g Whiz

Honors Physics - no one experienced grievous bodily harm during the performance of the lab so yeah for us! This lab quickly demonstrates acceleration due to gravity with very fine precision. Everyone's velocity/time graphs gave a slope very close to the accepted 9.81 m/s² value. For the extensions (tossing the object downwards or upwards), the values were not as close, but this is to be expected. Watching groups, the picket fence demonstrated some torque during the toss and this will affect acceleration. The values were, however, close enough for government work. Gravity does vary with location, but that should not have had a great influence on your data, as seen from the map of the Earth's gravitational field. The Northeast US pretty much falls at zero on the gravitational anomaly scale. Air resistance did affect the acceleration, as we would predict from daily observation of the world around us. Tomorrow, we'll go over your free-fall homework problems and have a general discussion about the chapter. Test Monday and,yes, I will give you the formulas and you can use your calculators.

Physics - Lots of graphs today, but graphs are one of the best ways to analyze motion. We will use graphs and coordinate systems often in class to address topics, so keep those skills close at hand. Often, a quick graph will help you understand more about a situation than a page full of calculations. Tomorrow, though, is calculation day as we take on the basic kinematics formulas. Make sure to have a calculator on hand.

Physical Science - Good questions in class today about the lab! We will further our examination of SigFigs and SciNot in lecture tomorrow and, hopefully, start to review basics about graphing. The exam for this chapter is scheduled for next Wednesday, so don't wait until the last minute to begin your preparations. Get extra help from me if needed, collect questions to ask in class, rework or get fresh problems from me, etc. You will need calculators for exams, so don't forget yours that day. I will give you any basic formulas or information that you might need (density/volume formulas, metric prefixes...), so don't worry about that piece.