Water Rocket Construction

Audience: Educators
Grades: 4-12


Working in teams, students construct a simple bottle rocket from two-liter soft drink bottles and other materials. The rocket is powered by air pressure and water.

Water Rocket Construction  [376KB PDF file]

This activity is part of the Rockets Educator Guide.

Dissectible Capacitor

MIT Physics Demo

Leyden Jars, an early style of capacitor, can be connected to the two electrodes of the Wimshurst Machine. They will store charge as it is generated, giving a much stronger spark across the gap. Next we have a three-piece dissectible Leyden Jar consisting of two metal cups separated by a glass cup. When charged with the Wimshurst machine, we see by touching it with the shorting rod that it holds a large amount of charge. However, when disassembled, the metal cups can be brought into contact with each other and no spark will be generated. When the jar is reassembled it can then be discharged. This demonstrates that, in this situation, the charge actually resides on the surface of the glass (a dielectric), not on the metal.

Source: Department of Physics

Molecular Biophysics

Molecular biophysics is a rapidly evolving interdisciplinary area of research that combines concepts in physics, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and biology.

It seeks to understand biomolecular systems and explain biological function in terms of molecular structure, structural organization, and dynamic behaviour at various levels of complexity (from single molecules to supramolecular structures, viruses and small living systems).

The technical challenges are formidable, and the discipline has required development of specialized equipment and procedures capable of imaging and manipulating minute living structures, as well as novel experimental approaches.

Gopalasamudram Narayana Iyer Ramachandran, or G.N. Ramachandran, 

(8 October 1922 – 7 April 2001)was an Indian physicist who was known for his work that led to his creation of the Ramachandran plot for understanding peptide structure. 

He was the first to propose a triple-helical model for the structure of collagen. He also made other major contributions in biology and physics. 

AREAS OF RESEARCH

» Protein folding and dynamics
» Lectins and lectin-carbohydrate interaction
» Peptide synthesis and design X-ray crystallography of proteins and viruses
» Computer modelling and dynamics of biological molecules
» Theoretical studies on the conformation of peptides and proteins
» Conformational analysis of nucleic acids
» DNA-protein interactions
» Unusual DNA structures and control of transcription
» Ionophores and drugs and their interaction with membranes
» Genome organization
» Synthetic protein design and protein engineering
» Ionic channels and electrophysiology
» Membrane channel forming peptides

Sources:

1. http://mbu.iisc.ernet.in/
2. http://cmb.ornl.gov/