Topic & Description

A) Kinematics -   What's the difference between speed and acceleration?  Does a car that moves at very
           high speeds also have a great acceleration?  How does the initial kick of a football affect how quickly
           it falls to the ground?  In kinematics, you will learn all about the basics of linear motion, much of which
           you are familiar with from everyday life (driving, walking, flying etc.).   The elements of position, time,
           speed and acceleration are developed and quantified through applications to many problems.  In this
           way, you'll better understand the two types of motion we emphasize; constant speed and constant
           acceleration.
                           A special case of constant acceleration is the motion of a falling (or rising) object near Earth's
           surface, called freefall).  Using a variety of equipment, you can easily measure this value a number of
           ways, and learn to apply the notions of constant acceleration to problem solving.  That's what you have
           to get good at to succeed in physics!

B) Statics and Dynamics - If an airplane is so large and heavy (some 500,000 pounds on takeoff!), how
           in the world can it stay in the air for hours?  If a boat is so heavy, and made of material that can be
           denser than water, why does stay afloat?   What causes objects to start or stop moving?  If a seatbelt
           restrains you when you stop short in the car, then why does everything BUT the seatbelt move forward?
                          In Statics (stationary objects), you'll learn about what keeps objects at rest, and why some don't
           tend to remain at rest.   The concept of a force, vector and a resultant (net or unbalanced) force is
           explored, with many applications.
                        What causes objects to move?  Why causes some objects to remain moving, but not
           accelerating? We will also venture into the world of Newton's Laws of motion, and discover just why it
           is really important to wear your seatbelt!
                        In addition to forces that move objects, we'll also examine forces that stop them, better known
           in most cases as friction.  While most of us have an everyday idea of this force, it's not always obvious
           what is really happening between two surfaces in contact.
 

C) Motion in a Plane -  If you throw a baseball nearly straight up into the air, will it stay in the air for more
           or less time than if you had thrown it at a low angle relative to the ground? If you drop a bullet from a
           gun the same moment one is fired from it horizontally, which hits the ground first? 
                             No, we're not talking about moving in a jetliner!  This is motion in two dimensions (x and y)!
           Most of us have a good feeling for this as we have all been to an amusement park, and gone on those
           sickly spinning rides.  This topic discusses circular motion, and just  how objects behave when they
           move in a circle (and just what it is that keeps them there).  You'll also learn about objects that are
           shot or projected (called Projectile Motion), such as kicked footballs, hit baseballs, or just about any
         ball in any sport that is thrown either horizontally (like a pitched baseball) or shot at an angle (a kickoff
           at the football game).  How can you increase the distance the ball travels?  See the football kick
           ("follow-through") on the Physics Homepage!
                           Lastly, we take a short look at astronomy, and the orbits of planets.  How does the motion
           of a planet change if it is close to the Sun relative to one that is very much further away?  Here, we'll
           explore Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion.

D) Momentum and Gravitation - BOOOOM!!  What happens when two cars collide?  Well, besides an
            increase in your insurance bill, there's a ton of physics that happens!   Did you know that police
            investigators use elementary physics to examine crashes and use this information in courts?
                             Essentially, when objects collide, they exchange "motion," or a quantity called momentum.
            In this exchange, whether it's between two cars on a highway or a proton and antiproton in a particle
            accelerator, in the collision, the total system momentum is a constant, and this is a super important law
            of physics that helps particle physicists a lot, and also helps your police crash investigators a lot.
                             Lastly, we will discuss Newton's Law of gravity (well, he didn't invent it, but he examined it
            pretty closely!), and how your weight changes as you go to other planets in our Solar System.
   

E) Work, Energy and Power - So, just what is energy anyway?  When you wake up tired in the morning,
            you say you have no energy and that you just can't do anything; so, having energy must simply mean
            that you can do more things than if you didn't have it, more or less.  Essentially, this means that energy
            is the ability to do work.  In this topic, we discuss, believe it or not, ROLLERCOASTERS!...which are
            perfect examples of the interchange of different types of energy (and some friction is in there too) as a
            coaster moves (part of what we do for Physics Day at Six Flags Great Adventure!).
                                   Power is simply the rate at which work is done or used up.  Interestingly, as we'll see
            in Electricity, the "power" company is not at all selling you "POWER" but they are selling you ENERGY! 
            How much energy you use up depends on how long you keep things running (like the AC on a hot
            day), and that it's YOU who create the power, that is, the rate at which energy is used up.

A) Electrostatics - Why does your hair stand up when you pull your sweater or a blanket off you quickly in
            the Winter time? Why does Golnar's and Ryan's hair stand up when they touch the Van de Graaf
            generator? In Electro statics, you will learn about how charges move, and why they move, and how not
            to get shocked (unless you want to!).  You'll investigate electric fields, and why you should stay in your
            car if it is hit by lightning, and what can to aircraft if they are struck by lightening during flight (see;
             
                   http://lightning.pwr.eng.osaka-u.ac.jp/lrg/temp/plane.html ).

B) Electric Circuits - Why does your home blow fuses more frequently in the Summer than in the Winter?
            Why, if a light bulb burns out in your room does the stereo or refrigerator not shut off? In Circuits, you
            will build and learn the basics of simple series and parallel circuits, and how to measure electric current
            and electric voltage in them.  You'll also handle and use lots of little neat components for circuits and
            see how they combine to make the computer (and other things!) that you're staring at right now!

C) Magnetism - Did you know that you can actually go outdoors on a clear, dark night and sometimes see
            effects of Earth's magnetic field right up in the sky?  Did you know its an induced magnetic field that
            reads the correct metals in a coin in a vending machine (and that's why slugs NEVER work!)?  In this
            unit, you'll discover how cool magnets can be, especially Neodymium and Alnico magnets (you can
            hang your little brother from the ceiling!  Well, not quite, and don't try it!), and how moving charges are
            affected by magnets.  See my list of Cool Links to find a neat site where you can purchase all sorts of
            fun magnets that are VERY strong.  

B) Geometric Optics - What in the world is "OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY
              APPEAR"
             doing on the side-view mirror of you car??? Why can you focus light to a sharp point using someone's
             reading (farsighted) glasses, but you can't do it with someone else's nearsighted glasses? In the
             Optics unit, you will see all sorts of wild stuff relating to flat and curved mirrors and lenses, and what
             happens to things seen in front of or through them.  You will also learn how simple it is to build your
             own telescope by carefully examining one I made and will share with you.

Atomic Physics and Quantum Effects - How is it possible for you to be in front of your computer now
             and also be in the car, simultaneously? In Quantum Physics, you will learn that there is a chance of
             this happening in the world of the very very small, and you will discover how light can cause a metal
             to give up electrons, and that such a simple effect is used all around you in your world.   We'll also
             visit the spectrum of Hydrogen gas to see those great little emission lines with 3D viewers to learn
             about the results of electrons "jumping" in atomic orbital levels.