We're Here?

Ok, today was a mess from the word go. I couldn't find anything and I surely couldn't think straight with the mess surrounding me, but kudos to you guys for being the mature ones and not razzing me for being a big wacky. Expect a good bit of wacky for a while to come as I try to organize things to most efficiently use the space. Let me know if you have any ideas!

Honors Physics took time to look at Newton's Second Law of Motion. Acceleration is directly proportional to net applied force and inversely proportional to the object's inertia (got it right that time!). Though we know this from a common sense perspective, the mathematical application of Newton's 2^nd Law gives us a way to quantitatively predict the response of an object when a net force is applied. As we talked about in class, problems involving N-2 first have you calculate the net force using vector techniques, find the object's resulting acceleration, then apply that acceleration to a kinematics formula to solve to some other property of the object's motion. We'll check over the homework problems tomorrow and march on with the idea of forces.

Physics B discussed Newton's 3^rd Law of Motion. The idea that inanimate objects can apply a force is unusual to many of us, but we discussed many examples today that demonstrate that is actually the case. We also hit some of the major misconceptions surrounding N-3 and how to work with N-3 when analyzing the motion of objects interacting with each other. Tomorrow (fingers crossed!) we will begin a set of lab investigations looking at Newton's 2^nd and 3^rd Laws of Motion.

Physics F took time to discuss their lab investigation on air resistance, before jumping into a discussion on air resistance and how it affects the motion of falling objects. In the absence of air resistance, all objects fall to Earth with the same acceleration - not something that comes naturally to the mind, but we looked at the math to verify that this is true. With air resistance, heavier objects hit the ground first, and we explored why this occurs using the idea of balanced and unbalanced forces. As a brief aside, pressure was differentiated from force, clearing up the misconception that these terms are synonymous. We'll return to pressure in detail when we study forces in fluids. Tomorrow - Newton's 3^rd Law of Motion.

Note for both Physics sections - looking over the Projectile Motion exam today with a student, I decided that one question was deserving of being voted off the island. So, the question #25 has been disqualified and everyone's score has been raised by 3 points. You do not need to make corrections for that particular problem.

Physical Science reviewed the concept of friction and its types before launching into a general review of the chapter in preparation for Thursday's exam. We went page by page through the book highlighting relevant vocabulary, concepts, formulas and graph analysis skills that are ripe for assessment. We'll go over the review homework in class tomorrow and attack any questions that people bring with them.

Homework

Honors Physics: Chapter 4 Review items #19-22, 25
Physics B and F: None
Physical Science: Chapter 10 Review items #1-11, 32