Starting New Things

A gloomy day brightened by happy students ready to learn and grow…at least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it…

Honors Physics reviewed their exam before proceeding on to a discussion of vectors and vector combination. Grades were good, overall. A few scores could be improved, but the first test is always challenging due to it being a unique situation. Next time, you will have a better idea of the test format and the expectations. That will help you plan the most effective study strategy. See me if you need any help. The discussion of vectors sort of glossed over the procedure of analyzing vectors graphically, but do not think that it is not a viable method. It just happens that, for our purposes, the mathematical method is quicker and more convenient. Often, too, it is more accurate, as it eliminates human error in making and measuring the vector diagrams. Tomorrow, we turn around and look at vector resolution – taking a single vector and breaking it into its components. We’ll also discuss how to handle non-perpendicular vectors. It is not too tough, it just takes time and organization.

Physical Science B completed their discussion of motion, velocity and displacement and added acceleration to the picture. Again, the analysis of motion graphs was emphasized as there is a lot of information that can be gleaned from a position-time or velocity-time graph. Tonight’s homework has you work with the acceleration formula. Take care to watch out for unit conversions and to make sure that all answers have the correct unit. We’ll go over those problems tomorrow and get a bit more practice working with motion problems before discussing the special circumstance of circular motion.

Physical Science E reviewed their exams before starting their exploration of motion. Take time to look over your papers and your corrections and evaluate what you need to do to improve your performance on the next test, if necessary. See me if you need help. If you had a bit of trouble with yesterday’s lab, today’s discussion should have clarified things. Rework your lab synopsis, if needed, to reflect your new understanding of the material. Tomorrow, we’ll add acceleration to our descriptors of motion and practice working problems with acceleration.

Physics F and G sweated through their Chapter 1-2 exam. Tomorrow, we begin an examination of vectors. Some of you may have worked with vectors and trig functions in math, for others, this may be something new. We’ll take time to make sure that folks are comfortable with vector operations before applying them to 2-dimensional motion.

Homework

Honors Physics: Finish reading 3.2. Complete Practice 3B
Physical Science B: Complete practice problems on page 328
Physical Science E:
Physics F and G: Read pgs. 84-91. Complete #1-5, 10-13 of the Chapter Review