September 20, 2003: Six Flags

 

Hosts: Bill Brinkhorst, Rex Rice and Mark Schober

Place: Six Flags

Resources for Six Flags Physics Day (Including graphs from the workshop.)

Jim Harig, director of all things mechanical at Six Flags, gave a backstage tour of Mr. Freeze.

The group looked to see the induction motors at the top of the Mr. Freeze vertical section. The photo was taken near the massive banks of capacitors that help supply the huge electrical draw when the induction motors are turned on.

	A digital projector was used to show the features of Vernier Software's Logger Pro 3.x. This version allows digital video to be matched with graphs of data taken simultaneously.
The workshop was led by Rex Rice, Mark Schober and Bill Brinkhorst. Note how close Rex is to the Coke fountain.

Workshop Description:

 

This workshop includes admission to Six Flags and lunch, provided to you and a guest compliments of Six Flags. You will also receive a CD that includes the latest Six Flags Physics Day workbook, movies and data from various Six Flags rides, and a demonstration version of the software that can be used to analyze the movie/data.

The purpose of this FREE workshop is to familiarize participants with physics activities that can be performed during Physics Day at Six Flags in the spring. This workshop will include some new video components that can be used to prepare students for the trip to Six Flags, to review the physics after the trip, or for general physics instruction even if you are not able to take your students to Six Flags in April.

This workshop will begin promptly at 9:00 a.m. with a behind the scenes tour of some of the rides by park engineer Jim Harig. This will be followed at 10:00 a.m. with a 2-hour workshop dealing with data collection and analysis for Physics Day activities presented by Bill, Mark, and Rex. We will then have lunch, after which workshop participants will be able to take vests equipped with LabPros, accelerometers, and barometers on various Six Flags rides. We will ask that all equipment be returned to our home base by 2:30 p.m. so that we can begin taking down the equipment. Participants and their guests may remain at the park until closing if they wish.

To register for this FREE workshop, please contact Bill Brinkhorst at bbrink@jburroughs.org (school phone 314-993-4040 ext 250) or rex rice at rex_rice@swbell.net (home phone 314-862-2845) as soon as possible. Plan to arrive at the park by 8:45 in order to go on the tour with Jim Harig.