5/2 qod

Why can't we do fission or fusion with iron?

--ch

05/01 Wendt

                     For Tuesday of week 05/30 we had to turn in the lab on pages 217-220.  We also learned a little about nuclear waste disposure, which involved watching a bit about Yucca Mountain in Nevada, where they store nuclear waste in tunnels deep inside the mountain.  Mrs. Coats-Haan also talked about superfund sites, which are sites that are abandoned due to the presence of hazardous waste.  One that is close to us is the Feed Materials Production Center site, which contains radioactive wastes such as Uranium and Thorium.  With that said, there were really not any official notes taken on this day. The main thing we did today was work on The Particle Lab web quest, pages 213-215, which is due 05/02.  You do not need to learn anything prior to the lab, and you just find the information given on the website, which has its web address on the worksheet.  On the website you learn a lot about the subatomic particles you have probably have never heard of, which include particles in the lepton group and quark group. You also learn a little more about the fundamental forces, which are the weak nuclear, strong nuclear, electromagnetic, and gravity.  Although you should be acquainted with them after our force unit, the web quest goes more in depth, going over the forces’ carrier particles and what the forces are responsible for.  Overall the day was pretty ordinary.  There was no giraffe copulation, and only one person was found to be on fire. 

5/1 qod

What is a superfund site and where was the nearest one located?
--ch

4/30 qod

Describe the precision of carbon dating.

--ch

4/27 qod

How will we know the difference in alpha particle tracks and beta particle tracks when we look in the cloud chamber?

-- ch

Mukherjee 4/26

At the beginning of class we turned in the paragraph about whether or not we supported nuclear energy. Then we took a cell phone poll to see how much radiation the majority of us had. Afterwards, we took notes on x-rays, radioactivity, the nucleus, quarks, leptons, isotopes and the cause of radioactivity. In the middle of all that we heard a song about quarks which included Mrs. Coats-Haan's favorite part, giraffe sex, at the end. She also showed us a copy of the Wizard of Quarks and explained what the four witches and the flying monkeys represented. At the very end, we started the penny experiment on half-lives where we counted the number of people who flipped heads each round. Throughout class, Mrs. Coats-Haan lit matches every time a person got an answer right in class, which thanks to Chris and Lauren was a lot. It was a miracle the smoke detectors didn't go off.

Q.O.D. Explain the analogy with the four witches.

I don't really remember a whole lot about the witches, except that they were representing four forces. The fat one was representing gravity (because the more mass something has, the more effect gravity has on it) and there was a creepy one that I think was representing weak nuclear. The weak nuclear witch was on the same powerpoint slide as the electromagnetic witch because originally, people thought electric and magnetic forces were separate, but now they're classified as one force. In the same way, some scientists think that weak nuclear forces may be a part of electromagnetic forces. I don't remember the appearance of the witch who represented strong nuclear.

4/26 qod

Explain the analogy with the 4 witches.

--ch

Mazzella 4/25

Today we took the test over light. at the beginning of class we turned in the test review along with any make up work from this week. before we took the test, Mr. Ebersole told us that sadly today was his last day as our student teacher. after the test we picked up two worksheets that are due tomorrow, the background radiation worksheet and the nuclear power: risk assessment worksheet.
the question of the day is: "how much nuclear radiation do you think you have been exposed to in your life?"
answer: I think I have been exposed to about 5240 millirems in my life.

4/25 qod

How much nuclear radiation do you think you have been exposed to in your life?

--ch

4/24 qod

Why is the index of refraction never less than one?

--ch

Jesse 4/23

Today was Chip day!!  Although I did not dress up like my fantastic lab partner Stedman, Nick, Lance, Coats-Haan and Mr. Ebersole did!!  At the beginning of class we had to turn in our homework from over the weekend which was the bling lab (lab manual) and light questions.  Next we finished up working on the telescope lab and turned it in when completed.  Then we worked on the camera lab, and if we did not finish that we had to do it for homework, due tomorrow.  Other homework is the test review which is due on Wednesday, which is also the day of the test. 

The question of the day is "how can you measure the focal length of your disposable camera"
Though I wish I knew the answer to this question because it is on the homework, I unfortunatly do not.

4/23 qod

How can you measure the focal length of your disposable camera?

--ch

4/20 qod

You are attacked by a gang of pirates.  They hold you at knife point and tell you that you will have to walk the plank, if you cannot solve a major problem for them.  They have a double convex lens and they need to know what the focal length is.  What do you do?

--ch

4/19 qod

How do the 3d glasses at the Rave work?

--ch

4/18 qod

How do fiber optics work?

--ch

4/17 qod

Which presentation was your favorite?  What did you learn from it?

