Happy New Year to all!

Now that we are on winter break, I hope everyone is sleeping in, enjoying time with family and friends, and will have a safe and amazing New Year celebration in just a few days!! See everyone next year!!

For today

Period 3-4, 8-9:

Please watch a TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson, related to education. I will be really interested in your opinions on this tomorrow. I will also mention why this is coming up at this time!

The last of the new material for the semester is something called dielectrics, which are insulating materials filling the gaps of capacitors. Please check out this video to see what it is all about, and try the practice problems together - these are not too terrible once you get the hang of them!  If any spare time, can work on other HW sets or other classes. Happy Thursday, will miss you today!

Congratulations to the Class of 2019 Top 50 Finalists in the Global Teacher Prize!

The Top 50 Finalists in the Global Teacher Prize, run by the Varkey Foundation (headquarters in London), were just announced. One of these fabulous teachers, who were selected from tens of thousands of nominations from over 170 countries, will win a $1 million prize in March. These 50 are also now Varkey Teacher Ambassadors, which is a group dedicated to promoting the teaching profession and educational programs and advocacy on a global scale. As a three-year member of the VTA Advisory Board, I will have the distinct pleasure of welcoming the new finalists into this program in Dubai in March. There is no group of educators like this on the planet, and being the 5th year of the program, we have nearly 250 teacher ambassadors.

Here are the 100 VTAs who were in Dubai in March, 2018.

Article about the ETHS Research Center

The Society for Science and the Public, a Washington, DC, non-profit that runs a variety of major STEM programs including the Science Talent Search (the 'Nobel Prize of high school'), has done a piece on the ETHS Research Center. The most important aspect of this is to provide students with opportunities for independent research, but also to share our ideas and resources with the tens of thousands of high schools where these opportunities do not exist. This includes schools in other countries. This is the longer-term goal we have in mind as we begin to get things going with the facility.

Links for class

For periods 3-4, 8-9 check out a short video about how a nuclear power plant works. This is a direct application of E = mc^2 in power production for many parts of the world, including about 20% of U.S. energy production. Keep track of the main components of the power plant, and the general process of converting nuclear energy (mass converting to energy) into electrical energy. In honor of power, check out a second video on the world's most powerful machines - these are engineering marvels!


For period 5, check out a short video on the life cycles of stars. Take notes on the different types of stars and, especially, on how they die. Stars are one of the ultimate examples of what the force of gravity can do on huge scales. Remember, gravity is actually the weakest force for most objects. We need huge amounts of mass to create gravity strong enough to be noticeable. Also note how the elements of the periodic table, and that we are made from, are created within stars!

Fermilab's TARGET Summer Program - Apps open Dec. 17

Fermilab has done its TARGET Summer Program for high school students of color and women for 40 years, and the application process begins Dec. 17. The deadline is February 1, 2019. If you enjoy the weird, modern physics material, this is one of the world's labs dedicated to it on the particle, relativity and quantum sides!

One of the world's largest collaborations on quantum science right here in Illinois!

It was just announced that a partnership has formed between four powerhouse institutions in the world of quantum science: U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Chicago, Argonne National Lab, and Fermilab. With many calling the 21st century the 'quantum century,' over 100 of the top researchers in quantum fields are part of this collaborative group.

For those students who are interested in quantum science and how creative applications of this branch of science will develop over the next couple decades, you could have a chance to be involved with this group when you go to college and beyond. It will be fascinating to see what discoveries this group makes!

Beauty in Nature - "Pinwheel" star system

Check out an article with pictures of the first observed 'pinwheel star system,' which has two massive stars in a binary orbit, with a third star orbiting the binary system. As the stars shed gas, the orbital motions stir the gas up and causes it to circulate at different speed, creating the beautiful scene that was captured by astronomers for the first time.

Just some cosmic, natural artwork, courtesy of Newton's laws of gravity and motion!'

Happy Thanksgiving!

Please know how thankful I am to have the privilege of working with each and every one of my students and colleagues! You all have made an impact on me, and will continue to make a positive impact, in some way, on this world! Don't doubt the effect an individual or small group of people can have on others!

Do you have a proposal for a high speed camera analysis?

We have a wonderful opportunity to take part in the use of a NU professor's lab that has two cameras that can capture video of up to 500,000 frames per second (fps)! Prof. Michelle Driscoll wants to open up her lab as a user facility, where ETHS students can come in at least once per month after school to learn to use the cameras and its software, and get some video of events of interest.

Check out example videos. Keep in mind one can get video through microscopes, as well. LOTS of possibilities, so come up with ideas, and get involved in research so you can take advantage of this amazing technology!

October 30

Periods 3-4, 8-9
As necessary, get a couple partners and go through the last quizzam. Solutions are in the Newton's Laws folder on our school site. Make any corrections and write down any questions that you may have on anything, so we can be sure to fix it up.

