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Handout #75 (Apr 4-11) Pretty Lab [ Graded assignment due Friday, Apr 11 ]
Students in past years named this Pretty Lab . . . so, Pretty Lab it is. Most students will walk away with greater appreciation for the color brown and the polarity of the ink molecules that go into its making (think desert sunrise). Washable black ink also showed its true colors.
In addition to celebrating water molecules as the most fabulous of all polar molecules, this scientific and artistic endeavor introduces chromatography as a technique to separate mixtures. Mixtures can be separated to identify/analyze the components that went into their making. Whether using tap water or saltwater solutions, students used paper chromatography to separate washable inks (mixtures) into their component colors. From there, they analyzed those colors based open their relative polarity.
Since water acts as a magnet of sorts (that's what polar molecules are), the color that climbed highest up the paper strip had the highest relative polarity. The color blue might have also gained stature given its consistently magnetic qualities.
See Chemistry Review Videos #2 -- Videos 17 - 20 for reinforcement.
For Handout #75 (Pretty Lab), it is so important for students understand how water molecules separates and surrounds salt (NaCl) into its Na+ and Cl- ions. Water is said to dissociate salt into its ions -- not dissolve them.
LINK # 1 to 0:42 video showing how salt dissociates in water.
LINK #2 to 0:53 video showing how salt dissociates in water.
Handout #74 (Apr 2-3) Polar Molecules [ Reading ]
See Chemistry Review Videos #2 -- Video #17 for the recorded version of the PowerPoint presentation shown in class in support of this reading handout. Students received a copy of the PowerPoint slides that read "Goes With #74" on the top of each sheet.
Water molecules have a total of 10 protons and 10 electrons. So, it’s easy to think of water as being neutral or balanced. But water molecules aren't really balanced because those ten electrons aren't shared equally between the oxygen and two hydrogen atoms.
Electrons spend more time moving through the oxygen atom’s electron cloud than they do moving through the electron clouds of the two hydrogen atoms. Since electrons are negatively charged, this creates a molecule that is slightly negative at the oxygen end and slightly positive at the side with the two hydrogen atoms.
Handout #73 (Mar 24) Bonds Broken, Bonds Re-Made [ Reading ]
This the notes version of the eight PowerPoint slides shown in class to reinforce that:
(a) energy is required to break the bonds of the atoms within molecules, and
(b) energy is released when those atoms come back together in different combinations (molecules)
This also served as an introduction to endothermic reactions (temperature decrease) and exothermic reactions (temperature increase).
Handout #72 (Mar 24) The Law of Conservation of Mass [ Reading ]
This is a PowerPoint notes handout for students to add to during the in-class presentation and discussion. The handout is a copy of the PowerPoint slides that students were to add to during the presentation/discussion of the law of conservation of mass.
Handout #71 (Mar 21 - 26) Baking Soda Meets Vinegar
This is a five-part, four-day (hopefully) lab investigation into chemical reactions. The entirety of this investigation levers off of previous learning:
Handout # 61: Physical & Chemical Changes
Handout #64: Liquid Volume
Handout # 65: Describing Matter
Handout # 70: Describing Matter Lab
Parts 1-2 (pp. 1-9) focus on the reaction of a certain mass of baking soda (6.1 g) with a certain volume of vinegar (50 mL). Following the reaction, students were to justify whether or not the mixing resulted in a physical or chemical change based on the product’s different physical and chemical properties.
Parts 3 (pp. 10-11) & 5 (pp. 17-18) reinforces the Law of Conservation of Matter.
Part 4 (pp. 12-16) introduces students to endothermic and exothermic reactions.
This lab investigation is also designed so show student mastery in:
Distinguish a physical change in matter from a chemical change.
Make predictions based on scientific understanding and intuition.
Justify a position based on scientific understanding and observations.
HANDOUT #70 (Mar 18-19) Describing Matter Lab
Chemistry is the study of matter. Students were reintroduced to matter in previous lesson, the ways in which it can be described. Handout #65 (Describing Matter) reintroduced matter as anything with mass and volume, and how matter can be described based on its physical and chemical properties. And no, vinegar does NOT smell bad!!!
Using page 3 from Handout 65 as a reference, students moved through 9 stations to list as many physical properties as possible for the substances. Each group was supplied with magnifying glasses (to determine cubic shape of salt), electronic scales (mass & density), magnets and calculators. Groups were encouraged to share observations among members to list as many physical properties as possible for each substance. They were also reminded that this exercise was not to identify a particular substance, but to describe its physical properties based on observation and measurement.
HANDOUT #69 (Mar 18) Water Displacement
Density is a very important physical property used to identify matter. It is an object's mass divided by its volume. We used rulers and calipers to measure tons of things like wood blocks, metal bars and cubes, golf balls, lacrosse balls, Ping Pong balls, etc.
But what about things with irregular shapes like granite rocks? Welcome to the water displacement method.
