SIGNIFICANT EVENTS - EDUCATION and OUTREACH
02/09/01

Physics Fun Day Draws High School Students to Knotts Berry Farm

Thousands of high school students were conducting experiments on the rides in the Knotts Berry Farm amusement park Wednesday. Many of the students carried accelerometers onto the rides so they could record the forces to which their bodies were subjected. On the Supreme Scream, for example, they recorded over 3 seconds of weightlessness as they dropped 252 feet. Then they were prepared to understand the novel conditions of microgravity in the JPL drop tower demonstrations. Arvid Croonquist and Don Langford demonstrated how microgravity conditions affect capillary forces, change drop shapes, alter pendulum motions, and affect a candle's burning with the tower, as shown in the photo.