Then let's get back into circular motion. Watch and take notes on a video of examples of horizontal and vertical situations. There is a second one on the roller coaster loop the loop. With these, be sure to have our packet and you can try and finish before leaving:
          Chap. 5 #42, 44, 46, 47

Period 5
My apologies for being out today. We are going to start using one of the great human missions that is under development as a theme for much of the physics we will think about the rest of the year - human settlement of space, meaning sending people to the moon and to Mars. To get started, Newton's laws will play the single biggest role in understanding how this will work. Please watch and take good notes on a couple videos:
How rockets work (3rd law is key, action-reaction)
Sending humans to Mars - how will we do it  pick out what you consider to be the big challenges and key ideas to think about for such a mission. The panelists talk about numerous aspects of things to think about for this mission, which is likely the most ambitious project in human history! Incredible complexity to figure out and conquer!

Check out Video on NON-Gauss method

As we look to make things a bit more realistic, such as charged sticks from our past labs that actually have ends, we need to use a different approach than Gauss's law, which we can only use as an approximation for this like a stick. Check out this video (we'll call it NON-Gauss), which outlines what we'll get into tomorrow.

World's heaviest calibrated weight: 1,000,000 pounds (exactly!)

Check out this video, courtesy of Shantelle G., of the world's heaviest calibrated weight...it is exactly 1,000,000.0 pounds. Pretty crazy!!

GoFundMe site for Malawi donations

If you wish to share the GoFundMe link on your social media networks, it is:
https://www.gofundme.com/ethsformalawi

The video is here.

THANKS!!!

For Monday, Sept. 24

Happy Monday, everyone! 

Periods 3-4, 8-9

Reach consensus on answers and thought process for HW sets - we've got plenty of white boards, just need a few volunteers to show us what you did and talk it through.

After that, try the Barrons review set in the Electrostatics folder on Doc V's school web site. Solutions are in there if you scroll down. In the folder is also a file with video links relevant to electrostatics, in case you need to check on anything. Also plenty of worked examples in Chapters 21-23. Anything related to point charges and thin shells with Gauss's law is fair game on Tuesday.

If you want to meet the Dean of Engineering at Penn State, and a former Chem/Phys student, Dr. Justin Schwartz, stop in at 7:45 am Tuesday!! 

Period 5

With your Chromebooks, go to a site with links to ActivPhysics computer simulations. Click on Newton's laws. Under Describing Motion, open up simulation 1.2, Analyzing motion using graphs. Follow along with the instructions, and keep track of things and take notes in your notebook. It will ask you to open up a simulation and run it, and see what a position vs time graph looks like for the motion of a car. Start making the connection between a motion and the corresponding motion graph. As you go along, they will add a graph for velocity vs time, and finally acceleration vs time. You will be using these as a model/example to then try simulation 1.3, Predicting motion from graphs.

In 1.3, again, follow along. It will have you run an initial simulation, which shows nothing but the position vs time graph for some car motion. You will need to predict, based on what you learned and saw in simulation 1.2, what the motion of the car is, as well as what the velocity and acceleration graphs look like. Sketch out what you think the graphs should look like!
Then, open the second simulation of the problem and run it. This will show everything, and you can check to see if you are correct with the motion as well as the graphs! If you are incorrect, draw the graphs and motion that are shown, near your predictions. We can go through these Tuesday to see if we can make corrections in your thinking, if necessary.

Talk these through with a partner if you wish. The goal is to make connection between real motions and how these motion quantities are related to the motions.

If anyone is interested in engineering, please feel free to come in at 7:45 am Tuesday morning to meet a former student, who is Dean of Engineering at Penn State University! Should be interesting!

Astrophysics lecture at NU, Oct 11

If you are a fan of astronomy and astrophysics, go to a free public lecture on October 11 at NU. A very good friend of Doc V's, Vicky Kalogera, is giving a general talk on the past 10 years of research and discoveries made by CIERA personnel. Vicky is a senior scientist on LIGO, which discovered gravitational waves a couple years ago, and will give a stellar talk! Details below:

Event Description

Celebrate TEN YEARS OF ASTRONOMY DISCOVERIES by the faculty, postdocs, and students of CIERA, Northwestern’s astronomy research center. Learn how our understanding of the lives of stars and their influence on the Cosmos has changed over the past ten years. The story will range from how stars live and die, to how we study their remains with light and gravity, in order to untangle the evolution of the galaxy and Universe. The lecture will feature the core stories of how our work in CIERA has helped push those frontiers of understanding. Stay after the lecture for a special “Ask an Astronomer” meet-and-greet with Northwestern astronomers.

Speaker

Professor Vicky Kalogera

Daniel I. Linzer Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy, Northwestern University

Director, Center of Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA)

Event Information

Northwestern University's Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) Presents: THE CIERA 10th ANNUAL PUBLIC LECTURE

-- Free and open to the public.

-- Content tailored to a general audience -- all are welcome!

-- RSVP Requested

-- Campus parking lots are unrestricted in the evenings.

Event date & time

Thursday, October 11, 2018

5:00 PM - 6:30 PM

Location & nearest public transportation

Cahn Auditorium, 600 Emerson Street, Evanston, IL 60208

Cross streets: Chicago Ave. & Sheridan Rd.

