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4/1 PitU: Wrapping up the Electromagnetic spectrum

image of the EM spectrum, showing objects that are about the same size as the wavelength

Next week we’ll be moving into “Phase 2” of our Learning at Home period. Vanden and the District have been hard at work ensuring that all students have devices and internet connections so your teachers can provide you with more opportunities to learn from home.

The Physics Team has been working hard to prepare lessons that are accessible from home to help everyone of you to have all the knowledge you will need for Biology next year. We are dropping some of the lessons we would normally cover to allow you to focus on this knowledge.

I hope you are safe and healthy at home, and continuing physical distancing to help us pass through this pandemic quickly (stats show California is doing a good job of ‘lowering the curve).

Review of Electromagnetic Spectrum

image of the EM spectrum, showing objects that are about the same size as the wavelength

By now, I hope you all have finished Chapter 18, The Electromagnetic Spectrum and Light. If you are struggling, please take a moment to look back at some of the resources I have posted online to help.

I developed a Kahoot! to help with review. There are 27 questions, and it is open as a “Challenge,” which does not have time limits, and you can take it as many times as you want. You can find it here, or enter 0789319 as the PIN in your Kahoot! app.

I’ll be able to watch how many of you complete it, as well as to see which questions are toughest for many students–then I can post hints/tips for those questions online.

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3/17 PotU: Chapter 18.1 Electromagnetic Waves

Notes, tips, and other help

Videos

Waves review video, with introduction to electromagnetic waves

The equation E=hf you do not need to know, but the relationship shown by the wave (the higher the frequency, the higher the energy) you should understand conceptually.

How is the speed of light measured?

This video is a bit long, but it explores how we determined the speed of light (as shown on page 534 of your textbook). This embeded video is set to start with how they first measured the speed of light. The rest of the video is optional, but available for those who might be interested.

Physics girl describes electromagnetic waves

Minute Physics

These two one-minute videos demonstrate the “Wave or Particle” discussion presented on page 536.

This one is a bit harder to understand.

In the end, however, we don’t say electromagnetic waves are waves or particles: They are simply electromagnetic radiation, which sometimes acts like a wave and sometimes like a particle. It’s sort of like asking if water is a solid or a liquid: In different situations it can be a solid, but in others it’s a liquid.

Online resources

ck-12 Light waves simulation

This simulation offers you plenty of options to investigate electromagnetic waves. This should help with understanding the chapter.

PhET simulation

PhET provides a great simulation to experiment with radio waves and electronmagnetic fields. This version runs with Java only, so it won’t run on phones. If Java is not installed on your computer, and you wish to install it, instructions are here for Macs and Windows.

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PotU 3/16: Learn from Home Weeks 1 & 2

Your assignment for the next two weeks is to read, take notes, and complete questions from Chapter 18, Electromagnetic Waves and Light, in your textbook.

There are five sections in Chapter 18, so your pace should be completing about one section every two days.

When we return to school, you will have an open-notes test on Chapter 18, so be sure to take good notes (printed materials are not allowed on the test, just your hand-written notes as well as your hand-written answers to questions at the back of the chapter.

Learning Resources

  • If you can’t find your textbook, I have scanned it and you can read/download each section here.
  • Starting on Tuesday, I will hold an optional Question and Answer session via Zoom from Noon until 1:00. If you have any questions, feel free to log in and ask.
    • Zoom requires an app for your computer or phone, but the company has a great reputation and is not full of ‘bloatware.’
    • You can visit Zoom on the web here, or using a phone app you can enter this Meeting ID: 569-283-4396
    • I think you need to create a Zoom account to join a meeting but you can use it in the future as well.
    • Due to the COVID1-19 emergency, Zoom is allowing free student and teacher upgraded accounts for the rest of the spring.
  • I will be posting online tools to help with understanding each section, so keep an eye out here if you have questions (I’ll add links below for each section as I create them.
  • You may also post questions on the bottom of each section post, and I will answer them there.
  • If you with to email me, I will answer your email as well as posting the question and answer on the corresponding section page.