[IAEP] Physics - Lesson plans ideas?

[Bill Kerr]

thanks for response and additional suggestions, Gary and Asaf (and
screenshots are very useful)
I'll create a worksheet for my class and post the link when done - thinking
that I'll organise it into a basic, harder and advanced sections

Caroline there are already great ideas for lessons and screenshots on the
physics page (added to my worksheet)
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Activities/Physics

other ideas from me:
make  a see saw keep moving for as long as possible without using grab

for advanced students tony forster has suggested hacking physics to alter
densities etc.
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Modifying_Activities#Modifying_Physics
Gary, would it be a good idea to link to that page from the Physics page -
it took me a while to find it again

> We have a future Physics feature to expose the material properties, likely
a simple list of material pre-sets (something like "helium" "wood",
"rubber", "steel", "lead")

is water possible?
that would fit nicely with density experiments

how hard would it be to have a feature where mass is measured and / or
displayed on the object?

cheers



On Sun, Aug 16, 2009 at 4:59 AM, Gary C Martin <gary at garycmartin.com> wrote:

> Hi Bill,
>
> Not sure if you wanted answers :-)
>
> On 15 Aug 2009, at 02:51, Bill Kerr wrote:
>
>  I might try these next week and see how they go:
>>
>> does altering the size of an object affect its drop time?
>>
>
> No
>
>  does joining objects together (large and small) affect drop time?
>>
>
> No
>
> Remember, you can run all cases at once! Just pause the simulation. Add a
> box right across the horizontal middle of screen. Pin it at left and right
> edge so it's fixed. Then across top half of screen add a large sphere, a
> small sphere, a couple of linked objects. Play the simulation so all shapes
> land on the horizontal pinned box. Pause simulation again, and delete the
> horizontal pinned box. Now you're all set up, shapes all aligned up for
> their race to the ground :-) Play!
>
>  does altering the length of a pendulum affect its swing time?
>>
>
> Yes.
>
> For more advanced, you might like to try a 'split pendulum', and get to see
> a slow and fast swing in one cycle (some thing like the attached image works
> fine).
>
>
>
>
>  before doing the above say what you think will happen
>> after doing the above say whether you think the physics program reflects
>> real world behaviour
>> (possibility of follow up real world experiments here)
>>
>
> "possibility of follow up real world experiments here" nice :-) +1
>
> FWIW: Newton's cradle type set-ups don't work quite as expected (you end up
> with an oscillation of half the balls each time), I think this might be down
> to the default material properties we are currently using for all shapes. We
> have a future Physics feature to expose the material properties, likely a
> simple list of material pre-sets (something like "helium" "wood", "rubber",
> "steel", "lead").
>
>  design a catapult system to accurately hit
>> (a) stationary distant target (b) moving target (c) close target
>>
>> build a complex or elegant building that doesn't fall down
>>
>
> A nice one here for a challenge is to restrict the design to only use
> circles with links. Try for an Eiffel Tower like shape. It is "World of Goo"
> all over again ;-)
>
>        http://2dboy.com/games.php
>
>  other ideas along these lines?
>>
>
> General miscellaneous tips:
>
> - Pretty fundamental is the need to pause the simulation when constructing
> more complicated structures (unless you make that the challenge, build an X
> without pausing the simulation).
>
> - While paused, use shapes to help as 'construction templates' to help
> place new things accurately (they can overlap), then delete the template
> shape before resuming the simulation.
>
>  extra features I would like to see in physics:
>> copy shapes
>>
>
> Not on our feature list, will have a think how practical this would be to
> actually implement.
>
>  move them while in setup mode
>>
>
> Been requested before already. Might be hard to implement. Don't think we
> have control over this in Physics, likely something down stream in either
> Elements, or Box2D (or all 3!).
>
>  a timer
>>
>
> My call on this is related to another possible future feature. Object
> trails would be very useful (daub a blob of paint on a shape and watch it
> leave a trail on screen). This 'paint daub' could be set to pulse to a
> timer, then you could just count the trail marks.
>
> Sound would also be great, set a specific shape to make a custom sound on
> any collision, set a shape to play a sound based on it's velocity (or
> rotation). I'd likely suggest we avoid sound until Sugar (well the various
> distros) have reliable stable sound (right now it seems a real mess).
>
>  icons:
>> I think it would be better if the polygon icon looked like an irregular
>> shape rather than a regular hexagon
>>
>
> Have this feature request already, you should get it in the next release
> :-)
>
>  btw if there was a regular hexagon then you could use it to do some work
>> with tessellations in setup mode using the triangle, square, hexagon - if
>> you had the move feature in setup mode
>> eg. make a tessellation in setup mode and then support it so it doesn't
>> fall apart under gravity
>>
>
> Not planning on this, but will keep it on a possible feature list.
>
> Thanks for all the great feedback so far!!
>
> Regards,
> --Gary
>
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