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Philhour

"The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery." - Mark Van Doren

2009-10 AP Physics C - First Semester Course Weblog

Most recent update: November 20, 2009 1:00 PM

  • Week of Friday, August 28 -- INTRODUCTION

      • Test Prep Site & Past Exams
      • Previous year pass rates & thoughts about the AP Exam
      • For in-class work, we'll largely be using the course workbook. Bring it (or appropriate chapters from it) to class regularly.
      • Students are responsible for understanding all the problems in the workbook. However, I am only assigning certain problems (not all). The rest can be used for study/review/extra practice. I will keep a binder in the classroom that has keys to all the workbook chapters. PLEASE do not ever remove the binder or its contents from the classroom -- these are meant to be a stationary key.
      • Overview of Unit 1 in textbook
        • Knowledge Structure for first unit in course
        • Chapter 1 Summary
        • Importance of reading the textbook in college classes as opposed to high school classes - greater responsibility for self-directed learning; greater advantages in the future to student who assimilate skills and knowledge beyond those minimally required
      • Time permitting: anti-derivatives
      • HW
        • Get your syllabus signed
        • MasteringPhysics introductory assignment
        • Read Preface to the Student in the textbook, the Introduction, and the Overview in the e-Book
        • Read Chapter 1 in the e-Book (Knight) -- here's the summary
        • Review the links from class today (above)

 

 

“Students enter our classroom not as ‘blank slates,’ tabula rasa, but filled with many prior concepts…. Student’s concepts are rather muddled, not well differentiated, and contain unrecognized inconsistencies. By the standards of physics, their concepts are mostly wrong.” “Students’ prior concepts are remarkably resistant to change. Conventional instruction – lecture classes, homework, and exams that are predominately or exclusively quantitative – makes almost no change in a student’s conceptual beliefs.” - Randy Knight

  • Week of Monday, August 31

    • Day 1 - LAB DAY, Meet at 7:35 am in Room 313
      • We'll then move to Alpha Lab
      • Lecture/workshop: Introduction to Excel
        • Manipulating cells
        • Making graphs & tables
        • Scaling graphs
        • Aesthetics
        • Linearization of data
        • Circular logic errors
      • Doing physics in Excel with time-steps
        • Generating velocity from acceleration and an initial velocity
        • Generating position from velocity and an initial position
        • Generating the "Big Three" equations of motion from the above
        • Making your own projectile motion calculator and plotter
        • E-mail your Excel file to yourself -- if you think you have an older version of Excel at home, you might want to convert it first -- I can help with that.
      • HW
        • Continue work on your projectile motion calculator at home
        • Begin reading Ch 2 in Knight
        • Read Pages 2 ("Why Scientific Thinking?") and 3 ("The Elements of Scientific Thought") in the Miniature Guide to Scientific Thinking
    • Day 2
      • Lecture: Review of vectors (abstract & graphical)
        • Adding two vectors using tip-to-tail method and using parallelogram method
        • Adding two vectors pointing in opposite directions
        • Negatives of vectors - interpretation
        • Subracting two vectors
        • Motion diagramming
        • Using changes in position vectors to find velocity vectors
        • Finding acceleration vectors from velocity vectors
      • HW
    • Day 3
      • Warmup: Workbook Ch 1 #s 27, 28, 29, 31, 35
      • Get some volunteers to act as TAs at the Homework Party!
        • Benefit of acting as a TA (grade on transcript, etc.)
        • Responsibilities
      • Lecture: motion (Ch 2)
        • motion diagramming: signs & direction; graphing x vs. t and v vs. t
        • interpreting v as a slope of x vs. t; interpreting a as a slope of v vs t
        • Demo: dropped ball & rangefinder (differentiation)
        • Interpreting integrals of v vs. t as a change in position; interpreting integrals of a vs. t as change in velocity
      • HW
    • Day 4
      • Warmup: Derivative Java Puzzle Game (online), then Workbook Ch 2 #s 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 23
      • Calculus
      • Lecture: the Big Three -- when they can be used, and how they are derived from calculus considerations; when they cannot be used, and how to deal with those situations
      • The Big Three -- how we would have to extend/modify it with varying acceleration
      • HW

 

