2 January 2001


Links for Downloading

Educational files by David P. Stern      



This folder contains links to self-extracting archives of three courses developed in 1995--2000, on topics related to space, spaceflight , the Earth's magnetic field and Earth's magnetic environment in space and the way it is being studied, by satellites and other research tools. In addition it contains links to a collection of concatenated files from slightly older versions of two of the sites. Use them to produce paper copies with a minimum of wasted space, for yourself or for your students. Each of these collections also includes its own image folder.

All archives were produced by StuffIt Deluxe ™ and two versions are always provided, for use on Macintosh computers and on Windows. They are supposed to be self-extracting, but you may need "Stuffit Expander" on your computer (see below for my own experience). In that case, you can download it from here.

  If you download the file using Netscape (as I did), the first thing you will see is a screen filled with meaningless text. Don't be discouraged. Wait for the downloading to end, then save the downloaded file as Source Code (not as text) and apply the "Stuffit" unstuffer to the resulting file.

  After unstuffing, the end product is a set of HTML files with attached images, which can be read by any of the standard web browsers, like the one you are probably using now.

The Sites:

  • (1)     Folder "earthmag" (25 files in English + illustrations + Spanish translation)

        Here you find the web site " The Great Magnet, the Earth" with a short history of studies of the Earth's magnetism, marking the 400th anniversary of Gilbert's book "De Magnete." It includes two reviews of the book and continues up to the present time--including the stories of Halley, Oersted, Faraday, of the Sun's magnetism, dynamo theory, plate tectonics and magnetism in space. It also has for teachers two guidance sections and a 3-part talk on the use of this material in Earth Sciences class.
      The starting page ("home page") on your downloaded directory will be earthmag/demagint.htm, and the files can also be reached on the internet, at     http://www.phy6.org/earthmag/demagint.htm
    or at   http://www.phy6.org/earthmag/demagint.htm
        The collection also includes a Spanish translation by Mr. Jesus Méndez, with home page Mintro.htm and (in 3 sections) a one-hour lecture to teachers, given in Baltimore 11.18.2000.

Downloading:       For Macintosh computers earthmag.sea (1.1 meg)
                              For Windows computers, try one of the following    

earthmag.sit.1.exe (1.1 meg)
earthmag.zip.exe (0.8 meg)
and for either type, you may try
earthmag.zip (0.8 meg)



  • (3)     Folder "stargaze"   (259 items + illustrations) contains three main parts:

        (I) "From Stargazers to Starships," a course at the high-school--lower college level, also suitable for independent study and covering
    • Basic astronomy (pre-telescope)
    • Newtonian mechanics
    • The Sun, and related topics (weather, electromagnetic waves, nuclear energy)
    • Spaceflight.
    as well as
    • "A Math Refresher", a brief course in algebra and trig.

    (II) A Spanish translations "De Astronomos a Astronaves"" by Jesus Méndez (Vizcaya, Spain) contains most of the material of the above section.

    (III) A set of 42 Lesson Plans

    Downloading:       For Macintosh computers stargaze.sea (3.2 meg)
                                  For Windows computers, try one of the following    

    stargaze.exe (3.2 meg)
    stargaze.zip.exe (3 meg)
    and for either type, you may try
    stargaze.zip (3 meg)


  •     (4)     Folder Concaten :
            Although this is the computer age, many of us still like to work with paper copies. For the English texts of two of the courses--"From Stargazers to Starships" and "The Great Magnet, the Earth"--concatenated (joined-up) folders are therefore provided, from which the sections can be printed consecutively, with no overlap. (Be aware however, that these are not the most recent versions).

    Concaten/conew14.htm contains the geomagnetism site (also uses the folder Concaten/Figures)
    Concaten/conew1.htm to Concaten/conew8.htm contain parts of "Stargazers" (also uses the folder Cconcaten/Sfigs),
    Concaten/conew9.htmhas the Math Refresher (also uses the folder Cconcaten/Sfigs),
    Concaten/conew10.htm has added files of "Stargazers" (glossary, timelines, problems, teacher's guide)
    Concaten/conew11.htm , Concaten/conew12.htm and Concaten/conew13.htm contain the lesson plans (also uses the folder Concaten/Sfigs).

    Downloading:       For Macintosh computers Concaten.sea (3.2 meg)
                                  For Windows computers, try one of the following    

    Concaten.exe (3.2 meg)
    Concaten.zip.exe (3 meg)
    and for either type, you may try
    Concaten.zip (3 meg)


Comments may be sent to the author In particular, I would like to hear which compression schemes worked for PC computers (and which did not), because in the past some PC users encountered difficulties in downloading these files.

Author and Curator:   Dr. David P. Stern
     Mail to Dr.Stern:   earthmag("at" symbol)phy6.org

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