HANDOUT #68 (Mar 18) Accuracy vs. Precision [ Reading ]
Yes, its a reading assignment -- and it will not be graded. So, you don't really have to read it. Only kidding. Read it . . . Know it. We are going to use team density data (Handout six-seven) from all those metal bar density calculations. You used a metric ruler for your first density number. Those will collectively make up Set A. A caliper was used on the same bar for your second number. These will make up Set B.
From these data, we can compare accuracy, precision and standard deviation. Oh yeah, take the Statistics course in high school.
Team Density Data Google Sheet (Mar 19) Metal Bar Density Data
Students were asked to put their metal bar data into the Google Sheet for their metric ruler and caliper calculations. From these team data we will calculate the standard deviation for each class and overall team results.
HANDOUT Six-seven (Mar 14-18) Why Density Matters
[ Graded assignment due Tuesday, Mar 18 ]
This handout re-introduces density as a physical property of matter. It’s an object’s mass divided by its volume. This handout essentially has three parts.. Pages 1-4 serves as a re-introduction of density; pages 5-8 are for students to write down their density calculations for various blocks of wood; and finally, pages 9-11 introduce the caliper as a more accurate measuring device. Students are also given the recipe (formula) for volumes of both cylinders and spheres.
Students calculated the densities of various blocks of wood and identify wood type based on a table of known densities. Blocks are color-coded based on difficulty:
Green= easiest; straightforward blocks, volume = length x width x height
Blue = moderate difficulty; straightforward blocks, volume = length x width x height + additional right angle triangular prism
Red = highest difficulty = Like blue with added difficulty
HANDOUT #66 (Mar 12-13) Ranking the Density of Five Liquids
Graded assignment due Friday, Mar 14
This two-day investigation had students demonstrate the ability to accurately determine the density of liquids with both accuracy (close to the known density) and precision (low variability). A secondary goal is to have each student actively participate and contribute in lab investigations.
Working in groups of three, students determined the volume of the red, orange, yellow, green and blue liquids. Each student was to verify the sample’s mass and calculated density with calculators. Groups then ranked liquids from low-to-high based on their densities.
HANDOUT #65 (Mar 11) Describing Matter [ Reading ]
Matter is anything with mass and volume and can be described in many ways. Scientists use physical properties and chemical properties to describe matter.
Students were reintroduced to matter and the ways it can be described in this handout. In it they re-examined matter as anything with mass and volume, and the numerous ways matter can be described based on its physical and chemical properties. How many thought we can describe water in at least 13 ways?
HANDOUT #64 (Mar 10) The Volume of Liquids [ Reading ]
HANDOUT #63 (Mar 10) Chemical Bonding Venn Diagram
HANDOUT # 62 (Mar 5) Chemical Bonding
In order to create all complex matter (like us and ice cream), atoms must combine. Atoms link up quite nicely even without our help. These links are called bonds and there are two major types of bonds. The first one to explore is called an ionic bond. The second is a covalent bond.
HANDOUT # 61 (Mar 3) Changes in Matter
Matter changes all the time. Some changes are barely noticeable, while others are explosive. Over many years, the Statue of Liberty has slowly changed from a deep brown to her now familiar shade of light green. She’s made of copper and copper turns greenish-blue when exposed to oxygen (and other things -- it's a bit more complicated). On the other hand, fireworks change in a fraction of a second through an explosion.
The thing that separates one change from the other is whether or not the change creates a different substance. Physical changes are those changes that do NOT create a different substance. Most of these changes CAN be easily reversed.
Chemical changes are changes that DO result in the production of another substance. These changes CAN’T be reversed. Chemical changes are evidence that a chemical reaction has occurred.
HANDOUT # 60 (Feb 27 - Mar 3) Atoms & Atomic Structure Study Guide
This is the eight-page study guide for a quiz to be given Tuesday, March 4.
HANDOUT # 59 (Feb 25-27) Noble Gas Notation
Graded assignment due Friday, Feb 28
Here is the shortcut. This is the way we really write these things. It's all about changing your starting point. The long way says to start at 1s2. Nah, the chemistry folks figured out a shortcut. It's called noble gas notation.
For support, see Chemistry support videos 16-17.
HANDOUT # 58 (Feb 19-24) Writing Electron Configurations
Graded assignment due Friday, Feb 21
This two-page assignment asked students to write the electron configurations for various elements.
HANDOUT # 57 (Feb 19-20) Electron Shell Configuration Part 2
So, how do we write electron configurations? We started off slowly.
Each student was given a paper copy of the PowerPoint slides shown in class. Mr. Wright said write "Goes with #58" on the first page. See Chemistry support videos 13-15.
Link to Completed Electron Sublevel Table: (Feb 18)
Here is the completed version with shading. Please be careful at the bottom-right of this table. Those two atoms (71 & 103) are part of the d-block. These two should be shaded in yellow like the rest of the d-block.
