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Radford University
Society of Physics Students (SPS)
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SPS K-12 Student Outreach
As members of SPS we feel that it is our duty to spread knowledge of Physics
and, indeed, that of science as a whole. As such the Radford University chapter
has begun an outreach program to local area schools in the New River Valley.
Historically, many of these area schools do not have strong programs in science
and it is our goal to in some small way supplement that with a program which we
can provide in the form of either a field trip or a science day at the school.
Typically in these situations the schools contact us with some interest in us
giving a demonstration(contact information and example demonstration format
below) and we perform them.
These demonstrations give the kids an overall feeling that science is neat and
something to be embraced rather than scorned as is typically the case in the
public education system. Seeing the demonstrations captures their collective
imaginations and gives a child something to dream about such as becoming an
astronaut or scientist rather than the next prefabricated popstar and as such
we help to shape the experiences of their young lives and minds which will
influence them as they grow.
Link to contact us for more info:
Email the SPS president or contact our advisor for more details:
Society of Physics Students email address:
physclub@radford.edu
or contact our advisor:
Dr. Rhett Herman, Associate Professor of Physics and Adjunct Professor of
Geology
e-mail: rherman@radford.edu
(540) 831-5441 (office)
(540) 831-6443 (department)
(540) 831-6615 (fax)
Dr. Rhett Herman
Dept. of Chemistry and Physics
PO Box 6949
Radford University
Radford, Virginia 24142
The Demonstrations:
We cover many and varied topics in physics and we have demonstrations as
follows:
Electromagnetism:
=Van der Graff generator w/ grounding sphere for discharging(or have a girl w/
long hair stand on a wooden stool and place her hand on the sphere, as she
rises in potential her hair will stand up/apart. Caution: Be sure to discharge
sphere before allowing them to take their hand off)
=Tesla Coil
=Jacobs ladder(talk about a plasma as being electrons and protons ripped apart
and compare it to lightning and fire, also about potential differences being
what causes lightning)
=electron gun with helmholtz coils(right hand rule, charged particles in a
magnetic field)
=eddy current(Cu tube and Nd magnets => induced currents)
=rail/coil gun or magnetic gun(induced currents + right hand rule, put it
together for the kids and shoot off a little coil of wire for their amusement)
=handcrank generator w/ lightbulb(usually just for fun, but if they ask =>
induced currents)
=>Maglev device
Classical Mechanics:
=>flame tube(sound as a compression wave which can be seen by creating a
standing wave in the tube and as such in the flame, best with a function
generator)
=> pie plate speaker(induction coil taped to pie plate, use a radio you pulled
apart and connect the pie plate, just for fun)
=>air cannon(like a potato gun, kids like seeing stuff in the air, good lead in
to bernoullis principle demonstration)
=>bernoullis principle(using a ball and a pump)
=> lab pro exercises(sonic ranger(talk about bats and how they navigate using
this, maybe talk about ambulances and the doppler effect if you'd like),
pressure sensor => use computer to do a FFT to frequency, usually good peaks if
a girl screams into it, someone whistles, or you use a tuning fork)
Modern Physics/Astrophysics:
=>Solar Cars(cars with photovoltaic cells, explain what the photoelectric
effect is and tie it back to Einstein, a physicist they all know and love. This
is usually fun after the vandergraff when someone just had big hair so it's
easier to draw the comparison)
=>Diffraction grating glasses with ionized gas lamps(neon, hydrogen, helium,
Hg, etc.) and a 100 watt lightbulb(explain continuous spectrum and spectral
lines, and how this helps us determine what's inside stars)
=> Telescope with solar filter and polarized solar glasses(let them look at the
sun and see sunspots, eclipses, and coronal mass ejections.)
Pictures from our trip to Kipps Elementry School in Blacksburg, Va science night.
