2023 – A Year of Looking Back

Looking back on 2023, there is a lot of looking many years back.

For the first time since the Covid outbreak, we visited Läckö castle for an opera performance, this year of Verdi’s Macbeth. Staying in the Naturum, we appreciated the looking back to many years of Rörstrand patterns. We also participated in Music Weeks in Sweden in Svalöv, reconnecting many friends, singing Durufle’s requiem and much more in the closing concert in Lund cathedral.

Being part of the grading group for the physics competition in January, I noted how most students omitted drawings, in spite of instructions. This reminded me of one of the first PER theses I read, by Charles Henderson, and inspired a paper on student understanding of friction for a car speeding up.

The year has also involved a few occasions of playground physics with preschool teachers – as well as the publication of a paper about how playground swings can be used for physics teaching – way beyond preschool. The paper opened with an authentic student dialogue, dating back to 2005.

When the YouTube channel Theme Park Science visited Liseberg to study the heating of the Helix magnetic brakes, it brought back memories of a 2012 paper — and experiences of today’s much easier access to IR movies. The collaboration also resulted in a very nerdy return to Chain Flyer physics, with one manuscript submitted and an even nerdier paper in the pipe. (There is more to learn than was included in the 2015 paper.)

The Oppenheimer movie brought back memories of a student project (although in the move, I did miss Fermi’s description of the first blast: “Since, at the time, there was no wind I could observe very distinctly and actually measure the displacement of the pieces of paper that were in the process of falling while the blast was passing. The shift was about 2 1/2 meters, which, at the time, I estimated to correspond to the blast that would be produced by ten thousand tons of T.N.T.”).

As preparation for the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology 2025, celebrating 100 years of quantum mechanics, I am now also revisiting another student project, with Alice in Quantumland, which was presented at Physics on Stage 2003. I am also remembering the International Year of Physics in 2005, and the opening at UNESCO of the International Year of Light 2015.

My publication year 2023 started with a paper trying out ChatGPT, submitted in December 2022, asking the Chatbot about acceleration in the highest point when a teddy bear (or rabbit) is thrown into the air. We knew we had to be quick, in view of the very fast development – the paper has already been well cited, and more citations expected.

Looking forward to creative collaborations in 2024 – with and without rabbits.

Round and round in circles

Another year comes to an end. Another year of making the most of local possibilities, including early morning cycling to a nearby lake for a pre-breakfast swim around the summer solstice and skiing and skating around the winter solstice, and whenever possible scheduling outdoor family meetings. Vaccinations in June-July created a window of more normal life, including visits to Liseberg and the department in Lund, as well as two edutainment days at Gröna Lund in September (including a few rides in Monster), and seeing both the sons who now live in Stockholm. After a booster in December we could also have a family Christmas. One little fir tree from the garden was selected for a Christmas tree this year.

The book manuscript submitted in April was finally published in November. The chapter on circular motion that was originally planned ended up being split into two. Since circular motion in a vertical plane can involve many different types of rotation, a preceding chapter on rotation was needed. However, the circular motion in next year’s new attraction Tempus at Liseberg (a Nebulaz from Zamperla) is essentially rotation-free – and perfect for making student assignments: What forces from the ride act on your body during the different parts of the motion?

The work on amusement park physics also seems to go in circles, coming back to studies of students’ inconsistent strategies in problems involving circular motion, now using some multiple-choice questions based on open-ended questions I used some 15 years ago. It is really fascinating to discover how only very few students manage consistency over uniform and non-uniform circular motion and in vertical and horizontal planes, and how rarely they make use of the experiences of their own bodies.

Looking forward to circular motion work in 2022

2020 – A year without roller coasters

Old railway bridge in Jonsered

I think that 1986 may have been the last year before 2020 that I didn’t go on a single roller coaster or other amusement ride. Our older children had yet to discover the joys of carousels, veteran cars and children’s boats.

