Hydropower generation is introduced to students as a common purpose and benefit …
Hydropower generation is introduced to students as a common purpose and benefit of constructing dams. Through an introduction to kinetic and potential energy, students come to understand how a dam creates electricity. They also learn the difference between renewable and non-renewable energy.
Students are challenged to design a method for separating steel from aluminum …
Students are challenged to design a method for separating steel from aluminum based on magnetic properties as is frequently done in recycling operations. To complicate the challenge, the magnet used to separate the steel must be able to be switched off to allow for the recollection of the steel. Students must ultimately design, test, and present an effective electromagnet.
Students observe and discuss a simple balloon model of an electrostatic precipitator …
Students observe and discuss a simple balloon model of an electrostatic precipitator to better understand how this pollutant recovery method functions in cleaning industrial air pollution.
Polymers are a vital part of our everyday lives and nearly all …
Polymers are a vital part of our everyday lives and nearly all consumer products have a plastic component of some variation. Students explore the basic characteristics of polymers through the introduction of two polymer categories: thermoplastics and thermosets. During teacher demos, students observe the unique behaviors of thermoplastics. The fundamentals of thermoset polymers are discussed, preparing them to conduct the associated activity in which they create their own thermoset materials and mechanically test them. At the conclusion of this lesson-activity pair, students understand the basics of thermoplastics and thermosets, which may entice their interest in polymer engineering.
As if they are environmental engineers, student pairs are challenged to use …
As if they are environmental engineers, student pairs are challenged to use Google Earth Pro (free) GIS software to view and examine past data on hurricanes and tornados in order to (hypothetically) advise their state government on how to proceed with its next-year budget—to answer the question: should we reduce funding for natural disaster relief? To do this, students learn about maps, geographic information systems (GIS) and the global positioning system (GPS), and how they are used to deepen the way maps are used to examine and analyze data. Then they put their knowledge to work by using the GIS software to explore historical severe storm (tornado, hurricane) data in depth. Student pairs confer with other teams, conduct Internet research on specific storms and conclude by presenting their recommendations to the class. Students gain practice and perspective on making evidence-based decisions. A slide presentation as well as a student worksheet with instructions and questions are provided.
This seminar examines the history and legacy of the Cold War on …
This seminar examines the history and legacy of the Cold War on American science. It explores scientist's new political roles after World War II, ranging from elite policy makers in the nuclear age to victims of domestic anti Communism. It also examines the changing institutions in which the physical sciences and social sciences were conducted during the postwar decades, investigating possible epistemic effects on forms of knowledge. The subject closes by considering the place of science in the post-Cold War era.
This introductory, algebra-based, two-semester college physics book is grounded with real-world examples, …
This introductory, algebra-based, two-semester college physics book is grounded with real-world examples, illustrations, and explanations to help students grasp key, fundamental physics concepts. This online, fully editable and customizable title includes learning objectives, concept questions, links to labs and simulations, and ample practice opportunities to solve traditional physics application problems.
College Physics for AP Courses is designed to engage students in their …
College Physics for AP Courses is designed to engage students in their exploration of physics and help them to relate what they learn in the classroom to their lives and to apply these concepts to the Advanced Placement test. Physics underlies much of what is happening today in other sciences and in technology, therefore the book includes interesting facts and ideas that go beyond the scope of the AP course to further student understanding. The AP Connection in each chapter directs students to the material they should focus on for the AP® exam, and what content — although interesting — is not necessarily part of the AP curriculum.
Investigate collisions on an air hockey table. Set up your own experiments: …
Investigate collisions on an air hockey table. Set up your own experiments: vary the number of discs, masses and initial conditions. Is momentum conserved? Is kinetic energy conserved? Vary the elasticity and see what happens.
As a continuation of the theme of potential and kinetic energy, this …
As a continuation of the theme of potential and kinetic energy, this lesson introduces the concepts of momentum, elastic and inelastic collisions. Many sports and games, such as baseball and ping-pong, illustrate the ideas of momentum and collisions. Students explore these concepts by bouncing assorted balls on different surfaces and calculating the momentum for each ball.
Make a whole rainbow by mixing red, green, and blue light. Change …
Make a whole rainbow by mixing red, green, and blue light. Change the wavelength of a monochromatic beam or filter white light. View the light as a solid beam, or see the individual photons.
