I discuss the basic analog telephone circuit and some of the old analog switching mechanisms at the telephone office. I also talk about the practice of ‘phone phreaking,’ the precursor to modern computer hacking, in which (mostly) high school and college kids learned how to manipulate the phone system in ways it was never intended to work.
(Read more...) Talks & PublicationsI have been having students use the free online graphing calculator Desmos (www.desmos.com). It can perform linear and curve fits much more precisely than can be done by hand, but it is much friendlier to new users than Excel.
(Read more...) Talks & PublicationsThis pair of GeoGebra animations is designed to show that there are two ingredients to circular motion: centripetal force and forward motion. If one or the other ingredient is missing, the motion will diverge from circular.
Energy is Made Up: Interesting Conceptual Discussions around Energy and its Definition. I discuss how energy is nothing more than a helpful ‘bookkeeping method’ for multi-object systems. This leads to interesting discussions, especially for students who have already taken chemistry.
(Read more...) Talks & PublicationsHolograms: The Boundary Between Geometric & Wave Optics. We will use the geometric definitions of conic sections to explore the properties of concave, convex, and hyperbolic mirrors and then use this to demonstrate how holography takes advantage of wave interference in order to construct what is essentially a geometric phenomenon.
(Read more...) Talks & PublicationsIn this talk, I share some strategies and my experience integrating these strategies without giving up my prized physics instruction time.
(Read more...) Talks & PublicationsConservation of Intellectual Momentum: Staying connected to the field of physics even if your job doesn’t make you. My four years of studying physics in undergrad had opened my mind to a way of thinking I had grown to love and didn’t want to give up. Would teaching provide the same intellectual stimulation I had enjoyed in college?
(Read more...) Talks & PublicationsDuring the 2017 INAAPT Spring Meeting, I listened to a talk about GlowScript as a way to create VPython animations online. I created the following projects just to learn the programming language and illustrate a couple physics concepts.
Talk given at the Spring Meeting of the Indiana Section of AAPT in April, 2016. Links PowerPoint Slides (.pptx)
(Read more...) Talks & PublicationsIf an unstable particle used in a two-path interference experiment decays before reaching a detector, which-way information becomes available that reduces the detected interference fringe visibility.
(Read more...) Talks & PublicationsWe develop a framework to test the equivalence principle under conditions where the quantum aspects of nature cannot be neglected, specifically in the context of interference phenomena with unstable particles.
(Read more...) Talks & PublicationsWe built an air cannon that utilizes a diaphragm valve to release the pressurized gas and discuss a model based on the flow of air through the valve, which is in decent agreement with our data.
(Read more...) Talks & Publications