|
|
What is Music?
| |
http://did.cit.jmu.edu/default.aspx?direct=image&id=31&res=ffh02310.xml
|
AE5.F55 Internet
|
This program examines sound-waves: why some sounds are musical and others just noise, and the relationship of regularity or irregularity of vibration to the perception of musicality, as well as such non-scientific questions as the cultural content of musical perception.
| |
|
Essence of an Instrument
| |
http://did.cit.jmu.edu/default.aspx?direct=image&id=31&res=ffh02311.xml
|
AE5.F55 Internet
|
Program analyzes the essential features required in any instrument if a usable musical sound is to be produced. Program examines how energy can be provided, how sound can be amplified, how amplification changes the quality of sound, and the consequences for music produced by synthesizers and computers.
| |
|
Science, Strings, and Symphonies
| |
http://did.cit.jmu.edu/default.aspx?direct=image&id=31&res=ffh02312.xml
|
AE5.F55 Internet
|
Two groups of instruments use strings as the primary source of sound: those in which plucking set the strings in vibration, and the bowed strings. This program shows how the demand for more powerful sounds was met, and examines the instruments of Stradivari to determine what science can and cannot reveal about their magic. It also examines the ways in which scientific methods complement the skill of craftsmen in making instruments.
| |
|
Technology, Trumpets and Tunes
| |
http://did.cit.jmu.edu/default.aspx?direct=image&id=31&res=ffh02313.xml
|
AE5.F55 Internet
|
Despite its title, this program actually covers all the wind instruments, including the pipe organ. It considers the way in which the technology of making instruments has affected the course of musical development, particularly the development of valves for trumpets and Boehm's system of woodwind keys. The program examines the subject of vibrations in tubes, the role of finger holes, and the components of tone quality. It concludes by putting a camera inside a large church organ to show what happens inside this marvelous combination of thousands of pipes, hundreds of yards of pneumatic tubing or electric cables, and countless valves or relays in response to the movements of the organist's hands and feet.
| |
|
Scales, Synthesizers and Samplers
| |
http://did.cit.jmu.edu/default.aspx?direct=image&id=31&res=ffh02314.xml
|
AE5.F55
|
This program covers such problems as the production of varying degrees of loudness on harpsichords and spinets, the mechanical engineering of the modern piano, the origin of scales, and the inability of keyboard instruments to produce scales in all keys exactly in tune. Synthesizers demonstrate both the problem and its solution. The progression is from electronic organs to analogue synthesizers, from purely electronic oscillations to the addition, subtraction, multiplication, mixing, and performance of additional functions that comprise the complex sounds of music. The program also looks at digital sound and musique concrète, using the BBC Radiophonic Workshop to answer some of the questions about the partnership between science and music.
| |
|
|
|
|
Physics and Physiology of Sports
| |
http://did.cit.jmu.edu/default.aspx?direct=image&id=31&res=ffh05564.xml
|
AE5.F55 Internet
|
When we engage in sports activity, we are usually not aware of the scientific way in which the activity combines the principles of physics and physiology. This program describes the principles governing the following sports activities: scuba diving, flying, sailing, and gymnastics. Content ranges from nitrogen bubbles and the "bends" through the Bernoulli principle to semicircular canals, all essential constituents of our sporting activities.
| |
|
|
Millikan's Oil-Drop Experiment
| |
http://did.cit.jmu.edu/default.aspx?direct=image&id=31&res=ffh01078.xml
|
AE5.F55 Internet
|
This program uses a modified version of the Millikan oil-drop apparatus to measure the radius and total charge of oil droplets. Students measure the terminal velocity of an oil drop falling under gravity in order to calculate the radius of the drop. The drop is then charged. An electric field is applied across the Millikan chamber so that the drop is suspended between the plates. The total charge on the drop can be calculated by students from the voltage required to suspend the drop. When this voltage is increased, the drop rises at a terminal velocity. Students can measure this and verify the total charge determined in the static experiment.
| |
|
|
|
|
Effect of Pressure on the Thermal Conductivity of a Gas, The
| |
http://did.cit.jmu.edu/default.aspx?direct=image&id=31&res=ffh01085.xml
|
AE5.F55 Internet
|
In this program, students measure the thermal conductivity of argon over a wide range of vacuum pressures. Heat is conducted by collisions between molecules. As the pressure of a conducting gas decreases, the number of molecules of gas decreases but the distance between molecules increases, thus keeping the rate of collisions relatively constant.
