Motion and Graphing

Physics A and B enjoyed their graded learning experience and we'll pick up with Chapter 2 (One-Dimensional Motion) on Monday. Don't forget to have the homework question from the board answered (A Block also has their Making Cents of Math lab due), since we'll use that to introduce some ideas about motion.

Honors Physics worked on their Cart on a Ramp lab, which let folks analyze position-time, velocity-time and acceleration-time graphs for a cart moving up and down a ramp. Graphs of motion are incredibly useful, but you do have to make sure how to properly interpret the plots. Always make sure to check the axes so that you know what type of data is being plotted, then think carefully about what the various shapes of the lines mean in terms of the variables being plotted. We'll go over the lab on Tuesday, but don't forget the homework problems that are due on Monday.

Introductory Physics worked on their graphing skills today. We went over their graphing activity that was assigned for homework, then turned attention to bar graphs and pie charts. Those aren't as appropriate for a lot of physics work, but it pays to understand the variety of ways that data can be presented and how it is properly interpreted. On Monday, we start to take a look at significant figures and scientific notation and how those are properly used for experiments and problem solving.