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Bounce (Projectile Motion And Collisions)
Students analyze the motion of an object as it moves through a complex path that includes rolling, falling, and bouncing. They answer questions related to what forces are acting at any given time.
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Newton's Second Law
Students examine how physical quantities and laws depend distance, mass and time. They examine the MKS system; meter, kilogram and second, for doing calculations.
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The Way Things Fall
Students see that light and heavy objects fall at the same rate, as established experimentally by Galileo. They see that falling objects, and balls rolling down an incline, tend to accelerate at a constant rate a. Their velocity...
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#22 Frames of Reference: The Basics
Learners explore the concept of frames of reference in physics.
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What was Newton's Idea of Science?
Students form logical foundations for analysis of observations. They improve analytic reading abilities through practice. Students investigate the foundations of scientific thought processes and how to apply them.
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Strange States of Matter
Fourth graders explore objects that do not fit into the categories given by three states of matter. They explore why an object doesn't fit perfectly into one of the three categories. Students observe the properties of Oobleck. They...
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Vectors
High schoolers listen to a lecture and complete a number of problems as they go. There are a variety of examples given and they are guided through the problem solving steps for each of the real-world scenarios regarding the purpose of...
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Ellipses and Kepler's First Law
The class examines graphs in the form r = F(¿¿) in polar coordinates (r, ¿¿), in particular with the circle, ellipse and other conic sections. They determine the nature of an ellipse by studying the role of the semimajor axis and...
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La Belle Époque [1871-1914]:
Progress through various aspects of the "The Beautiful Era" in this presentation. Political, technological, and scientific contexts surround the time of innovation and change in the world landscape. The short length of this slide show...
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MASS
Students distinguish between weight and mass. They examine how in oscillations of a mass against an elastic spring--in the absence of gravity, or in horizontal motion--the length of the oscillation period is proportional to the square...
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NEWTON'S 3RD LAW
Students examine the formal definition of Newton's 3rd law: "forces always originate in pairs, equal in magnitude and opposite in direction." --The informal, qualitative version: "Each action has an equal and opposite reaction."
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MOTION IN A CIRCLE
Students explore uniform circular motion, and the relation of its frequency of N revolutions/sec with the peripheral velocity v and with the rotation period T, and the "centripetal acceleration" of an object.
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WAVES AND PHOTONS
Young scholars examine the many types of electromagnetic waves, the concept of an EM wave, how James Clerk Maxwell proposed a slight modification of the equations of electricity, Heinrich Hertz and his radio-frequency, wavelengths, and...
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Magnetic Field Activities
Students explore the idea of magnetic field through investigations of magnetic fields as produced by various common magnetic materials and direct currents. They study the vector nature of fields, the ubiquity of field sources in the...
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Energy: The Universal Currency
Science stars examine the concept of energy by thinking about everyday situations. The lesson plan is incohesive. It lists goals for the student, but doesn't address all of them in the content. The best use of this resource would simply...
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Historical Development of a Scientific Idea
Ninth graders examine how scientist's contribute to atomic theory. In this development of a scientific idea lesson plan students work in groups and research the development of the atomic model.
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The Discovery of the Solar System
Students study the ideas behind the heliocentric theory of Copernicus. They examine about retrograde motion of the planets as they move around the sun. They study astronomers who include Ptolemy, Copernicus, and Galileo.
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The Energy of the Sun
Students study energy generation by the Sun, which involves atoms and nuclei.
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Kepler and his Laws
Students examine Kepler's Laws. They confirm Kepler's 3rd law by comparing orbital periods and mean distances for all major planets and study conic sections, qualitatively.
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Newton's Theory of Universal Gravitation
Learners explore how Newton tied together the gravity observed on Earth and the motion of the Moon. They apply an earlier lesson about centripetal forces.
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Kepler's 3rd Law
High schoolers derive the velocity in a circular orbit of any radius. They derive the Earth escape velocity and prove Kepler's 3rd law for circular orbits # A simple formula for the orbital period in a circular Earth orbit of given radius.
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The Way Things Fall
Students explore concept of acceleration and motion under the influence of gravity, starting with free fall and ending with motions that start out with both horizontal and vertical initial velocities.
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Alternate Theory of Color Perception
Students use the color wheel, matches, masking tape, and slides to view an alternate theory of color perception. In this color perception lesson plan, students discuss the different theories and processors.
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Comparing Notes: a Mathematical Exploration of the Piano
Students examine the history of equal temperament, the modern standard of tuning a piano. Proportion calculations of octaves and perfect fifths are utilized to calculate the frequency of each note in a major scale.