Help Topics

1. Netscape
2. Plug-ins
3. Animations and Movies
4. Buttons
5. Links
6. Graphical Analysis Program
7. Frame Flipper Program
8. Odds & Ends

1. Netscape

The PC appears now to run with Internet Explorer starting with version 5.0. As the PC is not routinely tested with this browser, Netscape continues to be the recommended browser.

For best results, set your computer display to a resolution of at least 640 x 480 and more than 256 colors.

To allow for the greatest viewing area for the PC, close the three tool bars at the top of the Netscape screen. This is done by clicking each of the toolbar icons . You can open these toolbars back up by clicking on the icons.

2. Plug-ins

The easiest way of installing them is to go back to the initial page of the Physics Companion and click on the "Before You Start" button. You will find complete instructions there. If you are a computer novice, you might want to seek help during this step.

3. Animations and Movies

Flash Animations

Most animations are controlled using buttons. These can take any form, but they are usually green arrows. These buttons have three basic looks, depending on the needs of the particular animation. Sometimes you will get directions in the text of the right hand column of the PC telling you when to move through an animation. These buttons don't control the animation. They just suggest which button to use next. Usually you'll just work through the entire animation and then return to the text column.

1. This one is just a two-frame animation to show you two different configurations of a circuit. It uses a next frame  and previous frame  button to let you more forward or backward a step. Try it. You'll notice that when your pointer gets over a button, the button's function is indicated by words below it.

2. This one is similar, but it has play  and rewind  buttons.

3. Many animations include a sequence of segments. A typical example is shown below. The rose of buttons in this animation provides six different choices. The play  and rewind  buttons appear as before along with next page  and previous page . Below these you see the next frame  and previous frame  buttons. The 1 in the circle indicates that you are on the first of several pages of animation.

The  at the bottom suggests that you use the next frame button now. Try it. A question appears for you to think about. You'll also see a   button drop down to replace the next frame button. This is called "dropping a hint." You can use any button you want at any time. The hints just suggest the most likely sequence for playing the animation. Go ahead and try the whole thing. This one has two pages.

You will occasionally find a stop sign in an animation. This indicates that you need to wait for instructions in the text column before playing or stepping through the animation.

4. Animations with no buttons can be started or stopped by right-clicking (clicking with the right mouse button) anywhere in the image and then clicking play in the pop up menu. Another choice in this menu us is Zoom In or Out. Here's an example.

QuickTime Movies

QuickTime movies are just that, little movies. Some are actually movies taken with a movie camera. Others are really animations made into movies. They all have buttons in a VCR-type control strip beneath them. Here's what it looks like:

• Use , the spacebar, or double click on the movie to start it playing.
• Use , the spacebar, or single click on the movie to stop it.
• Use or the right arrow on your keyboard to move forward one frame.
• Use or the left arrow on your keyboard to move backward one frame.
• Hold down the left or right arrow keys on your keyboard to play the movie backward or forward.
• Hold down or to play the movie very fast in either direction.
• Drag the box-shaped slider in either direction to move forward and backward.
• Hold down the Shift key and double click on the movie to play it backward.

(To use the keyboard commands to operate a movie you must click in the movie first. Also, some movies do not play well backward.)

If the movie starts running on its own, click on the icon, click "plug-in settings," and then click in the box beside "play movies automatically" to make the check mark go away. You should only have to do this once.

4. Buttons

Multiple choice and True/False buttons change color when you click on them. Try the question below. Be sure to try both answers. Notice how the buttons change their appearance to indicate correct and incorrect answers. (Most people get this one wrong.)

For the lowest heating and air-conditioning bills, you should shingle your roof with

dark-colored shingles.
light-colored shingles.

Sometimes you'll find less obvious buttons like this one. It's actually four buttons in one. Click the small plus in the top corner. The whole button will turn red. Click again & you're back where you started. Try the small minus. That's the correct answer.

When a question is asked you'll often find a (Check it out) button. (Move your pointer over it to see what it does.) Use this button after you have decided on your answer and had all relevant discussions with your classmates. The "Chuck Guy" will appear with his comments, usually in the left-hand window. This replaces the original contents of the window. A BACK button  will be provided to return the original contents of the window.

Sometimes when you click on a button a document will open up in a new Netscape window on top of the one you're working in. You must close the window when you're finished or risk errors. You can do this by clicking the close button at the bottom of the document or by clicking in the window's close icon .

5. Links

Scroll to the top of this document & click the blue, underlined word "Links." You will be sent back to this Links section of the Help document.

Each chapter of the PC has a table of contents that works the same way. You can bring up the TOC at any time by clicking on the Contents button in the Menu Bar. The PC icon in the Menu bar takes you to the main TOC for the entire PC.

Many of the links embedded in the PC cause something to pop up in this left-hand window. If it's too large to fit, it will be created in its own window that will appear above the PC's window. Be sure to close these when you're done with them.

