Help me write a Firefly Exam Question

POSTED BY: Kumo
UPDATED: Monday, August 29, 2011 09:30
VIEWED: 6674
PAGE 2 of 2

PREV PAGE 1 2

STINKINGROSE

Sunday, August 7, 2011 11:46 PM

I'm getting all the science and math I avoided the first time around. Long story.

How about a little ballistics: "You're a space cowboy. The hull of your ship will be pierced by a projectile traveling at (x) velocity. Your gun releases a bullet with Vo (y). You have the artificial gravity on. How far does your bullet have to go to slow down to a non-hull-puncturing speed if you miss the space pirate trying to kill you? Alternatively, how much do you have to lower the gravity to make it safe(ish) for a shoot out in a space 100m by 100m?

KUMO

Sunday, August 7, 2011 11:48 PM

Yeah, like Traveler says, the most promising theme at this time is for something (Jayne or a crate of goods?) to drop out of the Serenity while it flies at a given speed. I think that will fit best what has been covered in lecture since the quiz has to reflect this.

Keep the references flowing though, the quiz is FAR from complete.

RIONAEIRE

Monday, August 8, 2011 3:04 AM

Rose, I loved your question. Maybe s/he can use something like it later when the class gets more advanced and they've all seen the pilot episode.
:))) S/He'll be the best dynamics professor on earth that ... still is.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

BYTEMITE

Monday, August 8, 2011 3:17 PM

Well, let's see. Projectile motion.

Pilot episode there's some gun-play, like Jayne sniping the fellow in the tall hat, or Zoe managing to shoot from her back and the ground. Or you could have your students calculate how long a pair of Independent soldiers have to get out of the way of the path of a Alliance ship that's been shot down, ship traveling at x speed to start with when it's shot down, and assuming Hera has approximately Earth gravity.

For The Train Job, someone could calculate whether the crew will manage to jump into Serenity's airlock and escape, or if they'll fall.

Bushwhacked the Alliance blows up the derelict at the end, but that wouldn't involve the Earth value for g.

Nothing I can think of in Shindig (barbrawl?) or Safe (Jayne hanging from the belly airlock with a sniper rifle?).

Best I can think of for OMR is trying to shoot out the net, though again, no Earth value for g. The trajectory question suggested would be more of a vector question, not sure if that's what's wanted.

Jaynestown, that money drop might work.

Out of Gas: Got nothing.

Ariel: also nothing.

War Stories: Only thing I can think of is another vector question with flying blind at the skyplex.

Trash: Nope.

The Message: The fed tries to shoot Serenity with missiles at one point, if I remember, you could model a problem about whether the missiles will hit Serenity, or if they'll impact on the snow covered tunnel Wash was aiming for.

Nothing for Heart of Gold or Objects in Space either.

Serenity: Barn swallow maybe. Another option is Book attempting to shoot down the Alliance fighter while defending Haven, even though that wasn't on screen.

BYTEMITE

Monday, August 8, 2011 3:30 PM

Hmm, no, that first suggestion might be too easy. What if you have them back calculate the initial speed of the falling Alliance fighter craft instead?

KUMO

Tuesday, August 9, 2011 12:30 AM

Hahah, it is my plan to gradually introduce more Firefly to those who are interested.

I like how you said that the class getting more advanced involves watching more Firefly - as opposed to studying more Dynamics :D

KUMO

Tuesday, August 9, 2011 12:57 AM

Wow Bytemite, I really appreciate your thorough analysis of all the possible scenarios!

I was just going to say Serenity drops crate - find how long it takes to hit the ground/how far it travels in the x direction.

You guys have inspired me to go for something more audacious and have either Jayne jumping out of Serenity with a parachute onto a train (which is travelling at a constant speed) OR have Serenity drop credits and/or supplies onto Jaynestown.

I've got the solution down - just need to finalise and submit. Even if the lecturer insists I remove some references, I'll keep Serenity in.

I'll keep you guys posted.

KUMO

Monday, August 29, 2011 9:30 AM

Sorry about the long silence guys, but things went pear shaped. The lecturer claimed that this question was in principle too similar to a question from the text book - to which the majority of the students have found the answers online and the quiz being open book resulted in my question being ignored and the lecturer substituting it with his own...

I'm really sorry I couldn't get it through but there is still a faint hope that I may be able to get a Firefly theme into a future quiz.

Regardless, here's what the question would have looked like:

http://users.tpg.com.au/adslecbt/serenityq2.docx

PREV PAGE 1 2