Transcript Teaching Physics with Songs

PTLG
Physics Teachers Lunch Group
Presentation
Learning Physics and Astronomy
with Songs.
(Or Physics to listen to while doing your homework.)
Dr. Steven Sahyun
UWW Physics
Workshop Physics: Physics Pholk Songs
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1. The Bricklayer's Song
2. Applesauce
3. Pool Table Physics Lab Rap
4. Galaxy Song
5. Motion Detector Rag
6. Newton's Laws
7. I'm My Own Grandpaw
8. Particles...Quant'em
9. Electricity and History
10. How Colors Delight
11. Simple Harmonic Oscillator Rap
12. To Sir Isaac
13. The Elements
14. First and Second Law
http://physics.dickinson.edu/~wp_web/wp_songs.html
MASSIVE
Math And Science Songs
“The MASSIVE database contains information on
over 2000 science and math songs. Some of these
songs are suitable for 2nd graders; others might
only appeal to professors. … Some are quite silly;
others are downright serious.”
http://www.science-groove.org/MASSIVE/
Massive Radio channel on Live365.com
Outline:
1. Particle Physics Songs
2. E&M and Light Songs
3. Astronomy Songs.
Part 1: Particle Physics Songs
Matter and substructure
10-10 m
10-14 m
10-15 m
10-18 m
Birth of the Bubble Chamber
In 1952 Donald Glaser invented the bubble chamber,
a device that shows the path of particles and highenergy interactions as a line of bubble trails.
It was a basic component of almost all high-energy
physics experiments in the mid 20th century, and was
the instrument of detection of many strange new
particles and phenomena.
For this invention, Glaser received the 1960 Nobel
Prize in Physics.
http://www.case.edu/menu/sciencecenter/nobel_laureates.htm
Birth of the Bubble Chamber
by Arthur Roberts of the University of Chicago
http://www.haverford.edu/physics-astro/songs/roberts/1985/roberts1985.htm
QuickTime™ and a
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http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~phylabs/pictures/bbc_3.jpg
http://esmane.physics.lsa.umich.edu/wl/cern/hst/2006/20060705-umwlcd0004-04-jones/real/f001.htm
Some People Don’t Know Where
Arthur Roberts
to Stop!
Baryons
Mesons
The
Particle
Zoo
http://www.haverford.edu/physics-astro/songs/roberts/1985/roberts1985.htm
The Standard Model
http://particleadventure.org/particleadventure/frameless/generations.html
Things made out of quarks
Hadrons
Baryons
(3 quarks)
Heavy particles.
p, n, , , , 
Mesons
(2 quarks:
normal + anti)
, , K
Baryons
Charge
Proton p = uud
Neutron n = udd
Written and sung by Lynda Williams, The Physics Chanteuse, Cosmic Cabaret
Quark Sing-a-Long
http://www.scientainment.com/songs.html
(refrain)
Up, Down, Charm, Strange, Top and Bottom!
The World is made up of Quarks and Leptons!
Up, Down, Charm, Strange,Top and Bottom!
Yum! Yum!
Quarks carry a color charge.
They come in red, green and blue.
You'll never see a quark all by itself
cuz they stick together with a strong force glue.
Quarks come in six flavors
They live in families of two.
Up Down, Charm Strange, Top and Bottom!
They come in anti-flavors too!
Quarks carry electric charge.
A fraction of electricity.
Quarks combine together so the total charge
is a multiple of unity!
Each family makes a generation
between which is a mass gap.
The up quark is the lightest and the top quark
is the most fat!
An up, up down makes a proton for a total charge of
plus one.
A down, up, down makes a DUD neutron!
Physics is so much YUM YUM PHUN!
The second and third generations
do not live for very long.
That's why everything in the Universe
is made up of Ups and Downs!
(refrain)
(refrain)
Part 2: E&M and Light Songs
The Freaky Wave

http://www.scientainment.com/shopcd.htm
Written and Performed by Lynda Williams
Ocean Wave, Sound Wave, Light Wave,
Shock Wave, Radio Wave, Microwave,
Heat Wave, Brain Wave....
A wave is a wiggle in space and time
like an ocean wave it moves up and down.
Repeating in cycles of up and down.
The up is called the CREST
and the TROUGH is the down.
The wavelength is the distance
from crest to crest or trough to trough.