This classroom activity for high school students uses a collection of Hubble …
This classroom activity for high school students uses a collection of Hubble Space Telescope images of galaxies in the Coma Cluster. Students study galaxy classification and the evolution of galaxies in dense clustered environments.
As a class, students use a low-cost air quality monitor (a rentable …
As a class, students use a low-cost air quality monitor (a rentable “Pod”) to measure the emissions from different vehicles. By applying the knowledge about combustion chemistry that they gain during the pre-activity reading (or lecture presentation, alternatively), students predict how the emissions from various vehicles will differ in terms of pollutants (CO2, VOCs and NO2), and explain why. After data collection, students examine the time series plots as a class—a chance to interpret the results and compare them to their predictions. Short online videos and a current event article help to highlight the real-world necessity of understanding and improving vehicle emissions. Numerous student handouts are provided. The activity content may be presented independently of its unit and without using an air quality monitor by analyzing provided sample data.
Have you ever wondered why it takes such a long period of …
Have you ever wondered why it takes such a long period of time for NASA to build space exploration equipment? What is involved in manufacturing and building a rover for the Red Planet? During this lesson, students will discover the journey that a Mars rover embarks upon after being designed by engineers and before being prepared for launch. Students will investigate the fabrication techniques, tolerance concepts, assembly and field-testing associated with a Mars exploratory rover.
Students groups create scientific research posters to professionally present the results of …
Students groups create scientific research posters to professionally present the results of their AQ-IQ research projects, which serves as a conclusion to the unit. (This activity is also suitable to be conducted independently from its unit—for students to make posters for any type of project they have completed.) First, students critically examine example posters to gain an understanding of what they contain and how they can be made most effective for viewers. Then they are prompted to analyze and interpret their data, including what statistics and plots to use in their posters. Finally, groups are given a guide that aids them in making their posters by suggesting all the key components one would find in any research paper or presentation. This activity is suitable for presenting final project posters to classmates or to a wider audience in a symposium or expo environment. In addition to the poster-making guide, three worksheets, six example posters, a rubric and a post-unit survey are provided.
The course begins with the basics of compressible fluid dynamics, including governing …
The course begins with the basics of compressible fluid dynamics, including governing equations, thermodynamic context and characteristic parameters. The next large block of lectures covers quasi-one-dimensional flow, followed by a discussion of disturbances and unsteady flows. The second half of the course comprises gas dynamic discontinuities, including shock waves and detonations, and concludes with another large block dealing with two-dimensional flows, both linear and non-linear.
Wave equations for fluid and visco-elastic media. Wave-theory formulations of acoustic source …
Wave equations for fluid and visco-elastic media. Wave-theory formulations of acoustic source radiation and seismo-acoustic propagation in stratified ocean waveguides. Wavenumber Integration and Normal Mode methods for propagation in plane-stratified media. Seismo-Acoustic modeling of seabeds and ice covers. Seismic interface and surface waves in a stratified seabed. Parabolic Equation and Coupled Mode approaches to propagation in range-dependent ocean waveguides. Numerical modeling of target scattering and reverberation clutter in ocean waveguides. Ocean ambient noise modeling. Students develop propagation models using all the numerical approaches relevant to state-of-the-art acoustic research.
The theoretical frameworks of Hartree-Fock theory and density functional theory are presented …
The theoretical frameworks of Hartree-Fock theory and density functional theory are presented as approximate methods to solve the many-electron problem. A variety of ways to incorporate electron correlation are discussed. The application of these techniques to calculate the reactivity and spectroscopic properties of chemical systems, in addition to the thermodynamics and kinetics of chemical processes, is emphasized. This course also focuses on cutting edge methods to sample complex hypersurfaces, for reactions in liquids, catalysts and biological systems.
Students investigate the property dependence between concentrations and boiling point. In section …
Students investigate the property dependence between concentrations and boiling point. In section 1, students first investigate the boiling point of various liquid solutions. In section 2, they analyze data collected by the entire class to generate two boiling point curves, one for salt solutions and one for sugar solutions. Finally, in section 3, students use the data they have analyzed to determine how to create a solution that has a particular boiling point and is a cost-effective design.
Watch your solution change color as you mix chemicals with water. Then …
Watch your solution change color as you mix chemicals with water. Then check molarity with the concentration meter. What are all the ways you can change the concentration of your solution? Switch solutes to compare different chemicals and find out how concentrated you can go before you hit saturation!
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