College of Sciences Newsletter

Edition 7

November 1, 2001

 

The sky is falling, the sky is falling.
                                           No...it’s pumpkins!

On October 30th the Society of Physics Students (SPS) chapter at Old Dominion dropped pumpkins off the Batten Arts and Letters Building.  The pumpkin drop is an annual event used to demonstrate various physics principles such as measuring velocity and Doppler Shift.  (Plus, its really cool to watch the pumpkins splatter!)

Students in different physics and engineering classes designed and built "catching devices."  The objective of the "catching devise" was to catch the pumpkin intact and they were also tested for endurance.  Lasers and mirrors were used for velocity measurements.  A siren was placed in one falling pumpkin to demonstrate Doppler Shift, which, in this case, had to do with the apparent change of frequency of sound waves as they vary with the relative velocity of the source and the observer.

Not only were the students sacrificing pumpkins for the good of science education, the SPS conducted a canned food drive to benefit the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia.
 

	Physics students drop pumpkins off of BAL
	One of the "catching teams" poses with their pumpkin catcher (a cardboard box filled with newspaper and foam)
	Physics students have a BIG MESS to clean up after the pumpkin drop!