Roshashana Online Assignment

We did not have class again today, but we were required to do an online assignment. The Roshashana online assignment involoved hanging different sizes of weights on springs that are hanging from a wall. It was interesting because we had a ruler we could move around to meausre how far the springs went down after hanging the different sized weights on them. You could also adjust the time. By adjusting the time to 1/4 time, the springs moved down slower. By adjusting the time to 1/16 time, the springs moved down even slower than before.
You can also adjust the friction. When there is no friction, the springs keep bouncing up and down when you hang a weight on them. When there is alot of friction it barely bounces at all. By adjusting the softness of the springs, you can see how different sized springs are affected by the weights. By making the spring really hard (or thick), it is not affected much by even the heaviest weights, and barely even moves when you hang the smallest weight on it.
You can also show the engergy of each of the three springs on a chart. I hung a different sized weight on each of the springs and showed a chart of all three of them. The total energy is higher when you hang a heavier weight on the springs. The lighter the weight, the less the total energy. My favorite part of the Roshashana assignment was seeing how the weights would affect the springs on Earth, the Moon, Jupiter, and Planet x. For example, if you were to hang a weight on a spring on the moon, the spring barely moves even after hanging the most heavy weight on it. This is due to the lack a gravity on the moon. Overall, I enjoyed the Roshashana Online Assignment.

Web Seminar 9/25/08

We did not have physical science class today. Instead we were required to watch a web seminar put on by NSTA. I was not that excited about the web seminar, because I did not know anything about astronomy, but it actually ended up being interesting and very beneficial. I was new to elluminate, but it is actually really cool how you can talk to people from all over the country. Learning how to use elluminate was the most beneficial part of the web seminar, for me, because I needed to learn how to use it for my Basic Skills in Technology (TET200) course. Some of the things I learned from the web seminar included:
-The most common element found in stars is Hydrogen.
-A star is born in the Orion Nebula.
-Stars die by explosion, producing black holes.
-I also got good ideas on how to teach my future students about astronomy!
I really liked Robert; he was very helpful in teaching us how to navigate through elluminate. I also thought it was cool how he could poll the audience and then put all the results together into a chart.
Overall, I enjoyed the astronomy seminar more than I thought I would. I have one more science class to take for my major, and it just might be astronomy!

Class 9/23/08

Today in class, we went over how to use D2l and how to post our web address for our blog on the wiki page. This was probably helpful for those students that are new to D2l. I have had alot of practice with it because I took an online course this summer. We also started to cover our reading guides for the prologue, chapter 1, and chapter 2. This was helpful because we could make sure we had the right answers before we sat down to take the quiz. I just finished the quiz, and I thought I should have done better. Also, I should not have taken the quiz again because I did worse the second time and the scores are averaged out.

"Graphing Your Motion" Part 2

Today we continued with the "Graphing Your Motion" lab. Part B was mostly about velocity vs. time graphs. Again, we placed masking tape on the ground at every meter mark until we reached four meters away from the Vernier Motion Detector. Then, I stood at the one meter mark until my partners pressed the collect button. I then slowly walked backwards toward the four meter mark. The graph peaked and declined. The humps on the graph were big and spread apart. The next test was the same, only faster. The second graph had a different scale, and the humps were vey small and close together. By having this knowledge, I can assume what a graph would look like if I was walking very slow, or if I were running.

"Graphing Your Motion" Lab

On Tuesday, September 16, we preformed a lab that helped us to interpret motion graphs. We used the Vernier Motion Detector to measure position, velocity, and acceleration. We positioned the motion detector on the floor and marked a four meter straight line with masking tape.

My job in the experiment was to stand on the one meter mark and slowly walk backwards to the four meter mark, while my partners controlled the motion detector to monitor my movements. After the data has been recorded, the screen shows two graphs: one documents the positon, and the other documents velocity. As I walked slowly backwards to the four meter mark, the position graph lines went from the bottom to the top of the graph. The postion graph looked like stair steps, and the velocity graph spkiked and declined rapidly.

Our next test was to start at the four meter mark and walk a little faster towards the one meter mark. This time, the graphs were backwards. The position graph lines went from top to bottom, but still looked like stair steps. The velocity graph was also reversed. Acceleration is represented in the graphs by how close the stair steps (on the position graphs) and the humps (on the velocity graph) are on the graphs. The farther apart they are separated, the slower the acceleration.

We were not able to finish our lab today, but for the most part, I learned alot about velocity, position and acceleration.

"Snowflakes"

On the first day of class, we did a snoflake lab. We were to create a snowflake with either two repeats, four repeats, six repeats, or eight repeats. Each "repeat" represents a fold in the piece of paper. The more repeats, the more difficult and complex the final product was. We were to cut any design we wanted into the folds of the paper to create our snowflakes. This lab was fun because the snowflakes we made were much more intricate than the average paper snowflake. Also, it will be a good project for us to use in our classrooms for a science class or an art project.

The Moving Man

The Moving Man simulation was very helpful in helping comprehend the correlation between acceleration, velocity, and position. I understand that velocity is the speed of the man in a particular direction. The acceleration is how fast the man is moving. I didnt know that there was such a thing as negative acceleration until I viewed the acceleration graph. After the man slowed down, the line on the graph suddenly jumped down. After the man stopped, the line on the graph evened out. This simulation was helpful because I can now predict what the graphs will look like by positioning the man and presetting the veloctiy and acceleration. I also have a better understanding of the concepts of velocity, acceleration, and position.

"The Science of a Kiss" 9/11/08

Today we discussed our lab, "The Science of a Kiss: Measurement, Mass and Energy." It was a lab involving Hershey's kisses that taught us about the Law of Conservation of Energy. There were two jars of chocolate kisses at the front of the room, one was a tall glass and the other was sphere shaped. We had to guess which glass held more kisses, or if they held the same amount. My group thought the glasses held the same amount. It turns out that the spherical glass held about 40 more kisses that the tall glass. Mrs. Ezrailson explained that the spherical glass can hold more volume. I found this lab to be easy. We learned how to calculate Graviational Potential Energy and the final velocity. We also learned how to calculate kinetic energy; however I was confused on this part of the lab. We did not go over the answers to the kinetic engergy part of the lab, so I am not quite sure if did did this portion right. Overall, the lab was interesting and pretty easy.