The document discusses using songs, poetry, and dance to teach physics concepts. It provides lyrics and instructions for 6 physics-related songs covering Snell's law, projectile motion, nuclear physics, simple harmonic motion, and capacitors. The songs are set to well-known tunes and include choreography for one song about Snell's law done to the Macarena. The document encourages teachers to find more existing physics songs and create new ones to keep engaging students through the arts.
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1. How To Keep Kicking
Your Science Teaching
In The Arts
Poetry, Music, Song & Dance
in the Physics Lab
by T. (“Haggis”) Henderson
2. Willebrord Van Rooijen Snell
Projectile Song
Nuclear Physics Song
The SHM Song
The Capacitor Song
Snell‟s Law…all with choruses
and…
Homework
3. • To the tune:”Sweet Betsy From Pike”
• The web address to find the original set of lyrics and
mp3 file is
http://www.haverford.edu/physics/songs/snell.htm
• Physics lyrics by Marion McKenzie and Walter Smith
(Google “Physics Songs”)
• C is a comfortable key
• Image from the Haverford website
4.
5. C F (or C) G (or G7) Am (or C)
Singin‟ n1 sine theta-sub-1, hey, hey, hey,
C F (or C) G (or G7) C
Equals n2 sine theta-sub-2, hip hooray!
6. C G7 C
His greatest feat came in Sixteen Twenty-one,
Am G G7
When optics as science was really begun!
C Em F C
While flashes of lightning illumined his page,
G7 C
He wrote down Snell‟s law, his great gift to the age!
C G7 C
So if you wear glasses or like to fry ants,
Am G G7
Be grateful your lenses were not made by chance!
C Em F C
Astronomers hail him with each new-found star!
G7 C
Microscopists toast him from each sleazy bar!
7. C F (or C) G (or G7) Am (or C)
Singin‟ n1 sine theta-sub-1, hey, hey, hey,
C F (or C) G (or G7) C
Equals n2 sine theta-sub-2, hip hooray!
8. C G7 C
Now some credit Harriot, others Descartes,
Am G G7
Both studied refraction, and both were real smart.
C Em F C
But we prefer Willebrord van Rooijen Snell
G7 C
He laid down the law, and he did it darn well!
9. C F (or C) G (or G7) Am (or C)
Singin‟ n1 sine theta-sub-1, hey, hey, hey,
C F (or C) G (or G7) C
Equals n2 sine theta-sub-2, hip hooray!
10. C F (or C) G (or G7) Am (or C)
Singin‟ n1 sine theta-sub-1, hey, hey, hey,
C F (or C) G (or G7) C
Equals n2 sine theta-sub-2, hip hooray!
11. • To the tune:”The Old Folks At
Home”
• Music and original words by
Stephen Foster
• C is a comfortable key
• Written to assist NCEA2
learners
12. When a thing is thrown and it zips off
It will chase a parabolic arc
We can do this with a gun or ball
Or even Fido‟s stick when in the park
An object that‟s not held up by anything
Will plunge to earth like concrete in free-
fall
As well as that, in a horizontal sense
There is no force that pushes it at all
13. Horizontally, its speed is set
Of acceleration that way, it
is free
Vertically, everything that‟s
not held up
Accelerates to earth, with
value “g”
14. Projectiles are objects that are in the air
Free from almost all external force
We ignore all lift & thrust & drag but we
Must include the vector, weight, of course
To find the range of anything that‟s
thrown about
We need to find the time until it lands
The vertical velocity, when t is nought
Combined with “g” will put it in our hands
15. Horizontally, its speed is set
Of acceleration that way, it
is free
Vertically, everything that‟s
not held up
Accelerates to earth, with
value “g”
16. Finally, now we know our time of
flight
And the constant horizontal
speed
We can find the distance „til the
object drops
And thus we then have all the
stuff we need
17. Horizontally, its speed is set
Of acceleration that way, it
is free
Vertically, everything that‟s
not held up
Accelerates to earth, with
value “g”
18. • To the tune:”Baby Blue”
• Music and original words by George Baker
• G is a comfortable key to sing it in
• The purposes of the song are to:
• Help students understand why energy is released in
nuclear reactions (AS 3.5-90522)
• Explain why BOTH fission and fusion release energy
• Show that c2 is the link between mass and energy.
19. Henri Becquerel looked in his drawer
And what he saw there he‟d not seen before
Uranium fogged the photo paper although it was
wrapped
From where did this energy come?
