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Good Afternoon Andrew,
Your demonstration reminds me of an "experiment" conducted very late one evening in the late 1960s at a well-respected, university (which will -- for now -- remain nameless) Several engineering students in my dormitory, were discussing transfer of energy and the Law of Conservation of Momentum -- while consuming w-a-y too much coffee...... when one student said that dropping a bowling ball off the nearby football stadium would be an interesting experiment. If my memory serves me correctly, the bowling ball was dropped off the top of the football stadium, it landed below on a concrete plaza and it then quickly bounced upwards to an unbelievable height.... then, as the bowling ball was returning for its second trip to the concrete plaza, it hit a curb, and glanced off the curb in a westerly direction -- away from the stadium, thankfully missing the parked cars. The bowling ball was recovered, not worse for the wear, and we all were duly impressed by observing such a memorable experiment.
Thanks for the reminding me of the memory,
Wesley
Wesley S. Creel
Administrator of Programs
Pink Palace Family of Museums
3050 Central Avenue
Memphis, TN 38111
www.memphismuseums.org
Office 901.636.2370 new telephone number
FAX 901.636.2391 new FAX number
Please consider including the Pink Palace Family of Museums in your charitable giving plans
along with your other charitable interests.
Please visit all our great facilities as well as our website: www.memphismuseums.org Our mission: The Pink Palace Family of Museums inspires people to learn how history.science, technology and nature shape the mid-South. Through rich collections, thought-provoking exhibitions, and engaging programs, we encourage our diverse community to reflect on the past, understand the present, and influence the future
-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Spence, Andrew J
Sent: Tuesday, September 18, 2012 12:22 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Large scale astroblaster demonstration
ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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Hello,
We here at the Kentucky Science Center are developing a science demonstration on the physics of falling and bouncing. The approx. 20-min show is conducted on our 3rd floor balcony and features dropping a variety of objects through our 40-ft atrium. For one of the elements we're attempting to show the transfer of energy and the Law of Conservation of Momentum by launching a small ball on top of a basketball. In our many trials we've only been able to perfectly align the balls once and have a small ball zoom past us to hit the ceiling of the building. Usually the balls will slide apart during the fall and either fail to make contact or launch at unpredictable angles.
Any suggestions out there for making our own astroblasters? The set of four balls on the plastic stick commonly seen in science supply catalogs is too small for our demonstration. This doesn't even need to be a row of four balls-two that can stay aligned and illustrate these principles would be great.
Thanks,
Andrew
Andrew Spence
Visitor Experience Coordinator
Kentucky Science Center
Telephone: (502) 561-6100 ext. 6112
Email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
http://www.facebook.com/KentuckyScienceCenter<http://www.facebook.com/LouisvilleScienceCenter>
http://www.twitter.com/KYscience<http://www.twitter.com/LouScience> / @KYscience
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For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.
Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.
The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L-Soft. To learn more, visit
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To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
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