HANDOUT # 56: (Feb 18) Electron Shell Configuration Part 1 [Reading Only]
Part 1: Welcome to the jungle! Ooof! Here we go! Here we begin to reinforce the importance of the number eight. Students were also introduced electron shell sublevels. What?
Eight is the magic number in chemistry. It determines why certain atoms will bond (join) with other atoms or molecules – and why they won’t. See Chemistry Review Videos 10, 11 & 12. These videos are shortened versions of the reinforcing PowerPoint presentation shown in class to start Wednesday's madness.
HANDOUT # 55: (Feb 17 ) Atoms & Atomic Structure Review
This was completed to assess student understanding of Handouts 48-50 before heading into the difficult content of electron shell configuration.
HANDOUT # ? (Feb 17 ) Atomic Mass & Isotopes
This short PowerPoint presentation was not assigned a handout number. Oh well.
Anyway, what's up with an element's atomic mass not being a whole number? It has to do with isotopes. Well then, what are isotopes?
HANDOUT # 54: (Feb 16 ) Periodic Table Puns
Memorizing the period table is a futile exercise. For pretty much every chemistry test taken in the future, students will be given a copy of the periodic table. Believe it or not, students moved their eyes left-to-right across their periodic tables scouring elements for potential answers to these puns. They might not know gold's atomic number, but they likely know what neighborhood it is in.
HANDOUT # 53: (Feb 15) Atomic Structure Fill-in
[Graded assignment due Thursday, Feb 16]
Using their periodic tables, students filled-in missing proton, neutron, electron information on twenty-five elements.
HANDOUT # 52: (Feb 11) Synthetic Elements [Reading Only]
This is the second reading assignment related to the periodic table.
If there are 92 naturally occurring elements, how did we get to 118?
This was written to YOU by Mr. Wright. It will hopefully add to your understanding of all the known ingredients (elements) we get to play with -- even though very few get to play with these.
You will see why, but you gotta read.
Page 2 link to short article on nuclear medicine.
Page 3 link: Check out this video that describes particle accelerators.
Link to Mr. Wright's Periodic Table
PLEASE shade in lightly. Don't get hateful and blast the darkest of violets for noble gases. You need to be able to read through the shading. Ooooff!
These are Mr. Wright's color choices. Obviously you can choose your own. Just make sure your color key matches what was shaded in. For instance, Mr. Wright's transition metals are light blue. If you chose yellow for transition metals, then your key should have that rectangle box shaded in yellow next to transition metals.
HANDOUT # 51: (Feb 4) The Periodic Table
In Mr. Wright's absence, students were to use textbooks and online sites to write 2-3 characteristics for each of the eight element classifications. It might be difficult to find things to write about the post-transition metals or Metalloids, but there are plenty of things to write about the other six classifications.
There are many, many sites that can be used to find characteristics of each of the 8 element classifications. Three are listed below. Use more than just the three sites. A Google search of 'characteristics of non metals' offers many choices to explore non metals.
Live Science: How Are Elements Grouped?
Wikipedia Alkali metals
Wikipedia Alkaline earth metals
Again, these are your notes. On pages 5-6, DON'T WRITE ANYTHING THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE TO YOU. Don't write that non metals have high ionization energy or electronegativity, unless you are willing to investigate what these actually mean.
HANDOUT # 50: (Jan 30-Feb 1) Electron Shells
[Graded assignment due Friday, Feb 1]
The basics of electron shells and max number of electrons that each shell can hold. You. simply have to understand this. Got it?
HANDOUT # 49: (Jan 30-Feb 1) Element Rectangle
[Graded assignment due Friday, Feb 1]
Three-page review of information found within an element's rectangle (atomic #, element symbol, element name and atomic mass).
Students were also asked to calculate the number of neutrons for eight elements.
HANDOUT # 48: (Feb 1-3) Chemistry Intro
Intro to chemistry as the study of matter.
Matter is defined as anything that has mass and takes up space (has volume). So matter is anything that has density. Remember density?? Ugh. Density = mass/volume. Atoms are the building blocks of all matter. Because of this, the basics of atomic structure was re-introduced.
From this handout, we will build greatly from their 6th grade understanding of chemistry.
HANDOUT # 47: (Thursday, Jan 30 - Feb 3) Waves Unit Study Outline
We have talked in class about one of our unit tests having a study outline (two pages) vs. a study guide (10-12 pages). This is the two page version. Why the brevity of an outline? This is much more in line with what you'll see in high school and beyond.
Check out the many review videos in the Waves Support Videos tab.
Read through this Class Handouts tab for the electronic versions of handouts if you can't find your paper copies.
HANDOUT # 46: (Wednesday, Jan 29) Eye Color
This is an interesting article on eye color. There are many links within such as why we think blue eyes first appeared 6,000 - 10,000 years ago in human evolution and why many babies are born with very blue eyes . . . only to slowly change color in their first year.
