Science 90 - Dec 16

Today we started the last unit on the universe.  Students picked up handouts for the notes as well as the title page for the unit.  We talked about the assignment that I want students to do over the break. This involves using the star chart that I handed out today in class and observing the stars sometime over the Christmas break.  As well, we were able to complete some of the notes in the new powerpoint on the universe.  Tomorrow students will be studying for their electricity exam which occurs on Thursday.  There is no homework for tomorrow.

Physical Science 20 - Dec 16

Today we started looking at an application of refraction, the science of geometric optics.  We learned about the difference between a converging and diverging lens.  As well we learned some terms that were relevant for studying lenses and optics.  Tomorrow we will start placing objects in front of the lenses and try to determine the image characteristics using a ray diagram.

Physics 30 - Dec 16

Today we started looking at collisions in 2D.  These problems just turn out to be momentum conservation problems with vector analysis.  We went through Examples 24 and 25.  Tomorrow we will go through the last example in the unit.

Science 90 - Dec 15

Today we finished our electricity unit by looking at the last 2 examples on electrical energy cost.  We then looked at how to calculate electrical efficiencies.  This also led into a quick lesson on the ENERGUIDE label and what information that tells us.  This was all covered on slides 78-83 in the powerpoint.  Students then had the rest of class to work on the worksheet for Activity C26 that deals with energy consumption in your home.  This is to be completed for tomorrow along with the vocabulary sheet that includes all the key terms that were introduced in this unit.

Physical Science 20 - Dec 15

Today students handed in Assignment 3.1 on refraction diagrams.  We then learned how to deal with situation when Snell's Law returns an error.  These are special situations called total internal reflection when light doesn't refract and leave the material, but stays inside and refracts around.  This happens when light is moving from a material with a high index of refraction to a material with a lower index of refraction and it tries to leave at an angle greater than a special angle called a critical angle.  The critical angle is a special incident angle where the refracted angle is 90 degrees.  This was all covered on slides 53-59 in the powerpoint.  Part C of the Refraction Practice Problems was assigned today and we will go over this tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will start looking at an application of this stuff.  We are going to look at start looking at geometric optics.

Physics 30 - Dec 15

Today we did our lab quiz for the radiation lab that we did at the university last week.  Afterwards we finished off looking at collisions in one dimension by looking at examples 21, 22 and 23.  Students then spent the remainder of class working on Assignment 4.7.  Tomorrow we will start looking at collisions in two dimensions and how to solve them.

Science 90 - Dec 12

Today we learned how electricity goes from the generating plant and reaches our home.  This is called the electric power grid.  We also learned that when it reaches our home it gets converted into other forms of energy that we can use to do stuff.  This was all covered on slides 69-75.  Students were assigned some questions out of the textbook on slide 75.  We will take these up on Monday. We then looked at how to calculate the cost of running a device that uses electricity.  We went through a couple of examples (slides 76-78) and then students were given a handout to take home and figure out the power ratings of 8 separate devices that they use on a regular basis at home.  We will use this handout to figure out how much their electrical lifestyle costs.  This handout needs to come back on Monday with at least 8 devices on it and their power ratings.

Physical Science 20 - Dec 12

Today we went over the homework fro yesterday on indices of refraction.  We then learned about the laws that govern refraction.  These laws are similar to the laws of reflection with one exception.  The law that talks about the relationship between the angles is different.  It is called Snell's Law.  We looked at an example involving Snell's Law and then the students were given some home to work on. They had to do Assignment 3.1 as well as Part B of the Refraction Problem handout given yesterday.  This is due tomorrow.

Physics 30 - Dec 12

Today we started looking at the law of conservation of momentum.  When no external forces are acting on a system, the system is said to be isolated.  When a system is isolated, the total momentum of the system remains constant.  This is called the law of conservation of momentum.  For our purposes, we will always assume that the system is isolated.  We looked at how this applies to explosions, or when one object becomes multiple objects.  We also looked at how this applies to collisions.  We learned about the different types of collisions.  Elastic collisions are collisions where objects collide and bounce off of each other.  In these types of collisions, momentum will be conserved.  Energy can be conserved as well if it is a perfect elastic collision.  The other type of collision is called an inelastic collision.  Momentum is conserved with these types of collisions but energy is always lost.  We didn't get a chance to work on example 21 today.  We will do that on Monday.  Reminder that on Monday we are having the radiation lab quiz.

Science 90 - Dec 10

Today we talked alot about different ways that we can produce electricity and the pros and cons of some of the methods.  We did slides 64-68 in the notes.  Tomorrow we will continue on with this and learn about electrical costs and efficiencies.

Physical Science 20 - Dec 10

Today we started to look at the property of refraction.  This is the property where light bends as it enters a new substance.  This bending is due the the fact that light will change speeds as it enters a new substance.  This change is speed is due to the optical density of the substance and related by a quantity called an index of refraction.  We covered slides 41-48 on the powerpoint and then students were tasked with doing Part A of the Refraction Practice Worksheet.  We will go over this tomorrow.

