Physics Students Bring Home Blake Lilly Prize
Once again, our students in the natural sciences receive national recognition. This time, members of our Society of Physics Students (SPS) are honored for their effort to positively influence the attitudes of school children and the general public about physics. Physics Professor David Kagan received the news August 15 when the Blake Lilly Prize Committee notified him that our SPS chapter was selected as a 2006 Blake Lilly winner.
“This award was earned by the hard work students do to present the pumpkin drop and the rocket trike,” said Prof. Kagan, adding that Justin Stimatze, Joel Amato, Brendan Diamond, Tiara Norris, Tamara Jones, Andrew Fisher, and Joe Gran were among the students who represented SPS.
From the Physics Web site, we learn that the rocket trike is an adult tricycle powered by a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher. It illustrates Newton's Third Law, commonly known as the Law of Action and Reaction. The rocket trike exerts an action force on the escaping carbon dioxide gas. The gas in turn exerts a reaction force on the rocket trike causing it to accelerate.
In addition, our SPS chapter recently received a Marsha W. White award of $265 to help with trike repairs. The CSUC Marsha White Award report reveals that students will demonstrate the rocket trike at multiple upcoming K-12 outreach events. The rocket trike's dramatic illustration of Newton's Law is a highly entertaining and effective tool for increasing student interest in science.
The Blake Lilly prize also recognized the highly popular pumpkin drop which is a re-creation of Galileo Galilee's legendary “Tower of Pisa Experiment.” On Halloween an SPS member dressed as Galileo explains the Law of Falling Bodies as other SPS members demonstrate the law by dropping pumpkins and other assorted fruits and vegetables from the top of Butte Hall, the tallest building on campus. Those in the audience report that it's a smashing good time!
Chico was one of seven Society of Physics Students chapters in the nation to receive this prestigious honor this year. Chapters from Ball State University, the University of Michigan , Mississippi State University, Hartnell Community College, Cornell University, and the University of Central Florida were also honored.
Our SPS chapter will receive the three-volume set of the Feynman Lectures on Physics and a certificate. Also, the chapter will be listed in the SPS Observer and on the SPS national website as a Blake Lilly winner.
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