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Oct 1999

Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 388-448

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The error of our ways

Clifford E. Swartz

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 388

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In Victorian literature it was usually some poor female who came to see the error of her ways. How prescient of her! How I wish that all writers of manuscripts for The Physics Teacher would come to similar recognition of this centerpiece of measurement. For, Brothers and Sisters, we all err.
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Student-friendly precision pendulum

Randall D. Peters

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 390 | Cited 3 times

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This “simple” Kater pendulum permits students to easily measure Earth’s gravitational field, g≈9.8 m/s2, to a few parts in 10,000. Although an inexpensive commercial instrument will be soon available for purchase, enterprising students are capable of building their own pendulum using the information provided.
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Yale Physics Olympics, 1998

Karen Bouffard

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 396

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We report on how Yale University’s Physics Department organized a day-long event for approximately 100 high school students, mostly seniors. The underlying theme was simple: Physics is Fun.
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Visualizing displacement current—A classroom experiment

Marcos G. Rizzotto

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 398

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In this work we present a simple experiment to introduce the concept of displacement current. It can be done in an undergraduate physics course with standard electronics available in a teaching laboratory.
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01.50.Pa Laboratory experiments and apparatus

A pencil-and-tape electricity experiment

Samuel Derman and Aron Goykadosh

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 400 | Cited 1 time

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An electrical experiment is described where students construct thin-film resistors by filling in with a graphite pencil, rectangles drawn on tape or drafting vellum. Rules of series and parallel circuits are verified, and industrial applications are discussed.
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Exercise your physics when flying

Oswaldo Baffa

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 406

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Recently, while flying, I found it difficult to sleep and started to pay attention to the television screens in the airplane. There were two types of TV to watch—a large cathode raye tube (CRT)monitor and smaller liquid crystal display (LCD) for passengers sitting near the bulkhead. In one of my glances at the large monitors I noticed that the colors were changing. I looked at the LCD monitors and the colors were fine. What could be happening?
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A radioactive tracer in medicine

Walter R. Steiger

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 408 | Cited 1 time

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Recently I had the opportunity to experience first-hand an example of the use of a radioactive tracer in medicine. A mole in an early stage of malignancy needed to be removed from above my left eyebrow.
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Measurement of aeroplane takeoff speed and cabin pressure

D. A. Wardle

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 410

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Two experiments have been performed aboard a commercial airliner. The first experiment used a pendulum to determine the kinematics of the take-off run. The second experiment used a water-filled manometer to investigate changes in cabin pressure.
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A strange behavior of friction

Rebecca Morrow, Alistair Grant, and David P. Jackson

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 412 | Cited 4 times

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We investigate the effects of dry, sliding friction between a felt-covered wood block and a wooden table. By measuring the applied force and the acceleration of the block, we experimentally determine the force of kinetic friction and find that it is constant when the applied force is larger than a terminal frictional force Ft=μtmg. However, we also find that the block continues to move without decelerating when the applied force is less than Ft. This strange behavior contradicts the common notion that the force of kinetic friction is constant and depends only on the normal force.
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Physics textbook illustrations

Thomas B. Greenslade

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 416

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The phrases “works of art” and “physics textbooks” rarely occur in the same sentence. But a 1943 University of Chicago physics textbook, Analytical Experimental Physics by Lemon and Ference, has chapter headings that could easily be framed and placed in an art gallery. Eight of them are reproduced here
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Curves of constant width

James A. Flaten

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 418 | Cited 1 time

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Curves of constant width have the same breadth regardless of how they are rotated. Highly noncircular curves with this property may be constructed geometrically. Such curves make good rollers, manhole covers, and allow one to drill nearly square holes.
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Science Educator’s Guide to Assessment, by Rodney Doran, Fred Chan, and Pinchas Tamir

Kelley L. Holzknecht, Reviewer

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 420

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Abstract Unavailable
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Nuclear Power: Villain or Victim? Our Most Misunderstood Source of Electricity, by Max W. Carbon

John L. Hubisz, Reviewer

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 421

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Abstract Unavailable
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28.41.-i Fission reactors

