November 18 2008

No Class Today.
Instead of having class today, we were to do two simulations about electric currents. The one I chose to do under the "Electricity and Magnet Simulations" tab on D2l was called "Balloons and Static Electricity." I was able to rub a balloon against a sweater containing bothe positively charged protons and negatively charged electrons. When I rubbed the balloon on the sweater, I found that all of the electrons moved onto the balloon. On the other end of the screen was a wall with positive and negative ions. After I got the ballon to contain all of the negative ions from the sweater, I moved it to the wall and it stuck to it. It stuck to the wall because all of the negative ions on the wall moved away from where the balloon was sticking.
I could not get the "Electric Circuit Construction Kit" to work on my computer, so I just decided to do another simulation from the "Electricity and Magnet Simulations" tab. I chose the simulation called "Johntravoltage." I rubbed John Travolta's foot on the carpet and watched his body fill up with electrons. If I didn't rub his foot enough, then he didnt shock the door because there wasnt enough electrons in his body. When his body filled with electrons, his finger shocked the door because the electrons transfered from his finger to the door. These simulations are helpful because they give us a visual of what the book is talking about, and it makes it easier to understand.