Students handed in Assignment 2.3 today as well.  If you didn't hand it in, please do so tomorrow.

Physics 30 - Dec 10

Today we started to look at momentum, what it is and how we measure it.  We also learned about the impulse momentum theorem.  This means that in order to change an object's momentum, one needs to apply a force to an object for an amount of time.  The product of the force and the time is called the impulse.  We went through examples 16, 17, & 18 and I assigned Assignment 4.6 at the end of the class.  Tomorrow we will start looking at the law of conservation of momentum.

Next week we will be having our radiation lab quiz on Monday and our dark matter lab quiz on Thursday.  Remember that today you were given your dark matter labs back.  The corrections need to come in tomorrow if they are going to come in.

Science 90 - Dec 9

Today we went over the homework that I assigned yesterday after I checked it.  We then learned how electricity is generated.  We went through slides 59-63 in the powerpoint.  We watched a video on electrical power generation located on Slide 63.  Students then had the remainder of class to work on Worksheet 2 called Calculating Resistance.  This worksheet had 5 questions on it where students were applying Ohm's Law to solve circuit problems.   I originally said that this would be due tomorrow.  However, it will now be due Thursday.  This handout is located on the backside of your circuit diagram worksheet.

Physical Science 20 - Dec 9

Today in class we went over the answers to Homework 2.6.  After that, we learned how to draw ray diagrams for curved mirrors.  This allows us to discover the image characteristics by use a graphical approach.  Students were given the instructions on how to draw 3 rays of light from an object to a mirror and reflect them off of the mirror to locate the image.  The students then had a chance to work on Assignment 2.3, which was simply a series of ray diagrams that students had to work through to figure out the image characteristics.  I had originally assigned this to be due tomorrow but I am changing that now until Thursday.  This will be handed in however.

Physics 30 - Dec 9

Today students wrote the in class assignment for the first half of unit 4.  Reminder that tomorrow we have our field trip.  Please make sure you are on time tomorrow and those students in Period 5 have cleared their schedules after school.

Science 90 - Dec 8

Today in class we finished our examples on Ohm's Law.  These examples were on slides 54-55.  Students then had the rest of class to work on questions #1-6 on page 264.  I will be checking these questions tomorrow.  We will be looking at how electricity it created tomorrow in class.

Physical Science 20 - Dec 8

Today we finished looking at some examples of finding the image mathematically using the mirror and magnification equations.  These examples were on slides 33 and 34 in the powerpoint and we looked at one for a converging mirror and one for a diverging mirror.  Students then worked on Homework 2.6 for the remainder of the class. Tomorrow we will be learning the graphical approach to finding image characteristics.  Bring a ruler tomorrow.

Physics 30 - Dec 8

Today in class we finished our lesson on the conservation of energy by finishing example 15 about the rollercoaster from the video we watched in class.  Students then had the rest of class to work on Assignment 4.5 which is on the conservation of energy.

Tomorrow students will write their first in class assignment in this unit on energy.  It covers the first 5 assignments in this unit,  Assignments 4.1-4.5.  Make sure you know how to do the concepts covered on those assignments.

Science 90 - Dec 4 & 5

Yesterday students wrote the quiz for the first half of the electricity unit.  We then started talking about formats for the lab report students need to do for the electrical circuits lab that was preformed on Wednesday.  We continued that discussion today and I led the class through the format that needs to be followed to write a formal lab report.  It can be found here and it is labelled Lab Report Format.
The lab report for the circuits lab is due on Monday.  We continued on with our notes on electricity today learning about Ohm's Law and the relationship that governs voltage, current and resistance in an electric circuit.  We talked about the process for solving problems in a physics class and we solved one example together.  This was covered on slides 49-52 in the powerpoint notes.  On Monday we will finish the other 2 examples and then students will get a chance to work on the assignment.

Physical Science 20 - Dec 4 & 5

Yesterday in class students continued learning about image characteristics and what characteristics images have in a plane mirror.  There are 4 characteristics that images can have and each has a different set of values.  We then started to learned about curved mirrors and how they are classified.  We learned about the differences between converging and diverging mirrors as well as some terminology that will be important as we study curved reflecting surfaces.

Today students wrote their heat quizzes and after the quizzes we continued on learning about curved mirrors.  This started by trying to determine the image characteristics for images in curved mirrors. We will learn 2 methods for finding the characteristics.  The first one they learned was a mathematical approach.  We were given a new equation, the mirror equation, as well as an old one, the magnification equation.  With these two equations we should be able to discover all of the characteristics for an image.  We started an example and will finish it on Monday.  These notes are all located on slides 26-33 in the physics notes ppt.