  • Week of Monday, September 7

    • Monday

      • Holiday - Labor Day

    • Day 1 - Activity Schedule
      • Your parents do NOT need to attend the 0-period version of AP Physics at Back to School night.
      • LAB DAY, Meet at 7:40 am in Alpha Lab
        • Lecture/workshop: Using Excel to model motion (UAM and non-UAM)
          • Time steps
          • Getting your projectile motion calculator in shape
          • Moving to a = F / m ... adding second law to excel spreadsheet
          • Using the dollar sign ($) to refer to fixed rather than relative-position cells
        • Lunar Lander Project - BJP will go over his spreadsheet from last year
        • First task: launch of a rocket - flat earth, straight up, no orbit, just to make sure our engines are working
        • Plotting the acceleration, velocity & position of the rocket during launch
      • HW
    • Day 2 - Activity Schedule
      • Quiz on material of Ch 1 - 3
      • HW
    • Day 3 - Activity Schedule
      • Rotational motion (note that this material comes LATER in the textbook - Ch 13.1)
        • Definitions of position angle, angular velocity, and angular acceleration
        • Rotational "big three" - uniform & nonuniform motion
        • How this differs and how it is the same as our original "big three" problems in our last physics class.
      • HW
        • MasteringPhysics
        • On Monday we'll meet in the classroom -- 313 at 7:35 am -- to watch a Lunar Landing documentary
        • Continue reading Ch 4 in Knight - finish by Day 1 of next week
        • Read Ch 12.1 (that's it, just the first section in that chapter! on rotation)
        • Work the first four problems in your workbook for Ch 12
        • Lunar Lander Project
        • Please begin bring your workbook to class every day -- we'll rely on it when I am on paternity leave
    • Thursday Night
      • Back to School Night
      • Your parents do NOT need to attend the 0-period version of AP Physics at Back to School night.
    • Friday
      • Mass of the Holy Spirit

 

  • Week of Monday, September 14

    • Day 1

      • Note: if you received a quiz score of 4.0, no need to turn in corrections (it's automatic). If you received a score above 3.0, turn in corrections written directly on the test itself; if you received a score beneath 3.0, please write up corrections on a separate piece of paper and staple to the original. Corrections are due at the next class meeting.
      • BJP on paternity leave
      • LAB DAY, Meet at 7:35 am in Room 313
      • HW
        • MasteringPhysics
        • Begin reading Knight Ch 5
        • Please begin bring your workbook to class every day -- we'll rely on it when I am on paternity leave
    • Day 2
      • BJP on paternity leave
      • Work on Workbook Ch 1 - 4
      • HW
        • Continue reading Knight Ch 5
        • Work on Workbook Ch 1 - 4
    • Day 3
      • BJP on paternity leave
      • Work on Workbook Ch 1 - 4
      • HW
        • Continue reading Knight Ch 5, finish by Day 4
        • Continue lab writeup (due next week)
    • Day 4
      • BJP on paternity leave
      • Work on Workbook Ch 1 - 5
      • HW
        • Work on Workbook Ch 1 - 5
        • Ch 5 Assignment A due next Friday AM
        • Watch your e-mail box for information about 0-period on Monday!!!

  • Week of Monday, September 21

    • Day 1

      • Note: if you received a quiz score of 4.0, no need to turn in corrections (it's automatic). If you received a score above 3.0, turn in corrections written directly on the test itself; if you received a score beneath 3.0, please write up corrections on a separate piece of paper and staple to the original. Corrections are due at the next class meeting.
      • BJP on paternity leave
      • If Alpha Lab is available, you'll work on your Lunar Lander Project specifically the Vertical Launch portion. Otherwise, study period.
      • HW
    • Day 2
      • Lecture
        • Double-period due to study period
        • recap kinematics and relationship to Newton's 2nd law
        • practice projectile motion problem using a ramp
        • recap rotational motion
        • centripetal vs. tangential acceleration
        • coriolis forces (conceptual)
      • HW
    • Day 3
      • Lecture
        • Drag force as we'll need it in our lunar lander project (coefficient of drag, area, density of air, velocity, etc.)
        • Drag force as it is used in the textbook and on the AP exam (simpler version that only depends on velocity and sweeps the other ideas under the table)
        • Terminal velocity
      • HW
    • Day 4
      • Recap the 'guess and check' method for finding the velocity profile of a falling object
      • Spring gauges in physics problems
      • Two-body problems with constraints - finding constraint equations by assuming a fixed string length and taking two derivatives
      • HW
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 5 Assignment A due Friday AM
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 1 - 5 Review due Tuesday PM
        • Workbook Ch 1-5 due Wed
        • Lunar Lander Project - work on your vertical launch simulation over the weekend -- we'll also meet on Monday at 0 period in Alpha Lab to troubleshoot
        • Remember that I'm available both on the PUBLIC FOLDER *and* on the SI Physics Facebook group
        • Note: meet Monday 0 period in Alpha Lab, then we'll move to the physics room upstairs for 1st period

