Pumpkin rasta
Now I've got onto atomic and nuclear physics with my first years class. I have combined SL and HL in the first year so try to get through as much of the core as possible. I was explaining why the mini solar system model for the atom, whilst being a neat connection between circular motion and electric fields, can not be true. I made this animation in Algodoo to show how the hair of a pumpkin rasta would move as a charge was brought close. The energy to lift the hair has come from the yellow charge so it must therefore lose energy. I also like to act this out in class moving a pretend charge back and forth and getting the students to lift their hair up and down. Before this mornings class accuses me of lying I don't always do this. Last time I did this one of the girls in my class had not had time to brush her hair and it was all sticking up, her boyfriend thought it was very funny. This imaginary demo also gets across the idea of em radiation having a velocity. The students at the front get their hair to stand on end before the ones at the back.