NCNAAPT – Page 27 – The American Association of Physics Teachers, Northern California/Nevada Section

Fall Section Event/Meeting: November 5th & 6th, 2010, Concord, CA

You are invited to our Fall 2010 Mini-conference / Meeting, Friday and Saturday, November 5th & 6th.

Friday afternoon/evening

Program

Join us for a tour and presentation on some of the cutting edge energy research being conducted at the DOE Joint Genome Institute.

5:00-6:30 PM

2800 Mitchell Drive

Walnut Creek, CA 94598

Social

Food and drink (no host) and socializing at one of the Bay Area’s quality brewpubs.

7:00-9:00 PM

Pyramid Alehouse, Brewery & Restaurant

1410 Locust Street

Walnut Creek, CA 94596

Saturday, November 6th

Mini-conference and Meeting

7:45-3:00

Carondelet High School

1133 Winton Drive (@ Treat)

Concord, CA 94518

7:45 Registration, Coffee, Donuts and other culinary delights

8:55 Welcome and Announcements

9:00 Show & Tell — Part 1

Share your favorite demonstration or teaching tip. Since new teachers and section members will be at this meeting, you are encouraged to dust off some of your oldies but goodies. If you have handouts, please bring 75 copies. Time limite is 5 minutes per person or you risk the dreaded Gong!

10:00 “Blinky Lights — Quantized Motion”

Invited Speakers: Paul Doherty & Don Rathjen

Join the crew from the Exploratorium investigating the motion of objects using time exposure digital images of Inova microlights which blink at 100 Hz. We’ll do quantitative analysis of constant velocity, accelerating and rotational motion. We’ll produce some artistic images as well. Bring your own digital camera and learn ahead how to take long exposures.

11:15 Break

11:30 Business Meeting

12:00 Show & Tell — Part 2

12:30 Lunch

For those staying for the afternoon workshops, or just to socialize.

1:00-3:00 Workshops

Workshop A: Introduction to Modeling

Lee Trampleasure, Carondelet High School

Have you been interested in the Modeling Method of High School Physics Instruction? Come to a two-hour mini-workshop to get your hands on some of the activities, and have some of your questions answered. “Modeling,” developed in 1990, cultivates physics teachers as experts on effective use of guided inquiry in physic teaching. Program goals are fully aligned with National Science Education Standards. The Modeling Method corrects many weaknesses of the traditional lecture-demonstration method, including fragmentation of knowledge, student passivity, and persistence of naive beliefs about the physical world. The Modeling Method organizes the course around a small number of scientific models, thus making a more course coherent.

Workshop B: Exploring Optics at the Convenient Three Centimeter Wavelength

Bernard Cleyet, Retired

While many of the properties of E-M radiation are readily demonstrated with visible light (the geometric) some are not (many physical), because of its microscopic wavelength. The invention of the klystron and more recently the Gun diode makes it possible to more easily demonstrate those of microscopic character, because their generated wavelengths are about five orders of magnitude greater. These include measurement of the evanescent wave resulting from frustrated total internal reflection, Miraldi’s spot, zone plates, and the phase speed of E-M radiation confined in a waveguide. We can demonstrate some of these using the X-band radiation generated by a WW II surplus klystron. Several firms sell instructional systems using Gun diodes. However, they don’t include the apparatus or directions for the above and other more esoteric effects. If time permits, we can explore those in addition to the former listed above. They include dichroism (birefringence), retardation plates, and various optical elements using artificial dielectrics including optical activity. The commercial systems include such basic demonstrations as polarization and refraction. If desired, we can do these, also.

Registration

$10 for NCNAAPT members; Free for first-time attendees and students.

Lunch tickets will be available for $10

If you know you’re coming, please RSVP to let us get an approximate head count. If you decide to come at the last minute, please come even if you didn’t RSVP.

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

Dues and Don’ts

Section dues are $25 for the academic year, due each Fall. If you cannot attend the meeting, remain an active member and ensure you’ll receive all our mailings by sending dues to our treasurer, Dennis Buckly, PO Box 735, Brentwood, CA 94513

Lodging

Three local hotels include:

Embassy Suites; 1345 Treat Blvd.

Walnut Creek, CA

866-654-8205

Holiday Inn Express; 2730 N. Main Street

Walnut Creek, CA 94597

925-932-3332

Motel 6; 2389 North Main Street

Walnut Creek, CA 94596

925-935-4010

Exploring Optics at the Convenient Three Centimeter Wavelength

RSVP

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Physics Equipment Donation at Sacramento State

From Hossein Partovi at Sacramento State:

We have put aside a large collection of lab equipment (scopes, meters, supplies, light sources, PAACO interfacing devices, …) to give away to schools and colleges on Saturday, October 16, 2010 (in Room 138, Sequoia Building, i.e., first floor of the science building), 9-12 AM. You can preview them on Friday, October 8, 2010, 1-3 PM.

If interested, please

Print the attached acceptance letter (a “WORD” document) on your official letterhead, have it signed by your school or college official, and bring it with you on October 16th, and
RSVP both October 8th and 16th events to let us know that you are coming by responding to physicschair@csus.edu.

Section Meeting/Mini Conference: November 5th and 6th

Save the dates!

Our Fall 2010 meeting will be held on November 5th and 6th.

The Saturday events will be at Carondelet High School in Concord, CA (close to I-680 and Pleasant Hill BART). We’re still working out the details for our Friday afternoon event, but we’ll have our usual social event somewhere local in the evening.

Tentative Saturday schedule:

8:00 — Registration, coffee and goodies, socializing

9:00 — Welcome and Announcements

9:15 — Show and Tell (members have five minutes to present their favorite demonstration or teaching tip).

10:15 Break

10:30 — Invited speakers and other presentations.

Noonish — Lunch (included with registration fee)

1:30 — Business meeting and raffle

2:00 — More presentations.

What’s going on here: Poly Density Kit

A new feature on our web site will be a “What’s going on here?” post. Each month we’ll post an interesting question or device, and ask our members to make comments. The first person with the right answer gets bragging rights (or the voice of our web weaver, Lee Trampleasure, on your home answering machine if you’re a fan of “Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me”).

July 2010: Poly Density Kit

Educational Innovations sells a “Poly Density Kit” shown in the video below:

First the bottle is shaken, and all the beads mix uniformly. After the shaking stops, the blue beads start sinking and the white beads start floating. Within about 15 seconds, all the blue beads are on the bottom and the white beads are on the top. In the next minute or so, the cluster of blue beads slowly rises, and the white beads slowly sink. In the end, all the beads are in the middle, layered by color.

How does this happen? Leave your explanations and questions in the comments section below, (click “Comments” if the section is not visible). if you know how this works, wait and let a few people provide their explanations first.

Future contest ideas?

If you have suggestions for future “What’s going on here?” posts, please mail them to lee@trampleasure.net.