Weird tricks get kids studying physics
by Cody Calamaio on Jul. 03, 2008, under Education, Family, Local, SpecialTucson-based group set for 30 performances of wacky demonstrations
Chris Discenza enthralls students with a glass of liquid nitrogen in a demonstration by the Physics Factory at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tucson's Drachman Clubhouse, 5901 S. Santa Clara Ave.
Fire twirls into a vortex, frozen racquetballs shatter, balloons contract and expand, cups of water spin in circles and trash-can cannons shoot perfect rings of smoke into a cheering crowd of children. It is just another day in the life of the Physics Factory team.
The students, teachers and physicists who make up the Tucson-based Physics Factory perform free science demonstrations for kids across the state, and soon, the nation.
Last week, they performed at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tucson’s Drachman Clubhouse, 5901 S. Santa Clara Ave.
On Saturday they will embark on their second cross-country tour with nine people and 400 gallons of vegetable oil fuel packed in their refurbished bus.
“The tour is to show how fun science can be,” Physics Factory vice president Erik Herman said, “to show people that adventures are still possible.”
Physics Factory shows mix science with “magic” as the performers demonstrate scientific principles while kids shoot their hands into the air to volunteer to be spun by a bicycle tire, shrink-wrapped in trashbags by a vacuum or go whizzing across the stage on a hover-chair.
“A lot of people think physics is boring book learning,” volunteer and University of Arizona senior Mike Fenwick said. “It’s applicable to their lives, whether or not they realize it.”
Fenwick was recruited three years ago by Physics Factory president and UA mathematics professor Bruce Bayly, who helped start the organization.
The tour will consist of more than 30 performances, and one stop at the American Association of Physics Teachers meeting in Canada to make a presentation on physics and performance, volunteer Chris Discenza said. “We’re going to see as many kids as possible,” said Discenza, who teaches at a high school in New York.
The Physics Factory was born from the “Physics Phun Night” demonstrations at UA and Pima Community College campuses that started more than five years ago, Discenza said.
The other component of the organization is a mentoring program that teams college volunteers with students from high schools with high dropout rates to create physics projects to share.
Discenza said it is an opportunity to get students excited about science and encourage them to stay in school.
Herman, who teaches at Wildcat School, 5660 S. 12th Ave., said that sports and the arts always get their time to shine, but that science doesn’t often get to be entertaining and fun.
The bus will cruise toward Canada, getting about 10 miles to the gallon on vegetable oil supplied by the Inventure Group, previously known as Poore Brothers Potato Chips, Discenza said.
The group hopes the new bus – well, new to the group – will make the long journey. The original Physics Factory bus met its end on the 2006 national tour and was towed the last 40 miles of the journey.
“It’s a miracle it made it as far as it did,” Herman said.
He said the team decided to do the trip again just because the members enjoy it.
“The more we get kids on stage, it gives us a new energy that we want,” Herman said. “Really, it was just a crazy idea in our minds.”
Hector Acuna, 8, volunteers in a demonstration of the conservation of angular momentum.
Diego Valenzuela, 9, has the air sucked out of the plastic bag that is wrapped around him in a demonstration by the Physics Factory.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION
To follow the team’s journey online, or for more information on shows or how to volunteer, visit: www.physicsfactory.org.