At the bottom of Page 2 the percentages are listed for eye color in the US. Let's see if eye color on our team is close to the US averages.
HANDOUT # 45: (Wednesday, Jan 29) Emission Lines
Our classroom lights have bright lines (emission lines) running through the ROYGBIV rectangle inside your handcrafted spectroscopes. Here's the cool part. Someone actually figured out why those emission lines, those finger prints, appear in the first place.
Each atom has its own individual collection of emission lines. It is an atom's signature -- its colored fingerprint. The lines you saw represented the signature of element #80, mercury. Point your spectroscope at a street light (at night, duh!) and you will see the signature of element #11, sodium. Yes, your 50 cents worth of plumbing parts, some dark blue card stock paper and clear diffraction gradient sheets allowed you to further read into light and the messages sent within their waves.
HANDOUT # 44: (Tuesday, Jan 27) Rainbows & Rainbow Formation
PowerPoint slides handout of classroom presentation. See Waves Review Video #23 - 25 for the recorded version. There is a LOT going on here. That's why there are three review videos. Ooof.
HANDOUT # 43: (Monday, Jan 27) Refraction & Lenses
Notes outline for textbook reading pages 649-655. This material is new and can be quite confusing. It's OK to struggle with this and any new material. Tomorrow will be easier. Mr. Wright will present refraction, rainbows and unicorns in a more suitable light (pun).
HANDOUT # 42: (Friday, Jan 24) Noise Cancelling Headphones
This two-page handout (yea!) sums up the videos shown in class. Waves join together to create more powerful ones. Waves also come together and cancel out each other. So, how do Bose noise cancelling headphones work?
HANDOUT # 42: (Thursday, Jan 23) The Doppler Effect
See Waves Review Video #19.
HANDOUT # 41: (Tues - Wed, Jan 21-22) Sound PowerPoint Notes
Slides to reinforce Handout #40 . . . Your reading & note-taking for Handout #40.
HANDOUT # 40: (Tues - Wed, Jan 21-22) Sound & Its Interaction With Matter
Links within handout:
Page 1:
Page 2:
Check out this video. This one, too. How do we hear?
Page 3:
Brainpop video: String Instruments
PBS ZOOM: Pitch: Making Guitars
PBS ZOOM: Experimenting with a Glass Xylophone
PBS ZOOM: Pitch, An Instrument from a Drinking Straw
Page 4:
Outrageous Acts of Science (1:52)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6oqPB07X3o
Wine Glass Shattered (0:42)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17tqXgvCN0E
Neil deGrasse Tyson, Star Talk (2:09)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p26ltGlPtg
Brit Lab: Breaking Glass With Sound (3:58)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zopGLYB_MNw
Page 5:
The Doppler Effect: What Does Motion do to a Wave
HANDOUT # 39: (Wednesday - Friday, Jan 15-17) Light Bulb Observations Lab
You've (hopefully) come to accept light waves as messengers. Using your hand made spectroscopes, you will read/interpret messages from different light bulbs.
The red heat lamp bulb at Station 1 send messages (waves) that have more of the longer wave colors (reds/oranges) and little, if any of the blue/violet. These bulbs are designed to generate a lot of infrared waves (thermal energy) that our spectroscopes cannot detect. Those infrared waves are too long to be seen, but you can feel their presence by the thermal energy they carry.
The black light at Station 6 showed only faint signs of ROYGBI, but a whole lot of violet. It’s like it was ramping up when it came to violet. Why was that? These bulbs are engineered to emit mostly ultraviolet waves. What is just beyond violet in the EMR spectrum? Ultraviolet. Now do you understand why we didn’t want you looking at this bulb for more than 10 seconds or so? Staring too long at UV waves is not good for your eyes.
HANDOUT # 38: (Monday, Jan 13) Spectroscope Build
This is a two-page handout with step-by-step instructions for students to build their own spectroscope. They have (hopefully) come to accept light waves as messengers. These crude instruments will allow them to read/interpret messages from different light sources. They will be used in our next lab when we'll analyze different light bulbs to see what messges they are sending.
Our classroom lights send a different message (element #80, mercury) vs. Maplewood's street lights (element #11, sodium).
And yes, they can take them home. PLEASE take them home in two weeks. Show the older people at home!
HANDOUT # 37: (Friday, Jan 10) Blue Oceans
PowerPoint slides. See Waves Support video #13 for the recorded version of what was taught in class.
Water is transparent, yet our oceans appear blue. There is scattering, but the key word here is NOT scattering. It is absorption.
Our ocean's appear blue because most of the longer wavelengths of light (Reds & Oranges) get absorbed in the first 10-20 meters of water. So, the lop layer of our oceans experience a conversion of radiant to thermal energy. The greens and blues travel much deeper.
See Waves Support Video #14
HANDOUT # 36: (Thursday, Jan 9) Blue Skies
PowerPoint slides. See Waves Support video #13 for the recorded version of what was taught in class.
