Category: NCNAAPT meetings & news

April 16, 2010; Friday Evening Social

Technical Aspects of the “World’s Fastest” Aircraft: SR-71 (Blackbird)

Gerry Glasser

7:00 PM – American River College, Room 306

Jerry was an instructor pilot with 900 hrs on the SR-71. He now teaches at Jesuit High School. Presentation starts with the development of the aircraft, the Soviet response, crew requirements, and those “secret questions” that are no longer secret.

Soft drinks and cookies provided

RSVP to Chuck Hunt would be appreciated to let Jerry know how many info packets to bring.

huntc@arc.losrios.edu; phone: (916)484-8342

April 17, 2010, Saturday

Oldie But Goodie Demonstrations

The theme of this meeting is demonstrations we all know and love — because we don’t all know them. So bring a few favorite demos to share. You’ll have 15 minutes total for set-up, take-down and doing the demos and explaining how you use them. But don’t worry that everyone may have seen them before; everyone will find something to take away. We’ll run at least two tracks in the afternoon:

1. Quick & dirty (Quick and Fun!) demos
2. Video clips & computer bits

You may bring your own demo equipment, or ask, we have a lot of stuff. For track 2, there will be full projection set-up for Mac and for PC (including computer if you want it) that can also project DVD or VHS.

The goal is to give everyone a lot of ideas to take away. For demos, please send Chuck Hunt a description of your demos along with any AV or equipment requests, preferably by email at: huntc@arc.losrios.edu . He will compile all the demos into a NCNAAPT Demonstration Book for all attendees to have. For video clips & computer bits, please either have a site where the material is available or bring it on flash drive or DVD. We will set up a copy station and do DVDs of all submitted material for anyone who wants it. In either case, let Chuck know what you are doing so he can organize the tracks and minimize duplication.

Deadline for submission is Friday, March 26, 2010.

If you haven’t given a presentation at a conference before, this is a great time to start!

Program

Morning Session: American River College, Room 420

8:00 Registration, Coffee, Donuts, and other culinary delights (outside Room 420)

9:00 Welcome and Announcements

9:15 Show and Tell

Share your favorite demonstration or teaching tip. Handouts appreciated – bring 75 copies. Time limit of 5 minutes per person or you risk the dreaded Gong!

10:15 Break

10:30 Invited Speaker: Dr. Bill Reay; Ohio State University

Clickers in the Classroom – A Research-Based Approach

Based on the hypothesis that learning is context dependent, a new Clicker methodology has been developed that uses question sequences rather than individual questions. Each question in a sequence has the same underlying concept, but with different surface features. Sequences sufficient to cover a year of introductory physics have been created, validated, used at several schools, and evaluated at The Ohio State University for learning gains. The audience will use clickers to answer a couple of sequences and experience first-hand the advantages of this approach. Then, the 4-year development process will be summarized, with emphasis on the importance of student interviews. After the presentation, interested individuals will be able to obtain free CDs containing all question sequences and relevant publications.

11:30 Invited Speaker: Ken Crawford; President: Advanced Imaging Conference, Inc.

The Universe from my Backyard

Ken is one of the leading amateur astrophotographers in the world. If you read ASTRONOMY magazine, you will have seen his spectacular photographs. See examples of his work and hear how he does it.

12:15 Lunch – ARC Catering

(Outside Room 420)

12:30-2:00 ARC Demo Tours

Rooms 305, 306, 307

1:30 Business Meeting, Raffle

Room 420

2:00-? 15 Minute Demonstrations

A carousel of demonstrations, videos, and computer bits: See our web site after April 1st for a list of presentations that members will be presenting. These rooms are next to one another so you can move between them as your desires lead you.

Room 307 – Video Clips & Computer Bits

Room 306 – Quick & Dirty (Quick and Fun!) Demos

Room 305 – Contributed Papers

See complete list of afternoon presentations here.

Registration information

Registration is free for first-time attendees and students!

The rest of us pay only $25–which includes a lunch. A bargain at twice the price! Lunch tickets for first time attendees and students will be available for $15). Please RSVP to Chuck Hunt if you will probably attend so we know how many lunches are required. Vegetarian option available.