Public transit: Purple Line, Davis Station

Tickets

Free, Open to the Public, RSVP Requested: http://www.alumni.northwestern.edu/CIERAten

  

Uses of Research Center - hoping for everyone to get involved in something!

The new research center space is to be available to any student in the school who wants to do independent work in STEM. This includes original research work outside of professional labs and CABS work, but can include many more activities.

One of Doc V's goals is for every one of you to have the opportunity to pursue personal interests and curiosities throughout the year. Check out the above link and just let him know what you want to try, and we'll chat and figure something out! Have fun with all this!  :-)

Seeing how a secant line 'becomes' a tangent line, using a limit

Desmos has a very nice Applet that allows us to play with a curve and its secant and tangent lines. We can play with it to see what needs to be done, using the notion of a limit, to get a secant line to become a tangent line. Tangent lines define the slope of a curve at a specific point on that curve, and is the heart and soul of derivatives (differential calculus)!

If you are not familiar with it, Desmos is one of the good math sites for graphing and manipulating just about any function or dataset you will ever see.

What does good "Critical Thinking" look like?

Any survey of employers, such as CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and others, of characteristics they are looking for from today's students, in the top 3 will be 'critical thinking.' In general, this is being able to take a complex problem or situation and think it through logically and with an open mind, finding and using evidence to support whatever answer or conclusion you come up with for that problem. It is also being able to research the problem using credible, reliable sources of information to do so.

Here is a pretty good guide or rubric to determine whether you are doing a good job with critical thinking, on a 4-point scale:

1. does not contribute to the solution, using opinion instead of independent evidence;
2. answers question but without justification, agree/disagree but without saying why, incomplete sentences/thoughts and punctuation;
3. justify your position, opinion or answer to the problem, say why you agree or disagree, using complete sentences and thoughts;
4. justify your position, opinion or answer using text evidence (from credible, reliable sources) and real-world examples, ask questions of others, use complete sentences and thoughts with correct punctuation and grammar

Having Cellphones and Laptops out during class leads to less learning, lower scores

What is more or less common sense, a new study shows significant drops in learning when students are allowed to have cellphones and laptops out during class. And this happens not only to those students using personal devices, it also affects students who do not have their devices out.

This matches numerous personal anecdotes, and seems to match common sense. Many teens and college students believe they are able to multi-task, and state that personal devices do not affect how effective they are as they split attention, but this study shows pretty conclusively this belief is incorrect.

Now in my classes, I want cellphones and Chromebooks away most of the time. There IS a time and place for devices, depending on the nature of the activity we are doing. Also, do not forget there are studies that show significant decreases in scores and learning comprehension for those students who take notes on a laptop compared to those who write out notes by hand.

Tech is wonderful in so many ways, but we are finding out 'old school' methods should NOT all be thrown out quite yet!

Battle between Calculus and Physics - A ChemPhys Classic

Going back a few years, Noah Korman's "In Newton We Trust" is still asked about. Check it out!


In Newton We Trust from Noah Korman on Vimeo.

"Sonic black holes" simulate the real thing, possible Hawking radiation confirmation

A fascinating attempt of simulating black holes in the laboratory has taken place. Using lasers and Bose-Einstein condensates, there may be some initial confirmation of Hawking radiation in the form of sonic energy. The mathematics of this laboratory system is equivalent to the math used in Einstein's field equations when working on stellar black holes. Any evidence of Hawking radiation, which is a prediction by Stephen Hawking over 40 years ago, could be the first direct evidence of the influence of quantum mechanics on black holes, where particles appear spontaneously at event horizons, with one going into the universe and the other into the black hole - the net effect makes it appear the black hole is evaporating.

Another test of Einstein's GR, and another confirmation

A good example of how science works - as a physicist, Albert Einstein has always been my, and just about all other physicists I know, hero as a scientist, but despite something personal like this, it is a necessary step in science to constantly test predictions, theories and ideas. Another precision test of general relativity, Einstein's masterpiece, has led to more confirmation of the theory. This is how it is supposed to work, even though there have been hundreds of tests of GR, all verifying the theory, but that doesn't mean we suddenly stop testing.

One of our seniors has an experiment on the Space Station!!

Congratulations to senior Sarah Bloom, who now has an experiment she helped design on the International Space Station (ISS)!! As part of a summer program she participated in last summer, an experiment designed to study the behaviors of bees and their vital role in pollination was part of the cargo on a SpaceX supply launch to the ISS this morning.

Sarah is at Cape Canaveral to watch the launch live, and also made and presented a poster prior to the launch! Way to go, Sarah!!

Good motivation for real applications of elastic/spring behaviors: Small organisms

So, it is the right question to ask when we cover something like springs in class: Why should we care? Besides being able to solve some physics problems, what's the point?

A cool application has to do with the size of organisms. Small critters like insects are too small to have muscles the way we do. Instead, they've evolved effectively springs in their legs, which are more linear than muscles, which are multidimensional and, therefore, take up too much space for their body to fit or support. Awesome!

