From this:

http://www.cencophysics.com/hydro-car/p/IG0039365/

To this:

http://www.horizonfuelcell.com/automotive.htm

Although I question the true efficiency of PEM’s for power I am happy to see progress in a cleaner running car….

Planck’s Constant Determination Box
With LEDs in a range from 470–940nm, this innovative device allows students to approximate the value of h, Planck’s constant. For each wavelength produced, you can record the threshold voltage.

Planck’s Constant Determination Box Product Link

Just throwing a grant link out there is your school is a bit tight for $ for school supplies…

Best of Luck!

If you win use our grant match to make the money go farther. Contact me, if interested!

Pretty neat Flash animation of the space station coming together.

http://i.usatoday.net/tech/graphics/iss_timeline/flash.htm

I came across the blurb below today while booting up my computer. While I cannot verify the scientific validity of 1200 g’s it is interesting the think about…

A woodpecker can peck with a force as high as 1,200 g’s with each impact – equivalent to a human striking head against a wall at a speed of 25km (16 miles) an hour each time.

Came across this video on YouTube of a user with a highspeed camera and a few neodymium magnets, ahh yes the fun you can have!

Just incase you wanted to pick up some of those magnets (no pun intended)….
http://www.cencophysics.com/neodymium-magnets/p/IG0038146/

So in recent ramblings across the physics people on the interweb a question has come up that I do not know the answer too….

In the new star trek movie when a “crew” member is falling and is then teleported before instant impact will there be conservation of momentum during/after teleportation…

I will give this some thought this week and try to provide some insight, but any thoughts are more than welcome.

Since the release of the new JJ Star Trek movie a week ago there seems to be quite the buzz about teleportation.

Teleportation is feasible currently for items without mass, so its current natural application is to pass information from one place to another. This new “field” is called quantum teleportation where one “quibt” (basic unit of quantum information) is transferred. There is a pretty good wiki page that goes much deeper into how it works and what photon entanglement means etc…..

But, in order for students to under stand all that, they first need to understand simple Hamiltonian physics and then Schrodingers wave equation. A really fun experiment to learn about both of these tops and do a quantitative experiment is using our quantum particle in a box experiment. In one sentence students measure the spectra from different diameter quantum dots and then use the Schrodinger wave equation to calculate the size of the dot. A video demonstration of this kit can be found below:

I wanted to give a quick shout out to a resource that through out my physics career has been extremely valuable. That resource is list serves. There are two that are my favorites:

1. Tap-L: A list serve for teachers, profs, and lab techs. If you have an apparatus question or opinion these folks have answers.

2. Phys-L: A list serve for content, pedagogy, and general physics questions. It is a great resource if you are struggling to teach, or understand a specific topic.

A link to find out more information on how to join these lists, or learn a little more about them is below:
http://physicsed.buffalostate.edu/phys-l/

Have a good weekend!
- Ben

So it has been an interesting week, normally we will post with greater frequency, but this week tech calls were heavy.

One interesting call we have been working on is with our Cenco Oscillator, the oscillator is more or less a speaker that can be driven by a function generator to do various wave demonstrations. Recently we had our “string vendor” change the diameter and weight of the classic string that is recommended for use with a kit. While testing new elastic cord we discovered an interesting relationship between the mass to amplitude ratio when doing the experiment pictured in the link below. It turned out that niether the heaviest or lightest string gave the best amplitude, but the string right in the middle in terms of weight performed the best. We kept all other constants the same (frequency, power, etc). It turns out the string used in GM car cargo nets works great!

For more on the oscillator see our link below:

http://www.cencophysics.com/mechanical-oscillator-cenco/p/IG0038441/

On another note I came across this article today on CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/05/07/eco.baskingsharks/index.html

It was an interesting article about the “worlds second largest fish”. After reading the article I was glad I chose physics and not biology for a career path, take a look at the guy in the picture circled below.