Look up Demos: http://www.physics.wisc.edu/facultywiki/Demonstrations
NASA Curiosity Mars Rover - 7 pages of fun.
(ON B) - RGB {T2 G1}: Intro PPT Slide Shows
Audio: Science Songs
(ON A&C) - Cameras 5 & 6: {Crowd Shots on A & C }
{Mute all as Peter walks out}
(ON B) - RGB {T2 G1}: Panorama of Mars Landscape {on the front screen}
Peter: Welcome to Mars and to the (248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 257) presentation of The Wonders of Physics... Before the show begins, I would like to assure you that we make all of our demonstrations as safe as possible provided you remain in your seats.
For the past 30 years, we Martians have enjoyed watching The Wonders of Physics on our televisions, and now that the Earthlings have sent their spacecraft Curiosity to our planet, we decided to invite Professor Sprott to visit us and do some of his favorite demonstrations. Wait, what is that I see, look, up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane it’s “Professorrrrrrrr Sprottt!!” Niner Alpha Victor, you are cleared to land...
(ON B) - {DVD}: Intro Movie Clip {on the front screen}
{Optional Sounds}
Audio: Missile_Incoming_FlyBy.mp3
Audio: Crash.wav
Audio: crshbrn.wav
Audio: WOP Theme-Short
{Sprott enters stage right in a space suit on the Mars Rover coming down a steep ramp with pyrotechnics and the thrusters firing in reverse to slow him to a stop at stage center.}
Sprott: Welcome to The Wonders of Physics. We‘ve been to Portugal, South Africa, Egypt, and Japan, but this is our first visit to Mars, and I’m delighted to celebrate our 30th season here. I’m glad to see you have prepared an atmosphere that I can breathe {hands space helmet to Peter}. I see you’ve prepared the demonstrations I requested as well as some of your own.
Peter: Yes, I’m Peter Weix, King of the city of Sprottania, which we named in your honor, and it’s a pleasure to welcome you here. We’ve learned from you that there are six major areas of classical physics (SLIDE - 1). What is your favorite demonstration of the Physics of Motion?
(ON B) - RGB {Lec G1}: PPT SLIDES - Classical Physics
Sprott: Asking for a favorite demonstration is like asking a parent which is their favorite child. I like them all, but I can do one that everyone seems to enjoy if one of you Martians would volunteer to help...
Demo: {Bowling Ball Pendulum, 1M40.10}
Audio: Slideup2
Audio: Ta-Da
Sprott: On Earth, our gravity is almost three times stronger than what you have here on Mars, and so our bowling ball swings about 60% faster.
Since my muscles are used to Earth’s gravity, I can jump quite high here on Mars. Let me ask King Weix to attach this rope just in case something goes wrong...
Demo: {Mars Gravity Simulator (pulley in ceiling with 100 lb counterweight on block and tackle)}
Audio: Ta-Da
Peter: We like those demonstrations, but we have some favorites of our own, which Mister Ed will show you...
{Ed’s Entrodution !!}
Audio: Royal Fanfare.wav ????
Ed: Greetings, Earthling Sprott! It is a pleasure to meet you! The Martian High Command thought you might like to meet me, since you are an avid dancer, and I was the 2012 champion of Dancing with the Mars!
{Ed busts a move. Shuffles sideways.}
{I can’t wait to learn how Martians dance -Ed}
Ed: That’s the Marswalk! Let’s look at some other types of motion.
Ed: One of my favorite types of motion is that of free-fall! Thanks to you, Dr. Sprott, we Martians were able to recreate one of your demonstrations about how air resistance affects the fall time of two different objects!
{Ed does demo, talking through it first with air, second without it, and then again with.}
Demo: {Guinea and Feather Tube}, 1C20.10
Audio: Ta-Da
Ed: While the existence of motion is pretty awesome, we Martians also appreciate the lack of motion in certain cases! One of our favorite ways to show this is the olde Earth trick of removing a tablecloth from underneath a massive beaker filled with Mars water.