Keep in mind that biomechanical studies are something we can try to do in our research center!

Congratulations Class of 2018!!

This weekend we will see the final event for the Class of 2018, as they walk the stage and get their well-deserved diplomas! I am proud of you, a job well done, and enjoy the summer before starting the net phase of life. Try to make the world just a bit better, follow your interests and passions, and enjoy the ride!!

Maxwell's equations: Summary of EM, EM waves

For a summary of E&M, check out Maxwell's equations in this classic Mechanical Universe video. The key piece to Maxwell connecting all the dots to create a singular theory of electromagnetism was his displacement current, which really explains how a capacitor circuit can work. Check out a video specifically on the 'displacement current.'

Coding Instructions for Robot Activity

Check out the Google Slides Presentation for our robot activity! You will need an App on your phone to code and control the robot, and the links are:

Android - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cc.makeblock.makeblock&hl=en
iPhone - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/makeblock-play-stem-robots/id918804737?mt=8

If possible, please try to do this tonight, and Wednesday we will have a chance to apply these to the actual robots!!

Some examples of the potential of robots in our lives is the TED talk below; go here for examples and thoughts about present-day Artificial Intelligence:

The Green Team has a number of events during Earth Week, April 21-27

Check out the Green Team's schedule for Earth Week, April 21-27! If you can, please participate and have fun with it! Thanks!

Dramatic visual evidence for climate change - glaciers

Check out this TED talk by James Balog, a photographer who spent some three years producing time lapse movies of what some glaciers are doing as temperatures rise...amazing work! On Netflix, you can watch a documentary about how he did this, called Chasing Ice.

Sir Michael Berry to visit with ETHS students and faculty April 10

A rare opportunity exists for ETHS students and faculty next Tuesday, April 10, at Northwestern.  The Physics and Astronomy Department is hosting Sir Michael Berry, a world-renown physicist who dabbles in a wide array of topics, and has made a number of big theoretical and mathematical discoveries in his career (must have done something cool to be knighted!). He is giving public talks every day next week, and you can see the schedule.

Tuesday, the department confirmed that from 4:15 – 5:15 pm, in room F160, any ETHS student or teacher is welcome to meet privately with the professor. Refreshments will be served by NU, and you can have a chance to meet one of the ‘big shots’ of science and ask him anything you might be curious about, including his views on where STEM fields are headed and what the big mysteries are for your generation to tackle! He has received numerous international awards for his work, which is largely in quantum phenomena and optics, and has some 400 publications. Again, this doesn’t happen every day, so please consider going to this if interested.

Room F160 is on the first floor of Technological Institute (main science and engineering building), the huge whitish building on Sheridan Road near the Noyes Street stoplight and just south of the tennis courts. One can park in the lot across the street, or any other lot, after 4 pm without a permit, and there should be some street parking by that time. As you walk toward the U-shaped building, go into the entrance on your right, which goes directly into the F-wing and Physics Department. Just walk straight as you enter and F160 is down that hallway, so should be very easy to get to. Please let Doc V know if you have any questions. Thanks! 

Scholarship opportunity

The Science Department has the $1000 Carol Beatty Scholarship. The application is here. It is for interest and investment in science.

The Society of Women Engineers scholarship is due April 10. Application is here.

Wednesday

Periods 3-4, 8-9:

VERY sorry to miss you again...please hang in there!
Check out an example of this Faraday's law where a second force is present, such as gravity. This is going to be mathematically the same as n old friend, air friction, from last year; this will be a terminal velocity thing. Be sure to get some notes on it.
As a bonus problem, you can try the last problem in the B dA dt Induction packet, page 9 (nicknamed 'the hardest ever').

Then, check out the second version of Faraday's law, and how we can change magnetic flux. This is where the area stays constant (just have a metal hoop sitting there) and we change the magnetic field. This is physically a different process where a moving magnet creates (i.e. induces) an electric field. This is true E&M - so a moving charge turns on a B-field, and a moving magnet (or any type of changing B-field) turns on an E-field. This video is on induced voltage = emf = AdB/dt.

For some initial practice, try the 1978 and 1999 AP problems (p. 5, 7) in the AdB/dt packet in the EM Induction folder. (called A dB dt Induction.pdf)

Tuesday

Periods 3-4, 8-9:

EM induction is all about magnetic flux. Remember Gauss says electric flux = (E-field)(area), so magnetic flux = (B-field)(area) = BA. And one thing we will see with a number of devices is that if there is any change in magnetic flux, then a voltage is turned on if the object is a conductor. This is like when you move a magnet through a solenoid, and voltage turns on. If the magnet is till, the voltage turns off. We'll figure out why this is, but nowadays we call this rule Faraday's law:
     induced voltage = "electromotive force" = emf = d(BA)/dt

So the faster you move a magnet through a wire loop or solenoid, the more voltage is induced. Faraday called this 'electromotive force,' or emf, and many still use this term. There are 2 main ways to change flux:
i) have a constant B-field but move a metal loop (changes the area where the magnetism goes through), BdA/dt
ii) hold a metal loop still (constant area) and change the magnetism, AdB/dt

Please check out the two videos:
One common, and perhaps strange, example of magnetic flux can be seen here.
Description and examples of emf = BdA/dt can be found here.

