Momentum Intro

We squeezed in the intro to the next unit today:

Momentum Intro

Your homework is Chapter 6 (p.190) #1, 3, 6, 7

Have a great long weekend and see you in December!

Chapter 7 Test: Rotational Motion

Test today! No homework tonight.

Last Day to Review

Since we only had about 15 minutes to work on the practice test Friday, today was a work day. Your test is tomorrow. You can find the practice test and its solutions videos on Friday's blog entry.

Wrapping Up the Unit & Practice Exam

First we combined the Law of Universal Gravitation and circular motion to derive an interesting equation relating the radius of an orbit to period (period T = time for one cycle).

Then we talked briefly about tides and passed out the practice exam:

Chapter 7 Practice Exam

Solutions videos:
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8

Monday will be a review day and Tuesday will be your test. Some people have expressed an interest in taking the test on Monday and having a workday on Tuesday instead due to the sheer number of other tests on Tuesday. That is fine - I will make an alternate version of the test for the early testers.

There will be no additional homework tonight; I would rather that you focus on the practice exam.

AP Practice Problems

Today I was absent, so you worked on and self- or peer-graded practice AP free response problems. These are purely for your practice and experience and we did not turn them in for credit. I recommend keeping these (and any others we do throughout the year) and using them to study for the AP exam in May.

Universal Gravitation

Today we used some fake data to derive the Law of Universal Gravitation. It ended up on the board:

Here is the fake data activity: Universal Gravitation Pseudo Lab

Homework was printed out on little strips. Here is an electronic copy: Homework 11/19. Don't forget to do the back.

Centripetal Force Lab: Finding g

Today you used the concept of centripetal force to validate the value of g near earth's surface. The pre-lab sort of leads you to a less accurate method of finding g because I originally wrote this for a conceptual class and they weren't familiar with linearization, but if you want to have a more accurate answer think about the practice AP problem from Friday.

You only need to turn in one paper per group. The group with the lowest percent error per period will get a slight amount of extra credit.

No homework tonight (except for finishing your lab).

Centripetal Force Practice

Today was a work day. This is what you did today:

• Finish last night's homework
• Complete AP Practice Problem 2009Bb1
• Self-grade AP Practice Problem 2009Bb1
• Start tonight's homework: Chapter 7 #65 & 74

Banked Curves

Today we derived the equation for the ideal speed of a car navigating a banked curve:

Banked Curves

Later we worked on Ch. 7 (p. 231) #52 & 62 which became homework if not finished in class. We will also have a little work time in class tomorrow if you still need help finishing.

Centrifugal Force

Today we talked about centrifugal force, which isn't a real force but rather a result of a rotating reference frame. This topic won't be tested, but it's pretty fun to think about and demonstrate.

Any leftover time was spent working on tonight's homework: Chapter 7 (p. 228) #20, 25, 26

Centripetal Acceleration and Force

Today we introduced centripetal acceleration and centripetal force. We'll be doing a lot more with these for the rest of the week.

Centripetal Acceleration and Force

Homework is Chapter 7 (p. 228) #17, 18, 22

Please remember that there is NO SCHOOL tomorrow for Veteran's Day.

Below is the work for an example problem in the notes.

Relationships Between Linear and Angular Quantities

Today we talked about how to go between linear and angular quantities.

Relationships Between Linear and Angular Quantities

We completed a worksheet in class with a ranking task on one side and a TIPER on the other.

Homework for the weekend is Ch. 7 (p. 227) #8, 9, 11

Angular Quantities

Today we introduced circular motion:

Angular Quantities

There was also a bit on the board to further explain radians; I'll try to get a picture of that up.

Homework is Chapter 7 (p. 227) #1, 2, 4

Chapter 5 Test

Today was your test! No homework!

Please remember to turn in that extremely long assignment that we've been working on since Friday.

Still Ch.5 Test Preparation

Today we were doing the same thing as Friday.