 

 

  • Week of Monday, September 28

    • Day 1

      • Note: meet Monday 0 period in Alpha Lab, then we'll move to the physics lab upstairs for 1st period
      • 0-period: meet in Alpha Lab to do lunar lander project stuff (work on vertical launch with drag)
      • 1st period: meet in the physics room upstairs (313) - Ramp problems and rotated coordinate systems; two-body problems with ramps
      • HW
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 1 - 5 Review due Tuesday PM
        • Lunar Lander Project - finish vertical launch by Day 1 of next week
        • Begin reading Ch 6 - 8 in the Knight e-book
        • Workbook Ch 1-5 due Wed
    • Day 2
      • Practice problems & workbook work in kinematics & Newtons Laws
      • HW
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 1 - 5 Review due Tuesday PM
        • Lunar Lander Project - finish vertical launch by Day 1 of next week
        • Continue lab writeup
        • Continue reading Ch 6 - 8 in the Knight e-book
        • Workbook Ch 1-5 due Wed
    • Day 3
      • Quiz on Material of Chapters 1 - 5
      • HW
        • Lunar Lander Project - finish vertical launch by Day 1 of next week
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 6, 7 & 8 due by midterm exam
        • Continue reading Ch 6 - 8 in the Knight e-book
        • Workbook Ch 6 - 8 due @ midterm
    • Day 4
      • Begin centripetal motion review
        • Centripetal motion at the level of Honors Physics
        • Preview of how we will add to this understanding next week in AP
        • How high should you release to "make" the loop-the-loop?
      • HW
        • Lunar Lander Project - finish vertical launch by Day 1 of next week
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 6, 7 & 8 due by midterm exam
        • Continue reading Ch 6 - 8 in the Knight e-book
        • Workbook Ch 6 - 8 due @ midterm
        • We'll meet on Monday at 0 period in the Physics room (313)
        • At what point (angle, really) does a matchbox slide off of a bowling ball?

 

