Fun Park Physics

In what has become a spring rite of passage for scores of teens in the Intermountain West, more than 6,000 budding scientists descend on Utah’s Lagoon amusement park each May for Utah State University’s Physics Day.

 

The day-long extravaganza features hands-on learning, academic competition and fun – all in the name of science.

 

Middle and high school science students from Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada and beyond transform the northern Utah überplayground into a giant laboratory to explore such basic physics concepts as gravity, projectile motion and centrifugal force.

 

“Physics Day motivates students’ interest in science and relates abstract concepts to familiar examples in a fun way,” says J.R. Dennison, USU physics professor and a founding organizer of the event. “What better laboratory to entice young people than an amusement park?”

 

Initiated by USU’s Physics Department in 1989, Physics Day is coordinated by USU and partners Idaho National Laboratory, Lagoon and the Rocky Mountain NASA Space Grant Consortium. Participation, sponsorship, activities and prizes for the event have steadily grown during the past 18 years. In recent years, the day’s top six academic competitors received four-year scholarship offers to USU, and thousands of dollars worth of prizes are distributed.

 

Months prior to the event, students prepare entries for the logo, demonstration and ride design contests. The day’s activities include the annual Physics Bowl academic competition as well as experiments performed directly on the park’s rides. Students build their own accelerometers to measure G-forces on the Colossus roller coaster and design their own protective containers for the Sky Drop Contest, which involves dropping a raw egg bombardier-style from the 15-meter-high Sky Coaster ride – and keeping it intact.

 

“We estimate that more than 80,000 students have attended Physics Day over the years,” says Dennison.

 

Becky Atkins, USU College of Science Dean’s Scholar, is one of those alumni. Atkins, who graduated in 2007 with a 4.0 GPA, earned a bachelor’s degree in math education with a minor in physics. The Idaho native, who attended Physics Day while a student at Twin Falls High School, choose to attend Utah State because of the scholarship she earned as a Physics Bowl contestant.

 

An aspiring high school teacher, Atkins says she looks forward to encouraging hands-on learning activities and active participation in her own classroom. “Math and science are not just about plugging numbers into a formula,” she says. “It’s important to understand how and why things work.”

 

Two other notable Physics Day alums include 2006 Torino Olympics gold medal stars Julia Mancuso and Ted Ligety. As high school classmates at Park City, Utah’s Winter Sports School, the champion ski racers teamed up in 2000 for a Physics Day project.

 

While Physics Day includes a boatload of conventional amusement park fun, Dennison says it’s gratifying to hear youngsters’ lively discussions about free fall, drag forces, energy conservation and impulse. “Who says physics has to be dull?” he says.

 

In addition to the coordinating partners, Physics Day sponsors include ATK Thiokol, Boeing, Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, Idaho NASA Space Grant Consortium, Mathsoft Engineering, Micron, Moog Aircraft, North Wind Environmental, SAIC, S&S Power, the U.S. Navy, USU’s College of Science, USU’s Admissions Office and USU Bookstore.