General Physics

11/02/2008

Hit Counter

FAQ's
White textbook online
Diagnoser.com
Class notes
SHS Home Page
Important documents
Useful links
Units of Study

Topics of Study:

- Measurements
- Mechanics
- Wave mechanics
- Sound and Acoustics
- Light and Color
- Rocketry

Welcome to General Physics!
I hope you're ready for a great year!! We will be covering a wide variety of topics and will be doing many different lab activities throughout the year!

Need to contact Ms. Fowler?
e-mail: FowlerR@issaquah.wednet.edu
Phone: 837-7827

Need to contact Mr. Hodge?
e-mail: HodgeA@issaquah.wednet.edu
Phone: 837-7818

The following are some important course documents:

	Course Expectations
	District Safety Guidelines
	Photo posting permission form
	Lab expectations and Rubric
	Excused Absence make-up work forms

On-line Textbook: Use the following link anytime you are asked to complete an assignment from the online text book.
Wilson/Buffa Physics

Other Useful/Interesting Links:

	Class notes--all power point presentations, ActivBoard notes, and many course documents you'll need for assignments will be posted at this link
	Online Textbook--we have a website with some useful review tools that is associated with the white textbook that we use. We will periodically be using this site for some online homework (which you will submit for a grade to a special e-mail address: SHSPhysics@gmail.com if you're in Ms. Fowler's class; Hodge.Skyline@gmail.com if you're in Mr. Hodge's class)
	Diagnoser.com--this website will be used in practically every unit for some online assignments (typically quick multiple choice assignments to check your understanding of concepts!) You will each be given a unique login username and password so you can access these assignments. Once you get that number, DON'T LOSE IT! :)
	Useful unit conversion factors

Picture found at antwrp.gsfc..nasa.gov/apod/ap010221.html

Supersonic airplanes pass through the sound barrier when they are flying faster than the speed of sound in the air. When they pass that barrier, a cloud of condensation forms; the sonic boom associated with supersonic flights is heard by observers--not the pilot!

More fun info on sonic booms can be found at
THIS LINK or THIS LINK or THIS ONE!

Have you found a cool physics photo (or even TAKEN one!), a really interesting physics website, news article, etc.? e-mail me the link! Maybe you'll even see it being used in class or on this website!

Follow a unit link to the page with relevant information for that unit...

Semester 1 Topics:

Physical Measurements

Mechanics

Linear Motion

Vectors

Newton's Laws of Motion

Projectile Motion

2-dimensional Forces

Energy, Work, and Power

Momentum and Collisions

Semester 2 Topics:

	Waves and Wave Behavior
	Sound and Acoustics
	Light and Color
	Model Rocketry

Frequently Asked Questions:
Each of the following questions is asked by multiple people every year. It will be important (and helpful!) to know the answers to these queries.

	Where are the notes posted?
	How much homework can I expect each night?
	Can I turn in the same lab report (or data table, or graph...) as my partner?
	Why can't we turn in the same work?
	What happens if we DO turn in identical (or nearly identical) reports?
	Do we round or truncate our answers?
	Do we need to worry about sig. figs.?

FAQ--answers!

Where are the notes posted?

Follow this link: Class Notes

How much homework can I expect each night?

You probably won't have a lot of homework every night, but you should plan on reviewing notes or reading relevant pages in your textbook on days you have no practice problems or lab reports assigned. I would suggest planning on 15-30 minutes per night working on your physics material. Some evenings you may need to spend more time than that, but that simply depends on three things: the type of assignment, how efficiently you use class time that is given for work on assignments, and how much you procrastinate when you've been given multiple nights to complete an assignment!

Can I turn in the same lab report (or data table, or graph...) as my partner?

NO!

	Lab reports are INDIVIDUALLY completed.
	Your hypothesis, and if necessary, procedure steps, must be written in your own words!
	You typically will have the same raw data as your partner(s), but you MUST report your results in a data table that you format yourself.
	Your analysis of the data must be completed on your own, although you are allowed to collaborate with your partners, provided that your answers are written in your own words.
	Any conclusions that are drawn and errors that are discussed must be done so in your own words...even if you come to the same conclusion as your partner!
	Any graph that you need to make must be done on your own (using LoggerPro). Hopefully you and your partner(s) will get the same value for a slope, but the formatting of the graph must be your own.
	Get the point? No copying of any part of your lab write-up will be tolerated!
	The ONLY exception is if you are specifically told "I want one lab write-up turned in with all partners' names on it." Don't expect this--it happens once, maybe twice, per semester, and is usually for a short mini-lab.

Why can't we turn in the same work?

Two main reasons:

	The only way I can really assess whether or not you understand how to correctly and efficiently analyze the data we collect in a lab is if you do your own work. Same for a conclusion or a written procedure: if you and your partner turn in the same words, I will have no idea which of you wrote it, and which of you truly understands what you wrote.
	It's against school policies to plagiarize. If you and your partner turn in identical words for the same assignment, you are both guilty of plagiarism.

What happens if we DO turn in identical (or nearly identical) reports?

	Turning in identical (or nearly identical) reports falls under the category of plagiarism, which, according to the Skyline High School student handbook is considered a form of cheating.
	If you and your partner are caught plagiarizing, then the consequences will follow the policies set forth in the student handbook.
	At the very least, you will each receive a zero for the assignment/lab that has been plagiarized.

Do we round or truncate our answers?

Always ROUND your answers to the correct number of significant figures. NEVER TRUNCATE. I don't care what is done in math--in Science, we round our answers to an appropriate number of sig. figs. based on the precision of our initial data.

Do we need to worry about sig. figs.?

	YES! In all calculations, we will assume that the numbers we are given in the problems were measured somehow (unless it's an exact quantity or an exact conversion). This means that we DO need to use sig. fig. rules in all problems, and especially in you lab analysis!
	In your textbook, if a number is written as 100 m/s, for example, the practical rule of thumb is going to be to assume that it has 3 sig. figs. Assume there is a decimal point after the zero in the ones position.