Flying Circus of Physics

06/07/2024

Kinetic Karnival -- Leidenfrost effect

12/19/2018

Weight lifting, the physics way.

Today we're working out on the Flying Circus of Physics. But we're doing it Jearl's way - with a container of rice and a wooden spoon. Plus, Professor Walker...

11/29/2018

Magnetic cereal, my latest CSU video.

We caught Jearl shopping at Heinen's in downtown Cleveland for some iron-fortified cereal. That made us wonder: Could these Cheerios be magnetic? Let's find ...

11/01/2018

For Halloween, three of my students came to class dressed like I normally dress: an outer collared shirt (so that I look semi-professional) and a tee-shirt, usually a band tee-shirt like a Joy Division tee-shirt (so that I don't look completely professional). Here are Alli, Kelly, me, and Ally.

10/18/2018

The latest FCP video by CSU: Self sealing plastic bags and WWII aircraft fuel tanks.

The Allied Forces in World War II had a clever way of protecting their fuel tanks from leaking when punctured by bullets. Cleveland State University physics ...

09/20/2018

In some intense fires along the ground, the hot air can flow to a central point and then rise in column that swirls violently, to make a fire-driven whirlwind. Here is an example where the hot air is swirling so strongly that it pulls in a firehose. The only thing left for a firefighter to do is to throw a rock at the vortex.

A video posted to Instagram by a Canadian firefighter shows the scene of a fire tornado pulling the hose of a British Columbia wildfire crew high into the ai...

09/09/2018

Here is a link to the latest Cleveland State FCP video, in which I use cheese to calculate the speed of light.

It's the season 4 premiere of The Flying Circus of Physics, and Cleveland State University Professor Jearl Walker is cooking up a cheesy experiment. He's mea...

08/19/2018

When a heavy tree limb breaks off, it falls almost directly downward. One night years ago, a branch weighing about two tons fell onto my roof directly above where my wife and I were sleeping. We were saved by the fact that the base of the branch landed on the chimney top. Otherwise it would have easily crashed through the roof (and through us). A few weeks ago a severe storm hit Cleveland Heights. Down the street from me a large tree was uprooted. Uprooted trees rotate around their base rather than falling straight down. That tree rotated until it was leaning against an even taller tree. The next morning, tree-service workers began to take apart the leaning tree but the action uprooted the even taller tree. Both trees then sliced through the house. Luckily, the family was outside watching the operation. Living underneath tall trees can be unnerving.

08/15/2018

Here is a link to all the CSU Flying Circus videos, including the teaser opener for Season 4 in which I stumble through my lines while a chicken watches me with pity.

Welcome to “The Flying Circus of Physics” with Jearl Walker, Ph.D., a professor of physics at Cleveland State University. Each action-packed episode delivers...

08/12/2018

Rattlebacks --- objects that change directions when spinning. This is the last video of season 3 of the FCP series of videos with Cleveland State.

Cleveland State University physics professor Jearl Walker visits Campus International School for the Season 3 finale of The Flying Circus of Physics. Watch J...

04/03/2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R_LSgDJptI

We're going to a higher set of dimensions in this mind- and space-bending episode of The Flying Circus of Physics. Jearl Walker shows off a coin trick for al...

12/26/2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_ANLLV7LQU&t=12s

What's Jearl Walker cooking up today? The Cleveland State University physics professor is using strings of beads and a strand of macaroni to explain the siph...