At ISB Robotics club, we used NXT Mindstorm kit to make a segway-like self balancing robot using a gyro and ultrasonic sensors. Instructions and the program file can be found at http://laurensvalk.com/nxt-2_0-only/anyway
(Watch student presentation below with exaggerated(!) comments)
I had seen some quiz clocks in Maths class and Chemistry Labs and I thought I could make a Physics clock displaying some universal constants instead of hour numbers. So I first bought this large black clock from IKEA, and them prepared my constants corresponding to each hour. It took me couple of days to find the most suitable ones, because some were very advanced for high school level. Finally, except the M-theory for 11 dimensions, and Magnetic flux quantum 2.07 x 10^-15 Wb (since it was very close to 2), I found all the hours from the most used physical constants. I wrote and printed them and then pasted on the clock. Here is the photo of my Physics Clock. You can download the word and pdf files and edit as you wish to make your own version. To download files click here. Physics Clock displays time in terms of:
1. Reduced Planck constant 1.05 x 10-34 J s
2. Magnetic flux quantum 2.07 x 10-15 Wb
3. Pi number 3.14
4. Mass of an alpha particle, 4u
5. Jupiter the 5th planet
6. Avogadro number 6.02 x 1023 mol-1
7. Newtonian constant of Gravitation 6.7 x 10-11 m3 kg-1 s-2
8. Molar gas constant 8.31 J mol-1 K-1
9. Mass of an electron 9.1 x 10-31 kg
10. Gravitational field strength on Earth 9.81 N/kg
11. M-theory 11 dimensions
12. Magnetic constant 12.5 x 10-7 N A-2
If you have any questions or suggestions, tell me.
Download Space Week poster presentation
If you are planning (or already planned) Space Week Activities (Oct 4-10) you can use this poster presentation. I used free Space Week backgrounds and added my own text and logos,but you can edit the file as you wish and advertise Space Week in your school. At the end of it, there is a slide of some awards we will give to the students. It can give you some ideas of “how to choose a gift” which I find it very difficult indeed..Download the power point file now!
Researchers have bent one of the most basic rules of quantum mechanics, a counterintuitive branch of physics that deals with atomic-scale interactions.
A central idea in quantum mechanics is that light and matter can behave as both particle and wave.
However, the idea of “complementarity” prevents observation of both behaviours simultaneously.
In the two-slit experiment, light is passed through two tiny holes and is then viewed on a screen.
The two beams interfere with each other, forming a rippled “diffraction pattern” – as if the light were made of a number of waves adding or cancelling.
However, if one of the holes is blocked, the light can be seen as a single beam on the screen – as if light were made of particles. The new work, for the first time, observes both kinds of behaviour at the same time.
Read on at BBC news article.
This is a video clip I was searching for a long time. Very nice supplementary for the Scorpion Lesson in Amazing Animals section.
Fill a large beaker with ordinary vegetable oil. Lower a Pyrex glass rod in the beaker. The rod disappears!
Alternatively, you can use glycerin. Try and see which one works better. The link for dissappearing rod in glycerin is here
If you want to build a matchbox pinhole camera, you can visit http://www.matchboxpinhole.com. Full instructions can be seen in the site. Have a look at the photos taken by a pinhole camera. (by Urziceanu Vlad from 10A and Ciprian Cojocaru from 9A)
A new site that has video demonstrations of various physics projects for Mechanics, Electricity and Thermal Physics. Number of projects will hopefully grow by time. It worths to have a look at all, but my favorite is Modulated LED - Listen to a beam of light. “You can build a simple device in which the signal from a radio is transmitted on a beam of light traveling between a light-emitting diode (LED) and a solar cell” Watch its video to see how it works.
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