For 25 years, since 1995, I have used amusement parks as part of physics teaching, for my own students in physics and engineering programmes, as a guest teacher in math and technology teacher education, for teacher professional development events and also for many years as coorganizer of Edutainment days at Gröna Lund and physics days at Liseberg. Not this year.

Still, we are, of course, privileged to have a large house, with a large garden and plenty of nice walks and bike excursions at the doorstep. Working from home is mostly OK.

Waterbombing the sea and flowerspraying the forest fire

The Swedish response to Covid-19 has been very erratic. Amusement parks had to stay closed, with reference to a law of public order (from 1993!), while crowds of people have been allowed in shopping centres and in public transport, as described in the blog post from July. 

All over Europe – except Sweden – the amusement parks opened, using the joint detailed plans for safe opening. Sweden, in general, has taken very different approaches to the rest of Europe. The Swedish policy feels like waterbombing the sea while using a flower spray on a forest fire.

The blog post from July, outlining my view of the situation is a translation of one of many versions of an opinion piece that faced rejection from several newspapers (following three accepted pieces, though). So, this year, I have faced more rejections than all previous rejections from earlier years. On the other hand, I have got several physics education papers published.

Theoretical roller coaster rides and other 2020 texts

Without the distraction of real amusement park visits, it has been quite a productive writing year, starting with a paper I never thought I would write – on Newton’s first law and smartphones in amusement parks, which spawned out of a book manuscript (that was also rejected by two publishers, but finally landed successfully with the AAPT/AIP, due in June 2021 – thanks Rebecca Vieyra for suggesting them). 

Virtual amusement rides don’t give you the experience of weightlessness or many g’s, but they can remind you of the experience and also provide overlays of theoretical forces. This work, in collaboration with Malcolm Burt, is part of a second paper spawned from the book writing, about different ways of representing acceleration in one-dimensional motion.

During a year with fewer distractions, I have also dug into old notes, and finally written up papers about balls rolling down a playground slide (spawned from the playground chapter of the book) which has been in the pipeline since 2015. A paper about Archimedes principle together with two high-school teachers, following a facebook teacher discussion, only had to wait three year to be written. The really old notes were from constructing the competition problems for the EUSO 2010 in Gothenburg, expected in the March 2021 issue of Physics Education.

The “best-seller” about jerk, which has now been downloaded nearly 1/8 million times, was followed by two papers this year, one about jerk and snap in roller coasters, together with David Eager, and one literature review about Jerk within the context of science and engineering, including also Hasti Hayati (who did most of the hard work) and Hans Alberg (who always manages to find relevant historical references, even if they are not always easily available).

I was also invited to coauthor a paper about Physics Toolbox Sensor Suite Play (do try it, if you haven’t already – it is great for demonstrations, and to introduce teachers and friends to the sensors in the phone).

Zoom, zoom, zoom

Four licentiate students had their final seminars during the year. Simon Holmström defended his work during what would be my last meeting with colleagues in Lund. All the others have been via zoom – and of course, it is wonderful that telepresence can work as well as it does.

A couple of teacher professional development activities also happened over zoom – with the the advantage of enabling teachers from different parts of the country to meet.

Looking forward to 2021

Like all teachers, I am really looking forward to some IRL interactions during 2021. Of course I also look forward to experiencing the new dark ride Wonderland at Liseberg – and to riding roller coasters again.

Please, politicians – sort out a sensible pandemic law, where closures depend on reality and not on what is covered by a law from 1993! Stop waterbombing the sea!

Helix, Valkyria, Balder, Lisebergbanan – and the Monster at Gröna Lund. I don’t want to wait any longer!

Surrounded by magnetic fields

During 2019, I have enjoyed the privilege of being part of the international advisory board for Physics Toolbox AR. Trying out the app, I have been fascinated by the possibilities to catch invisible magnetic field lines and discovering the direction of north by maximising the horizontal component of the arrows.