Demo: {Beaker and Tablecloth} 1F20.30
Audio: Ta-Da
Ed: One thing we Martians fully appreciate is that inertia doesn’t only matter when we try to move, but when we try to spin!
{Ed does small piece of demo; asks for volunteer from audience for some kind of action/reaction demonstration on the platform?}
Demo: {Rotating platform}, 1Q40.10 - { With CO2}
Audio: Merry go Round
Audio: Ta-Da
Ed: Well I’m late for my double date with Spirit and Opportunity! I’m going to go heat up the dance floor!
{Ed busts a move. Polka’s [maybe Waltzs] away, out the door}
Audio: TA-DA-Proud
Peter: Peter’s transition goes here
Peter: What is your favorite demonstration of the Physics of Heat?
Sprott: Here’s one that everyone back on Earth seems to enjoy...
Demo: {Liquid Nitrogen Cannon}
Audio: Ta-Da
{Michael enters, dressed as a Martian....}
Michael: Well that went off with a bit of a bang! If I heard correctly, you were talking about heat. I am the Sprottanian Steward of Land, Wind and Water and I am all knowing when it comes to things hot and cold.
Sprott: Land and wind, sure, but water.....there are no oceans, rivers or lake on Mars that I can see
Michael: Shhhh......please don’t mention that to the King. He is still very, very angry at my predecessor for what happened to the water. Perhaps your Earth will be more fortunate. Still in Sprottania we have some princely things. We Martians have the tallest known mountain in the solar system! It’s an extinct volcano called Olympus Mons. It is three times as tall as Mount Everest thanks to our weak gravity.
(ON B) - RGB {Lec G1}: PPT SLIDES - Olympus Mons
{Show picture of Olympus Mons}
Michael: You have performed many demonstrations that our Martianettes (Martian children) have enjoyed. A few of them have braved your atmosphere to be here.
They have been collecting a colorless, odorless gas methane which is emitted by active volcanos on your Earth. The oxygen enriched atmosphere, which we have here for your benefit, is very important for this demonstration. Ad lib....
Demo: {Exploding soap bubbles}
Audio: Ta-Da
Michael: On your planet the gas methane is a powerful greenhouse gas. Mars could use more of that as the air temperature is always below freezing! In fact all of the water is trapped as ice beneath the crust. It is easy to freeze water on Mars. Here is what happens to water if we reduce the air pressure to that outside the dome.
Demo: {Freezing by evaporation}, 4C31.20
Audio: Ta-Da
Michael: Water can also be prepared in the form of a gas. Would an Earthling child know the common name for the gaseous form of water. (Steam). So, in this drum we will boil liquid water and create steam. The steam will fill the can. Cooling the can will cause the steam to condense and reduce the “air” pressure inside the can. The Earth like air pressure outside the can will crush the can. This demonstration won’t work on our planet.
Demo: {Collapsing Can}, 2B30.15: {Atmospheric Pressure}
Audio: Ta-Da
Michael: Mars used to have an atmosphere but we lost it to outer space. Now it is less than 1% of that on your Earth’s surface. So many of WOP demonstration don’t work outside the pressure dome. Oh what Martianette wouldn’t give his little green eyeteeth for a real atmosphere. Your Earthlings are so lucky.
I have one more demonstration that requires an Earth-like atmosphere. For this I will need a volunteer to crush this can of Martian Dew with......a ping pong ball. Ad lib....
Demo: {Ping Pong Ball Bazooka}
Audio: Ta-Da
Michael: Well I’m crushed that my times up. I’ve got work to do at Mount Olympus monitoring the rumbling sounds. Maybe its not so extinct.
{Michael exits}
Audio: TA-DA-Proud
Peter: Peter’s transition goes here
Peter: What is your favorite demonstration of the Physics of Sound?
Sprott: Here’s one that everyone back on Earth seems to enjoy...