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Stephen Hawking's Universe: Seeing is Believing - The Big Bang
| |
http://did.cit.jmu.edu/default.aspx?direct=image&id=31&res=pbs_shn000-1.xml
|
AE5.P37 Internet
|
Presents the latest advances in cosmological thought, including the mathematics of astronomy, the Big Bang theory of creation, the nature of matter, the discovery and implications of dark matter, quasars and black holes, and the question of how the Big Bang began.
| |
|
Stephen Hawking's Universe: Black Holes and Beyond - an Answer to Everything
| |
http://did.cit.jmu.edu/default.aspx?direct=image&id=31&res=pbs_shn000-3.xml
|
AE5.P37 Internet
|
Black holes and beyond' focuses on Hawking's specialty, black holes. With the invention of radio astronomy over 50 years ago many astronomical discoveries came to light including ultraluminous quasars, wormholes, black holes and singularities. It was discovered that quasars, bizarre objects billions of light years away with a power output greater than all of the stars in our galaxy put together, shine brightly as matter is sucked into a black hole and heats up due to friction. Such discoveries seem to allow for travel over millions of miles of space or even time travel and have even led to SETI--the search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence--looking for stray alien communications. 'An answer to everything" asks the question: how did the Big Bang begin? Stephen Hawking is joined by other leading scientists as they try to answer this question. Includes discussions of inflation theory, quantum mechanics, and string theory.
| |
|
Determination of the Velocity of Light, The
| |
http://did.cit.jmu.edu/default.aspx?direct=image&id=31&res=ffh01072.xml
|
AE5.F55 Internet
|
The velocity of light is determined by focusing a deflected laser beam back and forth from a rotating mirror to a fixed mirror and measuring the deflection of the beam's image from its original path. The deflection of the beam is directly releated to the frequency of rotation of the mirror and inversely related to the speed of light.
| |
|
Determination of the Velocity of Radio Waves
| |
http://did.cit.jmu.edu/default.aspx?direct=image&id=31&res=ffh01073.xml
|
AE5.F55 Internet
|
The wavelengths and frequencies of radio waves are measured from the electric and magnetic fields generated from standing electromagnetic waves in an open-circuited transmission line. The distance between successive maxima in the electric and magnetic fields is one-half the wavelength of the original radiation. These maxima are measured along the transmission line with a vertical antenna on a receiver for the electric field and with a loop antenna for the magnetic field. Students record the distances between the maxima in the receiver signal. The frequency is timed by feeding the radio wave signal from the oscillator to a frequency meter which uses a piezoelectric crystal as the timer. Students can calculate the velocity of the radio waves (the product of the wavelength and the frequency) and compare this with the velocity of light measured in Program 1, Determination of the Velocity of Light.
| |
|
Determination of the Newtonian Constant of Gravitation, The
| |
http://did.cit.jmu.edu/default.aspx?direct=image&id=31&res=ffh01074.xml
|
AE5.F55 Internet
|
The Newtonian constant of gravitation is determined by measuring the gravitational force of attraction between massive spheres of lead and mercury. A torsion balance is used to measure the deflection angle which balances the torsional couple of the balance with the gravitational couple exerted by the massive spheres.
| |
|
Electron Diffraction
| |
http://did.cit.jmu.edu/default.aspx?direct=image&id=31&res=ffh01077.xml
|
AE5.F55 Internet
|
The wave behavior of electrons is studied by measuring the diffraction ring diameters produced when accelerated electrons pass through a graphite lattice. Students record the ring diameters for different electron accelerating voltages. The wavelength of the electrons is directly related to the ring diameters. Students can also verify de Broglie's relation, which states that the electron's wavelength is Planck's constant divided by the electron's momentum since the momentum is proportional to the square root of the accelerating voltage.
| |
|
Determination of a Radioactive Half-Life, The
| |
http://did.cit.jmu.edu/default.aspx?direct=image&id=31&res=ffh01083.xml
|
AE5.F55 Internet
|
In this program students measure the radioactive half-life of a metastable indium isotope produced by the neutron irradiation of an indium foil. After the sample has been irradiated, the number of ss-rays emitted can be measured with a Geiger counter. Students record the number of clicks of the Geiger counter for one-minute periods at half-hour intervals. By plotting the logarithm of the number of counts as a function of real time, the half-life can be read directly.
| |
|
| back to main page
|
Printer Friendly Version