The First Full Week

After two shortened weeks, we get the full experience starting today. Unfortunately...

Honors Physics discussed the concept of free fall and tied the information in with the basic motion topics we have covered already. Any of the kinematics equations can be used to work with free-fall problems and you always know the value for the object's acceleration. Remember that the acceleration due to gravity is the same magnitude and direction, regardless if the object is rising or falling. The only difference is in the effect on the object's motion - ascending objects lose speed and descending objects gain speed. We discussed the symmetry of the motion in detail today, and that will be quite helpful when we begin our discussion of projectile motion. Tomorrow, a lab that permits folks to validate the accepted value for acceleration due to gravity.

Physics B spent time discussing the concept of air resistance, one example of a friction force opposing an object's motion. The effect of air resistance on an object depends on the object's mass, speed, size and shape and demonstrations were presented in class to highlight these factors We will discuss air resistance again when we cover the force of friction and add in the idea of terminal velocity. Tomorrow, a short lab that lets students measure acceleration due to gravity in a relatively-low air resistance system.

Physics F conducted a lab investigation into the accepted value for acceleration due to gravity. Using a photogate, the motion of a falling object could be examined and it was found that objects dropped from a height do accelerate and the magnitude of that acceleration fell within a measure of standard error to the accepted value of 9.81 m/s². Students examined position, velocity and acceleration versus time graphically and each graph reinforced the conclusions presented by the others. We'll conduct another investigation tomorrow, that will also allow graphical analysis of motion - the motion of a cart up a ramp.

Physical Science conducted a lab investigation that permitted students to investigate more functions of the Vernier system when they tested the effect of length on the period of a pendulum. Using a motion detector, students were able to use the computer-generated sinusoidal graph to measure period for a variety of pendulum lengths and to fit equations to the data. We'll discuss the lab in class tomorrow, along with the graphing homework, before moving on to scientific notation.

Homework

Honors Physics: Practice 2F #5; 2.3 Section Review
Physics B: p. 25-26 of packet # 22, 23, 24, 47, 49
Physics F: Complete lab write up
Physical Science: Complete graphing assignment from Friday