In our high school physics course this year, the plan has been to have several hands-on projects that incorporate what we’ve discussed in class. This last quarter, we’ve had a lot of conversations about forces and gravity, so the first project was bridge-building. First, I gave the students a brief overview of bridge terminology, some tried and true bridge designs, and why some designs work better than others for different purposes.
Then we were on to the fun part: each team got 120 popsicle sticks, some Elmer’s glue, and size specifications. They spent a few class periods planning and building their bridges, then the test day arrived. I attached a bucket to a chain and a scale, which we hung on each bridge. If the bridge could hold the bucket, we started adding bags of sand one by one. Every test was very tense as we added bags, until finally with a dramatic snap, everything came crashing down. You’d probably be surprised how much weight these bridges held: some withstood over 100 pounds!
We began our physics class this year by reading some of Isaac Newton’s major ideas about the physical universe. Ideas like (I’m paraphrasing here) “an object’s mass and its acceleration are the two things that affect how hard it will push something else” or “everything you push pushes back”—even crazy ideas like the fact that forces in the heavens (gravity) work the same way as forces on earth. We talked about Einstein’s theory about gravity too, that it is only an illusion caused by the movement of the very fabric of the universe, like an outer-space treadmill.
Science is chock full of these theories, which are sometimes very strange, but almost always fascinating. One downside to theories is that the world actually doesn’t run on theories; the world doesn’t even run on scientific laws! The world runs according to the hand of God alone. So, even though our theories can be pretty accurate, they are at the end of the day only attempts at describing the acts of God.
Another downside to theories is that they only live in your head. And unless you have a very good imagination right out of the gate, it’s hard to grasp what a theory actually means. That’s what makes practical, hands-on projects so valuable; they give you the opportunity to get a feel for those theories and to develop a better ability to imagine them. To imagine just means to create an image for yourself, and what better way to make an image than to first look at something right in front of you? Artists do that all the time to hone their craft. Maybe being a good scientist is being a good artist; after all, God is the ultimate artist because he created this fantastic creation. All we’re doing as scientists is studying the most beautiful, most intricate piece of art to date.
In Christ,
Mr. Hahn
