The scientific aspects of sound and air pressure will be explained when CU Wizard Michael Dubson presents his show "Boom! The Physics of Sound and Air Pressure," on Saturday, May 26, at 9:30 a.m. in Duane Physics, room G1B30.
During the free hour-long show, Dubson, who is a senior instructor in the physics department at the University of Colorado at Boulder, will implode a 50-gallon steel drum using air pressure, create a sonic boom with a bullwhip and stage a tug-of-war with the pressure of the atmosphere.
Dubson and the audience will explore the sounds made by several exotic musical instruments including an electronic theremin, which emits sounds when a hand is waved in the air near its antenna.
The audience also will learn how sound waves are made, why they can be heard and what makes some sounds "musical." Dubson said he will be handing out colored cards to the audience at the beginning of the show, and they will vote on answers to questions asked by raising colored cards.
Other highlights of the show include an exploding hydrogen balloon, a strobe light on a vibrating drumhead and a bed of nails.
CU Wizards is a monthly series during the academic year that introduces topics in astronomy, chemistry and physics. Though intended primarily for students in grades five through nine, the shows are educational and entertaining to persons of any age.
Dubson was one of two CU-Boulder faculty members featured in an educational program that aired on Denver's CBS television station KCNC-TV last November. The two-week series "Convection Connection" featured News4 anchor Larry Green, Alex Weaver, former K-12 outreach director at CU's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, and Dubson. The award-winning series featured experiments to explain the scientific concept of convection.
The final CU Wizards show of the spring, "Black Holes," is on Saturday, June 16, at 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. The show will feature Professor Andrew Hamilton of the astrophysical and planetary sciences department at CU-Boulder.
Free parking for the May 26 show is available in lot 169 northeast of Folsom Stadium off Folsom Street, lot 396 off Stadium Drive, lot 436 east of the Engineering Center and lot 308 south of Regent Drive and west of Kittredge Loop Road. Parking also is available in the Euclid Avenue Autopark for a nominal fee.
Anyone with a disability or special need should notify the physics office at (303) 492-6952 a few days prior to the show. For information about CU Wizards call (303) 492-4318 or visit the Web site at .