We will have ‘proof of attendance’ letters documenting attendance for any teacher who needs one for their district/credential professional development purposes.

Accommodations

There are three hotels nearby: Motel 6 ($50), La Quinta Inn ($55-75), and Holiday Inn ($99-133). See map below for locations and directions

Driving Directions:

• From Interstate 80, just north of Sacramento, exit east on Madison Avenue.
• At the third signal, turn right onto College Oak Drive.
• At the second light turn left onto Myrtle Avenue. ARC parking lots will be on your right.
• Turn into the 4th entrance to parking lots A/B.

Park at the south end of the lot on the left (lot A) in front of the brick buildings in the AAPT marked area. Follow the signs to Room 306 for the Friday Night Social or to Room 420 on Saturday morning. No parking pass is required if you park in the AAPT area.

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View ARC Accomodations in a larger map

Local Host: Chuck Hunt

email: huntc@arc.losrios.edu

phone: (916)484-8342

Join the Northern California Northern Nevada Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers at our Fall Meeting/Conference

Friday, October 9 and Saturday, October 10, 2009

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Friday Evening Social

6:00-8:30 PM at Paul Robinson’s Home (directions)

Guest of Honor: Sy Liebergot, Flight Controller of Mission Control during Apollo Program

Saturday Meeting/Conference

Conference Center, NASA Ames, Moffett Field, CA

From Highway 101:

1. Exit Moffett Blvd./NASA Parkway.

2. At the stop sign just short of the NASA Ames gate, turn right into the conference center parking lot.

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Friday Evening Social

6:00-8:30 PM Hot Dog Reception

Complimentary Hot Dogs (beef or tofu) and Beer at “Rancho Robinson”

424 Quartz Street; Redwood City, CA 94062 (directions)

Guest of Honor: Sy Liebergot, Flight Controller of Mission Control during Apollo program.

Sy will share some of his experiences with the filmmakers and actors of Apollo 13. He will also be available to autograph books and answer questions what it was like to be one of the central players on the mission control team–during good times and bad.

Saturday Meeting/Conference

Conference Center, NASA Ames, Moffett Field, CA

From Highway 101:

1. Exit Moffett Blvd./NASA Parkway.

2. At the stop sign just short of the NASA Ames gate, turn right into the conference center parking lot.

8:00 Registration, Coffee, Donuts and other culinary delights.

8:55 Welcome and Announcements

9:00 Show and Tell

Share your favorite demonstration or teaching tip. Since new teachers and section members will be at this meeting, veterans are encouraged to dust off some of your oldies but goodies. If you have handouts, please bring 75 copies. PASCO will present their latest products. Time limit is 5 minutes person, or you risk the dreaded gong.

9:45 “Transit Tracks: NASA’s Kepler Mission”

Edna DeVore

SETI Institute; edevore@seti.org

Using a model of a planet transiting a star, students learn what a transit is, under what conditions a transit may be seen, and what effects a planet’s size and distance from its star have on transit behavior. Students interpret graphs of brightness vs time to deduce characteristics of a star-planet system. Demonstration, hand-outs, and NASA Kepler Mission poster provided.

10:00 Invited Speaker: “The Search for Habitable Worlds”

Natalie Batalha

NASA Ames and San Jose State University; nbatalha@science.sjsu.edu

NASA’s Kepler Mission has begun its 3.5-year quest for habitable planets like Earth in our galaxy. Natalie will define habitability from the perspective of the Kepler science team and describe how and where the spacecraft will look for worlds reminiscent of our own. She will give an overview of what to expect in the coming years as we work to understand whether Earth-like planets in our galaxy are common or rare.

11:00 Keynote Speaker: Sy Liebergot; EECOM Mission Flight Controller for Apollo

www.apolloeecom.com

This year is the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo program that culminated with landing on the moon. N Cal/Nev AAPT is pleased to commemorate mankind’s greatest adventures with a special appearance of Sy Liebergot.

