Identifying physics misconceptions at the circus: The case of circular motion

Circular motion is embedded in many circus tricks, and is also one of the most challenging topics for both students and teachers. Previous studies have identified several misconceptions about circular motion, and especially about the forces that act upon a rotating object. A commonly used demonstrat...

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Autores principales:	Alexander Volfson, Haim Eshach, Yuval Ben-Abu
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Physical Society 2020
Materias:	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/1e57ddffaa014b538d6ccd0de9938315
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:1e57ddffaa014b538d6ccd0de99383152021-12-02T13:00:23ZIdentifying physics misconceptions at the circus: The case of circular motion10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.16.0101342469-9896https://doaj.org/article/1e57ddffaa014b538d6ccd0de99383152020-06-01T00:00:00Zhttp://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.16.010134http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.16.010134https://doaj.org/toc/2469-9896Circular motion is embedded in many circus tricks, and is also one of the most challenging topics for both students and teachers. Previous studies have identified several misconceptions about circular motion, and especially about the forces that act upon a rotating object. A commonly used demonstration of circular motion laws by physics teachers is spinning a bucket full of water in the vertical plane further explaining why the water did not spill out when the bucket was upside down. One of the central misconceptions regarding circular motion is the existence of so-called centrifugal force: Students mistakenly believe that when an object spins in a circular path, there is real force acting on the object in the radial direction pulling it out of the path. Thus, one of the most frequently observed naïve explanations is that the gravity force mg is compensated by the centrifugal force on the top of the circular trajectory and thus, water does not spill down. In the present study we decided to change the context of the problem from a usual physics class demonstration to a relatively unusual informal environment of a circus show and investigate the spectators’ ideas regarding circular motion in this context. Thus, the goal of the present study is to examine the concepts of a heteroaged population regarding circular motion phenomenon provided in the context of a circus number as expressed in focus-group interviews following the number.Alexander VolfsonHaim EshachYuval Ben-AbuAmerican Physical SocietyarticleSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691PhysicsQC1-999ENPhysical Review Physics Education Research, Vol 16, Iss 1, p 010134 (2020)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999
spellingShingle	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999 Alexander Volfson Haim Eshach Yuval Ben-Abu Identifying physics misconceptions at the circus: The case of circular motion
description	Circular motion is embedded in many circus tricks, and is also one of the most challenging topics for both students and teachers. Previous studies have identified several misconceptions about circular motion, and especially about the forces that act upon a rotating object. A commonly used demonstration of circular motion laws by physics teachers is spinning a bucket full of water in the vertical plane further explaining why the water did not spill out when the bucket was upside down. One of the central misconceptions regarding circular motion is the existence of so-called centrifugal force: Students mistakenly believe that when an object spins in a circular path, there is real force acting on the object in the radial direction pulling it out of the path. Thus, one of the most frequently observed naïve explanations is that the gravity force mg is compensated by the centrifugal force on the top of the circular trajectory and thus, water does not spill down. In the present study we decided to change the context of the problem from a usual physics class demonstration to a relatively unusual informal environment of a circus show and investigate the spectators’ ideas regarding circular motion in this context. Thus, the goal of the present study is to examine the concepts of a heteroaged population regarding circular motion phenomenon provided in the context of a circus number as expressed in focus-group interviews following the number.
format	article
author	Alexander Volfson Haim Eshach Yuval Ben-Abu
author_facet	Alexander Volfson Haim Eshach Yuval Ben-Abu
author_sort	Alexander Volfson
title	Identifying physics misconceptions at the circus: The case of circular motion
title_short	Identifying physics misconceptions at the circus: The case of circular motion
title_full	Identifying physics misconceptions at the circus: The case of circular motion
title_fullStr	Identifying physics misconceptions at the circus: The case of circular motion
title_full_unstemmed	Identifying physics misconceptions at the circus: The case of circular motion
title_sort	identifying physics misconceptions at the circus: the case of circular motion
publisher	American Physical Society
publishDate	2020
url	https://doaj.org/article/1e57ddffaa014b538d6ccd0de9938315
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Identifying physics misconceptions at the circus: The case of circular motion

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