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Colin Hopkins' CDROM

Teaching Resources, Videos, Images, Revision

Colin Hopkins is an experienced physics teacher, who for many years has provided support to teachers and students alike. He has spoken several times at Physics Teachers' Conferences and In-Services on variations on the theme of 'Tips and Hints for Beginning Physics Teachers'. At these talks he has given participants a CDROM of the resources he has compiled and personally prepared. Colin has kindly made this material available to be put on this website. Links to the material will be added to this site during April 2009.

Teaching Resources

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Videos

Type	Filename	Filesize

	Dyes in Milk	11.8 MB
Three dyes are added to milk in a petri dish. A drop of detergent is then added and the dyes mix. Light, colour. 1 min avi file.

	Crown Glass in Glycerol	11.3 MB
Crown glass block disapppears in glycerol. Ending missing. Light, refractive index. 48 sec Quick time file.

	Egg and fitted sheet	8.01 MB
Students throw a raw egg at a fitted sheet hung from the ceiling. Motion, air bag, impulse. 23 sec avi file.

	Newton's 3rd law of Motion	34.1 MB
An ASPEN video showing a stoppered and tilted test tube of ether on an air tack glider. The ether is warmed by a small burner. The pressure increases, then pushes the stopper from the tube, the glider goes backwards. Motion, Newton's 3rd Law, rockets. 1:50 min mpeg file. ASPEN is the Asian Physics Education Network, a group which operates under the auspices of UNESCO to promote and communicate developments in university physics education in the Asian region.

	Projectile Motion	26.3 MB
An ASPEN video showing a trolley with a small vertical cannon. Video from a stationary position and from moving with the trolley show horizontal and vertical components of projectile motion Motion, Projectile motion, components. 1:25 min mpeg file. ASPEN is the Asian Physics Education Network, a group which operates under the auspices of UNESCO to promote and communicate developments in university physics education in the Asian region.

	Effect of acceleration on the face	51.3 kB
The cheeks are pushed back. Motion, acceleration. 2 sec Quicktime file.

	Flying Boomerang in free fall in a spacecraft	742 kB
Inside an orbiting space craft a boomerang is thrown and returns. Motion, flight, lift. 19 sec mp4 file.

	The Cat and the Fan	959 kB
A cat on a table spies an object hanging from the slowly rotating blade of a ceiling fan. The cat jumps up to grab the object, but its paw get caught. The cat is spun around by the ceiling fan, eventually flying off into the wall. Circular motion. 11 sec mpg file.

	Centre of Mass of a Can	537 kB
A drink can with only 1 cm of liquid in the bottom can be placed on its edge and stay at an angle. Centre of Mass. 38 sec asf file.

	Falling Dominoes on a Pool Table	2.81 MB
The cascading dominoes trick on a billard table with the balls being knocked by the falling dominoes and rolling into the pockets. The cascade is carried over onto adjacent billard tables. Momentum, Collisions. 1:37 min wmv file.

	The Granny and the Air Bag	985 kB
A driver sounds his horn at a slow old lady at a pedestrian crossing. She hits the bumper bar with her hand bag and walks on slowly. The air bag goes off. Impulse. 33 sec wmv file.

	Horse kick	819 kB
A horse being branded on its rump, kicks backwards, sending the person flying off screen. Impulse, collisions. 3 sec mpeg file.

	Parking the car with style	649 kB
A sports car is driven at speed, does a wheelie and slides into a parking space between two cars, that equals the length of the sports car with cms to spare. Friction.7 sec mpeg file.

	Plane landing	345 kB
A example of a poor plane landing with the nose bouncing off the tarmac as the plane goes along. Impulse, impacts. 11 sec wmv file.

	Pool Jump	653 kB
A running jump attempt to cross a swimming pool that just misses. Projectile Motion. 5 sec mpeg file.

	Attempted Knievel bike trick	1.56 MB
A boy races his bike along the street towards a ramp, hoping to land on the roof of the building. He just misses. Impulse, impacts. 9 sec mpeg file.

	Finding Centre of Mass of a ruler	1.18 MB
A metre ruler rests on two fingers, one at each end of the ruler. The fingers are slowly brought together, meeting at the middle. Centre of mass, friction. 12 sec avi file.

	Finding Centre of Mass of a ruler with a mass attached	1.47 MB
A metre ruler with a mass at the 20cm mark rests on two fingers, one at each end of the ruler. The fingers are slowly brought together. This time they do not meet in the middle. Centre of mass, friction. 16 sec avi file.

	Banana in a spacecraft	981 kB
A twirling banana flies across an orbiting spacecraft. Apparent weightlessness. 6 sec avi file.

	Resonating wine glass	247 kB
Strobe footage of a resonating wine glass showing substantial oscillation prior to fracture. Sound, resonance. 2 sec mpeg file.

	An F14 breaking the sound barrier	1.35 MB
The plane flies past a ship faster than the speed of sound. The moisture in the shock wave condenses out as a funnel shaped cloud. Sound, flight 9 sec mpeg file.

	Worksafe video	1.99 MB
A young man with a compressed air cylinder strapped to his back lies across a roller chair. The valve is knocked off and he shoots across the floor into a barrel of oranges. Newton's 3rd law, force. 24 sec mpeg file.

	Another F14 breaking the sound barrier	687 kB
Another plane flies faster than the speed of sound. The moisture in the shock wave condenses out as a funnel shaped cloud. Sound, flight 11 sec mp4 file.

	Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse	7.84 MB
A detailed video showing the oscillation from the side and along the bridge, as well as a man runing off the bridge. The collapse is also shown. Sound, resonance. 53 sec mpeg file.

	Voice change with Helium	3.05 MB
The mythbusters team use Helium and Sulphur Hexafluoride to show the effect on the voice of gases lighter and heavier than air. Sound, standing waves. 39 sec mp4 file.

	Floating in a spacecraft	2.25 MB
Astronaut is asked via video link from earth 'what does weightlessness feel like?' He responds by releasing the microphone and spinning on the spot, while the microphone does not move. Apparent weightlessness. 24 sec quicktime file

	Floating in a spacecraft with calculator	657 kB
Astronaut releases a spinning calculator in an orbiting spacecraft. Apparent weightlessness. 6 sec quicktime file

	Floating in a spacecraft with open book	959 kB
Astronaut struggles with an open book in an orbiting spacecraft. Apparent weightlessness. 9 sec Quicktime file

	Floating in a spacecraft with spinning calculator	1.05 MB
Female astronaut releases a spinning calculator in an orbiting spacecraft. Apparent weightlessness. 8 sec Quicktime file

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Images

Type	Filename	Filesize

	Car on edge of ravine. 1. Close up of car	54.3 kB


	Car on edge of ravine. 2. Photo showing edge	99.1 kB


	Car on edge of ravine. 3. Photo showing drop	93.2 kB


	Car on edge of ravine. 4. Photo showing ravine	177 kB


	Three seagulls squawking	48.3 kB
Useful to show when a small group is chatting and not on task.

	Man supporting himself upside down on one hand	54.7 kB


	Eight person circus act on one motor bike	84.8 kB


	reflection in everglades at sunset	124 kB


	Aurora and its reflection in a still lake	40.4 kB


	Example of OH&S bad practice 1. Scaffolding	84.9 kB


	Example of OH&S bad practice 2. Head protection	154 kB


	Example of OH&S bad practice 7. Fork lift	87.4 kB


	Example of OH&S bad practice 3. Face mask	83.8 kB


	Example of OH&S bad practice 4. Excessive loads	97 kB


	Example of OH&S bad practice 5. Stacking	97 kB


	Example of OH&S bad practice 6. Car jack	110 kB


	Example of OH&S bad practice 8. Scaffolding with ladder	54.9 kB


	Example of OH&S bad practice 9. Scaffolding with chair	110 kB


	Example of OH&S bad practice 10. Stepping out of a flying plane	73.5 kB


	Example of OH&S bad practice 11. Scaffolding with 2 ladders	54.9 kB


	Example of OH&S bad practice 12. Holding pistol target	82.8 kB


	Example of OH&S bad practice 13. Welding	83.4 kB


	Truck tipped with heavy load	78 kB


	Trimming toe nails with grinder	105 kB


	Van der Graaf: Hair spread out	40.8 kB

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Revision

Unit 3

Some of these files were written in Word 2007. It seems that when they are downloaded, they appear as "Bitzipper ZIP" files. These files are being progessively reformatted to an earlier version of Word.

Type	Filename	Filesize

	Revision Exercise on Unit 3 Motion No 1	104 kB
Nine questions on Unit 3 Motion in one and two dimensions, with space for answers, solutions provided. The questions were compiled in 2007. 6 page Word document.

	Revision Exercise on Unit 3 Motion No 2	156 kB
Five questions on Unit 3 Motion in one and two dimensions, with space for answers, solutions provided. The questions were compiled in 2007. 3 page Word document.

	Revision Exercise on Unit 3 Motion No 3	256 kB
Four questions on Unit 3 Motion in one and two dimensions, with space for answers, solutions provided, emphasis on universal gravitation. The questions were compiled in 2007. 3 page Word document.

	Revision Exercise on Unit 3 Motion No 4	72.7 kB
Nine questions on Unit 3 Motion in one and two dimensions, with space for answers, solutions provided. The questions were compiled in 2007. 6 page Word document.

	Revision Exercise on Unit 3 Motion No 5	79.4 kB
Set of 8 questions on Force with solutions. The questions were compiled in 2007. 5 page Word document.

	Revision Exercise on Unit 3 Motion No 6	38.4 kB
Three questions on Grvitation with solutions. The questions were compiled in 2007. 2 page Word document.

	Physics Learning Study Plan 2009	60.9 kB
Advice of learning and studying physics. 4 page document.

	Gravitation	1.75 MB
Summary of Gravitaton interspersed with questions and solutions. Prepared in 2002 15 page document.

	Circular Motion: Extra Questions	101 kB
A set of questions mainly on motion in a vertical plane, with solution. Prepared in 2002. 4 page document.

	Circular Motion Summary with Questions	49.2 kB
A four page summary of Circular Motion followed by 3 pages of questions with solutions. Prepared in 2009. 7 page document.

	Circular Motion Summary with Questions (2002)	250 kB
A four page summary of Circular Motion followed by 3 pages of questions with solutions. Prepared in 2002. 7 page document.

	Gravitation Summary with Questions	1.44 MB
Summary of five pages followed by questions with solutions. Prepared in 2009. 13 page document.

	Energy in Collisions Summary with Questions	178 kB
Summary of three pages followed by questions with solutions. Prepared in 2009. A 6 page document.

	Momentum Summary with Questions	150 kB
Summary of two pages followed by questions with solutions. Prepared in 2009. 4 page document.

	Forces Summary with Questions	260 kB
Summary of four pages followed by questions with solutions. Prepared in 2009. 8 page document.

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