Be sure to read past the Cool Science of the Week for your assignments. 🙂

Cool Science of the Week
We’ve had an abnormally cold, drizzly, snowy, frosty, cloudy April. (YES!) Does this mean “global warming” is a hoax? The answer is that even though localized weather may be unseasonably cold, global climate is a different matter. The graph below from NASA shows greenhouse gas levels over the last 400,000 years – amazing! (Really look at that graph and take it in.) Rising ocean levels, acidification of our water supply, and extreme weather are among the consequences scientists say we’ll face due to climate change. In the Midwest, NASA predicts “Extreme heat, heavy downpours and flooding will affect infrastructure, health, agriculture, forestry, transportation, air and water quality, and more. Climate change will also exacerbate a range of risks to the Great Lakes [water supply.]” Geologists and environmental experts are considering renaming our current epoch the “antrhopocene” (anthro meaning human), calling this an era during which humans are the main cause of changes to Earth and its species.

This Week in Physics
With the exception of first period, everyone will take a quiz over eletrostatics goal set 2 on Monday. Also for Monday please take notes on PODCAST 3: Electric Fields. We will go over this, do assignment 3, perform an awesome experiment, and take a quiz over goal set 3 by the end of the week. If announced, please take notes on PODCAST 4: Electric Potential Energy, Electric Potential, and Potential Difference. Expect our unit test next week. 🙂 🙂 🙂

Remember to read past the Cool Science of the Week to find your assignments. 🙂

Cool Science of the Week
People pity Pluto. It used to be a planet, and now it’s considered a dwarf planet instead. Do you know the reason? It’s because in the region of Pluto’s orbit are many other objects approximately the size of Pluto. Moreover Pluto is smaller than many moons in our solar system, including our own moon! Despite Pluto’s demotion, there is still considerable evidence to suggest that we are a nine-planet solar system, although we haven’t found the ninth planet. Why do we think it’s there, then? Because of EXACTLY what we talked about in unit 6: Universal Gravitation! There are gravitational effects in the outer solar system that suggest a large body exists beyond Neptune’s orbit. Scientists are searching for Planet Nine, which is likely about ten-times the mass of Earth, right now! 

Image from Scientific American

This Week in Physics
Our SLO is Wednesday, so please be sure to review units 1-6. For Thursday please take notes on PODCAST 2: Electric Force (Coulomb’s Law) if your class did not already do so. We will complete assignment 2 and will hopefully be able to quiz over goal set 2 by Friday or next Monday.

Remember to read past the Cool Science of the Week to find your assignments. 🙂

Cool Science of the Week
We’ve discussed satellites and the relationship between tangential velocity and the gravitational force that creates the centripetal force. What happens when a satellite’s tangential velocity slows so that the centripetal force it requires is less than the gravitational force it’s experiencing? It falls back to Earth, and this is precisely what will happen with the Chinese space station, Tiangong, sometime during spring break somewhere between 43 degrees north latitude and 43 degrees south latitude. (Yes, we are in that range, but only at the high northern end withour 41.5 degree latitude.) Not to worry: Most of the school bus-sized space station will burn up due to friction upon reentry, and the chances of being hit by what’s left are infinitesimally small. Why is this happening? China lost control of Tiangong in 2016, so it cannot force a controlled landing. This is one of the risks of our space station/satellite age, and it gives you the chance to ponder risk versus benefit, one of the most important questions in science and technology! Definitely check out this link, which drives home home the understanding of just how much “stuff” we’ve put in orbit around our planet. Fun fact: The Chinese space station featured in the movie Gravity is a future version of Tiangong, since Gravity is set in the near future. Chinese scientists even got some ideas from seeing the movie! Fun link: How to track the space station’s spectacular reentry

Image from Cleveland.com

This Week in Physics
First and foremost, remember that we have the SLO on Wednesday, April 18, which is the week after we return. It’s in your best interest to start studying early. It covers units 1-6, and we will spend some class time reviewing. This will impact the rate at which we are able to move through our new unit. Ideally this week we will complete assignment 1 from unit 7 and take a quiz over goal set 1. If we are lucky we will take notes on PODCAST 2: Electric Force (Coulomb’s Law) and begin to move through that material. I’ll make announcements in class in regard to due dates.

Once again we’re starting with the Cool Science of the Week feature! Be sure to read past it for your assignments. 🙂 Four-day week – spring break is almost here!

Cool Science of the Week
We all know that what goes viral is often not true. In recent years stories of a supposed alien skeleton from Chile began making the rounds, even showing up in a documentary. A scientist picked up on the story and asked to examine the tiny six-inch skeleton with the oddly elongated head, which, admittedly, looks a little un-human. DNA and X-ray examination revealed the shocking truth. You won’t believe what they found! (LOL ironic clickbait)

This Week in Physics
Due Monday: Assignment 2  and goal set 2. (Yes, first period, I know I told you it wasn’t due. I changed my mind. Aren’t you lucky?) The test for unit 6 is Tuesday. For Wednesday please take notes on podcast 1 from our new unit on electrostatics. We’ll go over this, do a little lab activity, and dive into assignment 1 by the end of the week.

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

This is the final week of the grading period. Please check PowerSchool for missing assignments. I will no longer accept late work after Tuesday except in cases of extended recent absences as arranged with me by Monday.

