SPS this Week
Next meeting: Wednesday 9/27 VW102 4:30-5:30.
- Movie night – The Martian. Meet for dinner at 5:00 at Phelps. Walk over to VW102 for the movie after dinner.
- Physics Seminar at 3:00pm in VanderWerf Hall 104 – Learn about STEM opportunities in Philadelphia from Dr. Annie Dandavadi, the director of the Philadelphia Center.
This Week in Physics
- September 25 1992: NASA launches Mars Observer probe; it fails 11 months later.
- September 25 2008: China launches Shenzhou 7 spacecraft; crew performs China’s first extra-vehicular activity (EVA).
- September 27 2003: European Space Agency launches SMART-1 satellite to orbit the moon.
- September 27 2007: NASA launches Dawn probe to explore and study the two larges objects of the asteroid belt, Vesta and Ceres.
- September 27 2008: Zhai Zhigang becomes the first Chinese to walk in space; he was part of the Shenzhou 7crew.
- September 28 2008: SpaceX launches the first private spacecraft, Falcon 1.
- October 1 1847: Maria Mitchell, an American astronomer, discovers a comet and is elected the same day to the American Academy of Arts. The King of Denmark will award her a gold medal for her discovery.
SPS Problem of the Week
George Hemlock, the famous wooden sphere enthusiast, has just acquired two new balls for his collection. The two balls are identical in texture, volume, and weight, yet one is hollow while the other is uniformly solid. While carrying the spheres to his Protective Safe of Wooden Balls, George accidentally drops them both, losing track of which is which. Normally, Mr. Hemlock would have hit each each ball with his knuckles to see which makes a hollow ringing noise, but the playlist on his iPhone begins to play his favorite Justin Bieber song. Transfixed by the beautiful vocals caressing his eardrums, George can no longer hear which wooden ball returns the distinctive ringing noise.
Can you think of a simple experiment Mr. Hemlock can perform to differentiate the spheres before the Bieber song ends?
Send a written solution, as well as a username you would like to be referred by, to jason.gombas@hope.edu. We will publish the username of any student who successfully assists Mr. Hemlock.