  • Week of Monday, October 5

    • Day 1

      • Going to see how much labwork we can get done this week...
      • Lab curriculum - essential questions & enduring understandings
      • "Chicken" paper by Doug Zongker from the University of Washington (just an example of a well-formatted professional science research paper)
      • 0-period and 1st period: Lab, meet in Room 313
        • Lab: Verifying Newton's 2nd Law of Motion (.doc, .pdf) and rubric due @ midterm
      • HW
        • Begin lab writeup (due at Midterm)
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 6, 7 & 8 due by midterm exam
        • Continue reading Ch 6 - 8 in the Knight e-book
        • Workbook Ch 6 - 8 due @ midterm
    • Day 2
      • Remember the "Big Idea" of this year's review of centripetal motion: sometimes only a component of a force is centripetal, or sometimes the components of several forces are all centripetal ("center-pointing")
      • Warmup: quietly and individually draw free-body diagrams on a piece of paper for the following centripetal motion problems (by pairs -- if you're sitting on the East side of your pair -- near the hallway -- do that set; West side (toward the ocean) do the other set). Identify which force, or force component, or combination of force components, is centripetal. When done with all of them, pair up & share your thinking.
        • East
          • a car drives at constant speed over a rounded hill, but not so fast that it loses contact with the ground
          • the same car drives over the same rounded hill, but this time fast enough to lose contact with the ground at the top of the hill
          • a tetherball swings around its pole at constant speed
          • a person stands still at the equator of the Earth as it spins
          • a car takes a turn at high speed: there is no friction, but the road is banked
        • West
          • a car drives at constant speed through a rounded dip in the road
          • the same car drives at a faster speed through the same rounded dip in the road
          • a person stands still at latitude 45 degrees north (remember 90 degrees north is the north pole)
          • a pendulum swings through its lowest point
          • a car takes a turn at high speed: the road is flat, but there is friction
      • Brief Aside: Nobel 2009: Physics
      • Whiteboard: bead on a wire problem
      • Centripetal motion problems in AP (involving components of multiple forces)
        • Suppose you want to negotiate a curve with a radius of 50 meters and a bank angle of 15 degrees. If the coefficient of friction between your tires and the pavement is 0.50, what is the maximum speed that you can safely use? (Banked turn with friction problem)
      • Time-permitting: Mixed energy/centripetal motion problems
        • At what point (angle, really) does a matchbox slide off of a bowling ball?
      • HW
        • Continue lab writeup (due at Midterm)
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 6, 7 & 8 due by midterm exam
        • Continue reading Ch 6 - 8 in the Knight e-book
        • Workbook Ch 6 - 8 due @ midterm
    • Day 3
      • Lab continued as needed or Workbook & practice problems for Quiz on Day 4
      • Practice Problems in Centripetal Motion (.pdf and .doc)
      • HW
        • Continue lab writeups (due at Midterm)
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 6, 7 & 8 due by midterm exam
        • Continue reading Ch 6 - 8 in the Knight e-book
        • Workbook Ch 6 - 8 due @ midterm
        • Prepare for quiz on Day 4
    • Day 4
      • Quiz on Centripetal Motion and mixed centripetal motion / energy problems we have been studying this week
      • HW
        • NOTE: We *will* meet at 0 period (7:30 am) to begin a long-ish midterm exam that will last through both 0 and 1st periods
        • The midterm exam will include a "lab practical" component which means you will be tested on your work during the 0-period class (essentially, on the Lunar Lander project so far)
        • The midterm exam will cover material of Chapters 1 - 8 -- note that there are a TON of past tests available at the test prep site going back many years, most with keys.
        • Continue lab writeups (due at Midterm)
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 6, 7 & 8 due by midterm exam
        • Continue reading Ch 6 - 8 in the Knight e-book
        • Workbook Ch 6 - 8 due @ midterm

 

  • Week of Monday, October 12

    • Monday

      • 0-period and 1st period MIDTERM EXAM (Ch 1 - 8)
      • HW
        • Lunar Lander Project
          • Begin working the launch-into-orbit portion of the project -- we want to put our spacecraft into orbit!!!
    • Tuesday
      • No class
    • Wednesday
      • No class, PSAT & Freshman Retreat
    • Thursday
      • No class, Teacher Inservice
    • Friday
      • No class, Quarter Break

 

  • Week of Monday, October 19

    • Day 1

      • Meet in the regular classroom (313)
      • Lunar Lander Project
        • Equatorial orbit issues -- getting our spacecraft into orbit!
        • Some things to think about with regards to coordinate systems
      • Lab: Investigating Centripetal Motion (.doc, .pdf) and rubric due sometime next week
        • Other labs coming up this quarter:
          • Precision measurements of force and impulse (.doc, .pdf)
          • Investigating elastic and inelastic collisions in one dimension (.doc, .pdf)
          • Two-dimensional elastic collisions & video analysis (.doc, .pdf)
      • HW
        • Begin reading and working the workbook for Chapter 9 (Impulse & Momentum) in Knight; also coming up: Chapter 10 (Energy), and Chapter 11 (Work)
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 9 due Sunday
        • Continue Lunar Lander Project -- launch to equatorial orbit
        • Continue centripetal motion lab writeup due sometime next week
    • Day 2
      • The relationship between force and impulse (derivative/slope and integral/area versions)
      • Why momentum conservation and Newton's Third law are 'really' the same thing
      • Use of momentum bar charts in Demo: two-cart elastic and inelastic collisions
      • "It depends on the system" -- momentum conservation in a ball falling to Earth
      • Practice problems
      • Introduce Lab: Precision measurements of force and impulse (.doc, .pdf)
        • Important! We only have a single force plate for this lab. This means that we need to do it 'asynchronously' -- meaning you and your lab group needs to come in at some point and use the force plate when others are not using it. We'll discuss in class.
      • HW
        • Continue reading and working the workbook for Chapter 9 (Impulse & Momentum) in Knight; also coming up: Chapter 10 (Energy), and Chapter 11 (Work)
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 9 due Sunday
        • Continue Lunar Lander Project -- launch to equatorial orbit
        • Continue centripetal motion lab writeup due sometime next week
    • Day 3
      • Lab time or work problems (see below)
      • Mixed energy-momentum problems / two-dimensional momentum practice problems
      • HW
        • Continue reading and working the workbook for Chapter 9 (Impulse & Momentum) in Knight; also coming up: Chapter 10 (Energy), and Chapter 11 (Work)
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 9 due Sunday
        • Continue Lunar Lander Project -- launch to equatorial orbit
        • Prepare for Quiz on Day 4
        • Continue centripetal motion lab writeup due sometime next week
    • Day 4
      • Quiz on momentum/impulse material of this week
      • HW
        • Continue reading and working the workbook for Chapter 9 (Impulse & Momentum) in Knight due Monday; also coming up: Chapter 10 (Energy), and Chapter 11 (Work)
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 9 due Sunday
        • Continue Lunar Lander Project -- launch to equatorial orbit
        • Continue centripetal motion lab writeup due sometime next week
        • Meet in the regular classroom (313) next week

