Laissez les Bon Temps Rouler!

As a Louisiana native, I take some pride in the Super Bowl victory yesterday by the Saints (although, growing up, we called them the “Aints”). I am pretty sure that pigs are flying somewhere and they are having snowball fights in Hades…

Honors Physics conducted a lab investigation on simple harmonic motion(SHM). Factors such as mass and amplitude were varied to see what effect they had (if any) on the oscillation of the mass-spring system. We also explored the idea of damping and how it affects simple harmonic motion. Consider your results in light of what we’ve discussed in class and what you’ve read in the book when writing up your synopsis tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll discuss the lab and continue on with our discussion of vibrations and their relation to wave formations.

Physical Science B went over Friday’s lab and then began a discussion of sound. Physical Science E continued on with their sound discussion, concentrating on musical instruments and their connection to standing waves. Both wind and string instruments rely no standing wave formations to produce the fundamental tones and harmonics that create the instrument’s characteristic sound. Violins sound different than trumpets, even when playing the same note, for a reason. Attention then turned to the structure and function of the ear – how do we get sound, transfer and discriminate sound. Tomorrow, we’ll look at uses of sound for medicine and navigation.

Physics F and G began to identify and compare types of wave formations. Make sure that you can distinguish mechanical/electromagnetic and transverse/longitudinal waves and recognize or provide examples of each. We described the basic features of waves and practiced calculating frequency, period and speed of a wave. Tomorrow, G Block will conduct a lab investigation that focuses on simple harmonic motion in pendulum systems. How do variables such as mass, length and amplitude affect the period for a pendulum? Stay tuned to find out…

Homework

Honors Physics A: Complete lab write up
Physical Science B and E: None
Physics F: Chapter Review #23-35
Physics G: Read lab protocol sheet for tomorrow and complete Chapter Review #23-35 for Wednesday