In the packet you get in class, for flux please try Ch. 27 #11, 13, 14 (p. 5). A packet for emf = BdA/dt is in our EM Induction folder here. See if you and a study group can talk through the 1981 problem on page 5 of the packet.


Period 6:

We are starting static electricity. The biggest example is lightning, which we may see later today with some storms coming in. Check out this video, and take notes, on some ideas as to how lightning works.

Then, search on YouTube 'static electricity.' There will be all sorts of video options. View a few and look for your favorite demos/experiments to try with static electricity. Write down your 2-3 favorites that you'd like to do in class, and be sure to include materials and procedure. We'll check them out tomorrow and plan on doing some, and figure out how it all works!

Tonight, read and take notes on pages 541-548.

Scenarios of Life with Advanced Artificial Intelligence

Check out a wide range of possible scenarios of what life could look like with advanced AI in all facets of our lives.

Sir Michael Berry at NU week of April 9

Check out a series of lectures Sir Michael Berry will be giving at Northwestern the week of April 9. He is one of the leading theoretical physicists of his era, and he dabbles in a wide-range of topics, from fluids to optics to quantum effects in materials.

Check out his lecture series for the week; these are all open to the public and the NU physics department invites ETHS to any of these lectures that seem interesting to you. If there is enough interest it may be possible to get some time for ETHS students and teachers to sit down with Prof. Berry!! Let Doc V know.

Stephen Hawking, RIP

One of the great minds of our time, Prof. Stephen Hawking, passed away on March 14, 2018, at the age of 76. This was some 50 or so years longer than doctors thought he would live when he showed symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as 'Lou Gehrig's disease') as a young man.

He was often called the Albert Einstein of his generation, and worked to extend Einstein's theory of general relativity. He was a world expert in black holes, evolution of the universe, quantum applications to general relativity, and other topics. His ashes will be laid to rest near Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin in Westminster Abbey, in London.

Dubai Theme: Education for the Year 2030...would you:

- share a boardroom with artificial intelligence?

- have a 3-D printed organ replacement?

- support the revival of an extinct species? (Jurassic Park for real)

- be prepared to pay for oxygenated air? (the mixture proportions of the atmosphere are changing)

- download your brain to a computer?

- be able to adapt to fully virtual employment?

- have a chip embedded in your brain, or in your child's brain?

- move to a space colony, such as the moon? (plans for a high-speed Wifi network to be built on the moon for future use)

- enlist for genetic intelligence enhancement?

- special order designer babies? Designer pets?

- have robots babysit, be a nanny?

- want your children to be taught virtually (non-human teachers)?

Other topics included autonomous travel for living 50+ miles from work (10B people by 2050); wearing a wristband that monitors your health, will order specialized medications for drone delivery; supersonic travel; solar energy should become the most common source of energy; wireless charging; all mundane activities done by robots; design and print out numerous objects you need on-demand (avoid stores).

These, and many more, are questions for your generation...

Dubai Conference 2018

It is because of Sunny Varkey and his Foundation that this entire conference and Global Teacher Prize exists in the first place. There is no other conference like it on the planet.

The GESF is held at the Atlantis resort, on the Dubai Palm.

This is most of the teachers in attendance, from some 40 or so countries. We had a desert excursion and sped over the dunes.

Up early to start each day with a quick run.

Good friends on the Advisory Board, who helped put together the 2-day teacher summit. We represent (from left to right, back row first): South Africa, USA, Australia, Malawi, Venezuela, Mexico, USA, and Morocco.

Had a private meeting with the USA contingent about violence in schools.

A highlight - three Parkland students were flown in to surprise the conference. They spoke about the tragedy, from only one month prior, to well over 2000 international delegates, with presidents, royalty, Al Gore, and many more in the front rows. It was an honor for me to be on a public briefing panel with Lewis Mizen (3rd from left) about violence in American schools. Also pictured, Kevin Trejos and Suzanna Barna. We are there to support them in any efforts the #NeverAgain (@NeverAgainMSD) movement (https://www.facebook.com/NeverAgainMSD/) seeks!

The conference ends with the announcement of this year's Global Teacher Prize winner: Andria Zafirakou, of Great Britain (London)!!

Links & Practice sets for March 14-19

Periods 3-4, 8-9
Wednesday, March 14:
First, reach consensus on the homework from Tuesday night, using energy.

Here's the initial video for rolling without slipping.  There is a second one with an example of a frictionless hill, so check them out and take notes on each before trying the practice problems.

Try the AP Probs for 1994, 1997; pages 18-19 in pack.

Thursday, March 15:
Reach consensus on the homework set, any volunteers to work parts in question on the board. 
Work on the lab with the rotations contraption.

