of images andcurricular applications from both digital video and other sources.Feedback from the more than 1200 teachers already doing imageprocessing in their schools show that image processing is aneffective and fun way to study the application of physics to "realworld" applications, as represented by digital imagery. We will alsodiscuss the ongoing development of curricular materials at theUniversity of Arizona and preview some new materials.
More on the morning presentation... Dr. Koolvard's presentation willfeature H.I.P. Physics. H ANDS-ON I MAGE PROCESSING PHYSICS is H.I.P. Physics. The system uses free N.I.H.image processing software on a Macintosh computer to analyze andimage or series of images, i.e. video. Imagine video taping anexperiment or activity like a shuttle launch, sending the videosignal to the computer, and then analyze the motion for position,velocity and acceleration versus time in a graphical format at theclick of a mouse. Dr. Bob Kolvoord is flying in from University ofArizona to make this presentation. Dr. Kolvoord is one of the authorsof the analysis macros and applications for the NIH software...Andthe meeting is free!
Steve Miller is representing PASCO. Steve will be presenting oncomputer interfacing and what can be done with PASCO equipment. Thispresentation has been in the making for over a year and a half....And the meeting is free!
What really makes this meeting go are people like you. Bring 75copies of something you do (demo, lab, lecture or whatever) to share.This has always been a great part of our meetings. But you don;t haveto bring something to come to the meeting. Did we mention that themeeting is free?
by Tony Wayne
First, thanks to Tom O'Neil for the idea. Go to the video store andbuy a Road Runner and Wyle E. Coyote video. After covering Newton'slaws and conversation of energy laws show the cartoons. Ask thestudents what laws are violated during each cartoon. After adiscusion, give the students the assignment to write a set of cartoonphysics laws.
Below are a set of cartoon laws that came across the PHYS-L listsystem on the internet. Unfortunately the author's name was lostthough all the forwarding. Enjoy.
Cartoon Law I
Any body suspended in space will remain in space until madeaware of its situation.
EXAMPLE : Daffy Duck steps off a cliff, expecting furtherpastureland. He loiters in midair, soliloquizing flippantly, until hechances to look down. At this point, the familiar principle of 32feet per second per second takes over.
Cartoon Law II
Any body in motion will tend to remain in motion until solid matterintervenes suddenly.
EXAMPLE : Whether shot from a cannon or in hot pursuit onfoot, cartoon characters are so absolute in their momentum that onlya telephone pole or an outsize boulder retards their forward motionabsolutely. Sir Isaac Newton called this sudden termination of motionthe stooge's surcease.
Cartoon Law III
Any body passing through solid matter will leave aperforation conforming to its perimeter.
EXAMPLE : Also called the silhouette of passage, thisphenomenon is the speciality of victims of directed-pressureexplosions and of reckless cowards who are so eager to escape thatthey exit directly through the wall of a house, leaving acookie-cutout-perfect hole. The threat of skunks or matrimony oftencatalyzes this reaction.
Cartoon Law IV
The time required for an object to fall twenty stories isgreater than or equal to the time it takes for whoever knocked it offthe ledge to spiral down twenty flights to attempt to capture itunbroken.
NOTE : Such an object is inevitably priceless, the attemptto capture it inevitably unsuccessful.
Cartoon Law V
All principles of gravity are negated by fear.
NOTE :Psychic forces are sufficient in most bodies for ashock to propel them directly away from the earth's surface. A spookynoise or an adversary's signature sound will induce motion upward,usually to the cradle of a chandelier, a treetop, or the crest of aflagpole. The feet of a character who is running or the wheels of aspeeding auto need never touch the ground, especially when inflight.
Cartoon Law VI
As speed increases, objects can be in several places atonce.
NOTE : This is particularly true of tooth-and-claw fights,in which a character's head may be glimpsed emerging from the cloudof altercation at several places simultaneously. This effect iscommon as well among bodies that are spinning or being throttled. A`wacky' character has the option of self- replication only at manichigh speeds and may ricochet off walls to achieve the velocityrequired.
Cartoon Law VII
Certain bodies can pass through solid walls painted toresemble tunnel entrances; others cannot.
NOTE : This trompe l'oeil inconsistency has baffledgenerations, but at least it is known that whoever paints an entranceon a wall's surface to trick an opponent will be unable to pursue himinto this theoretical space. The painter is flattened against thewall when he attempts to follow into the painting. This is ultimatelya problem of art, not of science.
Cartoon Law VIII
Any violent rearrangement of feline matter is impermanent.
EXAMPLE : Cartoon cats possess even more deaths than thetraditional nine lives might comfortably afford. They can bedecimated, spliced, splayed, accordion-pleated, spindled, ordisassembled, but they cannot be destroyed. After a few moments ofblinking self pity, they reinflate, elongate, snap back, orsolidify.
Corollary : A cat will assume the shape of itscontainer.
Cartoon Law IX
Everything falls faster than an anvil.
Cartoon Law X
For every vengeance there is an equal and oppositerevengeance.
NOTE :This is the one law of animated cartoon motion thatalso applies to the physical world at large. For that reason, we needthe relief of watching it happen to a duck instead.
Cartoon Law Amendment A
A sharp object will always propel a character upward.
NOTE : When poked (usually in the buttocks) with a sharpobject (usually a pin), a character will defy gravity by shootingstraight up, with great velocity.
Cartoon Law Amendment B
The laws of object permanence are nullified for "cool"characters.
EXAMPLE : Characters who are intended to be "cool" can makepreviously nonexistent objects appear from behind their backs atwill. For instance, the Road Runner can materialize signs to expresshimself without speaking.
Cartoon Law Amendment C
Explosive weapons cannot cause fatal injuries.
