Snow...yahoo...

More snow today, but at least it shouldn't be enough to cancel school tomorrow. I'd rather not find myself in the classroom in July, and that could happen the way this winter is going. Plus that gosh-darned groundhog saw his shadow and I trust his judgement far more than that of any of our local weather forecasters...

Physics engaged in an investigation centered around Boyle's Law. Like Honors Physics yesterdy, the data was wonderful. Boyle's Law is one of those tenets of science that is easy to understand from a personal experience and common sense standpoint. Remember though, that it only relevant to (a) gases and (b) gases exposed to a constant temperature and concentration. We'll play with the ideal gas law tomorrow and pay special attention to gas samples in which the number of gas particles remains constant.

Honors Physics - discussion and demonstration of Bernoulli's principle and an examination of problems involving Bernoulli's equation. Like the other statements of conservation of energy that we've discussed, this one requires careful consideration of the situation at hand before scripting the appropriate form of Bernoulli's equation to use for analyzing changes in the fluid system. Can the equation be used with gases? Yes, provided you take into account the density changes that gases experience with varying pressures.

Physical Science - I read over your responses to the practice MCAS open response question and most of you did a good job! Clear, concise...looked very much like the top-scord example that we read in class. A few parts of the question could have used a bit more specific explanation, but even the state-provided student response lacked detail for part C of the question, in my opinion. A few folks need to work a bit in tightening up responses: remember to read over what you wrote and make sure that what you put on paper is what you actually had in your mind. We'll get plenty more practice before MCAS so everyone can hone their skills. Tomorrow, we start our investigation of states of matter and changes of state with a lab investigation targeting melting and freezing of water. You'll collect temperature data during the freezing and melting process and use the information to draw heating and cooling curves.