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week 1: August 21

New assignments this week.

• Observe Clark holding a spinning bike wheel that he lets 'drop', now only suspended by a string. The student should then attempt to draw a diagram illustrating what is happening and what factors might affect how it behaves. Due next Monday.

What you should also be working on. -------

• Reviewing notes from your previous math classes to remind yourself of unit conversions and definitions and units of speed.
• Reviewing the layout of the PHYSICS by GIANCOLI website. Can you find the practice, on-line tests?

Additional resources: (just for fun this week).

• Why Science Major change their mind? Its just so hard.
• DaVinci robotic surgery system.
• BMW factory tour, automated production of the I8. This is a good example of what Clark used to do as a professional "control system engineer". (He worked on teams designing mult-axis robots like the ones handling chassis and door parts).
• NASCAR wreck in 2015. Car went "air borne" due to fluid dynamic forces. (it became a frizbee at 180 mph and flew over two rows of cars before being "caugnt" by the catchfence.

Introduction to Mr. Clark. Main point was that he's been "on both sides of the fence".. the student in the "back of the class" who did no homework and just "skated by" and the "heading to CAL" student (for graduate school). The plan is to:

• first and foremost, to make the class interesting and accessable for everyone.
• to make it enriching for all, but to structure the class such that students who are planning on majoring in the physical sciences, will be successfull in their first year of college (i.e. not be in the 60% which fails their first-year "weeder" courses)
• to gain an appreciation for applied mathematics for modeling systems
• to better understand the patterns and systems that govern "how the universe works".

Class website, policies and grading.. first handouts welcome to class and grading philosophy

Demo: Spinning bike wheel doesn't fall! The demo was designed to get students about how to get our minds around systems that that don't behave as expected. How do we 'visualize' things in motion (meaning, how can we draw a picture or labeled diagram which captures the event and, in this case, things that we could measure that might have an impact on the system).

Text book introduction: PHYSICS by GIANCOLI (not passed out, just "time to review")

RedBull Stratus project and the physics/danger of free-falling from 120,000 feet.

Discussion: How to take notes in class. Note taking is not something to do for the teacher. Taking notes, and more importantly, 'wrestling intellectually' with the ideas through writing, drawing diagrams, rewriting and reorgranizing is 'what studying looks like'. In order to grow those important neural connections which become learned knowledge and skills, students must 'excercise their brain'. And the way to excercise your brain, is the itteritve process of reading, listening, writing, drawing, and then doing it again and again.. (hence the three-step process I described in class).

For next year when OFF Covid restrictions. _____________________

Skateboard physics, goal for the day.

• Form a group of of 4-5 people (three timers, one recorder, one rider per "experiment") and determine how they will collect data to answer the questions.
• Collect data with their pre-determined strategy.
• Using their best efforts, attempt to answer the question.
• All data should be "packaged" into one, final sheet of paper to be submitted to Clark next week

week 2: August 28

Learning Objective Summary:________________

This week simply introduces the concept of uncertainty in measurement and as a measure of precision. Also, the idea of signficant figures is reviewed as having value in problems in which numbers come from measurement using some kind of tool. (note: counting objects is not measuring, there are exactly 5 fingers on my hand, with no possible error, therefor, you may use as many significant figures as you need).

New assignments this week.

• Problems 2, 5, 7, 20, 14, 16, 22 at the back of chapter 1. Due on Thursday (Friday) of this week.
• The "big step lab" (see text at right). 23

Additional resources:

• Review rules of Significant figures.
• examples of calculating percent uncertainty here

Introduction to error and measurement: Discussion: Quantification of error data. Precision, accuracy, error? What do these mean? (data included tennis ball data, a quick measurement of the height of a chair using using one of Clark's shoes).

• Discussion: Error analysis: Precision in measurement and how significant figures reflect the precision of the tool.
• Error is simply difference between what you have and what you want. Its not "how wrong" you are.
• Uncertainty recognizes the degree to which you are estimating values.
• Accuracy and precision are valuable in measurements, calculations and actions. We need to know how to quantify these values, not just give analogies.

Mini-lab: "Big steps" as a way to measure distance. This activity has students first stepping over a one meter distance 'to get a feel for it', and then pacing off ten meters with their 'big step'. The question is, can they estimate their uncertainty in their tool, and use that uncertainty to predict the degree of precision and accuracy of their ten-meter measurment?

Demo problems: % uncertainty.. dimensional analysis.

Introduction to the Tennis Ball lab. This activity has students throwing tennis ball at distant targets. Though the obvious goal is to hit the target (an old chemistry book) the real goal is to generate error data and identify the relationship between error and throw-distance using key terms such as error, precision, accuracy, percent uncertainty, etc.