Overnight, try 'the cat problem' on page 17 (AP from 1996).


Friday, March 16:
Complete the lab and report, share with vondracekm@eths202.org.

Check out a video on non-constant torque and non-constant angular acceleration. Try the AP Problem from 1999 on page 15 for Monday. Note that at the bottom of the page, add in to also find the angular velocity of the contraption when it goes from its starting position to the horizontal position shown in the diagram. Use energy conservation to find speeds.


Monday, March 19:
As a group, go over the 1999 problem from the weekend.

As a collaborative in class, try the 2002 AP Problem on page 14. Turn in a group solution before you leave.
Tonight, try the torque brain teasers on page 9.

Before leaving, check out a video on rolling AND slipping, take notes. We will see where all this stands tomorrow!! Thank you for your hard work while I am gone!!  :-)

Try to visualize an 11-dimensional universe!

This is, to date, the best attempt I have seen at explaining how to visualize a universe with 11 dimensions, as called for by M-theory!

C-Day Survey

Survey Instruction Information for Staff

• Post this information for your students:
  • Survey is accessed via this link https://tinyurl.com/ethsiys
  • The username is: Proctor15468
  • The password is: Evans15468
  • Students can choose to complete survey in English or Spanish.
• The survey will take approximately 30 minutes to complete. This allotted time is also sufficient for individuals with special accommodations.
• Users must hit “Finish” at the end of the survey in order to have their responses recorded.
• Survey answers cannot be saved. If a user prematurely exits the survey, their answers will be lost. There will be a warning if they try to leave the survey before submitting it.
• The survey should only be administered during the above designated time. Late surveys will not be accepted.

Chromebook Use

1. Students will need their charged Chromebook in order to take the survey.
2. All students have received an email to inform them about the survey and to have their Chromebooks charged.

Looking back closer to the moment of the Big Bang

In senior classes about one week ago, we saw the Ted talk below. This explained the radio telescope that is out in the western Australian desert, which is a 'radio quiet' area - no radio stations, towns, Wifi, cell towers, or anything else within hundreds of miles. This has allowed astronomers to put out radio receivers over hundreds of square miles, aimed at the sky. And being a desert, there is almost no rain or clouds...an ideal place for radio astronomy. Well, this has been giving scientists unprecedented looks at the universe from the radio portion of the spectrum, and now it has shown what the universe looked like as early as humans have ever seen. Dr. Hurley-Walker explains in her talk what these new results are all about. Very cool!

Seniors - Time for some magnetism and B-S!

We've compared Ampere's law to Gauss's law, where it is a way to figure out what magnetic fields are doing for our three shapes. For those shapes the math reduces down to just figuring out the length of the path the magnetic field follows. The obvious question then becomes, what happens for everything else that is not one of the three shapes? Just like in electricity, where we had to move on to the NON-Gauss integrals, now we will need to move to the NON-Ampere situations, such as real wires that do have ends.

The general way to find magnetic fields is called the Biot-Savart rule; for us, it's just B-S.

Check out B-S for single particles that are moving. Then, check out current moving in a straight wire with ends. There is a B-S video for loops of current, as well as multiple wires and finding total B-fields. Note that current densities (uniform and NON-uniform) are used if we need to find B-fields inside wires.

To visualize B-fields for all sorts of situations, there are some wonderful 3-D simulations!

Try Ch. 28 #8 (p. 11).  Use the picture and values in Ch. 28 #72, to find the overall magnetic field at a point 10 cm below the bottom section of the loop, on the line that bisects the top and bottom parts of the loop...find the three magnetic fields from the long wire and the top and bottom sections of the loop and their directions. By Friday, we'll also have an article summary (forms on front desk) of  your choice.

NU Research Opportunities in Physics

A group of Northwestern professors in the Physics Department have begun a web page to help ETHS connect students (particularly juniors) for research. Check out the initial set of opportunities, and if at all interested, please see Doc V right away. There typically is space for only 1-2 students per lab, and we will consider these on a first-come basis to see if it is a good match.

Generally, consider if you will be around for just about the entire summer. This is when the work mostly gets done, and often it is a daily visit to the lab. You would be working primarily with graduate students. There will be a significant learning curve, so you would be expected to put in good amounts of time to get to a point of being productive in the lab - and ultimately you could get a piece of a project and do cutting-edge research, while in high school!

Again, just come and see Doc V as soon as you can!

Society of Women Engineers Scholarship Application

The SWE Scholarship applications are available, with an April 10, 2018, deadline. If you are female and plan on majoring in engineering or computer science, there will be 4-5 scholarships of $1000-$1500 given out. This is for the Chicagoland area.

Email template for Students (under 18) to Send to Political Candidates

Below is text to send to state and federal political candidates, written by students in Evanston, Illinois. The purpose is to NOT let any political candidates of any party forget about the current front page news story about violence in our schools, and more fundamentally the health and safety of our children. While the debate about gun control will continue on, it is not the only piece of this uniquely American problem. What drives some teens to want to commit mass murder?

