Physics with Ms. Peterson-7 Assignments

Dear students,

Due to the difficulties in our city, our final project is optional.

Seniors who have already completed missing assignments may choose to do the Final Project as an extra credit to raise their grade if they wish, but it will need to be turned in by Monday, June 8th at noon. The final project will be used to raise grades, not lower them.

For non-seniors, the due date will be June 15th at noon.

This means that students who already have an A or who are satisfied with their grade may, without penalty, choose not to do the final project. (Still, they may want to do the project out of interest, to widen their perspective on the world, or to develop their portfolio of work and knowledge. )

The final project is designed to be interesting, educational, and enjoyable.
Seniors, please choose #1 or #2 so you can do it in the time available.
Others can choose any option below or suggest their own independent topic by email.

Options:

1. Watch science videos of Neil deGrasse Tyson, the world-famous astrophysicist. Write about what you've learned and your thoughts about how it impacts your prior knowledge, and what questions occurred to you. Include references.
2. Write about experiments being done on the ISS, The International Space Station. Include references.
3. Build a camera obscura. Document your design, provide links and references. Photograph, draw, and describe your work. Write about how a camera obscura works.


Additional options will be added for non-seniors in coming days.

Report Length: 1.5 pages. 12 pt font, double spaced, not including photos or references. Properly cite, use quotations, and paraphrase findings, reflecting on them and synthesizing new knowledge with previous understandings. (Originality reports will be run.)

Please use this link
https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/refln
to help you complete the attached worksheet.

You may write your answers on paper and upload a photo of your work, if that is easiest.

We will go through this topic in detail in our live classes.

This is an optional assignment, students may choose to do it either for extra credit or to make up points for a past missing assignment.
(possible 10 pts of extra credit)
You are invite to earn extra credit by writing about light.
Options: (choose one or more)
1- Do you already know about the physics of light? What do you know?
2- What light related topics interest you the most and why? Be detailed with full sentences please.
3- Have you ever done a science experiment about light or played with light? Perhaps you have a small pen laser or small mirrors and have made a kaleidoscope, describe in detail what you have done.
4- Spend time on this website and write about what interested you most: https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulations/category/physics/light-and-radiation

Week 6 Assignment: Bridge Creation

We've been learning recently about the physics of bridges. This week is the end of the bridge physics project when the bridge models can be finished. This can be very fun. Try to set aside time so you can do this with curiosity and joy.

Part 1-Most students are creating a small model of their bridge using materials around the house or easily found.
If you cannot build a model at home, take a look at the two alternative options listed below.

Design and build your bridge. As you go, you may find that you have to redesign, so be ready for that and leave enough time to have fun with it. You might choose to set up on a table and do it with siblings or even your parents might want to get involved. Making an arch bridge is really interesting, as is a suspension bridge, or cantilever bridge. Some students are making a working model of some bridges that raise up. That might be a fun choice. If that's of interest to you, see the link to the movable bridge types.

**Take a photo of your bridge model and upload it to your assignment. (or see Alternative options below)
**Write about your bridge design. Describe the names of the structural elements in the bridge. for example: Are there arches? Why is the arch a good choice? Is it reinforced with truss structures? How do they work together to carry the load? Is your bridge movable? If so, describe the mechanism. What are the special features of your bridge?
Describe the compression and tension for any cables, chains, or ropes.

Materials: You can make the bridge out of materials available to you. Whatever is around the house or easily obtainable. Some students are using sticks, yarn, clay, wire, wood blocks, really anything that works for you.


**Part 2: This week, new terms and concepts will include:
Shear, Torsion, Falsework, Cantilever bridges, and Movable bridges
Please include definition and discussion of these concepts in your assignment. If your bridge model needed falsework to be built, you might write about that. If your bridge is movable, describe the mechanism.


Alternative Option 1- Instead of making an actual model bridge, students may choose to build their skill base by learning how to use the free 3-D design program called SketchUp. In Week 5 our live class featured a short introduction to 3d modeling.
and linked to some intro videos for any students who would like to tackle that challenge. once again, this is just an option.
Alternative Option 2- Some other students may choose to only draw their bridge on paper with a detailed sketch from a variety of viewpoints with full description as detailed above.

During online class, we will discuss each of the bridges featured in the attached photos.
Take notes and then write about each bridge for this short in-class assignment.

