Ada —
By JOE CLAXTON
ACS Publications Director
ADA — The best leaps and hang ups of Air Jordan, Spud Webb and other NBA greats were off the ground again in Sheri Dennis’ physics class at Ada High recently.
Dennis said some of the topics covered include speed, free-falling, projectiles, gravity, kinetic energy, light, electricity and magnetism. The labs are often active and many times out of the classroom.
“A few of the questions we answer are how do airplanes fly, what happens when you jump up while the elevator is going down, and how long is hang time in a vertical jump,” Dennis said.
Gravity was the subject of the recent class.
The hang time lab used the football team’s vertical jump measuring machine. The numbered steel bars on an adjustable pole are placed one inch apart. The pole is adjusted to a person’s highest reach while standing, then the person jumps and swats at the highest bar they can reach.
The number on the bar they reach is the number of inches they jumped vertically.
Film of the NBA stars, including the famous slam dunk duels between Jordan and Atlanta’s Dominique Wilkins brought roars from the class.
“Hang time in basketball looks much longer than it actually is: even Michael Jordan’s best jump of 48 inches keeps him in the air for only 0.9 seconds,” Dennis explained.
“Gravity acts on everyone. From the moment you leave the ground, you are being slowed down by gravity. While airborne, not even pumping your arms or legs will better your air time.”
The class calculated their hang times after doing their highest vertical jumps. The best was by Landon Jackson, whose 34-inch jump had a 0.4 second hang time. That is better than the average NBA player (30 inches).
Physics is offered second hour and is available to juniors and seniors. Physics is about the way basic things work.
“We study concepts using meaningful examples and hands-on exercises that make physics real and exciting. The laws of physics are applied using some upper-level math, but our class does much more than math word problems. We try to do physics, not just learn physics,” Dennis said.
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Related Photos
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Landon Jackson gets air in physics with one of the better hang times as Sheri Dennis’ Ada High class studies gravity. In the background are, from left, Jesse Spence, Julian Mankin and Chris Farmer. Ada City Schools/Joe Claxton
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