Demo: {Oscilloscope Waveforms}
Audio: Dino Bark
Audio: Ta-Da
Audio: {Sound of Mike Randall singing WOP theme}[a]
Sprott: I hear singing, but since the atmosphere on Mars here is so thin, it must be in my head.
{Mike Randall enters, sound still playing, but him not visibly singing}
Mike: My apologies! I’m so excited to meet the Great Sprott, I forgot to move my lips! Sound works very differently here on Mars, so we Martians usually communicate directly with our brains. We’ve learned to move our lips to make you Earthlings more comfortable.
Sprott: Sound is one of my favorite physics subjects. Please tell me more.
Mike: We have learned that sound is a vibration travelling through some material.
Demo: {Hanging slinky}
Audio: Ta-Da ????????????????
Mike: In a sound wave, the material is pushed together, then spread apart. This is called a longitudinal wave.
Mike: Sound depends on pressure, temperature and the material that it is moving through. On Earth, your atmosphere is mostly Nitrogen and Oxygen. Earthlings call this mixture “air”. Sound travels through air at about 340 meters per seconds - that’s over 760 miles per hour!
Mike: The frequency of sound is how many sound waves pass a point in a given time. Earthlinks know this as “pitch”. The pitch produced by this whistle depends on its length, and the density of the gas inside. When you blow air through a whistle, it sounds like this
Demo: {Wood whistle with air}
Audio: Ta-Da ????????????????
Mike: However, the speed of sound in helium is 972 meters per second - almost three times faster! The sound waves bounce back and forth in the whistle faster, more waves come out in a given time - which means a higher pitch!
Demo: {Wood whistle with helium}
Audio: Ta-Da ????????????????
Mike: Sulfur hexafluoride, or SF6, is a very dense gas. The speed of sound in SF6 is only 130 meters per second - almost one-third that of air! The sound waves bounce back and forth in the whistle more slowly, fewer waves come out in a given time, making a lower pitch.
Demo: {Wood whistle with SF6 }
Audio: Ta-Da ????????????????
Mike: Here on Mars, the atmosphere is almost completely made of carbon dioxide. Listen carefully!
Demo: {Wood whistle with CO2}
Audio: Ta-Da ????????????????
Mike: What do you think the speed of sound is in our atmosphere? Right! Carbon dioxide is more dense than air, but less dense than SF6. The speed of sound in carbon dioxide is 259 meters per second, so the pitch from the whistle was a little lower than for air.
Mike: I mentioned earlier that sound works very differently here on Mars. Earth’s atmosphere is over 140 times as dense as ours. If our atmosphere were as dense, you could hear this bell easily
Mike: I’m now going to reduce the pressure in this jar using liquid nitrogen. Liquid nitrogen is very cold, so most of the carbon dioxide will turn from a gas to a solid, leaving very little atmosphere inside. Notice what happens!
Demo: {Bell in vacuum}
Audio: Ta-Da ????????????????
Mike: It got very quiet! Sound needs to travel through some material - the denser, the better! Because the atmosphere on Mars is so thin, sound fades away quickly. Now you know why we Martians don’t usually talk! Even if we shouted, we’d have to stand within a few feet of each other to be heard.
{A Martian girl wanders in carrying a large apple and speaking into it in Martian jibberish.}
Mike: What are you doing?
{speaking in Martian jibberish, but with a slide showing the English translation}
(ON B) - RGB LecC1: {PPT SLIDES - English translation}
Dan: I’m using my apple computer to translate from Martian to English. {Scrolls Across PPT}
Mike: That’s not an Apple Computer!
{still speaking in Martian jibberish, but with a slide showing the English translation}
(ON B) - RGB LecC1: {PPT SLIDES - Steve Jobs holding an apple}
(ON B) - RGB LecC1: {PPT SLIDES - English translation}
Dan: Yes it is! Steve Jobs {slide of Steve Jobs holding an apple} was working on it just before he died, and he sent me the plans by email. {Scrolls Across PPT}
Mike: That’s a nice invention, and it will certainly help us communicate with the Earthlings.
