Ark II

For those who live in this area, the title of this post seems appropriate since it is, again, pouring rain. For those aged and infirm like myself, you might remember the Ark II tv show from the 1970's. Bad hair and cheesy tv...I loved the 70's!

Honors Physics began their examination of electricity today with a discussion on the nature of electric charge, the methods of generating charge and the forces that charged systems can produce. We contrasted friction, conduction and induction and examined how to use Coulomb’s Law to evaluate the strength of electric forces. We’ll look at electric fields tomorrow and relate those to the forces generated.

Physical Science B took a look at electric energy and electric power and related these topics to household concerns. We also took a good bit of time to discuss electric safety devices – fuses, circuit breakers and ground-fault interrupters – and how they are used in everyday life. Tomorrow, students will work on a lab that will allow them to examine how materials demonstrate adherence to Ohm’s Law. On Thursday, students will review their lab activity and then begin to work on the math associated with circuits and also start constructing circuits and investigating circuit components.

Physical Science E spent time reviewing series circuits and worked out how to calculate voltage, current and resistance for loads arranged in series. We’ll go over the two practice sheets that you were given in class at the start of the period tomorrow, address any issues and then move on to examine parallel circuits.

Physics F and G underwent their assessment experience for light, reflection and refraction. Tomorrow – Electricity!

Homework

Honors Physics A: Practice 17A
Physical Science B: Read lab protocol sheet
Physical Science E: Complete Ohm’s Law and series circuits worksheets
Physics F and G: Read section 17.1 in the textbook and complete Chapter Review items #1-10