Here's an example.

6. The Graphical Analysis Program

On Windows machines you can use the key combination ALT TAB to switch between applications. You can also use the Task bar at the top or bottom of the screen to switch between the two.

Several files to be opened in GA have been saved on the CD-ROM. They are in a directory called ga-data in the root directory of the CD.

When you take lab data, such as from Frame Flipper (see below), you'll probably want to set FILE/PREFERENCES/DERIVATIVES to about 15 to smooth your graphs. This tells the program to do its slope calculations over a wider span of data.

You should make a habit of saving the data you put in GA. You can use a floppy or whatever. Also, you'll often want to leave GA running in the background to return to it later.

7. The Frame Flipper

Frame Flipper is a special program that allows you to take position, time measurements from the frames of a movie.

For example, a falling ball passes through a succession of positions as time passes. You could analyze this motion using Frame Flipper. In Frame Flipper you move from frame to frame and click on the ball in each frame. The program reads the mouse pointer position. It then calculates the object's position in meters, cm, etc., and lists this along with the corresponding time since the first frame, in seconds.

The program includes short directions in a little window. These change after each step. Here is a long version of the steps.

1. On the first movie frame, begin setting the scale of the screen by clicking at the left (horizontal motion) or bottom (vertical motion) end of the meter stick. Note the black bars that help you locate these two points.
    
   
    
   
2. Finish setting the scale of the screen by clicking at the right (horizontal motion) or top (vertical motion) end of the meter stick.
3. Click somewhere on the first frame to set an appropriate origin (0,0). This is usually the initial location of the object that that will be moving. The center of the object is usually a good choice. The vertical rod on the cart would be a good choice in this case.
4. Get data:
   1. Click on a point on the object. (Again, the center is a good choice.)
   2. Move to a new frame by clicking on the right arrow or entering a new frame number from the range available and clicking on "Jump."
      DON'T PRESS THE ENTER/RETURN KEY WHILE IN FRAME FLIPPER.
       
      
       
      This will move you to a new frame. (See below.)
   3. Repeat - Click on the object & change frames, etc., until you have all the data you need. You'll usually use every frame. You'll see the data appear in time, x-position, and y-position columns.
      
   
   

Take care in clicking on the object. Be as precise as possible. There is no provision for deleting data. You can, however, do the same frame twice & delete the extra data when you use it later, usually in GA. Be sure to click on the same point on the object each time. You're telling Frame Flipper where the object is.

Let's give it a try. For this first trial, just try to follow the directions in the box as explained above. Close FF when you finish. Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines.

Hopefully that went well. But when you closed the window your data was all lost. That's not very helpful. There are two ways in which you'll use this data. On a few occasions you'll just write it down and do some hand calculations. Usually you copy it and past it into our spread sheet program, Graphical Analysis. Let's try that now.

To copy data from Frame Flipper to Graphical Analysis:

1. Select the completed column of data (in Frame Flipper) by dragging across it, from the top, left corner to the bottom, right corner. This will highlight it. Select EDIT/COPY.
    
   
   
   
   
2. Run Graphical Analysis.
3. In GA, click in the first empty cell in the column you want to paste the data in. Click EDIT/PASTE.
   If this doesn't work, move your mouse pointer to the task bar. You'll see that the Graphical Analysis tab is not highlighted (doesn't look like it's pushed in) as it should be when it's the current application. Just click on it and try again to paste your data.
4. Repeat for the next column of data. You'll have to alt-tab or click in the task bar to change back and forth from GA to FF.
   Remember, the independent variable, time in this case, goes in the first column.

When you paste Frame Flipper data into Graphical Analysis, you'll probably want to set FILE/PREFERENCES/DERIVATIVES (in GA) to about 15 to smooth your graphs. This tells the program to do its slope calculations over a wider span of data.

Go ahead & give it a try. Get the data & paste it into GA.

Here's the graph I got.

Be sure to close the Frame Flipper window when you're finished with it.

8. Odds & Ends

1. This CD has not been extensively tested on Macintosh computers. One problem that you will notice if you use a Mac is that mysterious superscript 2's: ² appear from time to time. These are supposed to be little vector arrows over the next character. We have a special font to produce this and other characters. We've yet to figure out how to get Macs to display it.

2. Chuck Guy comments. When you click on any of the Check it Out icons, a new window will appear with comments from the "Chuck Guy". (My son Matthew drew this portrait of me when he was eleven.)

1. Be sure to close these windows when you're done.
2. To make these windows appear in the upper left corner of the screen
   1. Start with the regular Netscape window, not the comment window.
   2. Reduce the window size by clicking the "tile" button, the one with 2 overlapping boxes in the upper right hand corner of the window. (Sorry Macs, I don't know how you do this.)
   3. Drag this smaller window to the upper left corner of the screen
   4. Enlarge the window back to full size.