This Week in Physics
11th period: Podcast 2 from unit 6 is due for Monday. All other class periods: Podcast 2 from unit 6 is due for Tuesday. This week we will go over the material from podcast 2 by practicing problems and concepts in class, performing the Circular Motion Lab, doing assignment 1, doing goal set 1, and taking a quiz. This unit will wrap up quickly, so please stay on top of the material.
Lab report: The lab report for the  Impulse-Momentum Theorem Lab will be due at the start of your class period on Thursday (3/15) or Friday (3/16) as announced. You must share your Google document with me at my Gmail address, [email protected], not my school email address. You must then upload your document to TurnItIn.com by 3:00 p.m. on the due date. The class ID is 16214937, and the password to join the class is Tesla. Remember to use both the Lab Report Writing Guide and the Lab Report Rubric to guide your writing.

Cool Science of the Week
This past Thursday (3/8) was International Women’s Day. To focus on this event, let’s recognize one of the world’s premier physicists who happens also to be a woman. Fabiola Gianotti is the director of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, better known to us as CERN, one of the most important (perhaps the  most important) physics research institutes in the world. (Just one example: It’s where the World Wide Web began!)  Her work could earn her a Nobel Prize, and her impact on science worldwide is unquestioned. We’ve come a long way from just a few decades ago when there weren’t even women’s restrooms in many physics institutions, and it’s been an even shorter time since Mattel produced a Barbie that said “Math class is tough!” (Video below)

There are two weeks left to third quarter. Heads up! 🙂 Also, as you know, our schedule will be a smidge topsy-turvey due to the SAT administration for all juniors on Wednesday morning.

This Week in Physics
For Monday complete assignment 3. If you are in first or third period, please also complete goal set 3. We will take the momentum unit test on Tuesday or Thursday as announced in your class period. Then we will complete the Impulse-Momentum Theorem Lab. (This experiment will result in a gorgeous lab report… yay!)

Cool Science of the Week
Bummed about cavities? Scientists may have discovered a way to regenerate teeth! (Pro tip: Keep brushing and flossing anyway.) 😉

We are entering the last three weeks of the quarter, so be sure to stay on top of all of your work! 🙂

This Week in Physics
For Monday, if your class has not already done so, be sure to complete goal set 2 as homework. As announced in your class we will take a quiz over goal set 2 from unit 5. When announced please take notes on PODCAST 3 – The Impulse-Momentum Theorem. We will complete assignment 3, the Impulse-Momentum Theorem Lab, and goal set 3 on our way to our unit test, which will likely be next week.

Cool Science of the Week
Silent space: Did you know that every science fiction movie that allows you to hear a blast is boldly lying to you? Sound waves need a medium to travel through, so in the vacuum of outer space, there’s no sound… or is there? A plasma physicist has discovered that charged particles interact with Earth’s magnetosphere to create a different kind of sound wave, a magnetosonic wave. These waves are very low in pressure and are therefore undetectable, but they can affect satellites. Below the awesome gif is an audio file that makes these space sounds audible by condensing a year’s worth of sound into six minutes. Check it out!

On the audio below, click on the white lines in the lower right to hear the sounds after clicking the play button in the top left. Alternately you can click here to access the researcher’s external site.

This will be a shortened week as we observe Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays on Presidents’ Day, which Ohio officially calls Washington-Lincoln day. Who knew?

This Week in Physics
We lost a lot of time last week due to scheduling, and each section has different starting points for the week. Therefore please follow the announcements for your particular class section regarding when each of the following will be due. (Your class period may have already done some of these.)

• Quiz over unit 5 goal set 1
• PODCAST 2: Types of Collisions – The role of kinetic energy
• Assignment 2 from unit 5
• PODCAST 3: The Impulse-Momentum Theorem

Cool Science of Last Week
Last week Elon Musk‘s SpaceX launched a new rocket model into space. The Falcon Heavy rocket has the cool feature of returning its rocket boosters back to Earth in a way that allows them to land for reuse. You can check out their synchronized landing at the end of the short video clip below – so cool! Also super cool: The Falcon Heavy, while in space, released into an orbit around the sun a Tesla Roadster, an electric car from Mr. Musk’s other company, Tesla. In the Roadster: an astronaut mannequin named Starman. On the dashboard: a sign that says “Don’t Panic.” Music playing in the car: Starman by David Bowie, natch.
Bonus trivia: For how long could the mennequin hear the song play (if the mannequin could hear)? Bonus bonus trivia trivia: Elon Musk was the inspiration for the movie version of which fictional character? (Bonus trivia is worth only the bonus of fame and glory, not points. 🙂 )
The following is a real picture! Ridic!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

This Week in Physics
For Monday please complete assignment 1. In class on Monday we will go over assignment 1 and will put the finishing touches on our law of conservation of momentum experiment. On Tuesday we will take a quiz over goal set 1. (If your class does not finish going over goal set 1 in class on Monday it will be due on Tuesday.) As announced please take notes on PODCAST 2: Types of Collisions – The role of kinetic energy. We will complete assignment 2 and will reprocess our data from our mini law of conservation of momentum lab from the perspective of analyzing the types of collisions. By the end of the week we will take a quiz over goal set 2. We may be ready to take notes on the last podcast of the unit by Friday, but with scheduling for next school year taking place this week, it is likely that you will take notes on that for next week. Stay tuned!

Scheduling Information
Here is the link for the 2018-2019 ALHS Program of Studies.

Cool Science of the Week
Scientists rock, and now a record number of scientists are running for political office, walking in the footsteps of Sir Isaac Newton, who served as a Member of Parliament after achieving success in the fields of science and mathematics.