The Animated Chalkboard-2000/2006
THE ANIMATED CHALKBOARD--MOTION_2006 , ENERGY_2005, SPECIAL RELATIVITY_2006 , E&M_2006, THERMO_2006 and OPTICS_2006 are now available. These are WINDOWS ONLY packages, 1024x768 or higher resolution (at higher resolutions the software will run in a window). They are designed for Windows XP and faster machines with good video cards. The older versions will remain available. The new packages also combine the menu driven method of selecting animations with individually available animations to be displayed or incorporated into other electronic presentations such as PowerPoint so that a separate downloads for these two uses are not necessary.
NOTE: Just recently I've seen the MENU driven versions fail to run (CHAIN error) from certain locations despite running fine from others. I don't know exactly what the problem is other than perhaps the full path string can become too long for the CHAIN command to work. If you have this problem, try moving the whole folder of animations to your desktop.
PHYSICS ANIMATIONS FOR WIN 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP & MACS (OS-X needs the Classic Environment or run the Windows versions in emulation mode.)
The Animated Chalkboard series provides a number of short animated sequences to be used BY THE INSTRUCTOR IN CLASS. The aim is to provide a video tool that can help students with some of the more difficult concepts or to simply provide a clear demonstration of a particular phenomenon or principle. The sets include:
1) MOTION: Includes 22 animations on Velocity, Acceleration, Friction, Momentum, Rotational Frames, and the like. Many animations plot motions as they are shown. The instructor has control over the pace of the animations with several pauses built in. Instructor files are included in the regular files and special student text files are automatically displayed in the Student versions.
[NOTE: The graphics shown here are from older versions but are indicative of the graphics used.]
2) ENERGY: This is a stand-alone version of the 20 animations included in the Energy Simulator package above. These include animations about electrical generation and distribution, nuclear energy--both fission and fusion, photo-voltaics, hydrogen as a fuel, etc.
3) RELATIVITY: This set contains six animation (Time Dilation, Simultaneity, Mass Increase, Barn Paradox, Twins Paradox, and Relativistic effects.)
4) TEST: This is a package designed for the instructor to use, in class, to review the test published in THE PHYSICS TEACHER, VOLUME 30, NUMBER 3, MARCH 1992 (154) AFTER having given the test. There is NO STUDENT VERSION. The animations will help explain the concepts behind each of the questions when displayed IN CLASS.
5) E&M: This set offers electric field, electric potential, and electric equi-potential mapping programs, an electric force program where you can turn charged particles loose in 2 or 3 dimensions and watch their motion, an animation showing magnetic fields and the effects of fields on moving charges, and one that 'attempts' to show something of the creation of E&M waves.
6) THERMO: This newly compiled set includes: The barometer, how to boil water, convection by radiator, convection in a pond, thermal insulation, and the internal combustion engine.
7) OPTICS: This set contains twelve animations (Reflection/Refraction, Plane Mirror, A Magic Trick (with mirrors), Lenses (converging, diverging, and a general ray tracing routine), Optical Illusions (2 refractive illusions), Optical Instruments (magnifier, telescope, microscope, opera glasses), Total Internal Reflection, The Human Eye, Colors, The Camera, Interference, and E&M Spectra).
A 48-Meg file is now available with each of these animation (except the TEST package) separately packaged in a folder with just the necessary graphic and text files needed to run that animation. In this format, the animations can be easily added to PowerPoint presentations. A tutorial for doing so in included. Please note that this is a VERY LARGE file. Downloads via dial-up connections may be problematic. This is a WINDOWS ONLY package.
REQUIREMENTS: Win 95/98/ME/NT4.x/2000/XP, a Pentium level processor (300MHz or faster is recommended), a video card displaying at 800x600, or 1024x768 screen resolutions and in high-color (15-16 bit) or true-color (24-32 bit) color depths. {1024x768 and true-color is recommended.} Only 1024x768 resolution is supported on the Mac running in 'thousands' or 'millions' color modes. Classic Mode (OS 9 emulation) is required under OS-X. Memory requirements of 32-64 Megs are recommended.
2006 VERSIONS:
These updated versions are now available. They are designed for WINDOWS only and will require fairly fast machines with decent video cards. The older versions will remain available for older machines and Macs. The downloads combine individual animations (suitable for inclusion in PowerPoint presentations) but also the ability to run a given topical library from a single menu program. A menu driven version is also provided in order to adjust execution speed should the automatic speed sensing (built into the programs) fail to provide fast enough or slow enough animations.
SUGGESTED REQUIREMENTS: WINDOWS XP, 1.5 GHz or faster machines, fast video cards. Test these on the machine you will be using. If the animations seem too slow, then use the older versions. Note: The speed test run by the program can be confused by too much background activity on the machine and end up running programs too fast. If that is the case, please turn off as many programs running in the background as possible or run the speed control from the supplied menu program.