There are four issues/questions listed, and you can demand candidates to fully disclose their positions to the voting public.

It is easy to send this to the relevant candidates in your district, state. All you need is the campaign or office email address. Use the link below to help you find contact information.

1. Just copy and paste the text into an email or letter. Edit it if you choose, we just want to make it easy for you.
2. Type in the appropriate incumbent's/candidate's name.
3. Type in your name and high school at the top. Then, type in your name at the end; include your address and email address so they know you are a constituent.
4. Send it! To find contact information for elected officials, click here. Send to members of Congress, your state rep or senator, your governor, and their challengers.
5. Share it with friends and family, regardless of where they live!! We need to do this all across the country!
If you want to share a letter for those 18 and older to send, use this template.

This is a numbers game - the more emails and letters and phone calls any candidate office receives, the more likely this issue remains fresh through the primary and general elections. It will force them to address a very difficult political issue with voters.

Copy and paste the text below:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear ___________,

My name is _____, and I am a high school student at _____. I’m reaching out to you today to express my horror about the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, 2018, and to share my frustrations about the inaction of political leaders in America. With hundreds of students and adults killed and wounded since Columbine in 1999, this is not just a matter to address by tweeting your “thoughts and prayers”.

I refuse to live in a world where I am afraid to attend school; the fact that this thought has even crossed my mind is outrageous. Schools are meant to be a safe space, where students grow and learn and become strong adults. Instead, they are becoming an outlet for suffering people who our broken system has failed. How many more kids have to see their friends die? Our leaders’ inaction on this uniquely-American issue is infuriating and completely unacceptable!

When eighteen, I plan on being an active, informed voter. As a soon-to-be participant in politics, I demand that the following points be addressed by you and any other candidate running for office:

• The first issue that comes up after every one of the gun-related mass murders is whether there should be any new or modified gun laws. What is your stance on gun laws? Do you think we should have any new or modified gun laws to help decrease the number of shootings in schools and in society as a whole? If so, what are they?
• What do you think should be done to identify and help children who are struggling with mental health and/or possible violent tendencies?
• Where do you stand on funding for schools to help with student education, health and safety?
• Are there changes in the way we run schools you think should occur to improve education as a whole while reducing stress levels on our children? If so, what are they?

I look forward to your thoughtful response. I and many of my fellow students will be following where you and your opponent stand on these issues, how much importance you place on these issues, and what action you are prepared to take before we ever support or vote for you.

Sincerely,

Name and address (without an address that is in their district or state, there will be no response)

Letter/email template for voters (18 and older) to send to Political Candidates

Below is text to send to state and federal political candidates. The purpose is to NOT let any of them forget about the current front page news story about violence in our schools, and more fundamentally the health and safety of our children. While the debate about gun control will continue on, it is not the only piece of this uniquely American problem. What drives some teens to want to commit mass murder?

There are four issues/questions listed, and you can demand candidates to fully disclose their positions to the voting public.

It is easy to send this to the relevant candidates in your district, state. All you need is the campaign or office email address.

1. Just copy and paste the text into an email or letter. Edit it if you choose, we just want to make it easy for you.
2. Type in the appropriate incumbent's/candidate's name.
3. Type in your name at the end. Include your address and email address so they know you are a constituent.
4. Send it! To find contact information for elected officials, click here. Send to members of Congress, your state rep or senator, your governor, and their challengers.
5. Share it with friends and family, regardless of where they live!! We need to do this all across the country!

If you want to share an email template for students under 18 to send, use this.

This is a numbers game - the more emails and letters and phone calls any candidate office receives, the more likely this issue remains fresh through the primary and general elections. It will force them to address a very difficult political issue with voters.

TAKE ACTION for our children!! Hopefully this only takes 5-10 minutes.

Copy and paste the below text:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear ___________,

I am a constituent of yours, and I am contacting you with my deep concern and, yes, anger, I feel after yet another school shooting and mass murder in Florida, on February 14, 2018, which took the lives of 17 students and staff. Since the Columbine tragedy in 1999, hundreds of students and adults have been killed and wounded in school shootings - I find it outrageous that our political leaders have effectively done nothing to address this uniquely American problem over the past two decades. The days of reciting the same canned script of “my thoughts and prayers to the families…” must end, now.

I am writing to demand that you and all candidates running for political office make your positions clear to the electorate, in writing on your website and campaign literature, on the following issues:

• The top issue that comes up after every one of the gun-related mass murders is whether there should be any new or modified gun laws. What is your stance on gun laws? Do you think we should have any new or modified gun laws to help decrease the number of shootings in schools and society as a whole? If so, what are they?
• What do you think should be done to identify and help children who are having problems with mental health and/or possible violent tendencies?
• Where do you stand on funding for schools to help with student education, health and safety? Are schools properly funded and resourced, or not?
• Are there changes in the way we run schools you think should occur to improve education as a whole while reducing stress levels on our children? If so, what are they?

This is a recurring problem that has to stop. These are our children we are talking about!