{Dan exits.}
Audio: TA-DA-Proud
Demo: {Singing Rod}
Demo: {Ultrasound}
Audio: Ta-Da
Sprott: Now let me try some of that telepathic singing you were doing before.
{Play audio of Sprott singing Holst’s MARS}
Audio: Holst’s MARS
Mike: Oh no, not MARS by Holst, that tune is so played out here! I’ve got to go. (Note: pop singer Bruno Mars is more likely to be recognized by our audience)
{Mike Randall exits}
Audio: TA-DA-Proud
Peter: Peter’s transition goes here
Peter: What is your favorite demonstration of the Physics of Electricity?
Sprott: Here’s one that everyone back on Earth seems to enjoy...
Demo: {Faraday Cage w/Tesla coil}
Audio: Doom-March
Audio: Shocking
Audio: TA-DA-Proud
Marty: Greetings O! Great and Wonderful Sprott of Wisconsin. I am the Secretary of Energy of Sprottania! It is my job to make sure we have enough electricity so that every Martian can watch the Wisconsin Public Television broadcasts of the Wonders of Physics. Your demonstrations are electrifying! Let me show you a few ways we work with electricity.
Marty: We can make giant sparks by rubbing the electrons off this piece of material.
Demo: {Van de Graaff Generator}
Audio: TA-DA-Proud
Marty: Then we can transmit the electricity through the air using our tesla coil.
Demo: {Tesla coil}
Audio: Ta-Da
Marty: We used to have great streams of liquid water on Mars. That’s all dried up and frozen now, but we used to use the water to conduct electricity.
Demo: {Conductivity of water}
Audio: Ta-Da
Marty: And we can actually put electricity into the water to make fuel for our space ships!
Demo: {Electrolysis}
Audio: Ta-Da
Marty: I’ve got to go make sure our generators are running! Please say hi you YOUR secretary of energy, Nobel Prize winner Steven Chu!
{Show picture of Steven Chu}
(ON B) - RGB LecC1: {PPT SLIDES - Steven Chu}
{Marty exits}
Audio: TA-DA-Proud
{Blaine exits}
Audio: TA-DA-Proud
Peter: Peter’s transition goes here
Peter: What is your favorite demonstration of the Physics of Heat?
Sprott: Here’s one that everyone back on Earth seems to enjoy...
Demo: {Jumping Ring}
Audio: Ta-Da
Audio: Charge
{Suggested that Blaine play the role of Mars, Roman God of War. Will look for some sort of Roman Legion uniform and will present demos as humorous attempts to develop new Martian DoD initiatives.}
Blaine: “Salvete! Ego sum Mars, Deum Belli. Quomodo agis, Strati? What’s that? They don’t speak Latin anymore? It’s been awhile since I’ve spoken with Terrans...”
[Any sort of demonstration related to Electromagnetic Pulse? Show how it can be used for military purposes.]
Blaine: “Next, I would like to demonstrate my latest Doomsday Device. Here on my Red Planet, the bulls are red and mean. But I have found a solution for their insolence!
Demo: {Can Crusher}
Audio: Ta-Da
Audio:Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Audio: Ta-Da
Blaine: “Now, the Red Bulls will fear me! I got the idea for this device from Professor Sprott and his colleagues working on the Madison Symmetric Torus. A similar process is used to confine super-hot plasmas so humans can study them in labs. Fusion research may be the key to harness the power of the sun on Earth.”
Demo: {Eddy currents} -- {Which One??? -SN}
Audio: Ta-Da
Blaine: “Roman soldiers built extensive roads through the Empire during peaceful periods. With the modern understanding of magnetism, things like MagLev allow for much faster transportation.”
Demo: {Levitated ball}
Audio: Ta-Da
Blaine: Well, that’s all I’ve got time for now; I have to go plan my invasion of Venus!
{Blaine exits}
Audio: TA-DA-Proud
Peter: Peter’s transition goes here
Peter: What is your favorite demonstration of the Physics of Light?