Physics 30 - Dec 4 & 5

Yesterday students learned about potential energy and how to calculate it.  The concept of defining a reference level is important in understanding potential energy.  Students were given Assignment 4.4 to work on but this is to be done at home as we had to move on start looking at conservation of energy.  We continued looking at the law of conservation of energy today by going over a couple of examples.  We did examples 12-15.  We almost finished example 15.  We will finish this on Monday and students will get a chance to work on Assignment 4.5.

On Tuesday next week we will have our first in class assignment for this unit.  It covers Assignments 4.1-4.5.  Even though I didn't assign anything new today in class, students should still be working ahead to get caught up on any assignments that they are behind on.

Science 90 - Dec 3

Today we did the circuit lab that we had prepared for yesterday.  Students are going to have to do a formal lab report for it.  We will discuss what that means tomorrow.  Reminder of your electricity quiz tomorrow.  Study Chapters 6, 7.1 and 7.2.

Physical Science 20 - Dec 3

Today we went over Homework 2.4 on the pinhole camera.  Then we started looking at the laws of reflection.  We learned some vocabulary that will be important as we study light.  We then learned about the 3 laws the govern how light reflects.  This led into a discussion on what reflects light and how that happens.  We the talked about the difference between specular and diffuse reflection.  Students then learned how we see reflections in mirrors and what a line a sight means.  This led into a discussion on image characteristics.  This was covered on slides 16-22 in the Physics Notes powerpoint.  We didn't get to Homework 3.5 today but we will get there tomorrow.

Physics 30 - Dec 3

Today we learned about energy transfer and kinetic energy.  Students also learned about the work energy theorem where work can be calculated simply by calculating the change in kinetic energy.  This was covered on slides 15-23.   We did 3 examples related to this and then students wrote the lab quiz for lab 3.1.  The rest of the class they worked on Assignment 4.3.  Tomorrow we will look at potential energy.

Science 90 - Dec 2

Today we went over the homework assigned yesterday.  We looked at the circuit diagrams that students did on the worksheet.  We then finished up the notes that we missed yesterday.  This was on slides 42-45.  We finished the class by talking about the circuit lab that we will be doing tomorrow.  I described how to use the circuit boards and how to use the multimeters to measure the various things in a circuit.

We are going to have a quiz on electricity on Thursday.  It will cover everything we have done in this unit so far including circuit diagrams.  So far we have covered all of chapter 6 in your text as well as section 7.1 & 7.2 in your text.

Physical Science 20 - Dec 2

Today in class we learned about the rectilinear propagation of light.  This allowed us to discover the magnification equation.  We also learned about how light travels and how to draw light diagrams.  This was covered on slides 8-15.  Students had about 15 min at the end of class to work on Homework 2.4.  We will go over this tomorrow and start looking at reflection.

Physics 30 - Dec 2

Today we looked at the concept of power and how it relates to work.  There are a couple of formulas one can use to calculate power.  We then worked through 3 different examples on how to calculate power.  Students then had the rest of the period to work on Assignment 4.2.  We will go over this tomorrow.

Students also received their exams back today from Unit 3.  Tomorrow we will start looking at energy.  Students will also be writing the quiz for Lab 3.1.

Science 90 - Dec 1

Today in class we continued our notes on circuits and we talked about the two different types of circuits.  We learned the difference between parallel and series circuits as well as how voltage, current and resistance are related in these types of circuits.

We also learned how to do circuit diagrams today.  Circuit diagrams are essential for understanding components in an electric circuit.  We did a couple of examples of circuit diagrams that showed how to draw parallel and series circuits as well as a combination of the 2.  The slides we covered were slides 34-41.  Students then spent the rest of the class working on the circuit diagram worksheet handed on in class.  This is in the Science 90 course notes link.  I will check this tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will finish the notes and then start work on the electric circuits lab.

Here are some videos that can explain how to draw circuit diagrams.  You might want to watch if you had trouble with today's lesson.

Physical Science 20 - Dec 1

We started our unit today on physics and the study of light.  We talked about the different properties of light and started looking at the speed of light in particular.  We learned that light travels very fast in a vacuum (300 million meters per second) and this makes calculating distances of very far objects easy.  These distances are called astronomical distances and we went over the definition of a parsec, a light year, and an astronomical unit.  We then looked at an exam using these and students were assigned Homework 2.2 to be done for tomorrow.

There is a new powerpoint that students can download to get the notes for this unit.  It is found in the Physical Science 20 link on the right and the notes are in the Physics folder called Physics Notes.  We went through slides 1-7 today.  Tomorrow we will be looking at the rectilinear propagation of light.

Physics 30 - Dec 1

Today we started out new unit on energy and momentum.  We began looking at the physical definition of work and what work is.  We did examples 1-3 and looked at some special situations where work is zero.  Students then had the remainder of class to work on Assignment 4.1. We will take this up tomorrow and move onto work on power.