By Cindy Kranz
The Cincinnati Enquirer

A shirtless Barry Riehle lies on his back on a bed of nails. That is astounding enough for the 18 grimacing students in Riehle's AP Physics class at Turpin High School. But Riehle can't resist ratcheting up his demonstration on the distribution of force.

John Marshal (not pictured), assistant principal of Turpin High School, uses a sledge hammer to break a cinder block that is placed on a board on the chest of Barry Riehle, the advanced placement physics class teacher, lays atop a bed of nails while John Marshal (not pictured), assistant principal of Turpin High School, uses a sledge hammer to break a cinder block that is placed on a board on Riehle's chest. (Meggan Booker photo)

A student covers Riehle's torso with plywood and places a 40-pound cinder block on top. Then, with a collective gasp and choruses of "Oh my God!," students watch as Assistant Principal John Marshall shatters the block with a sledgehammer.

Students are speechless as they notice that Riehle is unscathed. Then, one student breaks the silence: "That was awesome!"

So goes life in the classroom of 52-year-old Barry Riehle - part magician, part mad scientist.

The 19-year teaching veteran is always searching for a better way to engage students. He's on a mission to ensure students see physics everywhere they look, or to think "Physics-ly."

It's worked for Steve Browning, an 18-year-old senior in AP Physics. Browning plans to pursue a business major, but Riehle's class has opened his eyes.

"Everything in the world is physics," he said. "Just by taking the class, you learn how everything works. You just learn so much about things you never thought you'd learn in a science class."

Riehle has performed the bed of nails demonstration for seven years. He sets it up for students the day before by showing a video of Jearl Walker, a Cleveland State University physics professor nationally known for his teaching skills.

Walker performs the bed of nails demonstration and some that even Riehle won't try, like being sandwiched between two beds of nails while a concrete block is broken on top of him.

The Turpin teacher told his students he'll lie on a bed of nails, but the cinder block trick is too risky. That's why students were stunned when he did it.

Dusting himself off, Riehle shows students there are no puncture wounds in his back, just indentations.

"Are you scared?" a student asks.

"No, not anymore," Riehle responds.

In truth, Riehle would never do it if he wasn't sure how the story ends.

"If you believe in the physics, you understand how it works," he said. "Then, you can be sure of the outcome."

He explained the demonstration this way: His weight is spread out over the bed of nails. So when the sledgehammer breaks the cinder block, two things help him not feel much force:

Barry Riehle lays on a bed of nails under a cinder block during class. (Meggan Booker photo)

• Most energy of the hammer goes into breaking the block and not puncturing the skin.

• The more time it takes for the hammer to be stopped, the less force is applied. This is the same principle as an air bag in a car. If the steering wheel stops you, it will cause more damage because you stop very quickly. With the air bag, the time is short but it may take 100 times longer to stop. The longer to stop you, the less force you feel.

The bed of nails is just one way Riehle engages his students.

To illustrate the concepts of impulse and momentum, he places a set of ironstone dishes on a table, then whips the tablecloth out from under them.

"At school, I haven't broken anything in 19 years," he said proudly.

And at home?

"It was worse," he said. "It was at my in-laws. It was a wine glass ... I haven't tried that again."

To demonstrate projectile motion, he dons a poncho and takes his students outside.

With a launching device, they attempt to hit him with balloons. They calculate the velocity of the balloon as it comes out of the launch as well as how far down-range it will land.

In 1997, he attended a workshop in Portland, Ore. It was there he went bungee jumping twice with a gravity meter strapped to his back so he could bring back the data and a video to show students.

Nothing Riehle does surprises Corey Mullins, an Honors and AP Biology teacher at Turpin.

"You'll walk into his room, and there's toy car tracks set up all over, or there'll be kids using mirrors to shoot light beams all over the room."

It may sound like all fun and games, but Riehle's AP Physics class has a reputation for being one of the hardest at Turpin.

The kids sign up for it because they know what a great teacher he is, and they know they're going to learn a lot, even though they're going to have to work really hard," Mullins said.

What drives Riehle so intensely, after 19 years of teaching?

"I learned that what I really like to do is turn on lights inside other people's heads," he said. "The second component is I don't like to be bored. The third component is I'm a ham."

But Riehle wasn't always a physics teacher. He was a Catholic priest for six years before resigning in 1984.Curious students sometimes ask him theology-related questions.

"As long as they initiate it, I can answer ... I have to be careful not to proselytize, but if they want to know what I think on a issue, that's a fair thing."

Dan Wade, a 1998 Turpin graduate, is working on his master's degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama. "He is very enthusiastic about physics, so much so that it rubs off on many of his students - including me. In fact, I still use his methods when I approach an engineering problem."

About the class

Teacher: Barry Riehle

Subjects taught: AP Physics and Honors Physics.

Why the class works: "The dynamic instruction he uses to engage the kids in the learning process is the heart and soul of why he's successful."- John Marshall, assistant principal for academics, Turpin High School.

Student quote: "He's a great teacher because he loves what he's teaching. That's the reason people are so attracted to his style and so attracted to taking his classes." - Scott Allen, 18, senior

Years taught by this teacher: 19

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E-mail ckranz@enquirer.com

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About this series

This series spotlights a local classroom in which teachers are challenging students in bold, innovative ways. To nominate a class, e-mail bcieslewicz@enquirer.com, fax (513) 768-8340 or write Bill Cieslewicz, education editor, The Cincinnati Enquirer, 312 Elm St., Cincinnati 45202. Please include your name, daytime phone, e-mail and school.