Travelling to Australia, via Singapore, opened new possibilities to discern how the magnetic field varies with location, and even catch a midday shadow pointing to the north. (And, of course, visiting amusement parks, as well as discussing jerk and other aspects of motion with David Eager’s group at UTS)

So for this solstice post, when the sun is about 10° from zenit in Sydney, but only reaching about 10° over the horizon in this part of the world, I share a few magnetic field screen shots. And wish I could also share some of the rain expected for Christmas eve with NSW and QLD, where it would be needed much more.

PS: No rabbits in this post, but some marsupials illustrating the motion in Enterprise, to facilitate the analysis of data from Lunapark in Melbourne. http://tivoli.fysik.org/english/attractions/enterprise/rotation/

 

Diving into 2019

The screen shots of the Valkyria dive shows the near free-fall acceleration during the dive. The accelerometer graph also shows that drop actually involves negative g’s to make the rider follow the nearly vertical track.

The screen shot sequence is one of this year’s experiments with different representations of the motions in amusement rides, to complement simulations, accelerometer graphs and motion tracking from videos as used, e.g. in the papers about the giant gyro swing Loke and the Star Shape Ride Mechanica published in 2018.

Following last year’s practice with a partial “advent-calendar” consisting of an Helix accelerometer graph with images,  I aimed this year for a full advent calendar, based on the Liseberg’s beautiful Christmas map. Looking closer at the start of the Helix ride revealed negative g’s – but only for the back seats – during the first drop out from the station, which can be seen both in accelerometer data and from an analysis of a movie from the start.

One of the GoPro cameras from the Resource Centre, mainly intended for recording small-group classroom discussions was coming along for a ride in Valkyria during the press opening. With this photo from the ride I wish you all a save dive into the end of 2018 and happy emergence in 2019.

Happy New Year

Doors and representations, inside and outside.

As 2017 comes to an end, a reflection on doors closing and opening. Turning 65 this year, I can  now travel slightly cheaper on trains and local buses, but it also hints to a countdown to the closing door at 67.

For the Resource centre 2017 has opened wider the doors to research on representations of motion, including virtual reality.

Research,  representations and roller coasters

Following the appointment in April of 2017, Urban Eriksson as a researcher at the NRCF, two PhD students have been added to the Resource centre, with preliminary projects focusing on various representations (“semiotic resources”) used in physics teaching and learning. As part of the preparation, I have looked into various ways or representing the motion of the family ride Hissningen at Liseberg (and the sister rides Lyktan at Gröna Lund and Stjernetårnet at Tivoli Gardens).

As Liseberg is building the new roller coaster Valkyria, simulations have provided doors to sneak previews into the ride, as seen when you ride it: as POV movie or in Virtual Reality, complementing the few images so far available on the liseberg.se/valkyria. A  moving chair made the Valkyria VR experience even more real, even if the variation in the force from the chair acting on you is restricted to changes in angle.

As I am always curious about the forces in roller coasters arising from the accelerations as the train moves along the track – and how these can be used as examples to support physics learning. The limited footage available for Valkyria reminded me of my special desires for photo angles.

To clarify my wishes, at least to myself, I created a timeline for the Helix roller coaster, based on elevation data from a ride, with small images from the various elements seen from outside. I then realised that raw html technology from the mid-90’s made it possible to let each image be a door to exercises related to that element, advent calendar style. I also discovered that, over the years since Helix opened, I had collected short video clips for most of the elements, that teachers could let students use for video analysis. (See the resulting “calendar“)

Can Virtual Reality experiences of rides support learning?

This question will be explored next year, as part of a collaboration with Malcolm Burt, who pursues a PhD investigating what makes for ideal virtual reality amusement rides. As part of the School Program of the 2018 Gothenburg International Science festival , five classes will have a chance to try out our “Virtual Theme Park”, giving us valuable feedback on how to proceed.