Sprott: Here’s one that everyone back on Earth seems to enjoy...
Demo: {Twinkling Stars}
Audio: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star {Working on Sound Bit}; Audio:twinkle_twinkle.mp3; Audio:twinkle_twinkle.mid; Audio:twinkle-twinkle-little-star-piano-solo.mp3
Audio: Ta-Da
Kenny: Welcome, Sprott the Magnificent! We are the officers of the Martian Light Brigade.
Bethany: It is our job to study how to do things with light! We have found your demonstrations to be most illuminating. Allow us to show some of what we have learned about light.
Kenny: Who likes to pop balloons? On Mars, we like to pop balloons too!
Bethany: But it’s too easy to pop a balloon by sitting on it. We’re going to pop a balloon with a laser!
Kenny: And what’s more, we’re going to pop a balloon inside another balloon, without popping the outer balloon!
Demo: {Laser Balloons}
Audio: TA-DA-Proud
Kenny: When we shine a light, like a laser, what’s the trajectory, or path, that the light takes? In our last demo, we saw that the laser beam traveled in a straight line. Is this always so?
Bethany: Hey guess what?! I just saw a really neat device that can answer your question, and we have one right here!
Demo: {Light guide}
Audio: Ta-Da
Bethany: What we’re witnessing is called total internal reflection. If the laser hits the inside surface of the plastic tube at the correct angle, it will not pass out of the tube, and instead be reflected, staying inside the tube! That’s why we call this a light guide, as it guides the light from one end of it to the other.
Kenny: We can even use this principle for communication; this is how fiber optics works, which is one way that internet, cable TV, and phone signals can travel from place to place.
Bethany: Now, one day, I was looking at Earth through my telescope. I saw some lovely signs all lit up. I found out I was looking at neon lights and decided to make some for myself. These lights are also called Geissler tubes; each is filled with a gas, such as neon.
Kenny: When an electric current is run through the gas, the electricity excites the atoms in the gas, causing them to glow! Take a look!
Demo: {Geissler tubes}
Audio: Ta-Da
Bethany: From watching Earth television (Kenny: -not too much- it’ll rot your brain, kids!), we’ve learned that your [directed at Sprott] sky is blue. Why do you think this is?
Kenny: The light that comes from the sun is white- all colors combined. However, when this white light hits the atmosphere, something called Rayleigh scattering happens. Some of the light passes straight through the atmosphere, while some of it bounces around off of particles in the sky. The red and yellow light come straight through, while blue light bounces around more.
Bethany: When you look at the sky, you’re seeing the blue light that has bounced off particles in the sky. When you look at a sunset (Kenny: -never directly at the sun!), the light has bounced around much less and looks redder! We can demonstrate this here!
Demo: {Rayleigh scattering}
Audio: Ta-Da
Bethany: Now, our sky on Mars is a butterscotch color. This is because our atmosphere is much thinner than Earth’s, and we have more dust particles in it.
{Show picture of Martian Sky, e.g.: }
(ON B) - RGB LecC1: {PPT SLIDES - HomePlate-desktop.jpg}
Kenny: We’ve been de-lighted to share our knowledge with all of you. Now we must go. Light Brigade, charge!
{Kenny & Bethany exits}
Audio: TA-DA-Proud
Closing (Sprott):
Sprott: It has been a pleasure to visit Mars and to see what you have learned from watching The Wonders of Physics all these years. As you know, we have always ended our shows on Earth by making a cloud, something you don’t have here on Mars although you do have dust storms...
Demo: {LN2 Cloud}
(ON B) - RGB LecC1: {PPT SLIDES - Thank You}
Audio: WOP Theme-long-3m22s.wav
{The show concludes with Sprott disappearing in the Liquid Nitrogen Cloud. Theme music video plays. Cast enters stage right and bows in unison.}
See list of demos we have done in previous years for other ideas
http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/wop/sounds/Fanfare2.wav
http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/wop/sounds/frommars.wav