Here are some questions to guide you. You don't have to answer all the questions for each bridge, write what you know.
What structural elements do you observe?
What special features does this bridge have?
How is traffic managed?
Where would compression/tension exist in the structure?

This week's assignment is to write a 1 page paper about bridge physics, a fun, new topic.

Here are the main topics- resources are listed below.
-Types of bridges
-The physics of bridges and the structural elements in bridges.
-Famous bridges and information about their structure.

Students asked some questions this week, so here's a little added guidance:
-When you research about the physics of bridges, usually you will first encounter information about the following topics: truss structures, arches, compression and tension forces, suspension bridges, and historical information about bridge innovations. These are all wonderful topics to start learning about the physics of bridge structures.
-Next week, you will design your own bridge. You can copy elements from bridges you learn about this week and describe how they work. If you would like to get started, the instructions will be posted this weekend. This can be a very fun project to do with siblings or even your parents. You can use any materials you have around the house. If you are totally unable to build because of constraints, then we will have alternatives for you to complete the project. more on that later (this isn't assigned till next week)

You may either type in this assignment or take a photo of your work and upload it.

Here are a few resources to get you started:

The truss: https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/49ers-steam/ka-videos-topic/ka-videos-tutorial/v/truss-basics
This khan academy video is required viewing. Notice the expanded use of the force vector notation.

Arch Bridges (2 min video- excellent)
https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/phy03.sci.phys.mfw.bbarch/arch-bridge/

Truss-tension/compression (1 min- great)
https://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/phy03.sci.phys.mfw.bbtrussanim/train-truss-animation/

All about the science of the Golden Gate Bridge:
https://www.goldengate.org/exhibits/high-school-and-college/

This PBS Bridges page has some fun interactives, but they will only work if you have adobe flash. If this page doesn't work for you, just skip it and work on something else. If it does, enjoy and take some notes as you go.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/bridge/index.html?4


Next week, each of you are invited to build a model bridge. You can use whatever materials you have around the house. In one of the bridge building contests, they use spaghetti (uncooked, of course) and a hot glue gun. Other times, it's glue and popsicle sticks or toothpicks. You could also just use anything you have around the house. Start thinking about this as you do your studies in the physics of bridges this week.
this last video shows a bridge building contest and give you ideas. very fun and interesting!
Bridge building contest:
https://youtu.be/SIqtGDYTJSA

What tips would you give your classmates about how to get through this "stay at home" order time? Have you discovered anything that might help others to get through these days?

or

Just for fun: What movies or shows have you been watching or hearing that are good? You are invited to tell us about it if you like.

If times are hard and all you can manage is to say one work like "ok" or "struggling" then please do that. I especially want to hear from students who haven't checked in recently.

If you can let me know how remote learning is going for you, please do.

-How are you? Do you need anything from us at Mather?
-Please tell me what technological barriers still are in your way.
-Please share you suggestions for what you need from me.
-Any questions are welcome etc.

If this space isn't large enough, just put a short answer and submit, then email me the rest.

Be well everyone.

Dear students,
here is today's video and assignment, due Friday (though, as you know, all late work is welcome and accepted.)
Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sjomrEVpMK7hG9A9N7zKhlmf0PrOgVuV/view

Here is the website I showed you in the video:
https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/save-electricity-and-fuel/appliances-and-electronics/estimating-appliance-and-home

Here's the template for your energy audit. Save a copy of your own to make your list or just type your list (or take a photo of your list) of electrical items in your home and approx wattages. Upload that list as your assignment here.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nY556rk3_89MwUdrWL4E_sbxmGwIYCOnqKndJsECibI/edit?usp=sharing

Dear Students,

Please visit this website (linked below) and enjoy the rollercoaster simulation.

When you go to the site, please be careful and read the directions.
(Don't just click on "start" )
There's an image of a rollercoaster and instructions saying that there's a "hotspot" in the top left of the rollercoaster image which will make the simulation/interactive open.

1. Spend time enjoying it.
2. See how the KE and PE fluctuate. Then add "drag". See how drag (friction) takes energy away from the rollercoaster and affects the motion.
3. Experiment with moving the grey circles around to see how changing the layout affects the KE/PE and motion.
4. a If you are able, download the attached pdf and complete it. It's a paired activity with the interactive rollercoaster.
4 b If you can't open the pdf, then alternatively, you can write your own study notes about what you've learned about KE, PE, energy transformations, and rollercoaster physics.


