The Chicago Section of the
American Association of Physics Teachers

Fall Meeting of the CSAAPT

Chicago Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers

Saturday, November 6^th, 2004

Joliet West High School

8:00-8:30 – Registration

8:30-8:35 – Welcome

8:35-8:50 - Interactive Physlet Activities for High School Physics

Nick Drozdoff, New Trier High School and Martha Lietz, Niles West High School

Physlets are JAVA applets for physics and the internet is full of physlets that other people have written and posted either for their students or for general use. We will offer ways to find Physlets on the internet, give you a brief list of our favorite sites and show you how we use them in our classrooms. Handouts with interactive on-line “labs” will be provided.

8:50 – 9:00 Take-Fives -

Ted Erikson – Lake Michigan “White Caps”

Debby Lojkutz – Physics of the Olympics

9:00 –10:00 - Invited Paper - The Physics of Skydiving

Dr. John Kallend, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago

Dr. Kallend is a very experienced skydiver with more than 1000 freefalls to his credit. He will discussed the Physics involved in skydiving.

10:00-10:10 - Break

10:10-10:25 - Active Learning: Student-Performed Demonstrations In The Introductory

Physics Class

Paul J. Dolan, Jr., Joseph Hermanek, Todd P. Abramson, Northeastern Illinois University

Most of us are ‘active’ in some sense, in Introductory Physics classes, including in-class demonstrations of pertinent physical phenomena. In an effort to more effectively include the students in the ‘active’ learning process, students in College Physics I, in the Spring 2004 term, were each required to participate in performing and explaining (at least) one in-class demonstration, on one of the topics being covered. These presentations were recorded, with the eventual goal of making the student-led demonstrations part of an on-line library of physics demonstrations. The success of this approach, as well as some typical demonstrations, will be presented. We will also discuss how the list of demonstrations done during the term was amended to allow for demonstrations that could be effectively presented and explained by the students.

10:25-10:45 - QuarkNet High Energy Physics Project

Kim Brown & The QuarkNet UIC Team

The UIC QuarkNet group will present a report of their activities for the last three years.

10:45-11:00 - Audio Analysis in a Physics of Music Course

Gordon Ramsey, Loyola University, Chicago

In giving talks to the general public and in a mini-course in Physics of Music, I have used Vernier’s Sound program, now packaged with Lab Pro, to perform a sound analysis on musical instruments. Sound samples are take to analyze the harmonic content of each instrument followed by a discussion of why the instruments sound different. Suggestions will be mad on how to easily use this technique for similar talks and courses.

11:00-12:00 - Invited Paper - Trumpet Lessons: the physics of the modern trumpet and what it can teach us about art and science

Dr. Thomas R. Moore, Rollins College, Florida

Thomas R. Moore teaches and leads a research team investigating the physics of musical instruments at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. He received his Ph.D. from the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester, and prior to beginning his investigations in musical acoustics performed research in nonlinear optical phenomena, concentrating on the physics of optical phase conjugation. Prior to accepting his current position at Rollins College Dr. Moore served twenty-one years as an officer in the U.S. Army, was a research scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and spent several years on the faculty at West Point.

Although the basic design of the trumpet has remained unchanged for over a century, there is an ongoing controversy concerning which physical aspects of the instrument actually affect the sound. Musicians typically believe that such things as the addition of mass to the valves, changes in the thickness and composition of the metal, the presence of lacquer, and even cryogenic freezing of the instrument can have a significant effect on the sound. However, it is not obvious how these claims can be true since vibrations of the air inside the instrument produce the sound, not vibrations of the metal. We have conducted experiments and developed computer simulations in an effort to understand some of these effects, and along with results from other groups around the world we are beginning to sort fact from fiction. This presentation will provide an overview of the physics of the modern trumpet, a discussion of some of the controversial methods used by musicians to modify the sound of their instrument, and a description of some of the instrumentation used to investigate the science behind the art of the trumpeter.

12:00-12:10 Breakfast Acoustics

Andrew Morrison, Northern Illinois University

The breakfast table is an excellent place to observe some interesting acoustical effects. An empty coffee cup, like an ancient Chinese two-tone bell, emits two distinctly different tones depending upon where it is tapped. When it is filled with hot water and some instant coffee is added, however, a whole new set of sounds are heard when the cup is tapped. These surprising effects will be demonstrated and discussed.

12:10 - ? Take-Fives

Ann Brandon & Debby Lojkutz – Good Use For Post-Its

Lunch, Business Meeting & Door Prizes

1:00 – 4:00 Workshop – “Selections from the PTRA Workshop, Teaching About Music”

Tom Senior & Glenn Green

A workshop combining theory and some great make and takes that will give you nice material to add to your physics class either as demonstrations or as labs.