Caine Physics

Physics Question Of The Day:

Monday, April 6

Instead of moving on to the next topic, today we have another simulation game. Match that graph: https://www.physicsclassroom.com/Concept-Builders/Kinematics/Match-That-Graph/Concept-Builder

Friday, March 27

I’m going to leave you with a series of questions that are less physics and more language and representation. As you know, I am a big proponent of drawing pictures and diagrams that represent what is happening. The participants of a podcast I was listening to were discussing the fact that different cultures have different conventions for how they map time onto spatial representation (often paper).

Take this scenario: “Elijah throws a ball to Kamie and she catches it.” Draw a three panel representation of the action.

Where was Elijah in your picture?
Where was Kamie in your picture?
Did you draw the sequence of time to be right-to-left, left-to-right, top-to-bottom, bottom-to-top? Why?
Which of the orientations would be the least comfortable for you to read? Why?
Can you identify other conventions in your representations that you have never questioned?

Thursday, March 26

Sean Carroll is a Caltech Physics professor who is putting out a series of videos that he is calling “The Biggest Ideas in the Universe.” He has published the first one on his youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRhV1rWIpm_pU19bBm_2RXw . I’d like to know what you think of this and whether you think it would be useful for the class. Please let me know what you think of the first one on Conservation.

Wednesday, March 25

Here’s a new simulation to play with. (https://www.physicsclassroom.com/Physics-Interactives/Static-Electricity/Put-the-Charge-in-the-Goal/Put-the-Charge-in-the-Goal-Interactive) Your task is to figure out a way to make a goal. The button in the upper left corner allows you to go fullscreen.

Tuesday, March 24

Thinking about the game, energy showed Potential Energy, Kinetic Energy and Dissipated Energy. You have dealt with potential and kinetic energy in previous courses. What “real” forms of energy do you think fall under the Dissipated Energy? What do roller coaster designers do to minimize the impact of these other forms of energy in their design?

Monday, March 23

We are going to use this game to examine the concept of energy transfers. (https://assets.jason.org/resource_assets/4851/8673/coaster.html) In the game, you design a roller coaster that will result in the greatest total score based on distance, excitement and precision. I would love it if you would send me your highest score so I can post a leaderboard tomorrow. This game can suck you in and steal time, so be aware of how long you spend doing this. Good luck.

Friday, March 20

Use the same simulation from yesterday. What do you need to do to create a circular orbit when the mass of the sun is 1.5 times the mass of our current sun?

https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/gravity-and-orbits/latest/gravity-and-orbits_en.html

Thursday, March 19

Thinking back to our work on orbital motion, use the PhET simulation phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/gravity-and-orbits/latest/gravity-and-orbits_en.html to explore the impact of changing the masses of the different objects on the resulting orbits.

Wednesday, March 18

How many different forms of energy can you identify in a ten minute walk around your house (inside and out if applicable)? Categorize the forms you identified by your own criteria. Make sure you identify the criteria you have used.