Week of February 25, 2019

This Week in AP Physics
This week we’ll finish
unit 10 on electrostatics by covering electric potential and capacitors with notes, tremendously great problems to solve, and a couple of rad homework assignments that you’ll just totally love. As we do so we’ll process our data from the electric fields lab to analyze how voltage allows us to find the charges of the point charges that created the field. Your lab report on this experiment will be due the following week. The unit test will be Friday or early the following week.

This Week in Physics
Periods 3 & 11 have the unit 5
goal set 1 quiz on Monday. All classes should have already taken notes on video 2, but please review your notes before the start of class on Monday when we’ll truck right through the material, do assignment 2 and move energetically toward the goal set 2 quiz. Late in the week please take notes on
video 3 as assigned.

Week of February 18, 2019

Did you know that in Ohio President’s Day is not called President’s Day but rather Washington-Lincoln Day? Now you know!

This Week in AP Physics
On Tuesday we’ll explore electric fields with some highly-charged notes designed to make even the most reluctant note-taker jump for joy. Tremendously great problems to solve, homework, and
one of my favorite labs of the year will follow. Later in the week we’ll cover electric potential, leaving us with capacitors to learn about and a unit 10 test to take the next week.

This Week in Physics
Due on Tuesday: Unit 5
assignment 1, goal set 1, and video 2. (Most of you have finished most or all of this already.) We will quiz over goal set 1 on Wednesday and will work through assignment 2. Expect to complete goal set 2 and take a quiz over this material by Friday or early the following week.

Week of February 11, 2019

Happy Valentine’s Day! There is no school on Friday of this week due to a teacher in-service.

This Week in AP Physics
We begin
unit 10 on electrostatics with some shockingly great notes on the basics of charge and charging, homework 1, tremendously great problems to solve, and such a great lab. As the week progresses we will explore electric fields and may get to more homework, more tremendously great problems, and one of my favorite labs of the year. We’ll see!

This Week in Physics
For Monday if you have not already done so, please take notes on
video 1 from unit 5 on momentum. We will move through this and do assignment 1 followed by a quiz over goal set 1, as announced. Time permitting we may also do video 2 on the role of energy in collisions, so watch for an announcement about that in class. ENERGY LAB REPORT: One hard copy per writing duo is due by Tuesday at 3:00. If you’ve been absent, the documents you need are: Law of Conservation of Mechanical Energy Experiment, Lab Report Writing Guide, and Lab Report Rubric. Good times.

Enjoy your week!

Week of February 4, 2019

With two snow days last week, we’ll be tackling some of the assignments we didn’t get to last week.

This Week in AP Physics
We will continue to work through
unit 9 on thermal physics by exploring the laws of thermodynamics, including an emphasis on pressure-volume diagrams and heat engines. Expect to do homework 3 & 4, two more sets of tremendously great problems to solve, and our online Analysis of P-V Diagrams expeirment. Will we test by the end of the week? PROBABLY not, but improbable doesn’t mean impossible, lol!

This Week in Physics
Please take notes on energy video 4 for Monday. (This will be your favorite video lecture of the year, I promise!) On Monday and Tuesday we will complete
assignment 4 and an experiment on the conservation of mechanical energy. Also, first period only: We will take the goal set 3 quiz on Monday. By Wednesday or Thursday expect to take the energy unit test. Next up: momentum!

Week of January 28, 2019

This Week in AP Physics
We will continue our work with
thermal physics. Homework assignments, labs, and our tremendously great problems to solve will depend on how well we weather the energy transfer from our region of the globe to distant lands. This will set up an energy differential between Avon Lake and other parts of the world that can be assessed via any of the three temperature scales. *Nerd Life* Note: Stay in touch on Remind. If there are days off from school due to the weather, there will be online “blizzard bag” assignments for you to do.

This Week in Physics
On Monday we will complete
assignment 3 from unit 4. Expect a quiz over goal set 3 on Tuesday or Wednesday. As announced please take notes on video 4. This will be your favorite video of the year, no joke! If we miss any school days due to weather, please take notes on video 4, due on our first day back to school. Assuming we don’t miss any school this week, we will be taking the unit 4 test by the end of the week.

Week of January 21, 2019

School starts this week on Tuesday, as we have Monday off to honor the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This Week in AP Physics
On Tuesday we will complete our notes on fluid flow and will do some more tremendously great problems to solve including homework 3. Expect the unit 8 test on fluid mechanics on Wednesday or Thursday. Next in this cold month of January is our unit on HEAT!

This Week in Physics
On Tuesday the morning classes will take a quiz over energy goal set 2 (work and the work-energy theorem.) Because I don’t like to give homework over a long weekend we will take lecture notes in class on Tuesday over the content from energy video 3. However, what we don’t finish from the lecture will be due from the video by Wednesday. Throughout the remainder of the week we will complete assignment 3 and will possibly take a quiz over goal set 3 and/or complete the conservation of mechanical energy experiment.

