Newton's cradle ornament would be fun.

I refer to "centripetal acceleration" for any curved path. I remember thinking v^2/r only applied to UCM so I try to emphasize that it is more general but that there may also be tangential acceleration.

When labeling axes, I usually say radial axis but sometimes say centripetal axis. I never use the term centripetal force other than once to explain why we never need that term (it's not a force, it's just the name people give to ΣF in the radial direction). I try to emphasize it's still just ΣF=ma.

For the roller coaster at top I would say we know there is centripetal acceleration toward the center of the circle so ΣF=mv^2/r. When the coaster is between top and bottom I would say there is centripetal acceleration and tangential acceleration and I would draw tangential and radial axes.

I emphasize that centripetal force is just a name for the sum of radial forces and not a type of force. I really like your phrase of calling it a job description. I use radial and centripetal interchangeably when describing axes or acceleration.

At the university, I only briefly touch on either topic. I point out that drift velocity is slow and energy flows through the circuit must faster than charges move. Current density I mention because we do a lot with charge density, but I don't actually use current density.

NO! VOTE NO!

I’ve heard deconstructive so much I started to think maybe that is the word.

Given how often students misuse a calculator and fail to recognize their result makes no sense I have no confidence in their ability to accurately assess LLM results

I’ve done this before successfully, but last semester the cup of dyed water flew through the air and crashed down on a table. Very memorable for students.

I haven't read them, but E.F. Taylor wrote some papers about introducing action in intro physics, www.eftaylor.com/leastaction....

This week a S asked what is energy. I borrowed from Feynman and said it’s the universe’s version of money - something made up that’s useful for bookkeeping.

www.walter-fendt.de/html5/phen/s... helps visualize how the counter propagating waves pass in and out of phase. Like Michael, I think of coherent as applying to a wave source rather than to two different waves.

Sure. Here are the slides I use. drive.google.com/file/d/1lAGW...

I like to ask this saying a box falls on the cart and they move together. Ss solve it same as you show and then I ask if there is any friction in the problem. One of my favorite Qs. Scott’s Q will make a great pairing next time I do that.

Universal gravitation. Tomorrow is orbits and PE. After that we will do calculations for NASA’s DART mission.