Physical Links

I'm finishing up my presentation on physics in football and have come across a few interesting links that I thought might be nice to share.



The Naked Scientists - A large collection of podcasts, videos, and kitchen experiments that demonstrate many different scientific principles. They're put together by "media-savvy" scientists and researchers from Cambridge University. Personally, I got a kick out of the "Science Experiments from the Sporran" series, but the innuendo would be best left to more mature audiences. One experiment I quite liked was how to use buttered bread and a microwave to measure the speed of light. Overall, the site is quite well-produced and has (generally) safe and accessible experiments.



Phun and Algodoo - Both are 2D physics simulators for computers developed as side projects by a student of Umea University. The first is the more simple of the two and focuses on mechanics while the second includes more functions for fluids and the addition of light/lenses. Algodoo is also oriented toward teaching physics to students and has been optimized for Intel's classmate PC and supposedly works well with the SMART board that is in each YHS classroom. I haven't tried Algodoo yet, but Phun was extremely addictive even if the interface wasn't as intuitive as one could have hoped. It may work well as a computer lab for physics students, though I imagine one would have to assume that the students would play around with it quite a bit.

Uncanny Valley

I have a love/hate relationship with Wolfram. For example, Wolfram Alpha is a wonderful resource for online calculations, but it's coupled with a very restrictive user agreement. Likewise, Mathematica has tremendous functionality, but I always hated its notation. Well, I now have a reason to both be afraid of Wolfram, and be scared for the future of high school homework. I present to you, dear reader,

Step-by-Step Math

The short of it? Wolfram Alpha can now solve most equations that have analytic solutions and can provide you with the proper steps to arrive at the solution. Oh woe!

John Travoltage

I'm in the process of putting together a presentation on sound and music. While searching for some good interactive examples of waves, I found this website hosted by the University of Colorado - Boulder. They host a large number of java simulations for common phenomena (including math, physics, chemistry, biology) and they're all free. The quality varies greatly between applets, but some of them are really clever and make for great visualization. Just try out the My Solar System and you'll see what I mean. I may try to work the sound wave one into my presentation, or take the students to the computer lab to use a few of the applets together.