--ch

Dao 04/16

We continued taking "Light Interaction with Media" notes. We  learned Fermat's Principle and Snell's law of refraction, and did a couple examples. For the rest of the period we were working on the "Refractive Index" (P. 197 lab). We had to draw two diagram, write out procedure, calculation and find error source.
Homework: finish the "Refractive Index" lab. Book work page 846, # 1- 11, 13-15,18. "Reflection & Refraction Questions" (P.199 lab).
Question of the day answer: The light will bend toward the the normal because the part of light that hit the second medium first will slow down while the other part is still traveling at a different speed in the initial medium. The light bends to take the shortest path to travel through the second medium.

4/16 qod

Does light bend toward the normal or away from the normal when it enters a medium that is travels slower in than the initial medium?  Explain your answer.

--ch

4/13 qod

How can you make a one-eyed Jack look the other way?  Why does this work?

--ch

4/12 qod

What did Fermat's brainbuster have to do with our reflection lab?

--ch

4/11 qod

Why do telescopes that detect infrared radiation have to be located outside of the Earth's atmosphere?

--ch

4/10 Breznai

We turned in “Star light, star bright stimulation” (175-176 in our lab manuals), “Electromagnetic Spectrum Table” (177-178), and the guided reading questions from properties of light packet.  We then talked about our group project (191) and each table was assigned a question to work on. The projects are due Tuesday April 17^th. We also got to see how light energy worked by spinning glow sticks and we switched out the old ones because they were dying, so some people got glow sticks. We then worked on our Color Lab (187-189).

Homework: Work on the lab if it wasn’t completed during class. You may also start the lab we’re planning on doing tomorrow in class if you wish to have in class time to work with your group on the project. The lab is pages 179-185.

Question of the day answer: Pigments are tiny solid particles that produce their characteristic colors by the process of selective absorption or selective transition of light depending on their frequencies. So when you mix the primary colors for pigments, all of the color white light produces is absorbed and the mixture appears black. However, when the three primary colors for light are known as subtractive primary colors, which means when mixed they produce a subtraction of colors. So when the three primary colors for light are mixed, we see the light after the colors are absorbed which results in white.

4/10 qod

Why are there different primary colors for light than there are for pigments?
--ch

bedel 4/9

We started class off with giving our team farewells and gathering into our new teams. We then went over our homework and talked about the three dudes who tried to measure the speed of light. We made Smores and did and experiment to measure the speed of light using a microwave. We had the frequency of the microwave and we needed the wavelength, which came from taking the spinning thing out and measuring the distance between the hot marshmallows. We turned in the guided reading homework and we were assigned the properties of light reading. For the rest of the period we worked on the homework or the EM table pg.177-178or the star light star bright sim. pg. 175-176.

4/9 qod

How did we use marshmallows to measure the speed of light?

--ch

3/16 qod

What causes the Doppler effect?

--ch

3/15 qod

How does elasticity affect the speed of sound?

--ch

3/13 qod

How did you control the variables in the pendulum experiment?

--ch

3/12 qod

How did you control your variables in your pendulum experiment?

--ch

3/9 qod

What do you think were some of the biggest barriers to making the windmills lift more weight?

--ch

Mukherjee 3/8

At the beginning of class, we turned in the Section 4 lab and homework. Then, Mr. Ebersole went around to see if we did our homework, which was the equivalent resistance packet. We went over the answers in class and Mr. Ebersole did a few problems on the board. Afterwards, we took the Ohm's law and circuit quiz. When we were done with the quiz, we were supposed to complete a worksheet titled "The Swinging Pendulum." This worksheet needs to be done by Tuesday. There is no additional homework besides the windmill, which is due tomorrow.

Q: What variables affect how long it takes for a pendulum to swing back and forth?

A: I am not completely sure what variables cause a pendulum to swing longer, but I think pulling the bob back farther would cause the pendulum to swing more.

3/8 qod

What variables affect how long it takes for a pendulum to swing back and forth?

--ch

Mazzella 3/7

Today at the beginning of class we were originally supposed to turn in lab section 4 and homework section 4. the due date was pushed back until tomorrow so that we would be able to prepare ourselves for tomorrow's quiz over lab 3, lab 4, and today's class notes. the class was then reminded that windmills are due on Friday. today's notes were over ohm's law and equivalent resistance.
ohm's law is V=iR where V is the battery voltage, i is the current, and R is resistance.
the equivalent resistance of a series network is the sum of each resistor or Req=R1+R2+R3...
the equivalent resistance of a parallel network is the reciprocal of the sum of the reciprocal of each resistor or (1/R)=(1/R1)+(1/R2)+(1/R3)...
for each of these concepts we completed some of the example problems.
in the middle of the notes Jacob mentioned never wanting to talk about parallels again and the next slide was about the equivalent resistance of parallel networks.
at the end of class, we were given about ten minutes to work on our homework which was an electric circuits worksheet that is due tomorrow.
QOD: Use the mathematical equations for finding equivalent resistance to explain the results you observed for bulb brightness in the lab.
R=R1+R2+R3... can be used to explain bulb brightness because the resistance from each light bulb in a series adds up to a total resistance. when that total resistance was higher the current was decreased. in the equation V=iR, if voltage is kept the same and resistance increases, the current must decrease.
1/R=1/R1+1/R2+1/R3... can be used to explain bulb brightness in the same way except that parallels decrease resistance and therefore increase the current if the battery voltage is kept constant.

