Sunday, October 14, 2007

Science Unit 3

Motion, Transportation, Electricity, Optics, Nuclear Physics, Waves, Communication

Find domestic and international publications posted on the Internet.

Consider a series of examples of newspaper and magazine articles that deal with a physics concept. The examples should be current and deal with several physics topics. As a homework assignment, obtain a current newspaper or magazine article.

Focus on the physics concepts dealt with in the article. Discuss each presentation summary and place them into one of three categories – perhaps “Career Based”, “Motion Based”, or “Interesting Physics for Next Year”

Examine the impact motion has on daily life - from walking and driving, to blood flow and nerve impulses. Construct your understanding of motion through examples of distance and time questions.

What is distance?

· What makes one location further away than another?

· What does it mean to travel from here to there in less time each trip?

· How would you compare travelling to the same location on two separate trips, one trip taking half the time of the other?

· A starter’s pistol fired 100 m away shows smoke first, then a sound is heard. Why?

· Describe the terms distance, speed, and time.

· How could you measure the speed of a river?


Using stopwatches and tape measures determine how far they travel in a given amount of time. Then determine how long it would take to travel a different distance. The distance values that require speculative work cover simple extensions (e.g., 10 m) to more complex values (e.g., 1.0 km or 18.3 m). Develop a sense of the relationship between distance, time, and speed as well as error and approximation.

Here are 2 games to introduce physics:

Game 1


Game 2


Game 3

a) A student walks three steps in 1 s. How fast is the student travelling?

b) The student travels six steps in 2 s. How far does the student travel in the first second? How far does the student travel in the final second? How fast is the student travelling?

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