Normally, we begin class by going over the previous night's homework,but, there was no homework last night!
Finley began talking about a common mistake we've been making lately. He drew a picture of a hill that leads to a cliff at the bottom. It showed a car. The initial state of the car was it zooming down from the top of the hill and is labeled as having Kinetic and Gravitational Potential Energy. The final state shows the car in the air after flying off the hill and is labeled as having Gravitational Potential Energy. While it's true that the car in its final state does have Gravitational Potential Energy, it's lower than the initial state and therefore has less. Students usually use this situation as showing a gain of gravitational potential energy, when really, it doesn't.
Currently, we are working on an in-class activity involving an online simulation with a skateboarder. It shows a skateboarder on a ramp that we design in the location of our choosing (we picked Earth, fyi)
Here's a link to the activity: Skate Activity: http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/energy-skate-park
With the skateboard activity, we had to:
- draw a picture of our track
- describe our initial and final states
- include our choice of systems
- create different representations to show the changes that took place
- decide if the situation is realistic in terms of physics and energy
This turned out to be useful in grasping a better understanding in energy transfers and changes.
What we are learning is very vital to our understanding of science because Energy is Big! Every time we move, you have energy. Being able to know some different types of energy, how they apply to real-life situations, and what is means/does allows you to learn about what is really happening when something moves. If confused about any of the concepts, it is easy to review notes and see what something is. For example, if you don't know it there is any Kinetic energy used in a situation, look back to see exactly what kinetic energy is and see if it applies to what is being discussed.
The energy unit is definitely an important one!
KV
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