The Self-Made Tapestry: Pattern Formation in Nature, by Philip Ball

Craig F. Bohren, Reviewer

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 421

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Abstract Unavailable
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Average speed of balls

Paul Hewitt

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 423

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Abstract Unavailable
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The driven RLC circuit experiment

Philip Backman, Chester Murley, and P. J. Williams

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 424 | Cited 1 time

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This article reports on a microcomputer-based laboratory (MBL) that explores the drive RLC circuit. In the experiment, students are able to measure both amplitude and phase relations while varying the frequency of the source. Details of the data acquisition and some typical results are presented.
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Centrifugal force and friction

Roger F. Larson

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 426

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A rotary motion probe is used to first measure the angle at which a washer overcomes static friction so that the coefficient of static friction can be calculated from the μ=tanθ, relationship. The force of friction between the washer and a metal rod is then equated with the centrifugal force required to overcome the static friction between the washer and a rod undergoing angular acceleration. From this equality the theoretical velocity at which the washer begins to slide off of the rod is calculated. The theoretical velocity is then compared to the velocity for this occurrence as measured with rotary motion probe.
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Free-body diagrams revisited—I

James E. Court

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 427 | Cited 2 times

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In 1993 TPT published a set of free-body exercises that I cooked up, and in 1998, Ed van den Berg and Cor van Huis contributed a note with some on-the-mark comments about what to do and what not to do when teaching free-body diagrams. I have a lot of feedback from the original printing, and in response I've prettied up the diagrams, added some, subtracted some, arranged them into categories, and included a separate set of solutions.
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01.40.G- Curricula and evaluation

Exercises in drawing and utilizing free-body diagrams

Kurt Fisher

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 434 | Cited 1 time

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A set of graded exercises in drawing free-body diagrams (FBD’s) for one- and two-body configurations is presented. The main focus of these exercises, however, is on the follow-up to the FBD’s in terms of utilizing them to generate the correct expressions for net force.
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Using role-playing exercises to teach astronomy

Paul J. Francis

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 436 | Cited 1 time

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I’d like to share a rather cavalier, but enormously enjoyable technique I’ve been using to teach introductory astronomy classes for nonscience majors. Rather than preparing a conventional lecture on some area of astronomy, I divide my class into groups that compete among themselves to be the first to understand a given aspect of astronomy, using clues that I supply.
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Myths about gravity and tides

Mikolaj Sawicki

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 438 | Cited 2 times

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Popular misconceptions and outright myths about gravity and tides are illustrated by examples recently found in magazines and newspapers, and then discussed.
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New demonstration of photoelectric effect

Chun Xiao Chen and Chang Geng Zhang

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 442 | Cited 1 time

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One of the standard demonstrations of the photoelectric effect involves shining ultraviolet light on a zinc plate. Electrons are driven off the plate, leaving it charged positive.
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Ideas for a magnetic field experiment

Michael R. Molnar and Arthur J. Martin

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 443 | Cited 1 time

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We show how to transform the Vernier Hall-effect sensor into a directional sensor useable in an Ampere’s law experiment. Moreover, the probe can be used as an economical device independent of an expensive computer interface. And students can be introduced to exploring the local geomagnetic field in calibrating this modified probe.
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Optics experiments using a laser pointer

James O’Connell

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 445 | Cited 1 time

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Laser pointers are an inexpensive source of near-parallel, bright, polarized light beams. Nine basic optics experiments are discussed that demonstrate the wave nature of light and the optical properties of water.
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Two drop tasks

Martin Gardner

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 446

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Here are two physics tricks involving a matchbox and a paper match.
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Demonstrations of Coulomb’s law with an electronic balance

Adolf Cortel

The Physics Teacher -- October 1999 -- Volume 37, Issue 7, pp. 447 | Cited 2 times

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The demonstrations use an electronic balance to measure the electric force between two charged balls. The values of the force and the distance fit to a function type F∝db in good agreement with Coulomb's law. This setup also allows demonstrating that the force is proportional to the electrical charge. The electrostatic induction between a charged and a neutral ball can be observed as well.
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