Additional resources:

• https://exceljet.net/about gives many examples of functions in Excel.

week 3: Sept 03

Monday was a holidy.

Additional resources:

• Virgin Galactic pilot bails out and survives at 60 thousand feet and Mach1.

Mini-lab: Three legged race with a monkey on your back! Just as the title suggests, students worked in teams to compete in a three-legged race while carrying a third student. Cheating was encouraged to deter others from completing the course. All the while, additional team members were "dropping position markers" at three second intervals to record position and time data. Based on this data, students were to use Excel to first create a position vs time graph and then to write simple functions in Excel to generate "delta x" and "velocity" values for each time interval. With this velocity data, students then created a velocity vs time graph and then using "callouts" to describe the story the race.

Key MS Word skills introduced included: Setting up section headings as 'Heading 1 or Heading 2', so that dynamic 'table of contents' could be inserted, using footnotes, text boxes, call outs and importing graphics from Excel into Word.

week 4: Sept 11

New assignments this week.

• Text book chapter 2 Problems. 12, 15, 26, 27, 39, 42, 44.

Monday was a work day (to work on the two previous labs, the Tennis Ball, Error lab and the 3-legged race lab.. creating position and velocity graphs.

Discussion and introduction to the Kinematic equations on page 27. Discussion/review of velocity and position graphs, and the concept of constant accleration. This lecture also lays out the basis for the kinematic equations (list on pg 27) that students should memorize. The basic discussion though, derives the expression delta X = VoT + 1/2 aTsquared.

Demo problem solved in class. The following question is interesting because it requires the student recognize there are actually two, separate "sides" to the problem which need to be dealt with independantly. Each "side" of the problem, is united by some common feature, which allows them to be solved simultaneously. #45. A rock is dropped from a cliff and the sound is heard 3.2 seconds later. How high is the cliff?

Demo problem: A rock falls past a window. From how high up was it released?

Demo problem: A rock is dropped from a bridge and simultaneously, a rock is thrown upwards.. at what height do they meet?

Demo problems from text. 29, 36, 45. Clark solved these with the class.

Mr Clark setting the world record for the long jump last year.

week 5: Sept 18

New assignments this week.

• Mini-lab: Throwing tennis balls in parabolic trajectories..
• lab: car down a ramp

for next year!

Demo problems/discussion: A football player kicks a field goal. How far above the goal posts will it travel?

Super Team Challenge!

lab: car down a ramp. This lab introduces students to the Pasco Smart Cars and the cellphone ap called Sparkvue pro which allows students to connect via Bluetooh to access myriad data points. Students were to set up a ramp (at angle theta) and allow a car to roll down from rest. As the car rolls down and accelerates, student collect velocity data, construct an acceleration graph, use Excel to 'clean up the data' and finaly compare to kinematic equations and vectors.

Discussion: Vectors represent "sets" of values (more than two becomes hard to visualize, but these vectors can be used to construct "fields" and "maps", none the less. One example is the field of control systems and the concept of "controllable" space. Short version: Three domains, (1)... system is IN control, (2) system is "out of control" but is likely to slide back into contrl.. and (3).. systems which are "out of control" and will not recover. video: Pilot passes out (system loses control).. but computer takes over. and regains contro.

Demo problem: A swimmer wishes to swim directly across a river. What angle should he point himself and how long will it take him to cross? Vectors leads us to the answer! (Chpt 3, problem 47 and 48.)

Introduction to parabolic trajectories.. Gravity affects the 'Y" component only!

Mini-lab: Throwing tennis balls in parabolic trajectories..

Demo problem: #44 in text. A rock is dropped past a window. From what height was it dropped?

Video clip: Landing in crosswinds (Jet planes trying to hit runways with cross winds illustrates how the pilots have to compensate.. classic "vector" problems (from angle we can determine wind speed).

Demo problem: Two cars exit a tunnel, one traveling at 45 km/hr and the other at 65 km/hr. A discussion ensued regarding acceleration, and when the cars would pass each other again. (Question 10 from chapter 2)

Test 1: Chapters 1-3.

NOVA documentary: Fabric of the Cosmos. (the first 30 minutes only). This sequence lays out the idea that 'space' itself has properties.. such as the fact that it can be 'stretched'. Students took 'messy notes' on this sequence.

Mr. Clark throwing one of his signature 'perfect' parabolic trajectory passes.

week 7: October 02

New assignments this week.

