SMILE Math-Phys High School Meeting
07 September 1999
Notes taken by Alex Junievicz

Bill Colson [Morgan Park HS]
What science is not ...

Ann Brandon[Joliet West HS]
A Phyzz keeper

Old 2 liter bottles had smooth caps and occasionally pop off, sending the top flying with possible lawsuits, but the later bottles have a serration so that CO2 would be liberated with a swish, and not a pump or pop.

Carl Martikean [Wallace HS, Gary]
[Given this equation for an ideal gas, the answers should be obvious, but to whom?]
He filled up a sota can and put a flame under it. Why does it boil when heated? When it reaches the vapor point then air is released, and some of it stays in the solution and creates bubbles. With the boiling water inside the can is then tipped over into a tray of water, and the can collapses because the water vapor condenses and air pressure inside is reduced. Air pressure on the outside causes the can to collapse.

He also filled a test tube with water, raised the temperature till it boiled, capped the tube, and cooled the tube with a wet rage. The water under lower pressure as well as residual heat caused the liquid to continue boiling. why? Boyle's Law.

Boyle obtained this law using a J-tube filled with mercury and heated to vary both pressure and temperature, which he also used to do the first investigations on Charles Law. Robert Boyle [1627-1691] argued against Aristotle's view of the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water; suggesting that matter was composed of corpuscles which thmeselves were differently built up of different configurations of primary particles. Boyle, whose work profoundly influenced Isaac Newton, was attacked by the Philosopher Thomas Hobbes for his ideas on the scientific approach. On Boyle's tombstone he is described as "Father of Chemistry and Uncle of the Earl of Cork".

Roy Colemen [Morgan Park HS]
An observation from a Time Traveller book:

Jump back 6 months. You will be out in space because the earth has moved since then. You need to specify displacement and time change to land on earth. Paradox: What would happen if you went back in time and killed your mom? How could you be here without ever being born? Paradox].

PJ comment: Not if you reject the simple linear nature of time, and allow a more sophisticated connection between the past and the alternative futures. See the science fiction classic, TIMESCAPE by Gregory Benford, a physicist.

Alex Junievicz [CPS Substitute]
showed one example of a free give-away usual available at ISPP meetings, which displays an infinite set of reflected images of Christmas lights.

RaeLynn Schneider [Williams School]
At Brookfield Zoo there is a program for teachers only, which is called "Discover Salt Creek Wilderness". there was a recent open house for the program at the Zoo on Sept 22 1999.

Fred Schaal [Lane Tech HS]
He showed his new bike, with the spokes off center. Why is this true only on the rear wheel? The back wheel had the spokes offset, and not on the center of the "U" for the tire. It was mentioned that some bikes have three spoke wheels, adn it was said to be only for racing. It was pointed out that police bikes have these wheels. Why?