So the sky is blue because the shorter wavelengths of light (BIV) scatter up to ten times more the longest wavelengths of visible light (reds). But in order to see blue, those wavelengths somehow have to enter our eyes.
HANDOUT # 35: (Wednesday, Jan 8) Sunrises & Sunsets
PowerPoint slides. See Waves Support video #12 for the recorded version of what was taught in class.
Yes, our atmosphere is a scatter zone. Shorter wavelengths scatter much more than longer wavelengths. But why at sunrise or sunset, can we see the sun as a deep yellow, orange or even red?
See Waves Support Video #12
HANDOUT # 34: (Wednesday, Jan 8) Yellow Sun
PowerPoint slides. See Waves Support Videos #10 & 11 for the recorded version of what was taught in class.
Hello to Rayleigh's Scattering. ROYGBIV travels together as one tangled unit until they run into something. That something would be air molecules high in our atmosphere. The shorter wavelengths (BIV) scatter up to 10x more than the longer wavelengths (ROY). Those wavelengths that don't scatter and reach our eyes.
HANDOUT # 33: (Tuesday, Jan 7) RGB Shapes (Canvas Assignment)
[Graded assignment due Jan 8]
Students used hex codes for the custom shading of three objects appearing on a Google Slides template. What colors? Students chose them, but filled those shapes in with the really interesting or weird colors they found on that Interweb-thing.
They were to include the RGB numbers in the three slides because these three numbers give us an idea which of our cones are firing and with what intensity.
The recorded instructions can be found in Waves Support Videos. It is Review Video #9.
HANDOUT # 32: (Monday, Jan 6) Human Eyesight
[Graded assignment due Tuesday, Jan 7]
The human eye has evolved to detect electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths from about 400-700 nm. What type of EMR does the sun emit the most of? What have our eyes evolved to see? Was this a coincidence? Did the human race, and all animals on this planet just get lucky? Hmmm. Not likely. So, what happens to light as it enters our eyes?
Page 1 LINK PHET Blackbody Spectrum
Page 1 LINK ThoughtCo: Wavelength & Color
Page 2 LINK PhET Color Vision Interactive. Select the RGB Bulb page.
Page 4 LINK Wavelength Color Calculator
Link to an EXTRAORDINARY VIDEO from the American Museum of Natural History. This video does a great job of explaining what happens after light enters our eyes and how it gets processed in our brains. OK, the first part with the beach ball looks like it could have been created at MMS, but the last 3 minutes and 43 seconds is brilliance meeting beauty.
HANDOUT # 31: (Friday, Jan 3) Color, Why is Green Grass Green?
[Graded assignment due Monday, Jan 6]
Objects have no color unless visible light waves run into them. So, why is grass green?
HANDOUT # 30: (Thursday, Jan 2-3) PowerPoint Slides: EMR
This is a copy of the PowerPoint presentation on the electromagnetic spectrum.
This was a two-day presentation. The recorded version was divided into 4 review videos (WAVES: Support Videos 4 - 7).
HANDOUT # 29: (Thursday, Jan 3) Wavelength & Color
[Graded assignment due Friday, Jan 4]
Two-page handout where students were led to an interactive to chose a wavelength of light (in nanometers) to match white light's seven component colors, ROYGBIV. . Students were also introduced to units of measurement from kilometers to micrometers, to picometers.
HANDOUT # 28: (Dec 17-19) Slinky Lab
[Graded assignment due Dec 21]
8th graders and Slinkys. What could go wrong?
Eight-page investigation where students established the effect energy has on a wave's wavelength. Working in groups of three, students used a Slinky to estimate wavelengths at lower and higher energies (each floor tile = 20 cm). Students saw that higher energies produced shorter wavelengths. From this and the using their own data (numbers), students established that energy and wavelength are inversely-related.
The immediate application of this new understanding could be shown Page 8. Higher energy colors (blue, indigo, violet) have shorter wavelengths and therefore greater energies. Lower energy colors(reds, oranges, yellows) have longer wavelengths and lower energies.
This energy/wavelength relationship is foundational to understanding why our skies and oceans appear blue, rainbow formation, the physics of climate change (incoming vs. outgoing energy), astronomy and why NASA's recently launched telescope (James Webb Telescope or JWT) gathers only a portion of visible light waves and concentrates its wave-gathering abilities on waves we can't see (infrared).
(Dec 16-17) ) PowerPoint Slides (Goes With #27)
This is a copy of the slides shown in class to support Handout #27. The slides given to students had some filling in to do.
See Waves Support Videos #1 & 2 for a recorded version of what was presented in class.
HANDOUT # 27: (Dec 12-13) Waves Introduction
Seven-page intro into waves where students organized new information from text reading.
On Page 7, students were also asked to choose five questions from a list of forty that they'd like to be able to answer by the end of the unit.
