A really cool demonstration of momentum and energy.  Try to understand this one!  Where can we get long bead chains like this?!?!?!  We must try this one in class.

TED: Freeman Hrabowski and his 4 Pillars of College Success

A talk from the President of University of Maryland, Baltimore.  He marched with Dr. Martin Luther King as a boy, and now works on getting minorities, the poor, and other underrepresented groups into science and math.

Video for an Explosive Use of Capacitors and Conservation of Momentum, Watermellon style!

Courtesy of Louis S.:

The video I chose actually represents two aspects of physics in this class.  The set-up of the watermelon explosion is simply a large bank of capacitors wired together in series with an extremely high voltage. When one of the capacitors is discharged, there is an enormous current that runs through the watermelon, causing it to explode. This shows the relationship between capacitance, voltage, and current.  The other portion of this class can be seen with the high speed camera showing the watermelon explode.  When the watermelon is initially at rest, its momentum is zero.  Then, once it explodes, all of the little pieces of watermelon-shrapnel must fly off such that the components of their motion must equal zero.

Congratulations to the Class of 2013!! You will be missed

Each year this is a bittersweet time for me.  I hate to see the senior class leave, but at the same time I am tremendously happy for and proud of the students.  You are about to enter a new phase of life, and also one of the great times in life.  You are all prepared for college on the academic side, and you will quickly learn and adapt to independence on the personal and social sides.  Enjoy the experience!

Here's to the Class of 2013!  A job very well done!!
- Doc V