We won't go live today, but I will share a video shortly which goes through the interactive, so check back for Video 2 for this week.

If any of your parents wanted to schedule a parent-teacher conference, I did email them a message inviting them. Please let them know so they can look for it or reach out.

Be well everyone!

Dear Students, I hope you are well.
I shared a video this morning. Please watch it.
In it, I show you a simple home physics experiment you can do with objects you have around the house.

For this assignment, please write about how your little experiment went.
What did you find out? Can you present your data in a chart or graph? If so, go for it!

In our first online live meeting this week (during scheduled class time)
we'll first check in with each other and share how we are doing.

Then I'll take questions and we'll talk about how energy can be held in oscillating systems.
Fun stuff!

Soon to come: how to do an energy audit of your home (to save energy and money on your bills), and more about the energy smart home/city project.

hope you all are well. Feel free to reach out to me/us and do what you can to make today a good day for you and your family.

Best wishes, everyone.
Ms. Peterson-Green

This week, we’ll be focusing on the topic of energy and energy transformation.
This assignment is due Friday.
A video, powerpoint, and additional resources will be posted in the google classroom for our scheduled class time. In the video, I’ll go over all these concepts and will demonstrate how these two forms of energy relate to the sources of energy we use to heat and power our home.

Here are some questions to answer for your assignment of the week. The video that will be shared by Tuesday is meant to be paired with this assignment and will guide you through this assignment.

1. What is Kinetic Energy?
a. What makes an object have more or less kinetic energy?
b. How can you calculate the kinetic energy of an object?

2. What is Gravitational Potential Energy?
a. What makes an object have more or less gravitational potential energy?
b. How can you calculate the gravitational potential energy of an object?

3. How can we use these to concepts to analyze rollercoaster physics and predict the motion of a rollercoaster?

4. What kind of charts and graphs can we use to keep track of energy transformations between kinetic and gravitational potential energy for a roller coaster?

For the week of March 22, please choose one or more of the following assignment options and submit in the Weekly assignment through the google classroom. Remember, these assignments will serve to raise your grade(not lower it) and give you new skills and knowledge. All points earned will be extra credit and serve to raise your grade.

1 Research- Research -Choose one (or more) of the following topics. Take notes. Write a report about what you learned.
a. Passive Solar Buildings (where the sun’s energy is used to heat the home)
b. Solar Ovens or Solar Hot Water heaters. (heating water from the sun’s energy)
All of this work will give you knowledge that I genuinely think you will value the rest of your life.

Passive Solar buildings use the energy of the sun to heat them. If done carefully, it works so well that you don’t even need anything else to heat your home, even in warm climates. The key is orienting the building so the light of the sun is captured as heat in the building and insulation on other sides. There’s lots of physics involving the angle of the sun, the materials chosen to reflect or absorb the suns energy, the insulation materials, and more. This is an exciting topic because it lets us know about this wonderful possibility for how we can live without fossil fuels, in harmony with the planet, and be resilient (strong) by having a home that isn’t dependent on the grid (energy delivery of of gas or electricity) and doesn’t have a heating bill to pay. Learn about how the changing angle of the sun throughout the seasons determines the dimensions of the buildings. Find out about some exciting examples of passive solar buildings around the world and in Chicago. Amazing!

Solar water heaters and cookers are really interesting and fascinating topics to explore. It’s so exciting to see how the gentle warmth of the sun can be reflected and concentrated enough to cook food or boil water. There are many d.i.y. projects online that are pretty complicated and use many tools, but there are also very simple solar ovens and cookers you can make with things you have at home. Be sure to follow safety precautions if you choose to experiment. There are so many different designs. Have fun!

Fun additional skill building option:
Learn to build 3-d models using SketchUp. This program is pretty fun! It's from google and it's free. It's a great job skill and you could use it for your energy design project if you like. You can even design objects and sent the file off to be 3-d printed.
https://www.sketchup.com/

Any work you do, please let me know by submitting it through the weekly assignment so I can give you feedback and points for your work.

Ok. Be well and do your best to take care of yourself, your family, and to be good to your community while social distancing.