Web Watch

sleek computers on tableCarl Mungan, United States Naval Academy
mungan@usna.edu

Science Friday at http://www.sciencefriday.com/ is the website of a public radio program but is neatly organized into materials you can listen to, watch, read, or use in class.

The University of Nebraska at Lincoln has lots of stuff related to astronomy education at http://astro.unl.edu/.

A helpful tutorial on Fourier Transforms using cooking analogies and interactive animations can be found online at http://betterexplained.com/articles/an-interactive-guide-to-the-fourier-transform/. Then you can learn about the Fast Fourier Transform at http://nonagon.org/ExLibris/gauss-fast-fourier-transform; be sure not to miss the MIT video near the bottom of the page!

Brookhaven has a website called Physics of the Universe at http://www.bnl.gov/science/physics.php.

The concept of relativistic mass, if treated with care, can be useful at times. Read a defense of this idea at http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/SR/mass.html.

A free introductory physics textbook, so far covering Mechanics and Thermodynamics but projected to cover E&M, Optics, and Modern Physics as well, can be downloaded at http://bluephysics.org/.

AAPT has a policy statement about the goals of the introductory physics laboratory at http://www.aapt.org/Resources/policy/goaloflabs.cfm.

The White House has put together a history of women in STEM at https://www.whitehouse.gov/women-in-stem, intended to encourage young women to pursue such careers. For contemporary examples, go to http://www.womeninscience.org/.

BBC has prepared a colorful poster about the temperature limits of the universe from coldest to hottest at http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20131218-absolute-zero-to-absolute-hot.

A series of vignettes about optics with links to related Physical Review articles for the International Year of Light has been put together by APS at http://physics.aps.org/IYL.

Quizlets are study tools such as flashcards and games that can be used in and out of the classroom at https://quizlet.com/.

Science magazine has annotated some of its research articles for teaching purposes at http://www.scienceintheclassroom.org/.

Let’s Talk Science is a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to education and outreach with a website at http://www.letstalkscience.ca/.

It’s fun to play with the simulated tearable cloth mesh at http://codepen.io/dissimulate/full/KrAwx and there’s physics behind its realistic motion.

I’m sure you’ve seen strange appearing videos of propellers or guitar strings using rolling shutters. A brief explanation is at http://www.diyphotography.net/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-rolling-shutter/.

Another recent controversy has been about underinflated footballs. Physicists have chimed in on the issue, as blogged for example at http://blogs.mprnews.org/newscut/2015/01/it-took-football-to-get-people-interested-in-physics/.

Lots of pictures, videos, and news stories about asteroids have been collected together at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/asteroid/.

Does cold glass ever stop flowing? Bristol researchers have written a paper supporting a yes answer. See the blurb at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2015/january/glass-a-true-solid.html.

A set of YouTube videos called The Quantum Around You can be accessed from https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHSIfioizVW1sXAjY3aYCugtKDFPTNztl. NSF also has a diverse set of videos at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRuCgmzhczsm89jzPtN2Wuw.

Fiat Physica (http://www.fiatphysica.com/) uses crowdsourcing to fund physics education.

Wired magazine has put together a science website at http://www.wired.com/category/science/.

Check out the World Science Festival online at http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/.

Engineering: Go For It at http://www.egfi-k12.org/. Also check out MakerSpace at http://makerspace.nysci.org/ and Engineer Your Life at http://www.engineeryourlife.org/.

Finally, the middle schoolers at Colonial Academy asked me to tell you about the resources related to simple machines at http://www.partsgeek.com/mmparts/physics_for_kids_simple_machines_in_automobiles.html.


Disclaimer – The articles and opinion pieces found in this issue of the APS Forum on Education Newsletter are not peer refereed and represent solely the views of the authors and not necessarily the views of the APS.