  • Week of Monday, October 26

    • Day 1

      • Turn in Chapter 9 Workbook
      • Meet in the usual classroom (Room 313) today -- we'll move into the lab
      • 0-period and 1st period Lab
        • Time in the lab to work on the Centripetal Force lab we began a few weeks ago
        • Time in the lab to work on the Force Plate / Impulse lab
        • Discussion of equatorial launch work
      • HW
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 10 due Sunday
        • Begin reading and working the workbooks for Chapters 10 & 11 (Energy & Work) in Knight -- Chapter 10 due Day 4, Chapter 11 sometime next week
        • Continue Lunar Lander Project -- launch to equatorial orbit
    • Day 2
      • Warmup: Chapter 10 Workbook #s 1 & 2
      • Zero-point of potential energy -- gauge symmetry
      • Potential energy curves - Ch 10 Workbook # 18
      • Elastic collisions -- equations & unknowns
        • Writing KE as p^2/2m rather than as 1/2mv^2 when needed
        • Dropping the 'm's
        • Using the cross-term in the square -- your best friend!
      • Workbook time -- skip Sections 10.4 & 10.5 until tomorrow
      • HW
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 10 due Sunday
        • Continue reading and working the workbooks for Chapters 10 & 11 (Energy & Work) in Knight -- Chapter 10 due Day 4, Chapter 11 sometime next week
        • Continue Lunar Lander Project -- launch to equatorial orbit
    • Day 3
      • Warmup: Chapter 10 Workbook #s 19 & 20
      • Spring forces -- Hooke's Law (in force and in energy perspective)
      • Mixed gravity / spring problems (bungee jumping, for instance)
      • Nonlinear springs
      • Workbook - Sections 10.4 & 10.5
      • HW
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 10 due Sunday
        • Continue reading and working the workbooks for Chapters 10 & 11 (Energy & Work) in Knight -- Chapter 10 due Day 4, Chapter 11 sometime next week
        • Continue Lunar Lander Project -- launch to equatorial orbit
    • Day 4
      • Quiz on energy material of this week (everything from Chapter 10)
      • HW
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 10 due Sunday
        • Continue reading and working the workbook for Chapter 11 (Work) in Knight due sometime next week
        • Continue Lunar Lander Project -- launch to equatorial orbit -- wrap this up by end of next week, submit by e-mail to me
        • Wrap up Centripetal Motion & Force Plate labs, due a week from Monday

 

