Welcome back to the ΣΠΣ Puzzle Corner. This edition’s crossword puzzle, prepared by AIP Education Communications Specialist Elizabeth Hook, connects the Eisenhower puzzle of the last issue with the future: the Quadrennial Physics Conference, hosted by ΣΠΣ.

In 1958, inspired by Sputnik, the first human-made device to orbit the Earth, President Eisenhower advocated a major US investment in space exploration, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was established. In November 2012, hundreds of physics undergraduates and ΣΠΣ alumni will gather in Orlando, FL, and tour NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, from which NASA launched Alan Shepard into space, John Glenn into orbit, Neil Armstrong to the moon, and Sally Ride on a shuttle science mission. We trust the crossword will challenge you.

Two physics puzzles appear for your consideration as well.

We continue to welcome any interesting puzzles you may have to share with your fellow ΣΠΣ alumni.

PRIZES

Submit solutions for your chance to win a bookstore gift card and see your name appear in Radiations. Prizes will be awarded separately for the crossword and each physics puzzle.

Please submit your answers by surface mail to:

ΣΠΣ Puzzle Corner
One Physics Ellipse,
College Park, MD 20740

or e-mail to tolsen@aip.org

DEADLINE

15 February 2012

SOLUTIONS:

• NASA Crossword Puzzle
• Puzzle #1: Rocky Spheriod
• Puzzle #2: Mirror Images

NASA Crossword Puzzle

Download the crossword puzzle (pdf) | Solutions (pdf)

Note: The print version of crossword in the Fall 2011 issue of Radiations contains an error.
Number 20 down should read "NASA's first orbiting space station for human habitation"
The online versions have been corrected. We apologize for any frustration this may have cause.

Click on image to enlarge/print

Physics Puzzles

1) Our first puzzle by Gary White pays homage to the exciting 2011 World Series.

a. What is the radius of the largest rocky spheroid from which a human could throw a baseball so that it escapes from the spheroid’s gravitational pull?

b. If, instead, the ball is thrown into a circular orbit around this same spheroid, how long will the pitcher have to wait before catching it after it orbits once? Compare this to the space shuttle orbital time.

Solution

2) Our second puzzle by Thomas Olsen celebrates the joys of shopping. It also calls for some visual thinking.

Most of us know that when two mirrors meet at 90°, you may observe three reflections of yourself: one to the right, one to the left, and one as you look directly into the vertex of the right angle. The image beyond the vertex is special. Unlike the other two, it does not appear to be right-left reversed—we see ourselves as others see us.

At what other angles between two mirrors would you see such an image as you look directly into the vertex?

Solution