Physical Science 20 - Jan 15

Today in class we went over the answers to Homework 5.5.  After that we examined some more properties of two dimensional waves.  We spent some time learning how waves refract and how they diffract.  This was all covered on slides 176 -186.  Students were assigned Homework 5.6 and asked to have that completed for Monday.  On Monday we will learn about how these waves interfere with each other.  Have a great weekend everyone!!

Physics 30 - Jan 14

Students wrote their quiz for Lab 4.2 today and then spent the remainder of the class preparing for their in class assignment that is tomorrow.  Make sure you have completed assignments 5.1-5.5 to make sure you are ready for the in class assignment.

Physical Science 20 - Jan 14

Today we started looking at wave behaviour in two dimensions but didn't get much further than talking about how reflection happens.  This is because I spent most of the class checking Homework 5.4 and going over it with the students.  Students will need to know this for the final exam.  We only covered slides 168-175 today.  Tomorrow we will finish up two-dimensional waves.

Physics 30 - Jan 13

Today we finished up the course by looking at the magnetic forces acting on an electric current running in a wire.  These forces are experienced by the wire because the wire produces its own internal magnetic field which is then interacting with the external magnetic field.  This was covered on slides 51-58 in the powerpoint.  Assignment 5.5 was assigned at the end of the period and students will get some more time tomorrow to work on it.  Reminder that tomorrow students have their lab quiz for Lab 4.2.

Physical Science 20 - Jan 13

Today we learned about standing waves and how they are formed.  These are waves that appear to be standing still and are caused by interference between an incident wave and a reflected wave.  The terms nodes and antinodes were introduced and we looked at some formulas that show the relationship between the distance between adjacent nodes and the wavelength, as well as the length of the medium and the wavelength.  Students were to work on Homework 5.4 from yesterday and have that done for tomorrow.  Homework 5.5 deals with standing waves and students will need to have this completed for Friday. The notes today were from slides 159-167.

Physics 30 - Jan 12

Today in class we learned how the magnetic field causes charges to move in a circular path and undergo circular motion.  This was then applied to a type of technology called mass spectroscopy.  This was all covered on slides 42-50 in the powerpoint.  Assignment 5.4 was given at the end of the class.  Tomorrow we will look at the final lesson, how magnetic fields affect charges flowing in a wire.

Physical Science 20 - Jan 12

Today in class we started looking at the wave property of interference.  This involved learning about the principle of superposition and what a resultant wave looks like.  We learned a technique for drawing a resultant wave and just finished an example before the bell went.  This was all covered on slides 141-158.  Homework 5.4 was assigned at the end of class and students will get some time tomorrow to work on it.  Reminder that tomorrow Assignment 5.1 is due.  Students will be handing this in. Tomorrow we will look at specific interference patterns called standing waves.

Physics 30 - Jan 11

Today we looked at how to calculate the magnetic force and how to determine the direction of the force using the right hand rule.  This was covered on slides 34-41 in the unit 5 notes powerpoint. Students had some time to work on Assignment 5.3 today, which we will take up tomorrow.  Tomorrow we will look at how the magnetic force causes charges to undergo circular motion and some technology that has been developed to utilize this fact.

Physical Science 20 - Jan 11

Today we learned about the universal wave equation.  This equation applies to all waves and is pretty simple to use.  The notes we took today we covered on slides 135-140.  Students were assigned Homework 5.2 and Assignment 5.1 today.  We will take up Homework 5.2 tomorrow and Assignment 5.1 will be handed in on Wednesday.  Tomorrow we will look at the interference of waves.

Physics 30 - Jan 8

Today in class we looked at magnetism and its parallels with electricity.  These were covered on slides 28-25 in the powerpoint notes.  We will continue looking at magnetism on Monday by discussing how to figure out direction.  Students will then get some time to work on Assignment 5.3.  I handed back your Lab 4.2 reports on Friday as well.  Make sure to get the corrections back to me on Monday.  The lab quiz for it is going to be on Thursday, Jan 14.

Physical Science 20 - Jab 8

Today in class we finished the wave properties activity with the slinkies.  Students used the slinkies to learn what happens when two waves meet each other, how waves reflect from a fixed or a free end and how waves transmit into a different medium.  There was no homework with this.  On Monday we will begin to look at the universal wave equation.  If a student was absent today, check the java applet out from the post yesterday to look at these wave properties in a more controlled environment.

Physics 30 - Lab 5.1 Simulation - Charges and Fields

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Physics 30 - Jan 7

Today in class we learned how to calculate the electric field as well as the electric potential difference. This was covered on slides 13-22 in the powerpoint for unit 5.  Students were then assigned Assignment 5.2. We will cover questions on this assignment tomorrow.  Tomorrow we will start looking at magnetic fields.

Physical Science 20 - Jan 7

Today students started looking at wave properties with an activity that used slinkies.  We will continue this activity tomorrow.  Students who were absent today can use the following applet to do the activity.  It is called the wave properties activity and you received it with the handouts you picked up on Monday.

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Physical Science 20 - Jan 6

Today we went over Homework 5.1.  Afterwards we started to learn about waves.  We learned about the concept of the medium as well as the different types of mechanical waves.  Transverse waves were discussed along with the terms used to describe those types of waves as well as longitudinal waves and terms associated with them.  We also learned about a measurement called the wavelength.  This was all covered on slides 123-132.  Tomorrow we will start examining wave properties with a hands-on activity.

Physics 30 - Jan 6

Today we went over the assignment from yesterday.  Then we started learning about the electric field.  Students watched the following video and then we did some demonstrations where we were able to visual the electric field.  Students started into the notes about electric fields which we will finish tomorrow.

Physical Science 20 - Jan 5

Today we started looking at waves by learning what causes as wave.  We started looking at vibrations and periodic motion.  This involved learning some new terms such as period and frequency.  Students learned how to calculate period and frequency and we went through a couple of examples.  We concluded the class by working on Homework 5.1 which I will go over tomorrow.  This was all covered on slides 110-122.  Tomorrow we start to look at waves and what they are.

Physics 30 - Jan 5

Today we finished off looking at Coulomb's Law by going through examples 4 and 5.  Students then had the rest of the class to work on Assignment 5.1.  We will go over this tomorrow and then continue on with looking at electric fields.

Physical Science 20 - Jan 4

Welcome Back everyone.  I hope you all had a relaxing break and are ready to make the push to finals.  We starting back by learning about the rest of the properties of light that we didn't learn before the break and then went into looking at how the particle model of light fits into those properties.  As it turns out, assuming that light is made up of tiny spheres doesn't really do an adequate job of explaining all of lights behaviours.  We will now turn our focus to the wave model.  Before we do that however we have to try to understand what waves are.  That is where we are headed for tomorrow.  Today we covered slides 95-109 in the Physics Notes powerpoint.  Tomorrow we are going to start looking at waves and wave properties.

Physics 30 - Jan 4

Welcome back from the break everyone.  Today we started our last unit on Electricity and Magnetism.  We began by looking at the force that exists between electric charges and learning how to calculate the amount of charge on an object.  This was covered on slides 1-10 of the new powerpoint called Unit 5 Notes found in the Unit 5 folder of the Physics 30 Class Notes link. Tomorrow we will finish a couple of examples and then students will get a chance to work on Assignment 5.1.