Week of March 19, 2018

How weird is this? We are entering the first week of FOURTH QUARTER!!! Prom, Cedar Point, graduation, and summer are within sight! Enjoy every minute! (Especially enjoy the minutes you spend doing fabulous physics!) I’m going to start beginning the blog with the Cool Science of the Week in the hopes that more of you read it. Science is awesome! Read beyond the Cool Science to find your assignments.

Cool Science of the Week
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to those who celebrate! Did you know that the great symbol of the holiday, the shamrock, is not a real plant? There is no species of clover known as a shamrock. Instead, the shamrock is a popular term for a three-leaf clover, and botanists over hundreds of years have debated about which species people consider to be the shamrock of lore. In 1988 an Irish botanist tried to determine definitively which species of clover is the shamrock with a survey, finding that the majority of Irish people consider the species Trifolium dubium (common name: lesser clover) to be the true shamrock, with Trifolium repens (white clover) taking second. However, many others, including a plant that’s not even a clover (Oxalis ocetasella, or wood sorrel), made the list! Pro tip: A four-leaf clover is a mutation and is never considered a shamrock.

Lesser clover (left) and wood sorrel (right) Images from Wikipedia

This Week in Physics
We’re all starting at slightly different places…
1st: On Monday we’ll finish the lab. Goal set 1 is due at the start of class on Monday. Quiz over goal set 1 is Tuesday or Wednesday as announced, and please take notes on podcast 3 for Tuesday. Then we’ll do assignment 2 and likely test on Friday.
3rd: On Monday assignment 1 is due. Goal set 1 is due at the start of class on Tuesdday. Quiz over goal set 1 is Tuesday. Please take notes on podcast 3 for Wednesday. Then we’ll do assignment 2 and likely test on Friday.
8th: On Monday we will finish going over assignment 1. Goal set 1 is due at the start of class on Monday. Quiz over goal set 1 is Tuesday, and please take notes on podcast 3 for Tuesday. Then we’ll do assignment 2 and likely test on Friday.
11th: Goal set 1 is due at the start of class on Monday. Additionally please take notes on podcast 3 for Monday. Quiz over goal set 1 is Tuesday. Then we’ll do assignment 2 and likely test on Friday.

In Memory of Stephen Hawking, January 8, 1942 – March 14, 2018