  • Week of Monday, November 2

    • Day 1

      • Meet in the usual classroom (Room 313) today -- we'll move into the lab
      • Error analysis problems
      • 0-period and 1st period Lab: Investigating elastic and inelastic collisions in one dimension (.doc, .pdf)
      • HW
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 11 due Sunday
        • Continue reading and working the workbook for Chapter 11 (Work) in Knight due Day 2 of next week
        • Continue Lunar Lander Project -- launch to equatorial orbit -- wrap this up by end of this week, submit by e-mail to me
        • Wrap up Centripetal Motion & Force Plate labs, due beginning of next week
        • Continue work on lab investigating elastic & inelastic collisions in 1-D
    • Day 2
      • Warmup: AP practice problem
      • Math day! -- Thanks AOK!!!
      • Lecture: Vector dot products and vector cross products
      • Vector Dot and Cross Product Worksheet (.doc, .pdf)
      • HW
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 11 due Sunday
        • Continue reading and working the workbook for Chapter 11 (Work) in Knight due Day 2 of next week
        • Continue Lunar Lander Project -- launch to equatorial orbit -- wrap this up by end of this week, submit by e-mail to me
        • Wrap up Centripetal Motion & Force Plate labs, due beginning of next week
        • Continue work on lab investigating elastic & inelastic collisions in 1-D
    • Day 3
      • BJP out sick -- work practice problems
      • Activity: Work on Workbook for Ch 11
      • HW
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 11 due Sunday
        • Continue reading and working the workbook for Chapter 11 (Work) in Knight due Day 2 of next week
        • Continue Lunar Lander Project -- launch to equatorial orbit -- wrap this up by end of this week, submit by e-mail to me by Friday evening
        • Wrap up Centripetal Motion & Force Plate labs, due beginning of next week
        • Continue work on lab investigating elastic & inelastic collisions in 1-D
    • Day 4
      • Some changes to schedule due to my absence, see below...
      • Work! (Chapter 11)
        • Work and mechanical energy - how similar the work definition is to the potential energy definition (in terms of an integral of force) and how to reconcile this conceptually
        • The two ways to calculate work -- and why to use one over the other for different problems
        • The integral definition of work -- integrating a dot product between F and dx by noting that the dot product merely 'picks off' the x-component of the force
      • Activity: Work on Workbook for Ch 11
      • HW
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 11 due Sunday
        • Continue Lunar Lander Project -- launch to equatorial orbit -- submit by e-mail to me Monday evening
        • Wrap up Centripetal Motion & Force Plate labs, due Tuesday
        • Continue work on lab investigating elastic & inelastic collisions in 1-D
        • Meet in Alpha Lab on Monday morning for work on equatorial orbit

  • Week of Monday, November 9

    • Day 1

      • 0-period and 1st period: Alpha Lab -- Equatorial Orbit
      • HW
        • Continue work on lab investigating elastic & inelastic collisions in 1-D
        • Prepare for quiz on Day 2
        • Continue reading and working the workbook for Chapter 11 (Work) in Knight due Day 2
    • Day 2
      • Centripetal Motion & Force Plate labs due
      • Turn in Workbook for Ch 11
      • Quiz on work material (everything from Chapter 11)
      • HW
        • Continue work on lab investigating elastic & inelastic collisions in 1-D
        • Begin workbook & reading for Chapter 12
    • Day 3
      • Introducing rotational analogy material
      • Statics -- torque balance
      • Activity: balance beams using meter sticks and weights
      • Torque balance for extended objects - gravitational torques act as if the gravitational force were ALL applied to the center of mass
      • Activity: balance beams using the meter stick itself as an extended object (and using this to weigh the meter stick)
      • HW
        • Continue work on lab investigating elastic & inelastic collisions in 1-D
        • Continue workbook & reading for Chapter 12
    • Day 4
      • Warmup: Conceptual Worksheet
      • Demo: weight on a yardstick -- balancing
      • Newton's 2nd Law for torque - the heart of the force-perspective for rotation
      • Rotational Inertia -- the ones you need to memorize and why they are used
      • Practice problems
      • HW
        • Continue work on lab investigating elastic & inelastic collisions in 1-D
        • Continue workbook & reading for Chapter 12
        • Meet in 313 on Monday -- we'll have a short lab intro followed by an exam

