Physics students are intrigued by activities in space. To link this natural curiosity with solid problem-solving skills, we developed a spreadsheet simulation for satellites moving through an atmosphere of variable density. The simulation-laboratory has been used in U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) introductory physics classes for several semesters. Spreadsheet variants have also been used in a USAFA advanced division space physics class, a high school advanced placement physics class, and in the Center for Integrated Space Weather Modeling graduate summer school course.
REFERENCES
1.
See EPAPS document #E-PHTEAH-43-018507 for the appendix to this paper.
This document may be retrieved via the EPAPS homepage (http://www.aip.org/pubservs/epaps.html) or from ftp.aip.org in the directory epaps in the phys_teach folder. See the EPAPS homepage for more information.
2.
Douglas C. Giancoli, Physics for Scientists and Engineers, 3rd ed. (Prentice Hall, 2000), p. 336.
3.
See the NASA MSIS model at:http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/space/model/atmos.
4.
A.
Hedin
, “Extension of the MSIS thermospheric model into the middle and lower atmosphere
,” J. Geophys. Res.
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–1172
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).5.
A. D. C. Grassie and J. E. Spice, “Introducing the Boltzmann Distribution,” Sources of Physics Teaching, Part 1 (Taylor and Francis, 1988), p. 74.
6.
The simulation, the concept map, pre- and post-laboratory questions, and comparisons with observed satellite altitude profiles can be found at http://www.aip.org/pubservs/epaps.html. See Ref. 1 for details.
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© 2005 American Association of Physics Teachers.
2005
American Association of Physics Teachers
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