Veritasium is a fantastic science oriented channel on YouTube. It has digestible explanations of tricky stuff, a section devoted to common science misconceptions and of course the requisite songs.

Check it out.

Heading to The Arts Centre for Recording and Reproducing Sound on Wednesday so we have 150 minutes of scheduled time to get prepped up. Here is a quick rundown of what will be covered. Check out the links for some background info and hyperphysics or your textbook (what’s that?!) might help too.

1. Harmonics, overtones, octaves etc
• Read up on reflection and resonance of sound waves on strings/wires (p310 – 314)
• The PhET simulation “Waves on a string” is very useful to visualise the concepts
• Take note of Fig 13.23 (p314) and the difference between terms harmonic and overtone
• For more info on Pipes and harmonics check out here and here
• Hyperphysics has further explanations, diagrams and background information
2. Standing waves in pipes and on springs
• Waves in strings, reflections, standing waves and harmonics

I know you requested a video from me but instead of reinventing the wheel I think this covers it

Electric Motor energy transformation

Originally uploaded by coach_robbo

This concept map is trying to illustrate what physical concepts are involved in the operation of an electric motor. At a fundamental level the motor converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. The details (as always) are a little more complex of course…

The problem with physics › Opinion (ABC Science)

Most physicists and students have lost sight of the fact that physics is not a Divine Truth, writes Tony Rothman.

Tony highlights there are still many unanswered, unexplained phenomena and that science isn’t “right” all of the time. Maybe that’s the bit the adolescents find hard to relate to…

Think you know about the photoelectric effect and models of light? Check out the quiz and see how you go!
Click here to take quiz
(You may wish to use the PhET photoelectric cell simulation to check your answers for the quantum model)

The Wave Particle Duality series by TV Ontario, while a bit corny, does a more than acceptable job of explaining the many curiosities of light. In class we briefly tracked the history of the wave and particle models of light with their respective pros and cons and closely examined Young’s double slit experiment.
Check out parts 1 through 3 as revision. Heck, watch them twice each! Then check out parts 4 and 5 in another TV Ontario series Structure of the Atom. We will be checking out the spectra of different vapour lamps next time we meet.

voltage divider table

Originally uploaded by coach_robbo

Running list of results for the freezer alarm investigation. The theme of the thermistor is fine, need to get some numbers in those table cells…

models of electricity

Originally uploaded by coach_robbo

Models are simplified representations of things. Analogies. They can be very helpful in beginning to understand abstract or complex stuff. Now electricity isn’t particularly abstract but it is complex and hard to visualise (in a way that improves understanding).

To begin complete the sentence stem “Electricity is like…”

The challenge is to account for current, voltage and resistance.

current, voltage, resistance

Originally uploaded by coach_robbo

Cannot emphasise enough that you have to get across the fundamentals. The majority of difficulties experienced by students can be tracked back to misunderstandings about current and voltage.

Invest the time now.

This is the video we captured in class the other day on my phone. I pushed it to the iPad, used the Vernier app to complete the motion analysis, then used WordPress app to publish to the blog. Never done it all through just phone and iPad before so I hope it turns out okay. (update: it didn’t view on my laptop browser so I went back to trusty Viddler)
Take note of the graphs at the end of the video and see if you can make sense of them. Some questions to ponder…

1. Where does the collision take place?
2. How do you know?
3. Are the numbers what you expected? If not can you account for this?

Post any answers in the comments.