Hands-On-Physics

Project Information:
UNIT SUMMARIES

Introductory Electronics: Security Systems

This is an introduction to circuits and electronics set in the context of creating a building security system. The simplest system consists of switches, a power supply, and a buzzer. A variety of switches will be introduced, including magnetic, optical, and thermal ones. You will gain familiarity with interpreting schematics, using breadboards, using meters, and debugging circuits. You will also build a power supply used later. Physics concepts include electrical terms, power, an introduction to solid state, and an introduction to experimental skills. Go to the Introductory Electronics Unit now.

Introductory Mechanics: Aircart

The study of motion is motivated in part by the human desire to move things from one place to another. Designing transportation systems requires an understanding of some basic ideas of physics. In this unit you will build an aircart, decide what attributes of the cart are pertinent, and what variables are important for the description of motion. You will decide how the variables are related. Determining a set of variables along with the relationships between them is the primary work of creating a model. A good mathematical model can be generalized and extended. With a good model in hand, design work can proceed. What transportation problems could an aircart solve? What are its drawbacks? Go to the Introductory Mechanics Unit now.


Instrumentation: MBL

Instrumentation has always been central to the study of physics. With the advent of computers, many tasks of data collection and analysis have been given over to electronics. Electronic components have become inexpensive and readily available, so now you can often build your own instrumentation. In this unit you build a data acquisition system suitable for collecting measurements in many of the HOP units.


Heat & Temperature: Incubator

This Heat and Temperature unit explores several key ideas concerning the measurement and control of heat. Feedback is a theme which threads through the history of our study of heat. Feedback is at work in thermostats, homiostatis, and heat engines. Several projects help students understand heat. We start by learning how to measure temperature and then go on to how to control it. As the unit unfolds, you are introduced to the major concepts of heat and temperature that are usually taught in physics, but through a series of interesting projects. Go to theHeat & Temperature Unit now.


Advanced Mechanics: Bungee

The driving question is whether it is safe to use bungee cords as an emergency escape from a burning building. This project introduces Newtonian dynamics in the context of a bungee jump. Students can use three methods for recording data: electronic, video-based, or MBL. In the electronic approach, time is measured by charging a capacitor and the experiment must be repeated many times. In the video approach, CamMotion is used to analyze digital images converted from a video recording of a single jump. Interactive Physics and spreasheets are used to simulate the
system. MBL would use a series of photogates to measure the time the mass passes. Go to the Advanced Mechanics Unit now.


Introduction to Waves: Sound

An introduction to waves, with an emphasis on electronics, the work of this unit centers on the construction of a tone generator and an intensity meter. You use your newly constructed instruments for investigating sound intensity changes in both open and closed spaces. You are then encouraged to develop experiments to study wave properties, and the feasibility of "seeing" with sound.

Magnetic Induction: Generator

The goal of this unit is to have you learn about magnetic induction. Messing Around will include experimentation with permanent magnets and coils. For your Core Project you wind a coil and use it as the basis for constructing a generator. After testing your generator, your are challenged to a more extensive evaluation of your generator, to build a rectifier for producing DC current, and to store charge in a capacitor.

Optics: Haze

The amount of haze in the atmosphere is increasing for reasons that are not fully understood. In this unit, you build optical sensors that can be used to infer haze levels and contribute your data to an international haze monitoring network. This work involves understanding the physics of light with an emphasis on wavelengths, adsorption, scattering, and photon energy. The unit introduces an amplifier and the concept of amplification. Messing Around Investigate LEDs as lights. Measure the forward voltage for red, yellow, green, and blue LEDs. Look at the spectrum and polarization of the sun, LEDs, flames, other sources, and of scattered light using different kinds of scattering.

Electromagnetic Waves: Radar

In this unit, students create a microwave generator and detector. The physics involves electromagnetic radiation in the microwave region where diffraction effects are large. Tuning, resonance, reflection, and interaction with charges are also addressed. While Messing Around, listen to a spark over a radio. What frequencies does it make? Can you tune it with an LC circuit? Look at a ripple tank and how waves bend, reflect and refract.

Nuclear Physics: Radiation Detector

You live near a nuclear plant and want to know for yourself whether there are nuclear sources in your environment. The physics involves basic nuclear physics, radiation, detectors, and adsorption. Two instrumentation approaches both use a Geiger-Müller tube, one with a self-contained divider and one with MBL.

Solid State: IR Motion Detector

This unit investigates how to make a detector that senses IR for use in a security system. As such, it serves as an introduction to solid state physics, crystallography, and the properties of materials. It also introduces another part of the electromagnetic spectrum, the far infrared, as well as black-body radiation.

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