The Observer, October 13, 2006
Volume XXXIX, Issue 7
Cleveland State professor brings Flying Circus to Case
Jearl Walker, a physics professor from Cleveland State University and nationally known science popularizer, dazzled and excited a crowded lecture hall of Case students and faculty on Tuesday.
"I want to give you a taste of physics and how it relates to the world outside the classroom," Walker said.
His talk, hosted by the Physics and Astronomy Club, included several examples of physics in everyday life and demonstrations such as lying on a bed of nails and dipping his hand into molten lead.
Walker is well-known to introductory physics students at Case for revising and editing the textbook Fundamentals of Physics, originally written by David Halliday and Robert Resnick, and for his PBS series Kinetic Karnival.
Walker originally started his job of teaching and demonstrating physics in the "real world" as a graduate student at the University of Maryland in the 1970s.
"I was teaching a class at the time, and one day one of my students asked for an example of how physics pertained to her everyday life," explained Walker, "and I couldn't think of one. I realized then that the problem with physics is the equations I learned in the physics building did not seem to pertain to my life once I was outside of it, so I started collecting examples of how physics related to everyday life that evening."
During his lecture, Walker covered "a sampling" of various physics-related phenomena, such as shrimp that kill their prey through sound, beetles that use infrared technology to detect forest fires, and how people in a mosh pit can threaten the structural stability of a building.
Towards the end of the talk, he began showing demonstrations to the crowd including a "rattleback" top that will only spin in one direction and how water always swirls fine particles at the bottom of a cup of water into the middle of the container.
He later excited the crowd by being sandwiched between a bed of nails and inviting Jenny Kalb, president of the Physics and Astronomy Club, to stand on top to show how the nails did not hurt him.
"The force from her weight is evenly distributed in these nails so they won't harm me," explained Walker.
For the finale, Walker announced he would dip his hand into a pot of boiling lead which he had been carefully heating during the talk.
"There is a phenomenon in physics known as the Leidenfrost effect, where if something is much hotter than its boiling point an insulating vapor layer will form if you touch it," Walker told his audience. "This is the same phenomenon that allows you to test the heat of a skillet with water droplets...of course, the problem with this method is if the lead is not hot enough yet, I will lose my fingers."
Luckily the lead was sufficiently heated beforehand, and Walker performed the stunt to audience applause.
Jearl Walker's presentation was met by an enthusiastic audience. "I grew up with Jearl Walker in high school watching his TV show, so it was amazing to finally see him in person," says Mike Gisondo, a senior physics major. "When he dipped his hand into molten lead, I was blown away."
Despite the show, Walker admitted that things did not always go as smoothly as audience members were led to believe by his success.
"My worst injury was during a demonstration for IBM, when it was agreed beforehand that the IBM CEO would stand on the bed of nails," he said.
Although a fall during the performance caused Walker to break a rib, he didn't want to lose his commission for the presentation.
"I suffered the weight of an overweight executive while in excruciating pain. My doctor was not happy afterwards."
He also has had to make close judgment calls on the safety of his molten lead demonstration.
"When I was on the Tonight Show once there was a breeze coming in from offstage that was hampering the heating of the lead, so I really wasn't certain if it was hot enough. Finally I decided to take a risk and not chicken out on live national TV, and luckily it worked out!"
Walker is currently off the national circuit with his Flying Circus to concentrate instead on his work on Fundamental Physics, a new version of which is due next year.
"I spend a lot of effort looking for new examples and in making the text more interesting for introductory students, and it takes an extreme amount of work," he said.
Examples of physics in everyday life can be found in Walker's book, The Flying Circus of Physics, updates for which can be read free at http://www.flyingcircusofphysics.com.
