Happy Thanksgiving! Just in case you need reminding, there is no school this week on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. Classes resume on Monday, December 1.

This Week in AP Physics
On Monday homework 3 (plus the homework riddle on the back page of your notes) is due. On Tuesday we will take our momentum unit test. Next up: Circular and rotational motion! (As requested in class, here is the collisions graphic organizer we did, and here is the solution to one of our two-dimensional collision problems.)

This Week in Physics
6th period: On Monday your friction lab report is due. Be sure to upload it to TurnItIn.com by the date and time listed for 10th period. Also be sure that you share your Google Drive document with me at [email protected]. (Note this address is not used for email.) On Tuesday we will take our force unit test. Next up: Energy!
10th period: On Monday assignment 2 from our force unit is due. On Tuesday we will take our force unit test. On Tuesday, December 2 your friction lab report is due. Be sure to hand in a hard copy at the start of class and upload it to TurnItIn.com by 3:00 on that date. Also be sure that you share your Google Drive document with me at [email protected]. (Note this address is not used for email.) Next up: Energy!

This Week in Astronomy
IF YOU WERE AT THE SENIOR PROJECT MEETING ON FRIDAY…you need to catch up by taking all of the notes from Podcast 3 – Lunar Eclipses. We won’t be going over that material again in class, but the podcast covers everything. On Monday we will finish our eclipse unit so that we can take the unit test on Tuesday. Next up: Solar system! Finally, remember to work on your final outdoor lab, the Unit 3 – Outdoor Lab, which requires you to observe the moon. This lab is a long-term project, assigned on November 14, that requires multiple observations spaced days apart. It is due on the day before winter break, December 19.

Cool Science of the Week
Yep, there are more planets in our solar system! Granted, these planets, like Pluto, are dwarf planets, but we are discovering more and more of them. What’s perhaps more interesting is that their orbital behavior suggests that there is also a larger body out there whose size would classify it as an actual planet. Discovering planets is cool.

This is an artist’s representation of what the planet responsible for the orbital behavior of the dwarf planets might look like. The rocky band you see around the sun is an asteroid belt called the Kuiper belt, which exists beyond Neptune’s orbit. The sun, Earth, and all of the planets we know reside within the Kuiper belt. (Many of our comets come from the Kuiper belt, BTW.) This image gives you some idea of how far away our suspected ninth planet is.