This page contains images related to some of the many research projects that Dr. Ojakangas has directed with students. The first two are posters presented by students at the MARAC astrophysics conference in Spring 2019, the next was presented at a Undergraduate Women in Physics conference in Spring 2020. The examples that follow are explained in the accompanying text. There are many more to be added when time permits.
At a Regional Society of Physics Students Conference in 2016, Parker LiaBraaten and Deborah Peana describe the physics behind a phenomenon discovered at Drury University: when a long chain slides off of a table, a backward propagating wave causes the chain to generate a right-angle bend that maintains its shape as the chain slides off of the table. It is a striking phenomenon, related to the now-famous chain fountain. We have a paper in progress for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
In the images below, Alex Murdaugh and Nicholas Overmon explain the concept behind a toy we were developing, called the “Electrostatic Levitron”. This device is intended to behave in a manner similar to the original magnetic levitron, using electric dipoles rather than magnetic dipoles.
Physics student Wayne Elliott worked hard to create a platform that would allow the electrostatic levitron to be set up as a prototype. In the video frame at the left, our lightweight, charged top appears to levitate briefly, after charges are emplaced on the donut-shaped conducting base (charged with a Wimshurst generator, not shown), and on the top. This project is now on hold for the time being.
In the images below, Wayne Elliott, Laura Westfall and Leo Van Deuren present a mathematical model that explains the motion of electrically charged water droplets orbiting an oppositely charged knitting needle aboard the International Space Station. A paper is nearly completed, with Astronaut Don Pettit, who performed and videoed the experiments on the ISS.
In 2013, astronaut Donald Pettit (coauthor) injected electrostatically charged droplets of water into the region surrounding an oppositely charged Teflon (white) or polypropylene (blue) knitting needle in the microgravity environment aboard the international space station. Negatively charged droplets were repelled from the knitting needle while positively charged droplets went into orbit when initial velocities were small enough. We developed theory that explains the observed motion very well, using the laws of physics and assuming a uniform charge distribution on the knitting needle. On the left is a short section of one of many videos taken by Dr Pettit on the ISS. On the right is a matlab simulation created on Dr. Ojakangas’ laptop, using theory he developed. The simulated and actual motions closely resemble each other.
The following poster was presented at the internal CNMS research conference at Drury University in 2016.