They merely turn characters temporarily black and smoky.
Cartoon Law Amendment D
Gravity is transmitted by slow-moving waves of largewavelengths.
NOTE : Their operation can be witnessed by observing thebehavior of a canine suspended over a large vertical drop. Its feetwill begin to fall first, causing its legs to stretch. As the wavereaches its torso, that part will begin to fall, causing the neck tostretch. As the head begins to fall, tension is released and thecanine will resume its regular proportions until such time as itstrikes the ground.
Cartoon Law Amendment E
Dynamite is spontaneously generated in "C-spaces" (spaces inwhich cartoon laws hold).
NOTE : The process is analogous to steady-state theories ofthe universe which postulated that the tensions involved inmaintaining a space would cause the creation of hydrogen fromnothing. Dynamite quanta are quite large (stick sized) and unstable(lit). Such quanta are attracted to psychic forces generated byfeelings of distress in "cool" characters (see Amendment B, which maybe a special case of this law), who are able to use said quanta totheir advantage. One may imagine C-spaces where all matter and energyresult from primal masses of dynamite exploding. A big bangindeed.
Digital Timers on a ShoestringBudget
by Tony Wayne
Have you seen those timers in catalogs that digitally can time eventsfor up to 1/1000 of a second. If you are willing to only measure downto the 100th's you can save $100's of dollars per station.
Buy a cheap stopwatch. Oriental Trading company sells onefor $3.00.
Unscrew the back and take out the start stop button.
Use a voltmeter to determine which button connection is positive andnegative.
Solder an 8 inch red wire to the positive connection and an 8 inchblack wire to the negative connection.
Now it is up to you to make the on-off switches.
A future issue of the newsletter will include how to make a simpleinfrared photogate system.
Below is an example of a no contact switch that has been successfullyused.
Below is an example of how I used the watch to create a nocontact on-off timing system. This system will be demonstrated at theVIP meeting on Oct 8, 1994.
Sources : Neodymium Magnets from; All ElectronicsCorp., P.O. Box 567, Van Nuys, CA 91408-1567
Ph 1-800-826-2653. (They are about the size of a penny and $1.25each)
Cheap stop watches; Oriental Trading Company, PO box 2308, Omaha, NE,68103-2308,
Ph 1-800-228-2269
First: Rappahannock Co High 151 cm First: Parry McCluer High 578cm
Second: Evangel Christian 135 Second: King George High 525
Third: L C Bird High 78 Third: McLean High 446
First: Chancellor High First: Tunstall High 11 pts
Second: .Nelson Co High Second: Charlottesville High 9.25
Third: L C Bird High Third: Rappahannock Co High 8.7
Rappahannock Co High
First: Broad Run High 72.8 cm First: McLean High 0 cm totalmiss/100%
Second: Spotsylvania Hig 68.9 Second: Montclair Gifted Ed Center92.7%
Third: Musselman High 67.3 Third: Broad Run High 91.5%
First: Rappahannock Co High 610 cm
Second: John Pattie Elementary 364
Third: J Hayden Johnson Junior High 210
Broad Run High ... 89 100 47 13 92 0 341
Chancellor High 45 100 92 23 77 85 0 422
Charlottesville High ... 57 74 75 84 72 30 392
Evangel Christian 89 32 ... ... ... ... ... 121
Fleetwood Elem ... 61 71 11 ... ... ... 143
Indian River High ... 89 ... 39 ... ... 30 158
J H Johnson Jr High ... 79 ... ... ... ... 34 113
John Pattie Elem ... 75 ... 7 ... ... 60 142
King George High ... 45 78 91 69 58 ... 341
L. C. Bird High 52 96 76 43 43 62 8 380
Lovingston Elem ... 55 87 36 ... ... ... 178
McLean High 40 95 79 77 55 100 19 465
Montclair Gifted Center 7 54 69 25 ... 93 ... 248
Musselman High 5 45 92 38 ... 78 ... 258
Nelson Co High 6 98 83 ... 36 87 2 312
Nelson Co Middle ... 91 71 47 59 70 ... 338
Parry McCluer High ... 36 ... 100 ... ... ... 136
Peabody Middle ... ... ... 27 ... ... ... 27
Rappahannock Co High 100 96 77 41 79 86 100 579
Rosemont Middle ... 82 72 36 ... ... ... 190
Spotsylvania High ... ... 95 ... 64 ... ... 159
St. Matthews ... ... 83 36 ... ... ... 119
Tandem 5 59 78 23 64 ... ... 229
Tunstall High 46 48 91 53 100 91 8 437
Warrenton Jr High 19 61 86 ... 36 28 ... 230
Wetsel Middle ... ... 87 43 ... ... ... 130
EDITOR
Tony Wayne
PUBLISHED by
Dr. Bascom Deaver, Physics Department, University ofVirginia, Charlottesville, VA 22901
OCTOBER 8, 1994, SATURDAY
AGENDA
9:00 - 9:30 Hello's ...Coffee and donuts provided by UVa 9:30 - 10:00 VIP Business10:00 - 10:15 What VaPEN will look like in the future (...next year?)10:15 - 12:00 Image collection and analysis on a MAC H.I.P. physics (CD ROM motion analysis and more) by Dr. Bob Kolvoord (author, editor and more of *H.I.P. Physics*.) 12:00 - 1:30 Lunch (You will have to provide your own lunch ...restaurants are near by.) 1:00 - 1:30 Collect freebies: catalogs, demo write-ups, lab tips and more, (over laps lunch). 1:30 - 3:30 PASCO Scientific presentation: "Computer Usage in the Lab"
If you are going to the October 8 VIP meeting you need to fill outand mail the form below.
UVa needs this form for 3 reasons. So they will know: