Not only does University of Maryland professor Richard Berg organize physics demonstrations for the university’s undergraduate classes, but he organizes them online for the rest of us.
Why is physics so fun?
Because it’s so interesting! You can explain things, figure out how things work, see the relationship between various phenomena that occur — atmospheric phenomenon, car crashes, applications to things like nuclear power. You can understand what people are saying about radon gas or global warming. In fact a lot of the concepts central to the issue of global warming are physics concepts.
What’s the most important political issue relevant to physics today?
Being in nuclear physics, I strongly support nuclear power. Coupling the issues of recycling nuclear waste with building bombs is an unnecessary coupling and has damaged the progress in nuclear power. That’s one issue that needs a much more scientific approach than the emotionalism and ridiculous comments that some people make.
What has your online experience been like?
Great. The online demonstration library has all demonstrations organized by topic and pictures, and 500 videos of different demonstrations. In addition to that we have reference materials. We also have the question of the week receiving about 700 hits a week. That’s not a lot when you talk YouTube, but it is a lot when you’re talking about people looking at a physics demonstration Web site.
What physics question can I ponder at work today?
The Feynman Inverse Sprinkler experiment. When water comes out of the hose and through the sprinkler, it moves clockwise while the sprinkler moves counterclockwise. When the sprinkler is submerged in water and water is sucked in through the hose, the opposite is true.
Why?
Well, that’s pretty complicated.
(The Examiner found the answer)
What’s your advice to aspiring physicists?
Study hard. Be interested. Get excited.
