[YAPA] March meeting, February notes

[Roy McCullough]

Hi All,
 
A note to remind you that those who were at the earlier meetings agreed to move March’s meeting to Monday March 7 as usual at 7:00.  This meeting is at YSU Ward Beecher room 2016.  If you have anything of interest, please bring it to share.  For those who need a subject, let’s see if we can get charged up by current electricity.   As per last meeting, we will have materials available for those who wish to make a pop can van de Graaf.
 
What you missed:
 
At the February meeting, Roy McCullough showed a picture of the new storm on Saturn that he and Jodi had taken.  He also shared some electrostatics his students do with Styrofoam, a pie and a cheap electroscope.
 
Debbie Smith shared some of the ideas she has used in her classroom including work on buoyancy, in particular their efforts to find objects with neutral buoyancy.   She also shared a video her students had found about surfing on standing waves in a river.  The text below and website discuss and illustrate this… It lead to a lively discussion and a lead in to a fake video out there about someone using a waterslide to propel themselves into a small pool of water.
 
Rich Reigelman followed with an neat optics demo with a bright filament bulb in a box, first projecting positive images with “pinholes” then eventually using a small sphere (#6 shot) to project a negative image of the filament (Babinet’s ball).
 
Richard Zitto shared a Chinese singing bowl that he challenged us to make sing…Eventually we got close.
 
Gregg Sturrus shared the fake video, with Jim Andrews providing information on how it was modified.  Gregg discussed Myth Busters attempts at doing a full table version of the table cloth trick, with various mechanisms that all failed.  He also shared the concern about needing sponsors for Physics Olympics events.   
 
Jim Andrews shared using zinc and high UV lights to discharge electroscopes, illustrating the photoelectric effect.
 
Mike Crescimanno shared demos he has done with the pop can van de Graaf including spark gaps, discharging through old camera flash, etc. 
 
 
 
 
Standing wave river surfing:
 
Happens a few times every year… a bunch of bored dudes dig out the sand where the river meets the shorepound at Waimea – and presto! A fun afternoon of semi-surfing.
 
River Surfing is surfing on waves in rivers. The most common type of river surfing is on Standing Waves. Standing Waves do not change position. These waves are formed by the combination of fast moving water going over a drop or slope and the river bottom contours. The water goes down the slope or drop then comes back up to form the wave.

River Surfers face upstream and the surf boards ride on the face of the wave. To stay on the wave a River Surfer balances gravity pulling them down the face of the wave and the water pushing them downstream. The act of surfing on River Waves is very similar to surfing on Ocean Waves.

River Waves are everywhere! Any place with rivers can have waves. River Waves come in many different shapes and sizes from small mushy piles of white water to permanant barrels that can fit a standing surfer. Board sizes and shapes vary depending on the wave you ride.
 
When the surf is calm during the summer months and surfers are getting surfing fever, they might pray to the rain god.  The rain god might listen and deliver a promising deluge up in the Waimea Valley Mountains.  After the heavy rains, a huge mass of water from the Waimea River starts to form and needs an exit strategy.  Sometimes this is not so easy.  Sometimes the Waimea Bay beach acts as a natural barrier inhibiting the “Red Water” flow.  When the natural dam can not take anymore pressure, it gives way to a wonderful natural standing wave.  This is where Bruce Irons and other aficionados take time away from their busy work schedules and let loose.
 
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xgtvdp_surf-how-create-a-standing-wave-y_sport
 
 
Water flow for upstream surfing
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18BL7MKjtZM
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh5Cd72u6ys
  		 	   		  
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