Day 1 - Universal Gravitation Unit

1. -Introduction to Isaac Newton’s story
   

2. -Examples on force of gravity
   

Day 2 (Mon Dec 14)

1. -Went over Work, Energy & Power Test
   

2. -Handed back and discussed SPLAT! projects.
   

3. -Watched a couple of pieces from “Sixty Symbols”
   

4. -Handed out Universal Gravitation (Ch. 12) reading notes (Due Weds)
   

Day 2 (Tues Dec 15)

1. -Quick reminder: gravitation theory.
   

2. -T worked two gravitation example from PSE pg. 97-98
   

3. -Students worked gravitation problems, pg. 98-99.
   

4. -T described inverse square law (sect 12.5).
   

5. -HW: Reading Notes Ch 12 (due Weds) and pg 180-181: all Plug ‘n Chug and all Think & Explain (Dues Thurs).
   

Day 3 (Weds Dec 16)

1. -finished up work
   

Day before break: watched: What the Bleep Do We Know, and 1st day after the break, ppt about Quantum Mechanics.)

Day 4 (Weds Jan 6)

1. -Review problems on gravitation:
   

2. -Intro to gravitational fields, weight and weightlessness, ocean tides.
   

3. -T worked examples pg 101-2 #4-5.
   

4. -HW Exercises #7-10 and Ch 13 reading notes.
   

Day 5 (Thurs Jan 7)

1. -Went over HW pg 101-2.
   

2. -Discussed weight & weightlessness
   

3. -Gravitation Practice Test
   

Day 6 (Fri Jan 8)

1. -Turned in Ch. 13 notes.
   

2. -Went over Practice Test
   

3. -Corrected Ch 12 problems
   

4. -Discussed ocean tides & eclipses.
   

5. -Started Ch 13 conceptual problems.
   

6. -HW: Text  pg 197 #25-33.
   

Day 7 (Mon Jan 11) - Black Holes Day!

1. -Watched TED.com talk by Andrea Ghez (regarding the existence of a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy).
   

2. -Read some quotes from A Short History of the Universe by Stephen Hawking
   

3. -Handed out questions sheet, and watched Black Hole!
   

Day 8 (Tues Jan 12)

1. -Checked HW pg 197 #25-33 and Chapter 14, sections 1-4 reading notes.
   

2. -Finished watching last few minutes of Black Hole & doing written questions. Went over some of these as a class.
   

3. -Handed out the Adler Planetarium vocabulary sheet and discussed a few words.
   

4. -Did a game with vocab sheet.
   

5. -Announced gravitation quiz for Thursday. What to study: Ch 12 & 13 text, gravitation formula practice problems in PSE, Black Hole ideas.
   

6. -HW: Look over Vocab sheet.
   

Day 9 (Gravitation Review)

1. -Discussed ideas from Ch 14 sections 1-4.
   

2. -Jeopardy Review Game for Gravitation.
   

To do on Friday--introduce the need for large chunks of cardboard for enormous circles (little bit of extra credit for coming through.

Day 10 (Fri Jan 15)

1. -Test over Gravitation & Gravitational Interactions
   

Day 11 (Tues Jan 19)

1. -Students made predictions about the motion of a bowling ball, once the string is cut. We then headed to the Auxiliary Gym and tested this.
   

2. -We tried the same with a student in a chair, held in circular motion by a much larger student by rope.
   

3. -Teacher defined centripetal” (any force that acts toward the center of motion) and “centrifugal” (any force acting away from the center of motion -- think “fugitive”.) He then stated that centrifugal forces, while we might think they act on us when on a merry-go-round, are actually fictitious. Here are some notes from a Physics Classroom web page.
   

4. -HW: read textbook, sections 9.1-9.5, taking notes, then finish the Uniform Circular Motion Worksheet.
   

5. -Handed back Universal Gravitation Test.
   

Day 12 (Weds Jan 20)

- OSU students will be here to present about their university’s engineering program.

Day 13 (Thurs Jan 21)

1. -Intro to circular motion & rotation
   

2. -Went to Aux gym to whirl a bowling ball on a string (which pin will it hit?)
   

3. -Spun a student in a chair.
   

4. -Handed out uniform circular motion.
   

5. -HW: uniform circular motion
   

Day 14 (Fri Jan 22)

1. -Intro to space station project, began cutting out circles.
   

2. -Showed Space Station Physics PowerPoint
   

3. -Spun a wood circle (on rotating stool), had students calculate tangential velocity & rotational velocity of the riders A, B, C, D, and E (each 10m farther from the center)
   

4. -Demonstrated the calculations to find Sim g and Fc  (centripetal force)
   

Day 15 (Mon Jan 23) Final Review Day

1. -Handed out formula sheets: volunteer highlighted formulas we  have used.
   

2. -Students worked on Final Review (the work-it-out part of last year’s test)
   

Day 16 (Tues Jan 24)

1. -Went over answers to Final Review
   

2. -Students finished Space Station Project
   

3. -Asked for a team (to promo physics)
   

Day 17

Final Test