In total a remarkable sum
The potential was enormous if only this resource
could be tapped
20. Nucleus, the nucleus
Elusive source of high energy
Extremely small, almost no
volume at all
And Rutherford gave it an I.D.
21. The amount of energy did amaze
Alpha, Beta and Gamma rays
And nobody knew just what it was that powered
the Sun
“Mass and energy” (said Einstein)
“Are equivalent”; their values entwine
C2 is the ratio; 90 thousand trillion to one
22. Nucleus, the nucleus
Elusive source of high energy
Extremely small, almost no
volume at all
And Rutherford gave it an I.D.
23. Fission is an energy source
Fusion powers stars, and our Sun, of course
The puzzle is, they‟re opposites yet both of them
can generate heat
The secret at the very heart
Is the “mass per nucleon” U-shaped chart
Coming in from each end will drop “m” and give
off “E” – now that‟s neat
24. Nucleus, the nucleus
Elusive source of high energy
Extremely small, almost no
volume at all
And Rutherford gave it an I.D.
25. • To the tune:”Swing Low,
Sweet Chariot”
• (F is a comfortable key to
sing it in)
27. A bouncing swingbridge; a korimako sings
Harmonic motion, simple to see
A natural frequency seen for all things
One on T gives frequency
All has mass and springiness
Harmonic motion, simple to see
If you have more k then the period‟s less
One on T gives frequency
29. S.H.M. – an energised state
Harmonic motion, simple to see
The energy cycles too; with twice the rate
One on T gives frequency
Energy shows exponential decay
Harmonic motion, simple to see
Subcritical damping makes it that way
One on T gives frequency
31. S.H.M. can be diagnosed
Harmonic motion, simple to see
“a” proportional to “y” but the signs are
opposed
One on T gives frequency
The field of applications; wide and big
Harmonic motion, simple to see
So get your head around the waves from trig.
One on T gives frequency
33. • To the tune:”Mockingbird
Hill”
• Music and original words by
Vaughn Horton
• F is a comfortable key
34. Faraday is the chappie whose
name we all say
Well almost, we leave off the
suffix bit, “ay”
Capacitance is measured in
Coulombs per Volt
But Farads is easier; a better
result
35. Faraday is the chappie whose
name we all say
Well almost, we leave off the
suffix bit, “ay”
Capacitance is measured in
Coulombs per Volt
But Farads is easier; a better
result
36. If you take some electrons from a metal sheet
And give them to its partner, symmetrical, neat
Then you‟ll separate charge and store energy
The capacitance will be E nought, A upon d
( oA/d)
Capacitors act as electrical springs
Their stored energy can do handy things
Like saving your data when the battery‟s
impaired
The energy stored is a half C V squared
(E=1/2CV2)
37. Faraday is the chappie whose
name we all say
Well almost, we leave off the
suffix bit, “ay”
Capacitance is measured in
Coulombs per Volt
But Farads is easier; a better
result
38. And in AC circuits the voltage flip flops
(and) Therefore the current through the cap barely
stops
This flip flopping current has power to impress
A nice, smoothed out value is IRMS
But the currents that flow, VC will retard
Their ratio is measured in Ohms, that‟s not hard
But the Ohms do not measure resistance you see
As the energy‟s returned, it‟s reactance, XC
39. Faraday is the chappie whose
name we all say
Well almost, we leave off the
suffix bit, “ay”
Capacitance is measured in
Coulombs per Volt
But Farads is easier; a better
result
40. If the frequency rises, reactance then drops
There‟s more current flowing, less time for
the stops
The same will occur if C‟s value does rise
Less reactance again, that can‟t be a
surprise
If you lift f or C, the reactance will drop
Nothing else affects it, just those two, full
stop.
Two pi times their product, viz 2 fC
Then find the reciprocal;
voila, XC
41. Faraday is the chappie whose
name we all say
Well almost, we leave off the
suffix bit, “ay”
Capacitance is measured in
Coulombs per Volt
But Farads is easier; a better
result
42. • The tune, dance moves and
web link all are secret until
after completion!
• Physics Words by Anonymous
of Haverford College in the USA
• Only one verse so it‟s easy to
learn
• F is a comfortable key
43. Snell‟s Law, n times the sine
of the theta
If the n gets lower then the
theta will get greater
If the n be greater then the
light will get there later
Hey, n sine theta!
44. • The tune and dance moves are
from the Macarena by Los Del Rio
• The web link to the file is
http://www.haverford.edu/physics
/songs/macsnell.htm
• A database of Physics Songs exists
at
http://www.haverford.edu/physics
-astro/songs/
