IB (internal assessment) lab guidelines

Labs shouldn't make you feel like Beaker.

From "nothing nerdy"'s website: IB physics Internal Assessment Guidelines  with links to checklists.


From Dingrando and Reilly at ISM (International School Manila): the same rubric as above, formatted as a handy grid.
For our first labs, the design has been done for you.  You will be evaluated based on 'Data Collection & ProcessingData Collection and Processing' AND 'Conclusion and  Evaluation'

Here's a Kemper-version... very detailed handout - I created it using the IB guidelines above, with some added bonuses.

HW: More Kinematics!

Flower Pot falling.  

If we knew how fast it had been falling,
we'd have a good idea whose balcony it fell off of.

photo stolen from:
https://www.askideas.com/50-most-funniest-situation-pictures-that-
will-make-you-laugh-everytime/

1d Kinematics Practice due Friday, 10/7

Some Hints:
*acceleration due to gravity is -9.8m/s^2

*keep one direction positive and one negative (customary to make down=negative).

*'dropped' objects have no initial velocity.

HINTS- solving kinematic equations

1. Draw a picture
2. Write down all the known variables
     Do you know:
                 time?
                 displacement?
                 initial velocity?
                 final velocity?
                 average velocity?
                 acceleration?
3. What are you trying to find out? (What is/are your unknowns?)
4. Choose an equation from the kinematics toolkit....
       which equation contains the variables you know & want to know.
5. Substitute numbers for variables in your equation.
6. Solve for your unknown(s).
7. Check your answer ( put through calculator again, check if answer is in reasonable quantity and correct units).

Physics Classroom.com Kinematics Equations Help

Physics Classroom.com is AWESOME.

Here's a link to hints for 1-d kinematics equations.  

HW due 9/23

This next week, we'll delve more into all of these topics.
1) Significant figures: go to the signficant figure 'self -check' link OR sig figs 2.   Quiz yourself until you feel comfortable determining the number of significant digits in a number. If you haven't learned about sig figs in another class, it might be best to save this assignment until after 9/19.
2) Race Car Problem- we'll talk about position, velocity and acceleration on Monday, 9/19.  Afterwards, you should feel much better prepared for this assignment.
3) Position vs. time graphs: this is an in class assignment- we collected data on 9/15.  We'll analyze it in lab groups at the beginning of next week.

HW Race Car

RACE CAR PROBLEMS
A racecar accelerates from rest down a track at a constant rate of 18m s-2 for 6 seconds.  At the finish line (after 6 seconds), it deploys a parachute in order to slow down more quickly.  It stops over a distance of 200m.

1. What is the velocity of the racecar after 6 seconds?
2. What was the acceleration of the racecar after the parachute deployed?
3. How long did it take the car to stop after the parachute deployed?
4. Make a graph of velocity vs. time for the path of the racecar.
5. Use this graph to find the distance the car traveled during the initial acceleration.

Conversion practice answers- UPDATED!

Conversion practice answers! (click this link to open a PDF file)

if you need some extra help with these, PLEASE stop by lunch or flex!

Significant Figure ONLINE PRACTICE

HOW MANY SIG FIGS IS 0.00054687? 

online practice for significant figures,

same sort of tutorials for scientific notation, conversions and more! can be found here.

Significant figure rules

Significant figure counting rules

Significant figures: addition, subtraction, multiplication and division

Conversions Practice

The Mars Orbiter, a $125million satellite, failed to orbit Mars.

It came too close to the planet, and was destroyed by Mars' atmosphere.

The most likely cause of this loss?

a metric/English unit conversion error.

oops.

This page is due on Thursday, 9/15 AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS.

Here's a video that explains dimensional analysis, the technique we used today in class.

Please write your calculations out with full numerators, denominators and UNITS.  It might feel like it's the long way now, but it will save you hours of headache later!






Here are some other noteable Great Miscalculations

Final Spreadsheets & Graphs Activity

Final Spreadsheet Activity
to be done INDIVIDUALLY
and graphs to be printed out.

Metric Prefixes

Image from University of Nebraska-Lincoln http://astro.unl.edu/classaction/tables/intro/si_prefixes.html

Excel Part 2

comic by xkcd

Today, we'll make some graphs.
This year, we'll make many graphs.
Graphs will help us interpret complicated data...

Here are the directions.
EXCEL Part 2