Six Flags: High School Physics

By Jacy Wojcik in News on May 9, 2008 10:02PM

What do a TI-84 calculator, Iron Wolf, and a 16 year-old boy named Michael have in common? Why. they are all things that could be found at Great America Physics Day of course!
Over 10,000 students from Illinois, Chicago, Wisconsin and Michigan bussed their way to Six Flags Great America for the annual physics day in which high school students pretend to learn about velocity and actually play on rides all day. We kid. Students actually learn a lot about how "stuff" works based on a curriculum by Nathan Unterman, a Glenbrook North High School science teacher who also wrote the book, Amusement Park Physics, which we love. Because if you're going to have to figure out the amplitude of a driven oscillation, you might as well have fun vom-ing on Raging Bull while doing so. [S-T, photo by Hendricks Photos]