  • Week of Monday, November 16

    • Day 1

      • 0-period & 1st Period: Briefly introduce Lab: Two-dimensional elastic collisions & video analysis using VideoPoint (.doc, .pdf)
        • Due week of December 7
      • Exam on Conservation Laws material from past few weeks
      • HW
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 12 Assignment B due Monday
        • Continue workbook & reading for Chapter 12
        • Continue work on lab investigating elastic & inelastic collisions in 1-D due Day 2 of next week
        • Continue work on 2-D elastic collisions lab using VideoPoint due Week of Dec 7
    • Day 2
      • Whiteboard warmup: Massive pulley system (need for different tensions!)
      • Torque & angular acceleration
        • Parallel Axis theorem for finding distributed moments of inertia
        • I_pivot = I_cm + Mh^2 ... h is distance from pivot to CM
        • So called 'satellite' rotational inertia
        • Finding center of mass of extended objects & systems of objects (NON-calculus)
        • Finding rotational inertia of extended objects & systems of objects (NON-calculus)
        • Briefly: perpendicular axis theorem
      • HW
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 12 Assignment B due Monday
        • Continue workbook & reading for Chapter 12
        • Continue work on lab investigating elastic & inelastic collisions in 1-D due Day 2 of next week
        • Continue work on 2-D elastic collisions lab using VideoPoint due Week of Dec 7
    • Day 3
      • Whiteboard warmup: Ladder against a wall in static equilibrium problem
      • Torque & angular acceleration
        • Concept of 'rolling without slipping' - v = R*omega and a = R*alpha
        • Bowling ball problem
        • Rolling downhill -- predicting angular and linear acceleration
      • HW
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 12 Assignment B due Monday
        • Continue workbook & reading for Chapter 12
        • Continue work on lab investigating elastic & inelastic collisions in 1-D due Day 2 of next week
        • Continue work on 2-D elastic collisions lab using VideoPoint due Week of Dec 7
    • Day 4
      • Warmup: race down the hill
      • Begin Video: Hubble's Amazing Rescue - great material on torque (and 3rd law reaction torque) in space, plus applicable to our lunar lander project
      • HW
        • MasteringPhysics Ch 12 Assignment B due Monday
        • Continue workbook & reading for Chapter 12 -- won't be due until much later
        • Continue work on lab investigating elastic & inelastic collisions in 1-D due Day 2 of next week
        • Continue work on 2-D elastic collisions lab using VideoPoint due Week of Dec 7
        • Note quiz moved to Day 2 of next week

BJP's shared items in Google Reader

  • Week of Monday, November 23

    • Day 1

      • 0-period: ALPHA LAB -- introduce our trip to lunar orbit
      • 1st Period:
      • HW
        • Continue workbook & reading for Chapter 12
        • Continue work on lab investigating elastic & inelastic collisions in 1-D due Day 2
        • Continue work on 2-D elastic collisions lab using VideoPoint due Week of Dec 7
        • Lunar Lander Project
    • Day 2
      • Turn in lab investigating elastic & inelastic collisions in 1-D due Day 2
      • Quiz on material of Chapter 12 so far (torque & statics)
      • HW
        • None -- enjoy your break!!!
    • Wednesday
      • Holiday
    • Thursday
      • Holiday - Happy Thanksgiving!
    • Friday
      • Holiday

 

  • Week of Monday, November 30

    • Day 1

      • Meet in 313 -- we'll go to the lab
      • 0-period & 1st Period: rotation lab Day 1 (torque & acceleration) due week of final exam
      • HW
    • Day 2
      • Rotational conservation laws - energy
      • HW
    • Day 3
    • Day 4
      • Quiz on material of Chapter 12 (rotational conservation laws)
      • HW

 

  • Week of Monday, December 7

    • Day 1

      • Meet in 313 -- we'll go to the lab
      • 0-period & 1st Period: rotation lab Day 2 (energetics/collisions/videopoint) - due due week of final exam
      • HW
    • Day 2
      • 2-D elastic collisions lab using VideoPoint due
      • Begin Chapter 13 -- Newton's Gravity
      • Newton's Gravity & Kepler's Laws
      • HW
    • Day 3
    • Day 4
      • Rotation Exam - both Newton's perspective and Energy perspective on this
      • HW

 

  • Week of Monday, December 14 -- FINAL EXAMS

    • Monday - Activity Schedule

      • 0-period & 1st Period: work time in the lab / final exam review / slack / wrap-up
      • Turn in workbook for Chapter 13
      • HW
        • Rotation Lab due Tuesday, Dec 15
        • Study for Final Exam
    • TBA
      • Final Exam

 

Spring 2010

 



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