Wiring the World

Honors Physics reviewed their series and parallel circuit lab and then turned attention to the combined circuits homework. Lots of people had problems with those items, which is absolutely not surprising. Working with this type of circuit takes a lot of irons in the fire at once, and a dose of creative thinking thrown in also. As we saw today, you can pretty much start at any point in the circuit once the total current has been established and work from there. Use the extra problems assigned today to firm up your skills with these circuits. Tomorrow, we’ll review over them and then finalize this unit with a discussion of electric power and electric safety. Folks voted on the test being Monday, so there you have it.

Physical Science B checked over their MCAS practice question and then went back to work building their circuits. Many got as far as the radio transmitters, so tomorrow should be primarily centered around the radio receiver and Morse code generator. When all groups have completed their hands-on work, we’ll take time to do some MCAS practice before our test, which will fall next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Physical Science E had the same day as B Block, with students reviewing their MCAS work and continuing to construct their devices. The speed with which students work through the remaining projects will determine the time frame for the MCAS practice and exam.

Physics F reviewed series circuits and added parallel circuits to their skill set. Parallel circuits allow more than one complete path for charge flow, so a problem in one path does not interfere with the function of other paths. The mathematical evaluation of these circuits is a little different than for series circuits, since the addition of resistors and paths serves to lower overall resistance and bolster current . Tomorrow, you will get to investigate these circuits in your lab activity.

Physics G conducted a lab investigation on series and parallel circuits. Resistors were first arranged in series and the current and potential differences measured. The same measurements were taken for the resistors linked in parallel. One of the hardest things for students to do is to figure out how to wire the parallel arrangements and folks did a nice job of it. We will discuss the results of this experiment tomorrow before we move on to a thorough discussion of parallel circuits.

Homework

Honors Physics A: Chapter Review items #24 and 43 (omit d and e)
Physical Science B and E: None
Physics F: Read lab protocol sheet and complete 20.2 Section Review for Thursday
Physics G: Complete lab write up