Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2008 Joint Fall Meeting of the Texas and Four Corners Sections of APS, AAPT, and Zones 13 and 16 of SPS, and the Societies of Hispanic & Black Physicists
Volume 53, Number 11
Friday–Saturday, October 17–18, 2008; El Paso, Texas
Session C5: AAPT & SPS |
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Chair: Jill Marshall, The University of Texas at Austin Room: Union East, 3rd Floor Wiggins |
Friday, October 17, 2008 1:30PM - 1:42PM |
C5.00001: To PhET or Not To PhET: That Is the Question Robert Casao The investigation examined use of a Physics Education Technology (PhET) simulation versus a hands-on lab activity on student's conceptual understanding of physics content. Topics of study included vectors, projectile motion, direct current (DC) circuits, and the photoelectric effect. Participants consisted of high school juniors and seniors enrolled in a physics course. Assessment instruments consisted of questions taken from the Vector Evaluation Test, the Electric Circuits Concept Evaluation test, textbook test banks, or written to address concepts under evaluation. Data collection consisted of a pre-test score, a post-test score, and a gain score. The conceptual understanding of the experimental and the control groups did not significantly differ for vectors and DC circuits. The conceptual understanding of the experimental and control groups did significantly differ for projectile motion. The results indicated a conceptual gain for students using the photoelectric effect simulation. Student attitudes towards the PhET simulations were positive. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 17, 2008 1:42PM - 1:54PM |
C5.00002: A Classical Model for Virtual Particle Exchange Daniel Bullock, David Bixler As raindrops splash on the surface of a parking lot, a bubble of air may form briefly in a puddle. Some bubbles are very small and others can be rather large. They also vary in how long they last before releasing the air trapped inside in a manner reminiscent of high-energy particle collisions. When a bubble is formed, it essentially draws energy from the ``vacuum'' or surrounding medium, and the energy must be deposited back into the medium within a predictable time. The lifetime of a bubble may follow an uncertainty principle that determines the size or energy of the bubble. This research project attempts to formulate the uncertainty in the energy and lifetime of these bubbles and model the four fundamental forces based on the range of interaction. Just as spandex has been used and disproved as a model for the ``fabric of space-time,'' this bubble model may provide some insight into how elementary particles make up the fundamental forces of nature. This model will also be tested against a change in interaction medium to better correlate the data with known uncertainties. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 17, 2008 1:54PM - 2:06PM |
C5.00003: The Evolution of Cosmology Lionel Hewett Throughout the centuries numerous models of cosmology have been proposed and discarded as mankind's understanding of the cosmos has grown through improved observations. It is interesting to follow how the scientific consensus regarding cosmology has changed over time so as to favor first one of these models, then another and another up to the present day. This paper describes many of these historical models, explains why so few of them are still considered viable today, and shows what the surviving models have to say about the creation, evolution, and fate of our universe. Included in the discussion are such modern topics as inflationary cosmology, accelerating universe, dark energy, dark matter, and time symmetry. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 17, 2008 2:06PM - 2:18PM |
C5.00004: High altitude ballooning as a platform for student research experiences in science and engineering John Armstrong, Shane Larson, Bill Hiscock Humans have dreamed of sailing high above Earth's atmosphere and making the voyage into outer space. At the start of the 21st Century, our students can send their own research experiments from the surface of Earth to the fringes of outer space, borne aloft by high altitude balloons. Colloquially known as near-space platforms, these balloon systems are designed, constructed and own by the students themselves. They are inexpensive to construct, are built with common electronic and hardware components that are easily purchased from commercial vendors, and can be launched and recovered in a single day. The systems are reusable and can be own many times, allowing students to many new experiments during their student lifetime, or to a single experiment many times to acquire extended scientific data sets. We will focus the presentation on Weber State University's High Altitude Reconnaissance Balloon for Outreach and Research (HARBOR) that is based on the successful Montana State BOREALIS ballooning program. We will outline successful strategies for engaging undergraduate students in research and design using such programs. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 17, 2008 2:18PM - 2:30PM |
C5.00005: Temperature dependence of Direct Methanol type fuel cell Alexy Volkov, Andrew Wallace Conventional fuel cells consist of metal anode and cathode electrodes submerged in an electrolyte. This anode-electrolyte-cathode arrangement allows for direct hydrogen input without any storage. One major drawback of Direct Methanol Fuel cell is carbon monoxide toxicity in the cell. Sodium borohydrate has a higher current density and lower toxicity than methanol. To further increase power density, a La1-xSrXNiCoO4 type superconductive coating was applied to the nickel (Ni) electrodes. The superconductive coating was applied on a pretreated Ni electrode to create a high-conductivity fuel cell. The superconductive coating-type direct methanol fuel cell was investigated for operational temperatures, current density, and power dissipation. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 17, 2008 2:30PM - 2:42PM |
C5.00006: SPS Internship: Working With Physics To Go Logan Hancock The Physics To Go website (www.physicstogo.com) is one of many collections of ComPADRE, an online library of electronic resources devoted to physics and astronomy education, funded by the National Science Foundation. Physics To Go, produced by the American Physical Society (APS), is a collection focused on informal physics learning, targeted towards self-motivated learners and the general public. My contributions to the site this summer consisted of obtaining useful materials to add to the collection and working to update the homepage's ``mini-magazine'' every two weeks. I was selected for this position at APS by the Society of Physics Students (SPS) summer internship program, hosted by the American Institute of Physics (AIP) in College Park, MD. This internship is presented to a number of physics undergraduates each year and offers opportunities in research and science policy/outreach positions at SPS, APS, AAPT, NASA, and NIST. [Preview Abstract] |
Friday, October 17, 2008 2:42PM - 2:54PM |
C5.00007: Angelo State Society of Physics Students Science Outreach: West Texas Road Trip 2008 Lacy Estes, Toni Sauncy The Angelo State Society of Physics Students readily embraces the opportunity to give back to the community. For the past three years, the ASU Peer Pressure Team has presented science demonstrations to elementary and junior high students in the West Texas area. The annual week-long trip involves college students seeking to inspire a younger generation about physics and science in general. The Road Trip 2008 took ten undergraduate students on a nearly 600 mile round trip. The reactions and responses from the students, teachers and administrators received by the local SPS chapter's efforts have been overwhelmingly positive, and opportunities continue to present themselves. [Preview Abstract] |
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