• Article: On the Rheology of Cats. Students were to read/annotate this article, passed out after this weeks test. Due next Monday.
• Write up: Students were tasked with recreating the sequence of steps Clark went through to solve problem 75.
• Mini-lab: Block on a ramp (see text at right).

Introduction to forces Newtons Laws. Forces are simply 'pushes or pulls' acting on objects. Many people are familiar with Newton's 2nd law; F=ma).. but in practice, there are usually several forces acting on the object simultaneously. Therefore, its the SUM of the forces which dictate the motion (i.e., the acceleration of the system).

Sample problem 75 (chpt 4) . This problem has a watch suspended from a string during takeoff of an airplane. Based on the angle of the string we determine launch speed of the airplane. ( a great problem illustrating how a collection of forces will determine the actual acceleration). As an assignment, students were tasked with writing up this lecture.. walking through the progression of ideas..

The force of friction: Imagine the brakes on your bike. Aluminum rim spinning under a rubber block. The amount of breaking force you experience is a function of how hard you squeeze the brakes (the normal force). The normal force can vary under different circumstances. Recognizing that the force of friction is a function of the normal force, we identify the mu, the coeficient that relates them mathematically.

Mini-lab: Block on a ramp. This lab has students sliding blocks of wood and metal down an aluminum ramp. By measuring the angle at which the blocks slide with a CONSTANT velocity (acceleration = zero), students were able to determine the coefficient of friction between the two, sets of surfaces. The lab write up should include: the stated objective of the lab and a clear progression of ideas.. AND.. at least three separate drawings; (1) the free body diagram identifying the 'true' forces acting on the objects.. (2) a modified free body diagram showing the vector components which the math is based on and (3) a revised free body diagram drawn to scale, showing the relative sizes of the vectors (one cm = 1 Newton of force). (note: the first two drawings can be 'shared' for the two experiments with the students using tables drawn in to identify the force values. The scale drawings though should be drawn separately since the forces and coefficients of friction are so different. The engineering toolbox: the coefficient of friction (including tables

Sarah Reid of Canada makes a practice skeleton run ahead of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics

week 8: October 09

New Assignments this week.

• Chapter 4 Questions , 11, 13, Problems: 12, 13, 15
• Article: The Unbearable Lightness of Neutrinos.

Monday: Fabric of the Cosmos. (2nd 30 minutes Subatomic particles! Notes for ec. ).

Demo problems on Tuesday.

• Block on a ramp with friction. (determine acceleration and time to slide down)
• Two masses suspended over a pulley (the atwood machine) Determine acceleration of system and tension in the string.
• Falling mass dragging a block with friction across a table top. Determine acceleration of system and tension in the string.

Lab: Car being pulled up a ramp.Students attached strings to the Pasco Smart Cars to pull them up a ramp. The other end of the string was attached to a weight, selected to pull the car up at a reasonable acceleration. Based on the weights of the car and the mass used to pull it up, and the angle of the ramp, students predicted and measured the accleration of the system and the tension in the string.

What happens inside Black Holes?

week 9: October 16

New Assignments this week.

chapter 4 problems: 11, 12, 15, 24, 25

Week 10: Oct 23

New Assignments this week.

students took notes on Chapter 5.1 and 5.2 in the Physics Text Book. (kinematics and dynamics of uniform circular motion)

Week 11: Oct 30

New Assignments this week.

• Article: Probing the proton (messy notes, please)
• Video: Infinite Secrets of Archimedes. Students took 'messy notes'.

Article: Probing the proton (messy notes, please) . This article follows up the documtary Particle Fever: and describes how, the deeper we look into the realm of subatomic particle, the more questions we have.

Students spent class time Reviewing Chapter 5 in the Physics Text Book. Circular motion and gravitation.

Week 12: Nov 06

New Assignments this week.

• Chpt. 5 questions: 1, 7, 9, 15 (page 129)
• Chpt. 5 problems: 2, 4, 7 (page 130)

Week 13: Nov. 13

New Assignments this week.

Students read and took notes from the Physics Text Book.

• Chpt, 9.1; Conditions for equilbrium and 9.2: Solving Problems in 'static' situations. Problems 3, 6, 7 and 20 (page 247-249)
• Chpt 9.5 and 9.6 (Read and take notes only)

Week 15: Nov. 27

New assignments this week.

• Class activity: Show impulse is equal to area under the curve (see text at right).. up to four names on a document highlighting any progress the group made for full credit.
• Lab: Conservation of Momentum and Impulse.

Discussion: Momentum and its relation to foce (following chpt 7.1 and 7.2 in Physics Text book)

Lab: Conservation of Momentum and Impulse.

Week 16: Dec 04

TBD. Pending who is able to lead the class.