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Exploding balloons, deformed balls, strange reflections and breaking rods: slow motion
analysis of selected hands-on experiments
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2011 Phys. Educ. 46 472
(http://iopscience.iop.org/0031-9120/46/4/018)
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Abstract
A selection of hands-on experiments from different fields of physics, which
happen too fast for the eye or video cameras to properly observe and analyse
the phenomena, is presented. They are recorded and analysed using modern
high speed cameras. Two types of cameras were used: the first were rather
inexpensive consumer products such as Casio Exilim cameras operating at
frame rates of up to 1200 Hz for reduced image sizes and the second were
higher quality research cameras, which allow much higher frame rates at
larger image sizes. In this first article, examples are presented from exploding
balloons demonstrating retardation in mechanics, karate hits, deformations
associated with the bouncing of balls, strange trajectories of superballs as
well as the breaking of spaghetti.
S Online supplementary data available from stacks.iop.org/physed/46/472/mmedia
Introduction
Quite often simple-to-perform hands-on experiments are utilized in the teaching of physics
for motivation and sometimes deepening of the
learning process [1].
Besides the fact that,
unfortunately, the phenomena are sometimes quite
complex, they often happen too fast for proper
observation with either the naked eye or video
cameras. In the past, high speed recordings
of experiments were in principle possible, but
the camera systems were too expensive for most
schools and only a few universities used them
472
PHYSICS EDUCATION
46 (4)
for introductory teaching. Hence quantitative explanations of even the simplest experiments were
often not possible or had to rely on assumptions
about the hidden physics.
This situation has improved considerably
within the last few years. The huge advances
in microelectronics and microsystem technologies
has led to modern high-speed cameras which
in the low price segmentare now affordable for
schools [2]. As a consequence, consumer product
cameras for less than 300 e can nowadays be used
in the teaching of physics [3]. Within the last
10
Figure 1. A green laser burns a hole into the skin of a red balloon (diameter 49 cm). Within a few milliseconds,
the balloon explodes (numbers correspond to time in milliseconds).
Retardation
Retardation is a common phenomenon in physics:
it describes the fact that disturbances only propagate with a certain velocity and therefore consequences of the disturbance happen later at greater
distances. Very well-known phenomena involving
finite propagation velocities are retarded electromagnetic fields and potentials in electromagnetism. In mechanics, retardation effects can be
easily detected with sound waves and experiments
with large distances; think, for example, of an
echo. Demonstration experiments for retardation
with small distances as well as those involving
non-gaseous objects are, however, much more
difficult to observe. It has been proposed to
use falling bars and springs to observe that the
lower end starts to fall later than the upper end,
which was initially fixed [4]. Unfortunately,
the retardation effect is somehow hidden in the
theoretical analysis since, during the fall due to
gravitation, the spring forces lead to a vertical
shortening of the initially stretched spring.
We propose a very simple retardation experiment which can be more easily analysed using a
high-speed camera. Figure 1 depicts a series of
images (a video of a balloon explosion is available
PHYSICS EDUCATION
473
E
is given by v =
, where E is Youngs
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-1
10
18
Figure 3. Snapshots of a breaking wooden rod (numbers correspond to time in ms). denotes the angle of rotation
of the pieces.
July 2011
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475
angle of rotation in ()
200
160
120
80
40
0
0
10
20
30 40
time (ms)
50
60
70
Figure 5. Snapshots of the (uncontrolled) breaking of a rod upon impact with a solid rod at velocity >20 m s1 .
476
PHYSICS EDUCATION
July 2011
-3.4
1.6
10.8
Figure 6. A vertical tennis serve on a table. The ball (mass = 58.2 g) needs about 3 ms to travel the distance of its
64 mm diameter in the downward movement 5.9 ms after the bounce. Total contact time with the table was 4 ms.
The numbers give time in ms with regard to first contact.
477
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PHYSICS EDUCATION
July 2011
Figure 10. Snapshots from bounce experiments with a basketball at points of maximum deformation. Left: if
thrown hard, the ball (598.7 g) needs about 23.8 ms to travel the distance of its 239 mm diameter in the downward
movement 34.2 ms after the bounce. Right: after falling from a height of 1.3 m.
479
(b)
(c)
PHYSICS EDUCATION
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481
Figure 16. The fragments of broken spaghetti show transverse vibrations. The right fragment oscillates at a
frequency of 250 Hz.
PHYSICS EDUCATION
Figure 18. Example of breaking spaghetti into two pieces with a karate hit of the finger.
stacks.iop.org/physed/46/472/mmedia). Breaking
occurs within 0.5 ms and within 0.25 ms, the end
of the spaghetti on the table lifts off. One can
also readily observe bending oscillations of the
fragments.
If, as in the case of the wooden rod, the
initial velocity is increased (here 14 m s1 ) while
simultaneously decreasing the size of the hitting
object (top part of a screwdriver, lateral size
less than 3 mm), the spaghetti again breaks
into more parts (figure 19) (a video of karate
breaking spaghetti into four pieces is available
at stacks.iop.org/physed/46/472/mmedia). In this
case, the applied force is so strong, that a much
larger deformation happens in the middle. Since
PHYSICS EDUCATION
483
Figure 19. Example of breaking spaghetti into four pieces with a stronger karate hit by a smaller screwdriver.
Outlook
The experiments discussed represent only a very
small selection in the field of mechanics where
high-speed cameras can be used. Many more
examples were tested and some can be found as
videos on the internet. Potential and successfully
tested candidates in the field of mechanics of solids
include experiments with inertia, e.g. quickly
kicking out a coin from the middle of a tower
of dice without touching the dice and destroying
the tower, or the well-known magicians trick of
removing a table cloth from a table with dishes
and glasses by very quickly pulling the table cloth.
It is also possible to directly demonstrate the
difference in free fall velocities of a metal sphere
compared to the top of a rod initially inclined
at an angle. One may study spinning tops and
also tippe tops which turn upside down during
operation as well as the so-called rattlebacks
(also called Celtic stones or wobble stones) which
have a preferred direction for spinning. If spun
in the opposite direction, they become unstable,
rattle and reverse the spin. The bouncing ball
experiments can be pursued further by studying
bouncing of two or three balls on top of each
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PHYSICS EDUCATION
References
[1] Chiaverina Ch and Vollmer M 2006 Learning
physics from experiments Informal Learning
and Public Understanding of Physics, Selected
Contributions of the Third Int. Girep Seminar
2005 ed G Planinsic and A Mohoric (Slovenia:
University of Ljubljana)
[2] Vollmer M and Mollmann K-P 2011 High
speedslow motion: technology of modern
high speed cameras Phys. Educ. 46 191202
[3] Heck A and Uylings P 2010 In a hurry to work
with high-speed video at school? Phys. Teach.
48 17681
[4] Aguirregabiria J M, Hernandez A and
Rivas M 2007 Falling elastic bars and springs
Am. J. Phys. 75 5837
July 2011
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