Time: 4:00 PM on Thursday, December 11th
Place: Science Room 334
On December 10th at 12:30 PM the Engineering 111 class will demonstrate their trebuchets on campus between the Science and Math Building. That's the grassy area between the HPE complex and the Business building.
There's a 30 pound weight limit for the trebuchets and we will be hurling racquetballs. A trebuchet is a medieval engine for hurling projectiles. The objective of this team project is to vault a racquetball as far as possible using only gravity. There are 10 teams this year.
Here are the project rules: http://observe.phy.sfasu.edu/courses/egr111/homework/Project2RulesFall2003.doc
Everyone is welcome to come watch this event.
On December 11th at 1:00 PM the Engineering 215 and Physics 262 class will demonstrate their Robot Rovers in the hall outside room 318 in the Science Building. Each year students in the electronics course build small vehicles as part of a class project. The goal of this team project is to learn how to make the best use of a battery and DC motor in to order cover 50 feet. There are 5 teams this year.
In 2003 the SFA Robot Rovers will be required to autonomously detect and avoid obstacles. This project was inspired by the Mars Sojourner Rover. Here are the project rules: http://www.physics.sfasu.edu/astro/courses/phy262/VehicleProject/SFARover.html
Here is an example of the vechicle and circuit as well as an animation of the vehicle in motion.
Everyone is welcome to come watch this event.
Useless Facts (that may not be facts)
http://www.2727.co.uk/slug/fan/uselessfacts.html
http://www.tech-sol.net/humor/true63.htm
Rumor Mill: Do donkeys really kill more people annually than plane crashes?
http://www.dcmsoft.com/rumor/story/stuff1.htm
HUBBLE IN LIMBO
http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/article_1117_1.asp
AAPT Job Fair
http://www.aapt.org/CareerCenter/JobFair/
Dixieland Auroras
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/05dec_dixieland.htm?list1065276
Long Physics Lectures!
http://science.slashdot.org/science/03/12/04/0449252.shtml?tid=134&tid=146&tid=99
Robot rover simulates Mars trek
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2913685.stm
2004 APS/IBM Research Internship for Undergraduate Women
http://www.aps.org/educ/cswp/ibmintern.html
Amazing Jupiter Picture
http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/PR/2003K13/PR2003K13A.html
See Your Space Station fly over your home town. Find out when at:
http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/
Department News
* Department News Archive
* Seminar Schedule
* Department of Physics and Astronomy
* Engineering at SFA
Thanks to Matt Davis, Norm Markworth, Lucas Rader, Heather Dalton, Chris Dahl, and others for the links and information above. Feel free to send any interesting links that you find. This email message is sent to students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the department. If you would like to be removed from the emailing list or are getting multiple copies of these newsletter, then feel free to reply to this message with your request.
Clear skies,
Dan Bruton
astro@sfasu.edu
