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The documents and all material contained therein are (c) Dean Baird. All rights reserved. They may be used by teachers and students for classroom instruction. Beyond that, no part of these documents may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.
| GUIDES | |||
| 1 |
The Scheme of
Science Develops a Venn diagram to show how physics, chemistry, biology, and earth science relate to each other. Note: this document's PDF is combined with "Why-How?" |
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| 2 |
Why-How?
Introduces the Why/How Tree, an inquiry process that leads to one of the very few Rules of the Universe. |
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| 3 |
Rules
of the Universe An explicit list of the fundamental principles that can be used to explain all natural phenomena. |
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| 4 |
Orders
of Magnitude Develops the ideas of powers of ten and order of magnitude "rounding." |
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| 5 |
Greek /
Symbols Reference The Greek alphabet and mathematical symbols listed with usage descriptions. |
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| 6 |
Scientififc
/ Engineering / SI Prefix Notation Reference The rules of scientific, engineering, and SI prefix notation are explained. Includes examples. |
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| 7 |
Units
& Quantities Reference The units of measure (meters, kilograms, seconds, etc.) are listed and described. |
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| 8 |
Motion PhyzExamples Quantities and their symbols, units and their abbreviations, equations, and work-ot numerical problems. |
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| 9 | Graphical Kinematics Instructions for constructing position, velocity, and acceleration graphs. |
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| 10 | Position vs. Time Examples Thumbnail position graphs for all basic motion possibilities. |
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| 11 | Velocity vs. Time Examples Thumbnail velocity graphs for all basic motion possibilities. Corresponds to position graphs above. |
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| 12 | Acceleration vs.
Time Examples Thumbnail acceleration graphs for all basic motion possibilities. Corresponds to graphs above. |
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| JOBS | |||
| 1 |
The Why-How
Tree Springboard - Answers - Presentation (Web browser version) Introduces the Why/How Tree, an inquiry process that leads to one of the very few Rules of the Universe. |
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| 2 |
Numeric
Notation Springboard - Answers - Presentation (Web browser version) Develops the need for and mechanics of scientific notation, engineering notation, and SI prefix notation |
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| 3 |
Space
and Time Springboard - Answers - Presentation (Web browser version) What do we mean by "distance" and "interval"? And how can we calculate speed? |
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| 4 | Little Dudes I Uniform
Motion - Answers - Presentation (Zipped QuickTime) Given position and clock readings for dude in uniform motion, graph x vs. t. Inquiry questions. |
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| 5 |
Little Dudes II
Uniform Motion - Answers
- Presentation
(Zipped QuickTime) Given position and clock readings for dude in uniform motion, graph v vs. t. Inquiry questions. |
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| 6 |
Little
Dots Uniform Motion - Answers Practice graphing x vs. t and v vs. t given position and clock reading values. |
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| 7 |
Little
Dudes III Uniform Accelerated Motion - Answers
- Presentation (Zipped
QuickTime) Given position and clock readings for dude in uniform accelerated motion, graph v vs. t. Inquiry. |
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| 8 |
Little Dudes IV
Uniform Accelerated Motion - Answers
- Presentation (Zipped
QuickTime) Given position and clock readings for dude in uniform accelerated motion, graph a vs. t. Inquiry. |
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| 9 |
Little Dots Uniform
Accelerated Motion - Answers Practice graphing x vs. t, v vs. t, and a vs. t given position and clock reading values. |
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| 10 |
What Do
They Mean? - Answers Verbal interpretations of kinematics graphs. |
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| 11 | Graphical
Kinematics Exercises - Answers Practice in simple graphical kinematics. |
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| 12 | Graphical
Kinematics Exercises II - Answers More practice in graphical kinematics. |
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| 13 | What's
Goin' On? - Answers - Presentation (Zipped QuickTime) Another set of exercises involving verbal interpretations of kinematics graphs. |
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| 14 | What's
Goin' On, Too? - Answers Still more exercises involving verbal interpretations of kinematics graphs. |
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| 15 | How's It
Goin'? - Answers Yet another take on verbal descriptions of motion graphs. |
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| 15\6 | Little Dudes Ride
Again I - Answers Using the slope of a position graph to determine velocity. |
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| 17 | Little Dudes Ride
Again II - Answers Using the slope of a position graph to determine velocity. |
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| 18 | From Velocity to Position
Graphs I Springboard
- Answers -
Presentation (Zipped QuickTime) Getting quantitative position information from a velocity vs. clock reading graph is a difficult task to learn. This is a classroom discussion and "mind's-on" exercise sequence intended to do just that. |
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| 19 | From Velocity to Position
Graphs II Springboard
- Answers
- Presentation (Zipped QuickTime) This classroom discussion guide continues the ideas of the previous exercises and extends them to multi-segmented graphs of bodies in uniform motion and uniform accelerated motion. |
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| 20 |
Analytical Graphical
Kinematics - Answers Independent practice of the skills learned in the Springboards listed above. |
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| LABS | |||
| Blast Off!
Available in the Conceptual
Physics lab manual from Pearson Education - Amazon
link |
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| DEMOS & VIDEOS |
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| 1 |
Powers
of Ten (1977) Powers of Ten takes us on an adventure in magnitudes. Starting at a picnic by the lakeside in Chicago, this famous film transports us to the outer edges of the universe. Every ten seconds we view the starting point from ten times farther out until our own galaxy is visible only a s a speck of light among many others. Returning to Earth with breathtaking speed, we move inward- into the hand of the sleeping picnicker- with ten times more magnification every ten seconds. Our journey ends inside a proton of a carbon atom within a DNA molecule in a white blood cell. |
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| 2 |
Speed
Machines A video demo using clips of motion graphing from Physics: Cinema Classics. |
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| 3 |
Blowout I Blowgun Motion. |
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| 4 | Blowout
II:
Challenge
of the Crystal Conduit As with with the original Blowout demonstration, we're blowing a marker pen through a long tube. This time, though, we're using an acrylic tube and placing three photogate timers at intervals along the length of the tube to get speed values while the pen is still inside the tube. |
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| This Just In: So New It's
Not Yet In the Grid |
Click here for a legend and explanation of cryptic terms and abbreviations.
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Send comments, corrections, suggestions, rants, raves, and recipes to Dean Baird at dean@phyz.org.