Fluids and Heat

Yesterday was mostly a procedural day - going over midterm exams and, for the freshmen, going over practice MCAS multiple-choice and open-response questions. Students received the state-provided exemplars for their open-response questions to see how different rubric grades were separated. We'll continue this process throughout the semester as we introduce new material and to review material covered earlier in the year. Physics was the only course that dived head-first into new information - the concept of buoyancy.

Today, Physics reviewed buoyancy and began a discussion of fluid pressure. If we have school tomorrow, they will participate in a laboratory investigation centering around buoyant forces and density of fluids. Honors Physics also discussed fluid pressure and took time in class to work problems dealing with pressure generation, hydraulics and pressure variations with depth in a fluid column. Physical Science got to dig further into heat energy and discuss mechanisms of heat transfer and the concept of specific heat. Read over the lab I handed out in case we are not in class tomorrow, so you'll be prepared for Thursday. If we have class, we will delve deeper into the concept and mathematics of specific heat.