On February 24, 2015, the gifted students were having much fun and were very happy, as it was a 2 hour delay, and they had yet another gifted program to go to. They walked along to the Kennedy gym where the program waited for them. Upon getting to the gym, the first thing the students saw was a huge screen, on which, no doubt, scientific images would be projected. The next thing the students saw were several tables filled with materials for different science and physics experiments. The final thing the students observed in the Kennedy gym was a man and his assistant who greeted them cheerfully. The students gathered in the gym and the program began.

As the man in the gym greeted the students, he introduced the program as “Grand Slam Science,” a program to teach students of the vital physics used in baseball. The students watched several little clips of batters hitting baseballs and running around the bases. All of this was shown in slow motion, and all of this, at some point, had a graphical little diagram of the place where the physics took place and how they worked. The next thing students saw was a little demo of the physics at work. The experiment consisted of a ball getting dropped into a cup by getting a surface pulled out from under it, which had a little bit of physics involved. Another experiment that the students witnessed was a leaf blower blowing out ping-pong balls from a container, which included the physics of Bernoulli’s principle. This principle is an equation involving air pressure, and it is very useful in helping make planes fly.

Yet, another short but exciting experiment that the students saw was a machine called Swing Tracker. This unique machine was connected to a sensor on a bat, and when the bat hit a ball, the Swing Tracker calculated the force and swing speed of the bat. This was something that immensely interested the students, and they all got a turn to try out this new and interesting piece of technology. Next, the students saw a few more slow-motion clips of the Pittsburgh Pirates swinging bats and the physics behind the swings and home runs. Then the students got a little demonstration of how, with baseball bats, depending on their length and material, you can make music. The grand finale consisted of a little experiment with fire, where different gases in liquid form were added to fire, changing its color. The flames then got to dance as music started playing and made the flames move and jump.

After the final experiment the amazing program ended. Students went back to their classes, chattering excitedly. They muttered at how awesome the program was and how much they learned. This was a day they would never forget!

Physics- The branch of science concerned with the nature and properties of matter and energy. The subject matter of physics, distinguished from that of chemistry and biology, includes mechanics, heat, light and other radiation, sound, electricity, magnetism, and the structure of atoms.