An inside look at Mr. Vore’s closet of excitement, fun, and physics.
Photo by Rebecca Holt
All good heroes have a set of commodities to help them achieve the impossible. Batman has his infamous utility belt. Mary Poppins has her magical bag of marvelous and wonderful tools. James Bond has his series of conglomerate gadgets. And physics teacher Nelson Vore has his room of gizmos, gadgets, and toys that add an element of hands-on learning – and immense fun – to his teaching. “Toys are a lot of fun!” exclaimed Vore, flailing his arms enthusiastically. “Hey, what’s not fun about things sparking, things changing colors, and lightning effects.”
Now in his fourth year at TJ, Vore can still remember when he first inherited his closet full of physics toys (or as it’s called by his students: Santa’s stash). “Most of the stuff I use for my demonstrations I got from Mr. Hanks, who was the physics teacher before I got here,” said Vore. “He was pretty much my guardian angel for my first few years.”
Not only were many of Vore’s toys used by Hanks in demonstrations, but they were also passed down from multiple physics teachers before. “A lot of the equipment I use is really old; some of it even going back to the early 50’s,” said Vore. “You could open up this place as a physics museum.”
Vore’s interest in physics and the intriguing gadgets that come along with it go as far back as when he was a young child. “When I was a kid, I used to love projectiles. I had a sling shot, a bb gun, and a lot of other stuff like that,” laughed Vore. “Anything that could shoot at something far away and totally destroy it was completely awesome. I mean, if one thing could hit another thing 100 meters away and smash it into little pieces, that was enough to keep me entertained for a long time.”
Vore’s closet contains a plethora of physics gadgets and equipment, including diffraction glasses, which allow students to witness the fragmentation of white light, musical beakers, a Doppler football (which displays the Doppler effect with sound waves using a football on a string). Vore even has a piece of samarkskite, which is a highly radioactive complex-oxide rock that releases high amounts of radioactive particles. Some of Vore’s favorite toys are the Tesla coil, the vacuum pump, and of course, the Van De Graaff generator.
The Tesla coil is essentially a small transformer that releases 50 thousand volts, allowing the holder to transmit large amounts of electrical charge onto tables, metal sinks, and – though not preferably – people. This creates what appears to be a minuscule lightning bolt jumping from the Tesla coil to whatever it approaches. The spark of electricity, along with Vore’s demented expression as he wields it, sells this demonstration completely.
The vacuum pump, though only used for AP students, is infamous in all classes. This is essentially a pump that sucks all the air, and atmospheric pressure, out of the container. While the pump may seem relatively docile, its effect on a marshmallow, making it expand to almost three times its usual size, is outstanding. “That’s your head in a vacuum,” says Vore, joyfully watching as the marshmallow swells like a balloon.
The Van De Graaff generator, considered an “instant classic” by Vore, is essentially an aluminum sphere on top of a small pedestal. At first glance, it really just looks like a metal globe that buzzes. However, what is not evident to the naked eye is that, when plugged in, the globe produces over 100 thousand volts of static electricity.
While such an immense magnitude of electricity may seem a tad bit frightening, Vore is quick to assure the students of its safety. “It’s really the power of the static electricity that kills you,” says Vore. “While the Van De Graaff generator has a very high voltage, its current is incredibly low. This decreases the power of the shock, and makes the generator completely harmless.”
The generator produces such vast voltage because of a small belt that is circulating from the bottom of the generator to the top of the globe, carrying hefty amounts of charge with it. After the charge leaks off the belt and onto the globe, the globe becomes covered with a vast amount of charged electrons. When touched, the electrons jump from the globe to the hand of the user, sending millions of frantic electrons all over the person’s body.
Once on the student’s body, the electrons, being of the same charge, try to get as far away from each other as possible. This is because, as Vore states many times throughout the demonstration, “Electrons hate each other. They always want to get away from one another, whether it be through the ground, or through you.”
When touched, the generator makes the student feel oddly energized, along with making hair stand on end, and allowing the student to transfer electrical charge from their finger to a nearby conductor. In other words, if the student reaches his/her hand out to the nearby metal sink, the electrons on the student jump from his/her body to the sink. This creates a large spark similar to that produced by the Tesla coil, along with a bewildered expression on the student’s face.
After years of using physics toys and gadgets in numerous demonstrations, Vore has sparked the enthusiasm and interest of many students. “The toys demonstrate the concept really well,” said Senior Adam Simpson, a student in Vore’s AP Physics class. “They help you visualize it, and gives the lesson a real life application. Plus, they’re just really cool.”
Junior Chuck May, a student in Vore’s Honors Physics class, is also impressed by Vore’s closet of wonders. “It really makes me envy him,” said May, stroking his chin. “He can get away with playing with dangerous toys, and I can’t. It’s not fair.”
But ultimately, the person who gets the most joy from the various knickknacks and trinkets used to demonstrate physics is Vore himself. “Who doesn’t love playing with toys?” said Vore, gleaming as he gazes upon his vast toy collection like a kid on Christmas morning. “These things give me a million dollars, every day.”
