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Video-Friendly Workshops are Part of the American Association of Physics Teachers Annual Winter Meeting

January 17, 2008
To: Reporters, editors, producers
From: Lisa De Nike/ 443-287-9960 / Lde@jhu.edu
Re: Video-friendly workshops being conducted as part of the American Association of Physics Teachers annual winter meeting

A recreation of some of Benjamin Franklin's most famous experiments and a "haunted" physics laboratory are just two of the workshops being offered at The Johns Hopkins University this weekend as part of the American Association of Physics Teachers annual winter meeting, being held Jan. 19-23 in Baltimore. The workshops will take place on Saturday, Jan. 19, and Sunday, Jan. 20, in the Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy, located at the north end of the campus near Homewood Field. (See parking instructions below.)

Highlights of the weekend workshops particularly suited to photographers and camera crews include:

Franklin and Electrostatics, 8 a.m. to 12 noon on Saturday, Jan.19, Room 361. Robert A. Morse, who teaches physics at St. Alban's School in Washington, D.C, will, recreate many of Benjamin Franklin's experiments (including the construction of an electrostatic motor) using inexpensive, modern components.

Haunted Physics Laboratory, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 19, Room 165C. Penn State University Associate Professor of Physics Richard Flarend will help teachers learn how to set up a "spooktacular" Haunted Physics Lab using equipment and supplies available in most school science laboratories.

The Physics of Toys, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 20, Room 478. Ray Turner, Alumni Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Physics at Clemson University, will lead this workshop designed to show teachers at all levels how to make physics fun through the use of ordinary children's toys. More than 50 toys will be demonstrated, and the physical principles related to these toys will be discussed. This workshop will concentrate on toys that illustrate the concepts of force, equilibrium, linear and rotational motion, optics and light, sound, and waves.

Make and Take Elihu-Thompson Coil, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 20, Room 165D. Sam Sampere, part-time instructor of physics at Syracuse University, will construct an Elihu-Thompson coil, also known as a Ring Flinger, from an inexpensive kit designed by Sampere. The Flinger is a large coil of wire surrounded by iron rods which leaps about 20 feet in the air when electrified.

For a complete list of workshops taking place throughout the meeting, go here: www.aapt.org/Events/workshopabs.cfm.

Reporters can park on the top level of the Muller Deck parking garage. The entrance to that top level is accessible from San Martin Drive. Coming from University Parkway on San Martin, turn left just below the stadium at Homewood Field. Go past JHU's ROTC building and turn right onto the top of the parking deck. The parking deck gates will be open. The Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy is just to the other side of the parking deck. Follow this link for a map of campus buildings and parking areas.

Reporters interested in covering these events do not need to call ahead: just arrive at the Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy and ask for Steven Wonnell.