The Idaho-Utah Section of the AAPT held its annual meeting, March 6-7, 2009, at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. Duane Merrell, section president elect, organized the meeting. Many thanks to Duane for a very successful event!
Printed Program
There were 73 attendees (those who paid the registration fee). These included 35 students, 8 high-school teachers, and 30 college and university faculty and staff.
Session Presentations
There were total of 16 oral presentations given in three sessions on Saturday. These included 4 students, 1 high-school teacher, and 11 college and university faculty.
Workshop
On Saturday morning, Duane Merrell and John Ellsworth (BYU) held a workshop which was attended by 20 high school teachers and students preparing for a high-school teaching career. At this workshop, the participants each constructed an induction-coil jumping ring apparatus. Many thanks to Robert Beck Clark, Freeman Andersen, and Scott Daniel who designed the apparatus and assembled the materials needed. The materials were donated by the BYU Physics Department.
Physics Demonstration Show
Friday evening, following dinner, we gathered for a physics demonstration show. The following are video clips from the show:
- Wayne Peterson, Brigham Young University, Canning
- David Kardelis, College of Eastern Utah, Electric motors
- Bryan Pyper, Brigham Young University Idaho, Vortex cannon, Doppler ball, alpine horn, bag pipes
- Harold Stokes, Brigham Young University, Fun fly stick, tesla coil, third law using force sensors
- London Jenks, Kerri Blum, Allison Shaffer, Brigham Young University Idaho, Phonebook friction
- Adam Beehler, University of Utah, Float your boat, capillary star flower, frog eyes, fishy poker, underwater light bulb, diffraction beams
- James Coburn, Utah State University, Magnet tennis balls, diffusion in hot and cold water, red-green-blue flashing lights in a ball, coupled metronomes, floating beads, magnet falling in tube, jumping ring, underwater light, magnetic force accelerator
- Ron Galli, Weber State University, Cat twist and other angular momentum demos
- John Ellsworth, Brigham Young University, LED antenna: electrical standing waves
- Richard Hills, Weber State University, Standing waves on meter sticks and tuning forks
- Duane Merrell, Brigham Young University, Classroom management with a trash bag and a vacuum
- Kent Gee, Brigham Young University, How to mess up a piano
Following this show, we gathered in the planetarium for a star show presented by Matt Divelbliss, a BYU undergraduate student.
Business Meeting
We conducted our business meeting following lunch
We held elections of section officers. The officers of our section are now constituted as follows:
- President: Duane Merrell, Brigham Young University (former president elect, automatically succeeded our former president, Gary Hunt.)
- President-Elect: Steve Shropshire, Idaho State University (former Vice President. He will organize our annual section meeting in 2010.)
- Vice President: Farhang Amiri, Weber State University (elected)
- Treasurer: Adam Beehler, University of Utah (re-elected)
- Section Representive: Harold Stokes, Brigham Young University (re-elected for another three-year term)
We also elected a section web master: Steve Turley, Brigham Young University.
Door prizes
At the close of the meeting, we gave away prizes, drawing names at random. Most of the prizes were “physics toys” and books. The grand prize was an all-expense paid trip to the national AAPT meeting in Ann Arbor, Michigan, July 25-29, 2009. The donor providing this prize specified that it be awarded to a high-school teacher who has never attended a national AAPT meeting. The winner was Brad Talbert, a teacher at Pleasant Grove High School, Pleasant Grove, Utah.