Date: Fri 01-May-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: MICHEL

Quick Words:

schools-St-Rose-physics

Full Text:

St Rose Students Discover That Physics Is Fun

(with cuts)

BY MICHELE HOGAN

St Rose students watched in awe and wonder as Brian McDaniel of Mobile Ed

Productions produced high voltage electricity, made simulated jets, and

demonstrated principles of Newtonian physics at an assembly last Thursday.

Mr McDaniel turned 110 volts of electricity from a plug in the wall to 50,000

volts of electricity right before the children's eyes through the use of a

Tesla coil.

After explaining that electricity wants to keep moving and follows the path of

least resistance, Mr McDaniel talked about conductors and insulators of

electricity.

Wood is an insulator, so the children were quick to realize that electricity

would not find a path through it. On the other hand, copper is a conductor.

A large copper plate sat on a wooden chair, with 50,000 volts of electricity

going to it.

To show the students what 50,000 volts can do, Mr McDaniel gingerly touched it

with a rag soaked in kerosene at the end of a stick. It instantly ignited!

Mr McDaniel quipped about his "home-made electric chair," then picked teacher

Barbara Kraushaah to help him demonstrate.

He told her to sit in it. Kindergarten to third grade students collectively

held their breath. She sat down. She looked up. With great relief the kids

realized she was okay.

She held a light bulb in her hands, but nothing happened. Why not? Students

realized that she needed to be grounded to give the electricity a place to

flow to.

Third grader Michael Murphy was invited on stage. He held one end of the light

bulb and Mrs Kraushaah held the other. It lit up!

Mr McDaniel then explained that the Tesla coils, found in every television and

computer monitor picture tube, is what made this experiment possible. He made

it emphatically clear that household electricity carries a dangerous amperage

level, and is not to be played with.

Likewise, Mr McDaniel graphically explained how hearing is an act of sensing

vibrations. As children covered their ears, he simulated a jet engine and drew

their attention to the vibrations they felt along with the noise.

For Newtonian physics, he explained the concept of action and reaction by

standing on a lazy susan holding a fast spinning wheel. He awed the young

crowd with his ability to control his spinning on the lazy susan by turning

the spinning wheel from side-to-side.

Entertaining and informative, Mr McDaniel showed the students at St Rose that

indeed, "physics is fun!"