(Into a puddle rain drops drop and water
waves roll off....)
A wave carries energy as it goes.
Sound waves make air molecules rock and roll.
To and fro and to and fro, from speaker to
ear that's how they go!
Sound waves make air molecules rock and roll!
The frequency is the rate that sound waves
make air molecules shake! The higher the freq
the higher the pitch and the faster the molecules twitch!
The bigger the bell the longer the wavelength
and the slower the air shakes!
The smaller the bell the shorter the wavelength
and the faster the air shakes!
Tune into my frequency
and do the freaky wave with me!
Sound waves make me rock and roll!
Up and down and to and fro!
Microwaves cook your casserole
making water molecules rock and roll!
Wave it up! Heat it up! Eat it up!
Physics! Mmmmmmmmmm.... Yum! Yum!
What medium does light travel through?
The Ether Song, Walter Smith and Marian McKenzie
http://www.haverford.edu/physics-astro/songs/ether.htm
My name is Michelson, Albert Michelson.
Long ago I was full of pride -I thought I knew just what I wanted -Thought I could find it and more beside.
The harder we measured, the less we found it.
It was supposed to be all around.
We finally published, though we didn’t want to -We finally said it could not be found.
Refrain:
Ether, ether, luminiferous ether,
Ether, ether, where’d you go?
(Refrain)
I found a partner, a physics partner.
Edward Morley was his name.
We set out to measure the ether.
We set out to find our fame.
So gather ye students, ye physics students,
Now that you’ve heard my tale of how
I spent a lifetime searching for the ether-I couldn’t find it, it’s your turn now.
(Refrain)
(Refrain)
“Disclaimer: While it took decades for Michelson to accept the results of his famous experiment, it
would be wrong to think that he languished in obscurity. He is widely regarded as one of the most
skillful experimental physicists ever, and received the Nobel prize in 1907.”
Maxwell to the rescue!
Maxwell’s Equations in a Vacuum
http://www.scientainment.com/songs.html
Linda Williams
Doppler Shifting
http://www.astrocappella.com/doppler.shtml
AstroCappella
Susan cruisin' down the freeway doing seventy-eight
(go speed racing, go speed racing)
She just likes to drive fast, it's not that she's late
(no tail-gating, no tail gating)
Goes over a hilltop and what a surprise
(too late sister, you're in for it now)
Blue and red flashing lights right in front of her eyes
Nee nee nee nee nee nee nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah
Now Susan's standing by the side of her car
(show me your licence, you're in big trouble)
Trucks blowing right by her but she's not going far
(they're still cruisin', Susan's losin')
She's been caught by a speed trap, and now she can hear
(here comes the physics, you're in for it now)
Sound of the Doppler Shift right in her ear
Eeeeeeeeeeeeee-owwwwwwwwww
Doppler Shifting
http://www.astrocappella.com/doppler.shtml
That's the Doppler Shift - you've heard it I know
Doppler Shift - first it's high then it's low
The good cop's gun shoots out only radar
And the beam bounces back off bad Susan's car
And assuming the policeman is standing in range
His gun tells him all about the frequency change
Then Susan's walking, walking
Her speed racing days are done
They're light years away, man, and that's pretty far
(lightspeed's the limit, the big speed limit)
But there's plenty we can learn from the light of a star
(split it with a prism, there's little lines in it)
By looking at the spectrum at the light that's glowing
(wavelengths of emission, measured with precision)
Its Doppler Shift will tell us if it's coming or going
Doo doo doo doo doo-ooo
http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~wright/doppler.htm
That's the Doppler Shift - you see it, it's true
Doppler Shift - to the red or the blue
Doppler Shifting
http://www.astrocappella.com/doppler.shtml
When a star is approaching and it's coming our way
Its spectrum seems bluer, won't you hear what I say
And when a star's retreating way out of range
And the scientist measures its frequency change
Well that's a redshift, redshift
If the star is moving away
By reading Doppler Shifts of all we see in the skies
(clusters of galaxies, near and far)
We get the big picture and a big surprise
Doppler Shift - to the red or the blue
(redshifts going, redshifts going)
Doppler Shift - and our shift's overdue
The Universe is growing and expanding away
(galaxies are speeding, speeding away)
Now blueshifts come and redshifts go
But maybe gravity will shrink it back some day And that's pretty much everything you need to know
Now we're gonna pick up Susan and give her a ride
Owwwwwwwwwwwww-eeeeeeeeeee
So you guys remember Doppler, and you drive to
survive
And now we're shifting, shifting
And our Doppler song is done
Part 3: Astronomy Songs
High Energy Groove
Chorus:
http://www.astrocappella.com/groove.shtml
X Rays, Gamma Rays, high energy
Hot stars, heavy stars, high density
Quasars, black holes, supernovae
Powerhouses lighting up the Galaxy
Flashing, bursting, pulsing objects we could see
If we had X-ray eyes, if we had X-ray eyes
Going up the spectrum, repeat after me
Radio, infrared, visible, UV
Keep going all the way what do you see?
