Without Bad Luck I'd Have No Luck At All

This weekend, the nicest of the year, was a total bust since I had a nasty cold and stayed indoors the whole time. My dogs are not happy with me at the moment and will likely exact their revenge in the near future…

Honors Physics reviewed Friday’s lab activity and then completed their discussion of mirrors. With mirrors, keep sign conventions in mind at all times with working with the mirror formula. Also, pay close attention when drawing ray diagrams for diverging mirrors or for converging mirrors when the object is within the mirror’s focal length. Those can get a little tricky if you’re not careful. Tomorrow, we’ll start with color and polarization and then its off to refraction.

Physical Science B and E endured their graded learning experience for sound and light. Tomorrow, we jump into the concepts of charge, electric potential energy and static electricity. E Block will conduct a lab investigation centered on static electricity and the forces produced when charged objects are brought together.

Physics F worked on their light lab investigations. Reflection by plane and curved mirrors was examined, as was the polarization of light and reflectivity of different surfaces and colors. Physics G worked on a reduced version of this lab, concentrating only on reflectivity and polarization. It was found that both color and texture affect reflectivity and that the intensity of light passing through a polarizer and analyzer could be predicted using Malus’s Law. For mirrors, plane mirrors verified the law of reflection and formed only virtual images, concave mirrors could form both real and virtual images and convex mirrors were, like plane mirrors, restricted to forming virtual images. A couple of groups in both blocks didn't get to finish collecting the data, so I'll allow some time at the beginning of class tomorrow for them to wind up their labs. The lab write ups will, therefore, not be due tomorrow.

Homework

Honors Physics A: None
Physical Science B: 16.1 Section Review, Chapter Review items # 13, 22, 29, 30
Physical Science E: Read lab protocol sheet and complete 16.1 Section Review and Chapter Review items #13, 22, 29, 30
Physics F: None
Physics G: None