3/7 qod

Use the mathematical equations for finding equivalent resistance to explain the results you observed for bulb brightness in the lab.

--ch

3/7 qod

Use the mathematical equations for finding equivalent resistance to explain the results you observed for bulb brightness in the lab.

--ch

3/6 qod

Why is it better when Christmas tree lights are wired in parallel vs. series?

--ch

3/5 qod

If you add bulbs in parallel, what happens to resistance and flow through the battery?

If you add bulbs in series, what happens to resistance and flow through the battery?

--ch

3/2 qod

You have a circuit with multiple switches and bulbs.  You are asked to rank the bulbs in all possible switch positions.  Please describe how you should report your answer.


-ch

3/1 qod

There are two circuits.  One circuit has two bulbs in series.  The other circuit has two bulbs in parallel.  Which circuit has the brighter bulbs?  Explain why.

--ch

2/29 qod

Does the battery always supply the same flow?

 

--ch

2/28 qod

You have a battery connected to a bulb in a complete circuit.  What do you know about the flow through the circuit?

--ch

Dao 02/27

- Today, the first thing we did was to take the Electrostatics Quiz
- After everybody finished with their quizzes, we continued working on the Section 1 lab that we started on Friday.
- We used a different bin today. Inside the bin were a flash light, two wires, a light bulb and a broken one, along with some other materials like rubber, glass, plastic...We did exactly what the procedure in the lab manual tells us to do. And again, section 1 stop at 1.8.
- We don't have any homework, but we have to finish section 1 no later than the end of tomorrow.
- Question of the day: How does electricity flow through the light bulb?
   Answer: The electricity flow in a circuit which it flows in a circular path from the battery to the wire, then to the light bulb and went back to the other end of the battery.

2/27 qod

How does electricity flow through the light bulb?

--ch

2/24 qod

What is your operational definition for a circuit?

--ch

2/23 qod

What does superposition mean?

--ch

02/22 Coleman

Class started with us turning in our homework from the previous day. Then, Mr. Ebersole passed out our assignment for the day.The assignment was to answer questions based on the experiments we would conduct later in the class. Next, Mr. Ebersole explained how a Van de Graaf generator functions. Essentially, a rubber band is spun across a wire mesh  in the sphere forcing the transfer of electrons. These electrons are then sent to the bottom of the generator a positive charge. Avery was chosen as the person to touch the top of the generator. When Avery touched it her hair went upwards very slightly. This was because the generator was pulling the electrons from her hair. That would giver her hair a positive charge. Since the top of the generator was also positively charged the two would repel each other, causing her hair to stand up. Mr. Ebersole asked for some volunteers to come up and hold her hand. Stedman volunteered. He received a mild shock when he held her hand because the charge was passed from her to him. Jacob Combs, Lance, and Isaac also volunteered to hold hands. As they did so Avery's began to go down Because the charge was spread out among them.

After that Mr. Ebersole handed out our homework, a reading check. He then took us two groups at a time to an experiment in the room past the AP students. Mr. Ebersole smashed mint green lifesaver in the dark so we could see them spark. Megan missed it the first time because she blinked. The rest of us who had to wait began to start on the other experiments given to us in the assignment from the beginning of class. There were four experiments on the paper. Two of which involved the generator and the livesavers. There were two other experiments. The first was to attempt to knock over a match atop a nickel using a rod rubbed with animal fur. The second was to rub tape on the table and attempt to move foil leaves inside an Erlenmeyer flask that were attached to a rod. The assignment was turned in before the end of class. We used the remaining time to work on the reading check.

QOD: I think the lifesavers spark because biting them forces electrons to move and these electrons react with the molecules in the air to produce light.

2/22 qod

Why do wintergreen lifesavers spark when you bite into them?

--ch

2/21 qod

How did you calculate where to put the hula hoop?

--ch

2/16 qod

How do you measure exit velocity with the photogate timer?  How do you measure it by projecting it off the table?

--ch

2/15 qod

What is the normal force at the top of a roller coaster loop if you are just on the verge of falling off?

--ch

2/14 qod

Why does a clothoid loop result in less g forces?

--ch

2/13 qod

 What is the normal force at the top of a roller coaster, if the passengers are just at the verge of falling off?

--ch

2/10 qod

Explain the g forces you experience on a roller coaster.