That's X-rays, gamma rays, high energy
An X-ray photon has a high frequency
Which means a shorter wavelength than you could ever see
X-rays come from various processes
Like a cloud of gas above about a million degrees
Or magnetic fields that send electrons swarming like bees
Or even neutron stars emitting like black bodies
And you get X-rays from star stuff that came near to and fell
Into a black hole's gravitational potential well
If we flew above the atmosphere and looked out at the skies
And if we could do it with X-ray eyes
We'd see more flashing and popping than you realize
Objects winking on and off like fireflies
The X-ray sky isn't calm and quiet
It's more like a rockin' high energy riot
(Chorus)
X-rays can show you the roots of your teeth
Shine them through your body see the bones underneath
But don't go thinking that we X-ray the stars
'Cause they're billions of miles away, much too far!
We collect all the X-rays that they send to Earth
Telling tales of star death, giving hints of star birth
Here's a story of a pair of stars called Cygnus X-1
One's a black hole many times the mass of the Sun
With a disk of gas surrounding it, spiralling in
Sucked from the companion star's outermost skin
We see the high-speed flickering as star stuff flies in
A one way trip beyond the event horizon
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http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=32700
A cosmic lighthouse flashes in space
It's an X-ray pulsar with a regular pace
A neutron star 30 miles around at best
Spinning 'round its axis once a second or less
Then way beyond the Milky Way the active galaxies
Are the furthest biggest things our X-ray eyes can see
Point your X-ray specs toward the Sun's location
You'll notice that along with its slow rotation
You'll see active loops and plasma arcs
In a solar dance producing X-ray sparks
The X-ray Sun isn't serene and smooth
It's a dynamic and changing High Energy Groove
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http://glast.gsfc.nasa.gov/pu
blic/science/pulsars.html
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(Chorus)
http://www.solarviews.com/raw/sun/xsun.jpg
Grote Reber by Paul Shuch
http://www.qsl.net/n6tx/poetry/setisong/reber.htm
A radio ham in Wheaton, Illinois,
Grote Reber he was quite a busy boy
When he built himself a dish 'bout as big as you could wish
And he showed the world that it was not a toy.
Grote submitted his results for peer review
To the Astrophysics Journal, though he knew
That without a Ph.D. they'd be skeptical, but he
Would be vindicated in a year or two.
Reber's mother was a teacher, and Miss Grote,
On occasion taught a juvenile of note.
One who never gave her trouble was the brilliant Eddie Hubble,
And that surely was an influence on Grote.
Every astrophysics expert had his say.
They rejected Reber's radio Milky Way,
For the signals he depicted very clearly contradicted
Every cosmologic theory of the day.
Reber pointed his antenna at the sky,
And as countless constellations drifted by
He recorded in dB all the signals he could see
And became the first to map the Milky Wye.
Now Grote Reber he was never one to mope,
And he always could maintain a sense of hope.
As the generations passed, he acquired an image vast
As the father of the radio telescope.
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http://adc.gsfc.nasa.gov/mw/mmw_images.html
Doing the Supernova Bounce
by Arthur Roberts
Kepler's Supernova Remnant
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QuickTime™ and a
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http://www.haverford.edu/physicsastro/songs/roberts/1985/roberts198
5.htm
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2004/kepler/index.html
MASSIVE
Math And Science Songs
“The MASSIVE database contains information on
over 2000 science and math songs. Some of these
songs are suitable for 2nd graders; others might
only appeal to professors. … Some are quite silly;
others are downright serious.”
http://www.science-groove.org/MASSIVE/
Massive Radio channel on Live365.com