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| Martin Teachworth explains a physics concept to his class at La Jolla High School and some of his students (below) — Ean Sharp, Jocelyn Saucedo and David Haupster — see if they can replicate it. |
Newton’s laws of motion were just theory for most of Martin Teachworth’s career as a physics teacher. Now that he has experienced zero gravity, it’s a whole new concept.
He could explain it all well enough, but now he has a “gut-level understanding” to enhance his knowledge. “I can tell you all day long what a chocolate bar tastes like, but unless you put it in your mouth, you won’t really understand what chocolate tastes like,” says the San Diego Education Association member. “Now I truly understand the concept I’ve been talking about.”
In August, Teachworth was one of 20 jumpsuit-clad science teachers who gathered at Lindbergh Field one morning for the adventure of their lives. The opportunity, sponsored by Northrop Grumman and Zero-G Corporation, was intended to change how students see science via changing how their teachers see it.
“We want to make teachers become rock stars,” says Zero-G spokesman Noah McMahon. “We want to let them do what few people get to do. And we want their students to get excited by what their teachers get to do.”
For Teachworth, a La Jolla High School teacher who’s dreamed of space travel since he was a youngster, it was the ultimate thrill. “I could never have qualified to be an astronaut, but this was the closest thing to it. It was fun — oh so much fun.”
First, a medical exam was required and there were forms to be signed. Then there was training at the San Diego Aerospace Museum, where he talked to teachers and crew members who had done this kind of thing before. Finally, it was time for takeoff in a modified Boeing 727. Upon reaching an altitude of 24,000 feet, the plane made a sharp ascent, and then arced downward, letting the fun begin.
When experiencing higher than normal gravity (about 1.8 g) during a climb, says Teachworth, “it felt as though someone the exact same size as you was lying on top of you. Then all of a sudden, you go from feeling nearly twice your normal weight to lighter and lighter and then zero gravity. With the littlest push, you start to move. You touch the floor or wall and instantly you start to move. I felt Newton’s Second Law: force equals mass times acceleration.”
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| Teachworth (in purple) bounces off the walls of an airplane as it plunges toward earth. |
The teachers were floating in air. Some did somersaults. It was, in some ways, similar to swimming without water. Before coming back to Earth, the teachers were weightless for 30-second intervals 16 times.
Teachworth was planning to bring liquids on board to conduct experiments, but the flight took place the same day that terrorists were arrested for planning to use liquid explosives to blow up airplanes. With his liquids confiscated, he was left with a flying pig, a plastic slinky, a colored kaleidoscope, a motor that spins, M&M candies and a golf ball on a string.
“I had an area that was 70 feet long. I took an M&M and threw it down the center and it went in a perfectly straight line,” he marvels. “Newton’s first law is that objects remain at a constant rate of motion unless acted on by an outside force. And I was seeing it — a little M&M tumbling end over end in a perfectly straight line.”
Since the experience, his students have been in a state of constant motion, “whether dropping things or jumping up in the air.” Instead of M&M’s, they’re working with bowling balls and wooden ramps to learn how acceleration and velocity work.
For Teachworth, the ultimate professional development experience has changed his perspective on the world as well as how he relates to science. He is, simply put, reinvigorated.
“To me, physics has become more of a living, breathing subject.”