--ch

2/9 Mukherjee

At the beginning of the period, we turned in our Energy test reviews. Then we got our calculators and Mr. Ebersole passed out the Energy test, which we took for the rest of the period.

Describe the types of energy you have as you go around a roller coaster loop.

As you go up a loop, you increase your gravitational potential energy and inversely decrease your kinetic energy. As you go down a loop, you decrease your gravitational potential energy and increase your kinetic energy. Throughout the whole process, the total mechanical energy stays the same amount. However, because of friction, some of the energy when you go around the loop is lost as heat.

2/9 qod

Describe the types of energy you have as you go around a roller coaster loop.
--ch

2/8 qod

How does the height that a pendulum rises to relate to the maximum angle that it makes with the vertical?

--ch

2/7 qod

Give an example of a conservation of energy problem that has spring potential, gravitational potential, and kinetic energy.

--ch

Jesse 2/6

Today in class we first went over the homework from over the weekend (page 192 55-60).  Mr. Ebersole checked it for completion and went over problems that we needed help with.  Then we got to work on the spring work POGIL.  In this POGIL we found out that the equation for the work done by a spring moving from Xf to Xi is ½ k(Xi^2-Xf^2).  We also learned that the potential energy stored in a spring that is compressed or stretched is U= ½ kx^2.  Using these equations we found that the work done by a spring and the change in potential energy is equal, and that the sign of x does not affect the work done in a spring.  If we did not finish this POGIL in class, it is homework, due tomorrow.  We also have the Home Energy Survey: Part 2 and page 193 #63-67 due tomorrow.  In our class the computer was frozen for a while during the first few minutes of class. 

QOD: Why is the definition "work = force x distance" not always true?

I think that the answer would be that there could be more than one force acting on it, like friction or gravity, or that it could be at an angle.  I am not positive if this is the correct answer though.

2/6 qod

Why is the definition "work = force x distance" not always true?

--ch

Jenkins 2/3

Today in Physics class we first turned in our conservation of energy simulation lab that we were suppose to do. This is pages 111-113 in the lab manual. After we turned this in we took notes on power. We talked about what power is, how to figure out power, the units of power and when to use the equation for power. Ask a partner or another student for these notes. Finally, we did the power lab in class and turned it in by the end of the class period. This is page 127 in the lab manual. The answer to the question of the day is the Force times the change in the displacement divided by the change in time. F x deltaX / deltaT.

2/3 qod

Explain how we derived the second equation for power from the first.

--ch

2/2 qod

Give an example of using the Ui+Ki+W=Uf+Kf equation where the right side would all be zero.

-ch

2/1 qod

Happy February! 

Give an example of when the work term in the conservation of energy would be positive and when it would be negative.

--ch

1/31 qod

How do you know from the ticker tape when the pendulum is at the bottom of the swing?

--ch

Dao 01/30

Today we started the class by check and go over the homework on Friday page 189 # 1 - 8. Then we watched a video on YouTube called "crazy insane water slide". After that we took notes "gravitational potential gravity".
Notes:
- Energy due to gravitational position. U = mgh (sometimes use y instead of h).
- where U is potential energy. m is mass and g is acceleration due to gravity (9.8 m/s^2), h is the height above a reference point (usually the ground). Unit of U is Joules (J)
The teacher gave example of reference point using Jacob's head and a brick.
There is one more equation was : Ei = Ef or Ui + Ki = Uf + Kf. where U is the potential energy and K is the kinetic energy. I'm not really understand this concept, so I can't explain it.
After that we did 2 examples in the example sheet from Friday
and finally was the pair check.
Homework: Finish the pair check,  page 189 #12 - 18 in the text book, Lab manual page 111 - 113 (due Friday)

The problems in "crazy insane water slide" is that the person's speed not enough energy to reach the pool because he slide a long distance on a level surface, which reduce the speed.

1/30 qod

What are some of the problems with the "crazy insane water slide?"

--ch

1/30 qod

What are some of the problems with the "crazy insane water slide?"

--ch

1/27 qod

How would you use the work energy theorem to calculate the work done in stopping a car tht was initially traveling 70 mph?

--ch

1/26 qod

What did you think was the most difficult question on the quarter test?  Why did you think it was difficult?

--ch

1/25 qod

What was your favorite station?  What were the energy transformations at that station?

--ch

1/24 qod

The dial on the far right of an electric meter reads 9.  The dial next to it appears to be just on the 8.  Is its value 7, 8 or 9?  Justify your answer.

--ch

1/23 Nick Bedel

today in physics we went over the blog sheduele, recieved new blue sheets, had our sad team farewells, were placed in our new teams, and had our windmill project. we talked about the rube goldburg machiene and then had our paper tower competition which our class won of course. we then recieved our homework,pondering energy. in order to do work i must not be lazy?

1/23 qod

What has to happen for you to do work?

--ch