Week of January 7, 2019

This is the final week of second quarter. Late assignments won’t be counted after Monday at 3:00.

This Week in AP Physics:
We will compete unit 7 and begin unit 8, so it will be a very fulfilling week! Here’s what’s happening: On Monday we will finish our unit 7 notes and will begin our Hooke’s Law lab. The unit homework is due on Tuesday when we will also finish our lab and the unit problem packet. Anticipate the unit test on Wednesday, although if we move it to Thursday expect to begin unit 8 on Wednesday. As we close out the week we’ll be flowing into fluid mechanics and will possibly dip our toes into a lab on mass density.


This Week in Physics
On Monday we will take the unit 3 test. This will be the last grade for quarter 2, so make sure you prepare. By the start of class on Tuesday please take notes on unit 4 video 1, Introduction to Mechanical Energy. In class we will complete
assignment 1. When announced please take notes on video 2 on the work-energy theorem.

Week of December 17, 2018

Exams are next week, but our quarter grades will continue after winter break. The exam schedule is available at this link. You will take your exam during your class period, not your lab period. AP, you get to take an exam on both periods. Yay!!!

There is no homework over winter break. Nothing will be due until the Monday after we return. Enjoy a well-earned rest! 

This Week in AP Physics
Your exam will cover units 1-6. When we return from break you will have one week to make test corrections on the unit 6 test, and we will begin unit 7. We will most likely test unit 7 before the end of the quarter and will begin unit 8. (The unit 7 test, however, will go on quarter 3 so as to allow you time to make test corrections. )

This Week in Physics
Your exam will cover units 1-3. On Monday, January 7 we will take a test over unit 3.

Week of December 10, 2018

Exams are next week, but our quarter grades will continue after winter break. Exam reminder: The exam schedule is available at this link. AP Physics: Your exam will cover units 1-6. Physics: Your exam will cover units 1-3. Use your learning goal sets as your study guides.

This Week in AP Physics
We will complete unit 6. For Monday please do homework 3. On Monday and Tuesday we will cover angular dynamics with notes, a lab, and practice problems, Homework 4 is due on Wednesday, and our unit test will be Thursday. I’ve changed my mind and decided to cover unit 7 on Friday and the Monday before exams. Just kidding hahahaha! In reality we’ll use those two days to review.

This Week in Physics
If you are in my afternoon section, notes from unit 3 video 5 on Newton’s second law are due by the start of class on Monday. (Morning classes should NOT take notes on this video over the weekend.) We will analyze various problems involving net force and acceleration using Newton’s second law and will do assignment 5, goal set 5, and a quiz over goal set 5 as announced. When assigned, please take notes on unit 3 video 6. We’ll discuss Newton’s third law, do assignment 6, and hopefully get our unit 3 test in on Friday.

Cool Science of the Week
In 2015 two filmmakers went to the Nevada desert and crafted a perfectly-scaled, miles-long model of our solar system and then used a drone to make an award-winning video, which you can see here (or below). Their current project is a new video, To Scale: Time, in which they model time from the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago to 2018, mapping out major events along the way. As far as I can tell this flick is yet-to-be-released, although you can read about it here in an article from a great magazine, Popular Mechanics.
To Scale: The Solar System from Wylie Overstreet on Vimeo.
On a dry lakebed in Nevada, a group of friends build the first scale model of the solar system with complete planetary orbits: a true illustration of our place in the universe.
A film by Wylie Overstreet and Alex Gorosh
alexgorosh.com
wylieoverstreet.com
Copyright 2015

Week of December 3, 2018

This is the second-to-last week before exams! Wow! The exam schedule is available at this link. AP Physics: Your exam will cover units 1-6 (and possibly 7). Physics: Your exam will cover units 1-3. Use your learning goal sets as your study guides.

This Week in AP Physics
On Monday unit 6 homework 1 is due along with the problem packet you received in class on Friday. (I’m not going to sugarcoat it. Homework 1 is one lengthy beast, so start early.) On Monday we will also finish the experiment we began on Friday. During the rest of the week we will explore rotational kinematics and torque. This will include homework 2 and possibly 3, more problem sets, and an experiment on rotational equilibrium.

This Week in Physics
Bring your books to class on Monday, because we’re going to have a blast doing unit 3 assignment 3
. Early in the week we will also wrap up our friction experiment. As the week progresses, please take notes on video 4, which covers inertia, when announced. We will complete assignment 4 and possibly progress to video 5.

Cool Science of the Week
NASA dropped something on Mars this week! Check out the video!