12/22/2023 0 Comments Clea astrometry of asteroids![]() If you really do get a megavolt, you can put a Geiger counter nearby and look for gamma rays(!)īarometer. Given a length of acrylic tubing, a long rubber band, a couple of brushes, a motor, and a big metal ball you too can make sparks that leap halfway across the room. ![]() ![]() It turns out that the experiment wouldn't work without the retroreflectors planted there by the astronauts. As a side bonus, have them calculate the strength of the return signal. This may be a little ambitious for a 36 hour project, but it makes a dandy six-week independent project. With digital correlation, you can measure the distance to the Moon in only a few minutes of integration. Send the laser pointer beam out the telescope, pick up the return signal with a photodiode at the eyepiece. Mount a beamsplitter on a little telescope and point it at one of the Apollo landing sites. Get a green laser pointer and modulate it with a digital stream. (Trick: you have to build some kind of ultrasonic horn to channel the pulse and collect the return pulse - otherwise it diffuses too much) Proof of concept: ultrasonic tape measures at Home Depot for $15. A little electronics heavy, but if they have had a background in electronics it should be pretty fun. Ultrasonic transducers are easy to come by students should send some pulses out one, and then sense the return pulse, giving either a numeric indicator or a voltage level that corresponds to the delay time. Ultrasonic tape measure / speed of sound experiment. Be careful with the multi-stage rockets, as you can get enough altitude that you may need to file a flight plan with your local airport under experimental rocketry procedures. You can observe conditions, develop formulas from experimental data, and make predictive theories for what happens when you adjust the variables.įor the really ambitious, there are some 2-stage rocket plans available if you dig up using search engines, but a simple rocket is comparatively easy to build. hot weather?), rocket shape, nozzle shape, and rocket size (2 liter vs. There are also a number of variables that can be adjusted in a controlled manner, such as water volume, air pressure, atmospheric conditions (do rockets fly higher in cooler weather vs. Knowing the altitude and how long it takes to fall from the apogee, you can also calculate the local acceleration factor due to gravity (which can vary from one place to another). There are all kinds of things that you can measure and document, including thrust (including ISP if you want to get that technical), altitude, learning about trigonometry (to measure altitude), payload mass, and even learning about the basics of the laws of motion through a hands-on experiment. Yes, this is sending up a 2 liter plastic bottle (or whatever is handy) by filling it up with water and pressurizing it with compressed air to see how high it can go. In terms of physics experiments, I can't imagine something that would both capture the interest of the students, be cheap enough to have a school with a limited budget be able to afford, and allows for multiple variable parameters to be adjusted.
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