HANDOUT # 26: (Dec 5-10) Energy Unit Study Guide
The unit test is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 11. Get after this. Focus on areas where you need the most work.
HANDOUT # 25: (Dec 3-4) Heat, A Transfer of Thermal Energy [Graded assignment due Dec 5]
This handout takes a closer look at thermal energy, most importantly that this energy moves from warmer-to-cooler objects.
Students also learned that there are three ways in which thermal energy gets transferred
(a) conduction,
(b) convection, and
(c) radiation.
This four-page assignment is to be completed and returned at the beginning of class to Mr. Wright on Thursday, Dec 5.
See Energy Support Videos 22 & 23 for the recorded version of the presentation shown in class.
HANDOUT # 23: (Nov 21-22) Energy Illustration Project [Graded assignment due Nov 27]
This handout details what is expected for this 50-point project. In-class time will be carved out in the coming weeks to work on it. So, this is our starting point. The due date has yet to be set, but will be sometime before the holiday break. Students will be given time to think through how they want to design/illustrate their project on a piece of normal legal paper. Their final version will be completed on the ‘expensive’ legal paper (32 weight) and laminated for all the world to see.
A foundational concept in the physical sciences is “The Conservation of . . .” This applies specifically to energy and matter. Energy is not created, nor is it destroyed. It simply changes forms. All the energy needed for the rest of your life already exists. We don’t create matter – chemical reactions realign the organization of matter – the way that atoms bond into molecules. Atoms (matter) are not created nor destroyed in the process.
A PowerPoint presentation of what an Energy Illustration project might look like has been shown in class. As with all PowerPoint presentations, this was recorded for student review and stored in our Google site, MaplewoodScience.
In the end, we'd like students to gain real mastery when it comes to the forms of energy and how energies get converted into different forms. The law of conservation of energy reminds us that energy is not created nor destroyed, it simply changes forms.
See Energy Support Videos #18 - 20 for a recorded version of what was shown in class.
Hoodwinked Dynamite - Chemical energy to Thermal + Radiant + Sound
Hoodwinked Caffeine - Chemical energy to Sound
Slo Mo Guys Mousetraps - Elastic Potential Energy (EPE) to Sound + Kinetic (KE) + GPE
Slo Mo Guys Mousetraps on Trampoline - EPE to Sound + Kinetic + GPE
How Ridiculous Arrow Through Giant Balloons - EPE to Kinetic + Sound (Start at 15:20)
How Ridiculous Rubber Band Ball & Ax - GPE converted into KE + Thermal
Start 11:30 to see something very hard to measure --> KE into thermal energy as the rubber band ball slammed into that giant ax. The ball left a rubber smudge mark on the ax. That meant that increased thermal energy actually melted the rubber for a fraction of a second before the ball spiraled into its unwinding ways.
HANDOUT # 22: How Does Your State Generate Electricity? [Graded assignment due Nov 19]
This was a two-day student investigation into what sources are used by the US and all fifty states to generate electricity. This interactive assignment led student investigation into what sources are being used (and have been used) by the US and all fifty states to generate electricity. Students used a NYT interactive that presented data from 2001 - 2023 to determine what energy sources are being used and recognize and explain any significant changes/trends since 2001.
See Energy Support Videos 16-17 for the recorded version of the presentation shown in class.
HANDOUT # 21: Electricity Transmission
So, why do we generate alternating current (AC) when our cell phones, TVs and computers use DC? The answer has to do with which form we can transport.
Energy Support Video # 13 is a (shortened) version of what was shown in class.
HANDOUT # 20 (Nov 1-4): Electricity Generation Basics
This two-page handout illustrates how energy has been, and continues to be generated. Yes, it involves boiling water and figuring out the best way to do so. Slides from the PowerPoint presentation were given to students.
See Energy Support Videos for the recorded version of the presentation shown in class.
HANDOUT # 19 (Oct 30-31): Fossil Fuels
Introduction to three fossil fuel types (coal, oil & natural gas) and the importance of following the carbon atom as these fuels are burned. This was a two-day presentation.
See Energy Support Videos 9 - 11 for the recorded version of the presentation shown in class.
(Oct 30-31): PowerPoint Presentation - Types of Energy
This was a two-day PowerPoint presentation and discussion on types of energy. During these two days, students should have added greatly to their Handout #17.
Recordings of the presentation can be found in our Energy Review Video Section of our class Google site, MaplewoodScience.
Video #1 -- Energy Intro
Video #2 -- Thermal
Video #3 -- Chemical
Video #4 -- Electrical
Video #5 -- Radiant
Video #6 -- Sound
Video #7 -- Nuclear
HANDOUT # 18 (Oct 29): Mechanical Energy [Text Reading to complete #17]
This 4-page handout reacquaints students with the concepts of potential (stored) energy vs. kinetic (motion) energy. Students will need this to complete pages 5-6 of Handout #17.
