Numbers 360

(a picture of me)
This week has found us working with lots of numbers - well, that's par for the course. Admitedly, with my croaking and hacking, there has not been lots of time for discussion, but that will come next week. I promise. Lab is going well so far, and I expect fully that Physics will keep up the tradition on Monday.

This lab, as you have seen, does double duty. It provides experience to familiarize you with the Vernier system and a couple of the sensors that we will use often in class. Then, it pulls the ol' brain back to interpreting graphs. We will do this A LOT in class, as line graphs are a very helpful medium to study physical interactions. The LoggerPro showed you 3 ways to evaluate the slope and y-intercept: isolating x-y pairs, using the Curve Fit function and the Linear Fit function. Each has its own value based on the situation of the problem or the model you are using for study. We will discuss this in detail next week, but we will most often use the Linear Fit button, as it saves time and is backed by statistical calculation. I talked to some groups about the "correlation" number. That tells you how well your data actually fits a linear model - how well do the points make a line. You want to be as close to 1 as possible, if you are positing that your data represents an actual linear relationship.

Physics and Honors Physics - a bit of time will be spent nailing down the SI/metric system, the relevant prefixes and the conversion between units. You need to have this pretty solid in your head, as it will waste tyime later if you have to spend brain energy on these basic concepts.You should keep the values for the prefixes micro, milli, centi, kilo and micro in your skull. These are the ones that we use most often. Later, mega, pico and nano will be important. Later, we are going to concentrate on scientific notation. Honors Physics - the Chapter 1 exam will be the only one on which you CANNOT use a calculator. The calculations will be simple mathematically - I'll be testing your use of metric prefixes, scientific notation, dimensional analysis or estimation - and a calculator really won't be necessary.

Physics - good job this week attacking problems, asking good questions and isolating areas where you need additional help. That is the best way to approach physics - aggressive and doing what it takes to rock and roll...