Sy will speak about what it was like to be a Mission Flight Controller when a monster failure occurred during the Apollo 13 mission and landed squarely in his lap. He relates the general details of the explosion as they really happened.

Sy will also speak about Ethics in Engineering, using the real examples of the Apollo 1 pad fire disaster and the Shuttle Challenger and Columbia space disasters as subjects for this presentation. He describes how he and his fellow Apollo mission flight controllers approached their part in the successful lunar landings in an ethical manner. Sy uses real-life examples that convey in a way realistic and memorable enough to train engineers to deal with the heart-wrenching decisions some of them will have to make, particularly when they become managers. He examines how ethics (or the diminution of) played a role in the three tragedies of the U.S. space program: the Apollo 1 pad fire, the in-flight destruction of Shuttle Orbiters Challenger and Columbia.

Sy will be available for book signings after his talk.

12:30 Lunch at NASA Ames

Video replay of the LCROSS lunar impact from the Oct. 9 morning

1:30 Business Meeting

Look, only 30 minutes long!

2:00 Invited Talk: “Taking a Ride on the Wild Side: The Successful Stardust Sample Return Mission to Comet 81P/Wild 2”

Scott Sandford

NASA Ames, ssandford@mail.arc.nasa.gov

In 2006, NASA’s STARDUST Mission successfully returned samples from Comet 81P/Wild 2 to the Earth for study. The spacecraft was launched in 1999 and on January 2, 2004 it made a close flyby (236 km) of the nucleus of Comet Wild 2 (pronounced “Vildt Two”). During the flyby the spacecraft collected samples of dust from the coma of the comet. These samples were returned to Earth on January 15, 2006 after which they receiving a preliminary six month examination to establish the basic nature of the returned samples. The samples were then turned over to the NASA Curatorial Office where they have since been available to the general worldwide scientific community for continued study.

Scott is one of the original Co-Investigators and Science Team members of the STARDUST mission and was on the team that recovered the Sample Return Capsule from the Utah desert. He also escorted the capsule to NASA-Johnson Space Center, assisted with the removal of the samples from the capsule, and led the Preliminary Examination Team responsible for studying the organic materials in the returned samples. Samples have confirmed some of the ideas we had about comets and the origin of our Solar System, and completely overturned others.

3:00 End of program

3:00 Canceled “Shooting the Moon: Precision Tests of General Relativity with APOLLO

Charles Hoyle

Humboldt State University; charles.hoyle@humboldt.edu

It has been nearly forty years since the first reflectors were placed on the lunar surface by the Apollo astronauts. Laser ranging to these mirrors provides high-precision tests of General Relativity, as well as a host of information about the lunar ephemeris. APOLLO (the Apache Point Observatory Lunar Laser-ranging Operation) recently obtained the first ranges with millimeter precision, representing an order-of-magnitude improvement over previous efforts. In the near future, this enhanced performance will provide unprecedented tests of the Strong Equivalence Principle, the best measure of the constancy of the gravitational constant, G, the most stringent limitations on predicted deviations of the gravitational inverse-square law, and information about the lunar environment. We discuss the techniques employed by APOLLO, initial results, and expected sensitivity.

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Logistics

Registration

Fee is waived for first-time attendees and students! Everyone else pays only $20 — which includes lunch. A bargain at twice the price!

Registration can be completed on Saturday morning.

Lodging

Local hotels include (in no particular order):

Comfort Inn

Redwood City

1818 El Camino Real

Redwood City, CA 94063

800-444-6835

$80+/night

or

Days Inn Palo Alto-Stanford

4238 El Camino Real

Stanford, CA 94306

800-346-8357

$69+/night

or

Comfort Inn

Palo Alto Stanford University

3945 El Camino Rreal

Palo Alto, CA 94306

800-346-8357

$85+/night

or

DAmerica’s Best Inn

1090 El Camino Real

Redwood City, CA 94063

800-346-5357

$70+/night

or

Travelodge Palo Alto

3255 El Camino Real

Palo Alto, CA 94306

800-346-8357

$74+/night

or

Mermaid Inn

727 El Camino Real

Menlo Park, CA 94025

650-323-9481

$76+/night