The Dreaded Chapter 3 Exam

Honors Physics endured one of the most debilitating experiences in the course - the Chapter 3 exam. I have no idea why this exam torments people so much, but every year, students leave the room with a despondent look in their eye and a dirge rhythm to their step. Make sure that if you didn't come back after school to complete your exam that you do so before school tomorrow. We'll talk about things on Friday and include possibilities for assisting people whose grades need it. Tomorrow, two lab investigations, both centering around forces and Newton's 2^nd Law of Motion. Acceleration of an object is directly proportional to net force and inversely proportional to the object's mass. If you read ahead in the book, you have a good theoretical basis off of which to evaluate your lab results.

Physical Science B conducted two investigations that targeted motion. The first examined the impact of air resistance on the motion of an object in free-fall. The book definitely showed accelerated motion, but the coffee filter demonstrated constant velocity. Consider the phrase "terminal velocity" when you go to write up the lab synopsis. The second investigation looked at launch distance (time of travel) and velocity. In a system with constant acceleration, like a cart rolling down a ramp, the longer the time interval, the greater the final velocity. Don't worry about working on the lab write up tonight - use your time to study for tomorrow's exam. We'll talk about the lab on Friday and you will have the weekend to complete the work.

Physical Science E went over their motion review sheet and addressed general questions about our motion unit. Questions from previous MCAS exams were distributed and we will take time on Friday to look those over to get an idea about how the MCAS approaches the concept of motion. Study for your exam tonight and consider what you might do to improve your performance over the last exam.

Physics F and G reviewed for tomorrow's exam and took a little time to touch on a review of relative motion. Our walk-through of the chapter highlighted what you should know for the exam, so I hope that you did a good job taking notes during the review. Friday, we begin our study of forces with Physics G conducting two lab investigations on Newton's 2^nd Law of Motion and Physics F beginning their discussion of forces.

Homework

Honors Physics: Read lab protocol sheet. 4.1 Section Review and Practice 4A for Friday.
Physical Science B and F: Study for exam
Physics F and G: Study for exam