Week of January 28, 2013

Welcome to another great week in the world of science!

This week in physics: First of all, remember that your 5-7 sentence paragraph describing what you discovered about your own personal learning goal for the energy unit is due Monday. Having conquered the topic of energy, we now cruise forward at top velocity into Unit 5 – Momentum, and, yes, this week will go very fast! Please start by watching Momentum Podcast 1 – Introduction to Momentum. We will do assignment 1 in class on Monday to solve tons of awesome problems, and then we’ll take a quiz on Tuesday. We will also begin the Conservation of Momentum Lab. (The lab report for this lab will be due on February 13.) In the lab you will collect data about collisions and examine the data to find patterns, which will lead you to figuring out the formula we’re after. Don’t watch podcasts on Conservation of Momentum until Wednesday so as not to give any secrets away, but you should prepare for class on Wednesday by watching Momentum Podcast 2 – Conservation of Momentum part 1Momentum Podcast 3 – Conservation of Momentum part 2, and Momentum Podcast 4 – Conservation of Momentum Sample Problem. On Thursday and Friday we will solve gobs of amazing problems as we practice with the ActivExpressions and then do assignment 2.

This week in astronomy: We will take our quiz on star mapping, so bring your flashlights and star maps to the planetarium on Monday, and rewatch Celestial Sphere Podcast 1 – Star Mapping to study. Following the quiz we will observe the diurnal (“daily”, or 24-hour) motion of the stars in the planetarium and explore the celestial equator and celestial north pole in more detail. These two podcasts will support our work: Celestial Sphere Podcast 2 – Celestial Equator and Celestial North Pole and Celestial Sphere Podcast 3 – Circumpolar Stars. A focus will be on examining the differences in the sky at different latitudes, so get ready to use those spatial thinking skills to analyze and predict what the sky will look like if you travel. Good stuff! Expect a quiz late this week or early next on these two podcasts.

Cool Science of the Week: If you could travel to the center of our Milky Way galaxy without getting sucked into a supermassive black hole and could take off your space suit without quickly losing consciousness and dying within a couple of minutes, then you could open your mouth and taste…raspberries!?!? Apparently true…and delicious!

Galaxy