HANDOUT # 17 (Oct 28 - Nov 8): Energy Introduction [Graded assignment due Nov 8]
DAY 1 OF OUR ENERGY UNIT
This is a 6-page organizer (blue sheets) for students to write newfound information on energy and its six primary forms. Students are encouraged to write notes in their own words.
Students were told to bring this handout to class for at least two weeks as much will be added to it.
HANDOUT # 16 (Oct 17-21): Physics Unit Study Guide
The Physics Unit Thing (quiz, test . . . whatever) is scheduled for Tuesday, October 22nd.
We've talked about how detailed this study guide is. It is a sequential, step-by-step study guide for all physics content taught these past five weeks. It is much more than the study outlines you will get in high school. Work through all pages. Figure out what content you are comfortable with and areas you need to concentrate on. Your teacher will obviously help or at least point you in the right direction.
The Forces & Motion Support Video Section is also a valuable tool in your preparation.
HANDOUT # 15 (Oct 15-16): PowerPoint Presentation - Gravity:
The PowerPoint notes printout was a copy of the slides presented in class as a follow-up to their reading. See Review videos #16 & 17 for reinforcement of the law of inverse squares.
HANDOUT # 14 (Oct 14): Gravity Organizer
The gravity organizer is two-page handout for students to organize notes taken from text and online reading.
Online text reading --> CK-12
HANDOUT # 13 (Oct 11): PowerPoint Presentation - Momentum: Fill-in numbers as we move through this!
PowerPoint notes handout for student note taking during the presentation. The presentation reviews new material that came Handout #12, a Canvas assignment.
A recording of the presentation can be found in our Forces & Motion Support Video #6 . It's what we did shown in class.
HANDOUT # 12 (Oct 9-10): Momentum Organizer (of sorts)
You do not have to use the paper copy handed out in class (Thanks, Penny). You can write notes in your notebook or on a separate sheet of paper.
So, this is not a handout. Your #12 will be the notes you take from the following reading:
Through the CK-12 website, students are introduced to momentum and conservation of momentum through their text reading, simulations and activities found within the site. You are encouraged to take notes because there will not be a typical handout from their teacher introducing/explaining this topic.
Start with the Text Reading section and move through the site to simulations and activities. Students do not have to suffer the outrage of the momentum song unless it is the sort of thing that stirs their curiosity.
The Physics Classroom - What is Momentum? (scroll down to find the 6:57 video)
Collisions by Let's Talk Science
Video link: Elastic collisions
Video link: Elastic collisions vs. Inelastic collisions.
Video link: Elastic collisions with bowling balls
HANDOUT # 11 (Oct 8-9): PowerPoint Handout: Acceleration
DISCOVERY CHANNEL SKYDIVER: Students will watch a 3-minute Discovery Channel video that detailed a skydiver's descent from 10,000 feet to the ground and the forces acting upon her, the periods of acceleration, deceleration and constant speed (terminal velocity). A PowerPoint presentation breaks down the many important Students are given a copy of the notes version. This is a recording of the presentation seen in class.
Link to Discovery Channel video
HANDOUT # 10 (Oct 7): Contact Forces & Non-contact Forces [Read & Take Notes]
Handout #10 introduced students to contact forces: applied force, normal force, friction & air resistance, and three non-contact forces: gravity, magnetism and the electrostatic force.
Introductory video → Red Bull Stratos World Record Free Fall (2012) was shown to remind students (with dramatic effect) of the presence of air, and in this case, the force air resistance as it applies on falling objects. They were introduced to the concept of air resistance (drag) and terminal velocity, because falling objects actually have a speed limit due to the resistance of the air through which they fall. This is relatable to many students, especially those that have pulled off both the perfect dive and a belly-buster. To increase speed, a skydiver could position their fall in the shape of that perfect dive – while the belly-buster position would reduce speed due to increased air resistance.
a. Short Red Bull video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHtvDA0W34I
b. Longer Red Bull video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYw4meRWGd4
c. 1960 Col. Joe Kittinger's free fall from 100,000 feet. https://youtu.be/sbVQ33ujzFw
d. NASA's Space Place helps visualize Jupiter’s effect on our Sun. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/barycenter/en/
e. Gravity Compilation: Crash Course Kid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwY6p-r_hyU
f. Coin Funnel Thingy: Visualaizing large objects pressing down on the trampiline mat known as space-time. Massive objects (our sun) press down much more than less massive objects (planets). So, the eight planets travel around in different lanes within that bowl. The closer a planet is to our sun, the faster it needs to travel.
f. Coin Funnel Thingy: Visualaizing large objects pressing down on the trampiline mat known as space-time. Massive objects (our sun) press down much more than less massive objects (planets). So, the eight planets travel around in different lanes within that bowl. The closer a planet is to our sun, the faster it needs to travel.
