19
friction is overcome. What was new was another
special angle, with the ribbon unwinding off the
top half of the spool rather than the bottom
half, at which rolling without slipping happens
even in the absence of friction. The maximum
acceleration has a cusp in it at that angle, with
the limit being reached when the spool is pulled
so hard that it lifts off the table.
Since 2001, I have published 15 articles
and five letters in
TPT
. Some of the ones that
have attracted special attention are the trio
dealing with the perennial controversies of
work, heat, and energy: “Irreversible Adiabatic
Compression of an Ideal Gas” in 2003, “A Primer
on Work-Energy Relationships for Introductory
Physics” in 2005, and “Thermodynamics of
a Block Sliding Across a Frictional Surface”
in 2007. Readers who found “Inverse Lawn
Sprinkler” in an online summer 2005 issue
appreciated its demonstration of how the
motion of a reverse sprinkler depends on the
bends in the arms. “Rolling the
Black Pearl
Over: Analyzing the Physics of a Movie Clip” in
2011 was adapted from a popular presentation
at the 2010 Summer Meeting. In addition, I
have avidly solved Boris Korsunsky’s “Physics
Challenges” ever since he started that column
in October 2001 (see page 476 of the October
2005 issue of
TPT
for an award I received in
connection with these challenges). Currently
I’m on my second three-year stint as a member
of the
TPT
editorial board—it’s a privilege to
give back to the journal in some way.
Spurred by the joy of writing pedagogical
articles, I have written such articles at other
levels of presentation in many journals.
Crafting them clarifies my thinking. All of my
publications are online at
.
edu/Users/physics/mungan/Publications/
publications.html. Whether one considers a
topic from a first-year undergraduate course for
non-majors or an advanced issue in a senior-
level theoretical or laboratory class for physics
majors, I think it’s safe to say that if you can
present it at the level of
TPT
, then you really
understand the topic. Try it yourself and see!
Karl C. Mamola, Editor 2000-2013
Karl received his BS in physics from Stony Brook University in 1963. He followed that with a
master’s degree from Florida State in 1965 and a PhD from Dartmouth in 1973. Karl began
teaching at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, in 1965 and has taught all of the
standard undergraduate courses, receiving a number of university awards for outstanding
teaching. For 21 years he was chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. In 1998 he
returned to his position as full professor. Karl has long been active in AAPT, having served as
section president and section representative.
Karl has published many papers in his research specialties of applied optics and physics
pedagogy, including articles in
The Physics Teacher
and the
American Journal of Physics
. For
seven years, he served as
TPT’s
“Apparatus” column editor; he also prepared the manuscript
for a collection of useful and popular apparatus columns, which was published in book form
by the American Association of Physics Teachers in 1998 as
Apparatus for Teaching Physics
.
Since becoming
TPT
editor in 2000, he has served on the AAPT Publications Committee and
Executive Board.