I look forward to your thoughtful response, sent to the address below. I and many other voters will be following where you and your opponent stand on these issues, how much importance you place on these issues, and what action you are prepared to take. If I do not get a response from your office, or do not find these specific questions and issues addressed on your web page, I can only assume you have no plans in mind and we would live with the status quo should you be elected. If this is the case, please do not expect my vote.

Sincerely,

Name, address, and email (your letter will not be read if you live outside the candidate’s district or state)

Rotational motion introduction

This is for the 3 Chem/Phys classes. In addition to gravity and the pendulum, there is the transition from linear motion to rotational motion. Rotational motion is like spinning wheels, where every point of a full object spins. This is different from circular motion, which is motion of something we can treat as a point mass moving on a circular path.

For our pendulum lab, for instance, we treat this as circular motion because we are only considering the mass at the end, and ignoring the string. Technically, if we include the string, then we would need to discuss it in terms of rotational quantities.

These rotational quantities are introduced in this video. Check it out, take notes on the new symbols and terms and relationships - the relationships are analogues to what we do for linear motion. See if any of it makes sense with a few practice problems, which can be found in the 3 Chem-Phys page of the website, in the Rotations folder. The files is called Packet - Rotations Intro. Some practice is on page 5. *Note that with rotational equations and values, we are converting into radians for angular measurements. Work together and talk things through.

Try: Ch. 9 #1, 3, 7, 9, 11           Think about the similarities to linear motion problems we have had.

*For any groups that need to collect more data for the lab, go for it. If you need to do the force sensor part, we'll wait for Wednesday when the software is available.

From Kenya!

Using donations from some wonderful Wildkits, as well as uniforms donated by a Canadian soccer team (contacted by my friend and colleague Mark Reid), students at Makonjemare School in rural Kenya (near Kilifi, Kenya) have some new sporting gear, including soccer and volley balls. A sincere thank you to those who helped with this!!! As their teacher, Jacqueline Jumbe-Kehura told me, "Asante sana!" which is "Thank you very much" in Kiswahili.

Methods being used to make AI creative

Getting a computer to be creative, to actually come up with its own, unique "thoughts" that it was not pre-programmed to do, is an enormous challenge for past artificial intelligence machines. But as is the case for most aspects of AI, progress has been made at impressive rates. Check out some of the methods being used for creative AI.

Free Online Physics Course, Textbook

Check out Ck-12, and the free, online physics course and textbook. It has simulations, sample videos, and practice problems for the major topics in physics! There are also study guides for all topics. A wonderful supplement for what we do in class, or something to use if you are interested in topics we don't have time to study. You can also get a free account to access all the resources at CK-12; just use your student email, so you can access things from school.

Link to Infographic for MLA Citations

For any type of research paper, if you are using MLA citation formats, there are some really nice templates for different types of resources. Check them out if you ever forget or aren't quite sure.

For Wednesday

I am terribly sorry for missing again, but let's make the most of it. I'll make it up somehow.

Periods 3-4, 8-9:

Now that all the groups have observations and some data for RC circuits, we want to get a sense of the theory and math behind them. There are two cases for RC circuits in series: connecting a battery and charging the capacitor, and having a charged capacitor and then removing the battery so the capacitor discharges. Check out the following videos on your Chromebooks and take notes...you probably have guessed that, yes, we will all need to be able to do these derivations. Keep in mind that, for whatever reason, this is the same math that we used last year with air friction!

Watch this for CHARGING capacitors.  Watch this for DISCHARGING capacitors.

After watching these, you can complete the lab (theory into reality, last part). After receiving the RC packets, give a try on the two AP problems on the second and third pages (2002, 2003).  If you have spare time, see what you think of the derivative calculator in the previous post....looks pretty cool.


Period 6:

We will start the process for our bridges. First, decide on who you will work with. To maximize your hands-on experience and have a chance to still talk through designs, we will work in pairs. However, you do have the option of working on your own if you wish to try.

Next, you have the period to go through the information passed out yesterday. Use the information for the various forces bridges experience, such as tension, stress, strain, compression, and so on - you will need to be able to define these. Then work on reaching a decision of design. Remember the specifications: the bridge will need to be between 30 cm and 40 cm in length, and span a 30 cm gap. Feel free to look online at designs, there should be lots of information since there are numerous bridge building contests around the country.

Keep in mind you will need to explain to Doc V and the class why you chose the design you ultimately make (think in terms of how forces are distributed in order to make the bridge stronger).

Derivative Calculator website - give it a try, does it help you conceptually seeing the graphs?

A very cool site I just became aware of is called Derivative Calculator. You can type in any function, and it will provide the derivative function and both graphs. Not only that, it will find roots of your function, and also show steps of how it got the derivative. It can find higher order derivatives, as well!

This could be really useful for any of us to gain further conceptual understanding of derivatives, as well as allow us to check ourselves with more complex functions, or simply find the derivative of really complex functions we don't see in classes. Try it out!!

For 2nd period

Thank you for helping out on this senior project!

The first Google form for the experiment is here.

The second form is here.

The final survey is here.