Introduction This is an interactive, on-line eText on the physics of sound. It is designed as an introductory course text and requires no previous physics exposure; I am using it in my physics of sound course for non-science majors in place of a hardcopy text. Brief introductions to physics concepts are provided as they are needed (and can be skipped if they are familiar to the reader). There is a little bit of algebra involved but not much. If you see any errors or have ideas for topics that should be included, please contact me: kforinas@ius.edu You are welcome to use anything you find here although a few of the images are restricted by the Wikimedia Commons license. NOTE: These Applets and scripts have been tested to work on with the usual browsers and operating systems but they cannot be guaranteed to work with all browsers on all platforms and forever. If you are interested in more detailed explanations of wave behavior you may wish to see my eText/tutorial on Waves.
AstroCappella - A Musical Exploration of the Universe AstroCappella — A Musical Exploration of the Universe Related Activity Editor's note: This activity is both on the Astrocappella web site and the CD-ROM featured in this article. You can read the lyrics to "Doppler Shifting" and hear it performed by the Chromatics at the same site. Here It Comes, There It Goes! An activity by Kara C. Activity Summary: Every student can demonstrate the Doppler effect! Objective: Students will perform an experiment in which they will demonstrate the Doppler effect. Materials for each group of students: 'splash out' ball** electronic noise making mechanism with pure tone (from Radio Shack, or other electronics store) 9 volt battery 9 volt battery clip jump rope masking tape Procedure: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Discussion: This is a demonstration of a phenomenon called the Doppler effect. The number of waves reaching an observer in one second is called the frequency. Now imagine an everyday-life example such as observing and listening to an approaching car. 1. 2. 3.
Don't Buy It Come play again later! Come play again tomorrow! ISCFC: Calculate your footprint Before thinking about efficient ways to reduce our impact on the planet, we need to know exactly how much our different behaviors impact our carbon footprint. Our International Student Footprint Calculator will allow you to do just that! The questionnaire is divided into four parts: transportation, home energy and appliances, food and personal purchases. Answer the questions as honestly as possible and keep an eye on your amount of CO2 release per year at the bottom of the screen as you continue. You may be alarmed at times by the results! We offer (and strongly suggest that you use) the ability to register at the site, so that your data will be automatically saved as you progress. Once you start the questions, keep in mind that it can take 25-30 minutes or more for English-proficient students to complete them (50 minutes for those for whom English is a second language [ESL]). *You may wish to download our class assignment to reflect on what you discover as you use the calculator.
Light Pollution Light Pollution Objective In this activity, students will observe that the faintest stars which they can see in the sky are affected by many things: the adaptation of their eyes to the dark, the presence of clouds or haze, the time of year, and the presence of light pollution. General Information This activity is for students at the grade 6-12 level. Background Information Two thousand years ago, astronomers called the brightest stars "first magnitude" and the faintest stars "sixth magnitude." Ursa Minor (The Little Bear), including The Little Dipper asterism, is a constellation which can be seen throughout the year from the northern hemisphere. What the Students Will Do locate Ursa Minor in the night sky record the conditions under which they observe the constellation determine the faintest star which they can see in the constellation and note its magnitude (their limiting magnitude) Materials List Doing the Activity 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Evaluation Closure 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
The Physics Classroom Molecules | Sunset Lake Software Molecules is an application for the iPhone, iPod touch, and now iPad that allows you to view three-dimensional renderings of molecules and manipulate them using your fingers. You can rotate the molecules by moving your finger across the display, zoom in or out by using two-finger pinch gestures, or pan the molecule by moving two fingers across the screen at once. The combination of the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad's unique multitouch input system and the built-in OpenGL ES 3-D graphics capabilities enable you to feel like you are manipulating the molecules themselves with your fingers. New molecules can be downloaded from the RCSB Protein Data Bank ( an international repository of biological molecules and their 3-D structures, or NCBI's PubChem, a public database of compounds. Custom molecule structures can also be downloaded to the device from any publicly available web server. Molecules is free and its source code is available under the BSD license.
Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum - Mission:Science Skip to Main Content NASA Science Be A Scientist Get Involved Games and Activities Multimedia NASA Science Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum Welcome to the Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum. EMS Videos Video Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum EMS Book Download book to view on screen: PDF 2.2MBDownload book for print: PDF 57MB For Educators Copies of the DVD are available through NASA's Central Operation of Resources for Educators (CORE). About
schoolphysics ::Welcome:: Dangerous Decibels » Educator Resource Guide The guide is an illustrated, spiral paperback (8.5 x 11 and 105 pages) collection of hands-on activities, background information, and experiments that can be used in a classroom. Activities cover the anatomy and physiology of hearing, how to prevent noise-induced hearing loss, and the physics of sound. This can also be downloaded free from our website. Please note that this is NOT the Dangerous Decibels classroom program but it is one of the items included in a kit of materials that all Educator Training Workshop participants receive. The workshop teaches participants to present the Dangerous Decibels classroom program. You can order a copy of the Educator Resource Guide via our order form: The full guide is also available as a PDF download (~1.9MB): Why Teach About Noise-Induced Hearing Loss?
Edheads - Activate Your Mind! Physics Flash Animations We have been increasingly using Flash animations for illustrating Physics content. This page provides access to those animations which may be of general interest. The animations will appear in a separate window. The animations are sorted by category, and the file size of each animation is included in the listing. Also included is the minimum version of the Flash player that is required; the player is available free from The categories are: In addition, I have prepared a small tutorial in using Flash to do Physics animations. LInks to versions of these animations in other languages, other links, and license information appear towards the bottom of this page. The Animations There are 99 animations listed below. Other Languages and Links These animations have been translated into Catalan, Spanish and Basque: En aquest enllaç podeu trobar la versió al català de les animacions Flash de Física.
Science Outlet Newsletter Archive About the Author: Chris Chiaverina Physics Teacher - Retired Crystal Lake, Illinois Chris Chiaverina holds an M.S.Ed. in physics from Northern Illinois University. Chris spent the last decade of his teaching career at New Trier High School in Winnetka, IL where he was director of The Connections Project, an initiative that employs interactive exhibits to demonstrate linkages among the arts, mathematics, and science. Chiaverina has written articles on physics education for a variety of journals, is co-author of four textbooks, and has served on the editorial board of The Physics Teacher magazine. Article List Partner Links Teach Power.net - Presentation resource library for educators of all levels of education from the classroom to the boardroom.