Re: science teacher needs help

Actually the identical demonstration was televised in a lecture on
introductory physics to a lecture class at Cal Tech. His series is
regularly televised on the (oh Lord, we have a spelling critic present
in our readership) but still I'll give it a try. It was on the
Annenberg Foundation's (sp?) education channel on cable.

He used a an electro-magnetically suspended doll and a simple
suction-cup plunger projection plastic gun to demonstrate this rather
basic point: All objects accelerate and fall at the same rate, whether
or not they have an initial horizontal velocity.

In this demonstration it appered that he had used nothing more complex
than a simple microswitch attached to the gun's trigger to open the
circuit powering the suspension magnet. No additional electronic are
either required nor desired for such a simply demonstration.

And yes, he hit the target about 3/4 of the way down before it hit the
ground!

Cute demonstration, but very basic and I would seriously doubt that it
would convey any knowledge of significance to as elementary school
audience.

Hope this helps... Harry C.

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