HANDOUT # 9 (Oct 1-2): Physics Check-up [Reading]
This is a two-page handout for students to show an understanding of Newton's three laws of motion by writing their own examples of each law, They are also asked to explain inertia, velocity and acceleration. This is not a graded assignment -- just a check-up before our physics content gets more complicated.
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HANDOUT # 8 (Sep 30-Oct 1): Lab Investigation: Newton's Three Laws of Motion [Graded assignment due October 1]
Students completed a two-day exploration of Newton’s three laws of motion via Handout #8 by moving in groups through seven hands-on stations set-up around the room.
Each station had students objects that would be set in motion. Having set those objects in motion, students would explain which one of Newton's three laws best described the object(s) in motion at a given station.
One last thing . . . Whisky Tango? HOW DID OUR STOMP ROCKET GO MISSING???
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HANDOUT # 7 (Sep 25-27): Newton's Laws of Motion Intro [Reading]
Critical handout for student mastery of physics as students are introduced to the definitions of force, inertia, velocity as a vector (speed + direction) and acceleration as a change in an object's velocity. It is vital that students understand these concepts before reviewing Newton's Three Laws of Motion. Students were asked to complete a graphic organizer of sorts on pages 5-8 of the handout.
1st Law of Motion: Video Link --> NASA should have caught this mistake by now!!!
2nd Law of Motion: Video link
3rd Law of Motion: Video link
The Secret Side of Sir Isaac Newton
Spanish version of handout.
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HANDOUT # 6 (Sep 24): Physics Intro [Reading]
Day 1 of Physics Unit
Students are asked to predict (on their own, not a group decision) the order in which three objects would hit the ground. The three were a 3,000-gram SpongeBob bowling ball, a 146-g lacrosse ball and a 3-g Ping Pong ball.
Handout #6 introduces students to physics as the study of how forces and energy interact with matter.
Each year we kick off the physics unit by watching the following videos: Conservation of Energy & Falling Objects
Spanish version of handout.
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HANDOUT # 5 (Sep 17-20): Feeling Pressured? [Graded assignment due September 24]
Students examined, illustrated and explained the contributing factors in the sudden and somewhat violent crushing of their soda can by air pressure. They didn't crush the cans. They allowed them to be crushed. Drum sticks were used in class to annoy Mr. Wright and/or simulate the changing pressures inside the can that eventually lead to its demise. We even recorded their drum sessions. See the Student Video section.
See the support videos 7 & 8 in the AIR, AIR PRESSURE & TEMPERATURE section. They should help answer any and all questions in the handout.
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HANDOUT # 4 (Sep 12-13): PowerPoint Notes Presentation: Thermal Expansion
Each student was given a paper copy of the slides shown in the PowerPoint presentation which (hopefully) reinforced student understanding of thermal expansion and the many ways we engineer for it (sidewalks, bridges need room to grow/shrink). This followed a day where each student experienced thermal expansion with the brass ball/hoop apparatus. Each student placed the brass ball on the open flame at Mr. Wright's lab table. This allowed for a rapid temperature increase and subsequent thermal expansion. After about 30 seconds in the flame, students tried to pass the ball back through its hoop.
Though its expansion cannot be detected with the human eye, students quickly recognized that the ball has indeed expanded because it was too large to pass back through its hoop. Students then plunged the hot brass ball into a beaker of water, which rapidly slowed down (cool down) the movement/vibrations of its particles thereby reducing the size. Following its plunge, the ball again fit easily through the hoop.
HANDOUT # 3 (Sep 9-10 ): Temperature Observations Lab [Graded assignment due Sep 12 ]
Students observed the different mixing rates of food coloring dropped in cold water vs. hot water. Each came to understand that temperature measures the average kinetic energy of the particles within a substance. Put another way, temperature measures how fast a substance’s particles are moving/vibrating. The higher an object’s temperature, the faster its particles are moving/vibrating. The concept of temperature is foundational to the physical sciences and plays a key role in student mastery of density, especially changing densities (warm air rises because it is less dense than its surrounding air). It is also helpful in explaining thermal expansion and the transfer of thermal energy (heat) among other concepts.
HANDOUT # 2 (Sep 16) - Air Pressure [Reading]
Yes, this handout is out of order.
Here on earth, air pushes into all things. So, it applies a force on objects. The force applied by air is called air pressure. Those students brave enough to sit in a trash bag and have the inside air vacuumed out can tell you how much air is slamming into us. For those that chose not to . . . the Shop Vac is still in our classroom!
Air pressure exerts (puts) a force of 14.7 pounds per square inch at sea level. If you think about your body’s total surface area (all those square inches), it’s obvious that there is an incredibly large amount of air pushing against you.
HANDOUT # 1 (Sep 7) - The Mass of Air [Reading]
We started the year by asking you to calculate the mass of the air in our classroom. Most students wrestled with the idea of trying to find the mass of something that can’t be felt. You can’t just put a box of air on a scale and write down its weight.
Air is made up of atoms/molecules just like you are. So, if you have mass, then air has mass.
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