Your pictures for the model projects are here! You know the username and password.

You may use your pictures for your written report.

If you have any more pictures or videos, email them to me and I’ll include them on the page.

I’ve begun updating my flash cards again.

Physics: The updated flash cards start with the next unit.
Chemistry: I put all of the root words into a single flash card file.

Click the “Flash Cards” link on the sidebar of this page.

Explaining how the tides worked was an early triumph of Isaac Newton. We’re still discovering things about gravity and tides today!

Here are some links on tides:

• An animation on the tides caused by our own moon: earth and moon
• An animation showing the tides caused by both our moon and our sun: spring and neap tides
• Images of Comet Shoemaker-Levy-9 breaking up due to Jupiter’s tidal forces
• Tidal heating on Jupiter’s moon Io causes volcanic activity
• Jupiter’s tidal forces heating it’s moon Europa could make an ideal environment for life!

Newton’s ideas also led us to realize that most of the universe is missing!

• 96% of the universe is missing
• Pretty detailed, but this article explains how we knew most of the universe was missing in the first place.
• Bending Spacetime??
• Dark Matter
• Since gravity only pulls on matter, what would make the universe expand at an accelerated rate as currently observed? Dark Energy might be the answer…
• Predicted by Einstein, gravitational lensing was observed long after Einstein. This wikipedia link has a good animation.

Since our chemistry test today was so much fun, I thought we’ d do some more on Monday!

Seriously, you will have 30 minutes Monday morning to complete today’s test.

Don’t forget to bring your moles!

You will be receiving progress reports in each class today.

My classes: I require all students to get the progress report signed by a parent/guardian and returned to me.

Guess what? I just got permission to do this:

ANY STUDENT WHO BRINGS BACK A SIGNED PROGRESS REPORT BY FRIDAY WILL GET A FREE TARDY PASS! (for my classes)

Is that cool or what?

If you are in school but not in class, it is your responsibility to either come by and get your progress report or bring it to me after you get it signed. No late progress reports will be traded for a tardy pass, yet you are required to get it signed.

Friday is the due date.

Congratulations to those of you who made over 100% on the Chapter 9 Test in physics! (Chemistry students might wish to read this post too!)

If you made less than an A or B, you’ve got some work to do! Why? All semester long I’ve been preaching that to be successful in physics relies on practice. The more you practice, the better you understand. Physics is not a spectator class. Just like sports, music and foreign language, if you don’t spend time practicing, you will find yourself behind - fast.

The method for practicing in science/physics is typically spending time solving word problems. That means you need to know your vocabulary, read critically (analyze sentence structures, look for verbs, nouns and measurements) and keep practicing your math. Most of the math we do in class is pre-algebra. (multiplication, division a square root or two…) And the math techniques are nearly the same all semester! If you can’t do equation transposing or dimensional analysis by now, you are behind and need to get help!

About the Chapter 9 Test:

• There were 35 total points.
• 14 of those points were word-for-word from the practice quiz
• The practice quiz was homework.
• The answers to the practice quiz were posted on the bulletin board in the back of the room.
• All the other HW worksheet answers were posted there too, as usual.
• 3 of the points on the test were from PE 6-1, #2. (The names were changed.)
• The other word problem on the test closely matches Solved Example #4.
• 49% of the test points came from homework.
• The bonus for the test was a series of questions asking about the method for solving word problems. I’ve been teaching this method since chapter 2.
• The bonus was worth 12%
• The test was open Homework!

Why did I make the test from homework and then allow the test to be open homework? To reward those who are doing their homework! If you weren’t part of that crowd, now you know what you must do!

Remember to study old tests for your Mid-Term Exam this week! Some old test questions will be on it!

One definition of centripetal force is any force that causes circular motion.

This example might not be what I had in mind…

See Video