Of course, a virtual reality in a classroom cannot make you experience seconds of weightlessness or feeling much heavier than usual, but since most children in the larger Gothenburg region have experience with many different amusement rides, we hope that they can recall the experience. To help them make connection to the physics learned in school, force representations will be added in an augmented reality version.

In October, we experienced many types of VR, not only at Liseberg, but also at The Derren Brown Ghost Train in Thorpe Park, the large three-dimensional representation of the universe in “All we are” at the Visualiseringsscenter C in Norrköping. We also tried the  Dæmon VR at Tivoli gardens (where we were amused to find that we both for a split second thought that we wouldn’t be able to see anything with the rain covers on the VR glasses). With much joy I recall the VRcoaster encounter, discussed in an earlier post.

With a December glimpse through the Helix track onto the Liseberg Rabbit Land, I wish you all a …

 

 

 

Bubbles

2016 – a year when social media bubbles of misinformation and hate have grown and risen to the surface, as much as to change the world, bringing even more sorrows and worry and exposing a fragility of a civilised society. It is tempting go hiding in our own privileged bubbles, unable to take in more evil madness.

In my own privileged world, I have also seen many examples of social media bubbles full of friendship and support, not only with families and friends, but also bubbles with teachers sharing ideas, materials, joys and concerns in Facebook groups, asking for help and getting supported, with discussions involving teachers from preschool to university. These bubbles provide a glimpse into the very different realities across the school system, but also offering opportunities.

During 2016, our Physics Education Resource Centre has also run two conferences, attempting to bring bubbles of research and practice in closer contact, for physics teaching across the education system, and for science in preschool. I have been in bubbles of roller coaster enthusiasts, e.g. in the Wildfire at Kolmården, and at the Euro Amusement Show, and in bubbles of amusement park teachers – at Liseberg, Gröna Lund and Tivoli gardens, and presenting the project in a bubble of science communicators e.g. at Göteborg International Science Festival , and in clusters of bubbles looking into various aspects of smartphone use in teaching.

Social media can be a power for good and evil. On the eve of a new year, I wish you all bubbles rising for a better world, with more open horizons.

Physik im Prater

Last week, I was in Vienna, invited to talk about Physik im Prater und auf dem Spielplatz at the 70^th annual “Fortbildungswoche für Lehrkräfte aus Physik und Chemie”, arranged by “Der Verein zur Förderung des physikalischen und chemischen Unterrichts”

I made sure that I arrived to Wien in time to do some research before the presentation, to know which examples would be relevant, take some ride photos, and, of course, collect ride data from the PraterTurm, as complement to the data in the recent paper about Rotating Swings – a Theme with variations.

The walk towards the PraterTurm passes many other rides, starting with the classic Riesenrad, and a few entangled roller coasters. The photo below shows clearly the saw-toothed track part of the “anti-rollback” device, which causes the familiar click-click sound as the roller coaster train ascends the lift hill.

Helix – a new roller coaster at Liseberg

Andreas Andersen greets Werner Stengel

See more pictures from the visit of Dr Stengel and family in connection with the Helix opening.

Press opening

On April 23, few days before the official opening, the European Coaster Club (ECC) and the press had the opportunity to try Helix. In honor of the day, I put on helix braids, complete with Liseberg rabbits. I also brought along an accelerometer and measured the forces on the rider, middle, front and back.

Already, the week before, I was allowed to put an accelerometer on the front seat of an empty train. (View graphs of the resulting data and more about
Helix physics.)

From the Liseberg Helix blogg

( http://projekthelix.se/)

• Werner Stengel on Helix
• Video from Liseberg opening day 2014
• Movie from the press day
• See also lisebergblogg.se

Other reports

• Interview, Coaster Force (with Andreas Andersen and Lisa Siljeblad)
• Helix POV (from ThemePark Review)

Facebook

• Liseberg
• Helix at Liseberg – Unofficial page
• Tivoli-fysik