Learning Objectives for this week.

• How to light a match!, How to light a fire
• How to measure temperature in Celsius
• The Heat Equation and terms, the concepts of Heat, Energy and Temperature.
• The Paleocene/Eocene Thermal Maximum: What caused it, what the impact on Earth was and why it is relevant today.
• The history and usage of the joule vs the calorie vs the KiloCalorie (known as food calories)
• Energy defined (the ability to do work)
• Heat is one form of energy and is measured (in science and engineering) in joules..

Additional Resources: 

• student notes_units of energy 08.17.26
• messy notes_record breaking heat

Monday: Clark welcomed the new students, took ‘mug shots’ of each and gave a quick ‘who is Clark’ presentation..

Tuesday: To begin the lesson, Clark spent some time talking about HOW TO TAKE NOTES in class. (the lecture was titled: Taking notes, a love story) This is a three part process starting with  Catch What You Can (CWYC is the acronym, which is pronounced Quick Notes)  and then part II; which is to take those in-class notes home and to Annotate them (fill in remaining ideas which you still remember, identifying or underlying big ideas,  writing down questions about  terms you didn’t quite understand, etc… Ideally, this annotation would be in a different color pen or pencil, to clearly differentiate between notes taken during class and annotations written down afterwards. This Second stage Clark refers to as “messy Notes” (because they are literally messy). The third step is to rewrite the entire page onto a new, clean sheet of paper which ought to look like a professional Text Book. These are called Pro-Notes! And this is what you would a) place in the front section of your Main Lesson Portfolio and b) use to review before upcoming tests. If you have done all of this, than you can now say YOU KNOW HOW TO STUDY!

To kick off our unit on Thermodynamics, we set up simple ‘furnaces’ (called Thermal Containment Systems) so that we could light Dorito’s on fire and then heat a small can of water. By measuring the amount of water in mL and recording the starting and ending temperatures, we can calculate how many joules the system captured. Along the way we learned that Graduated Cylinders are used to measure volume in mili-Liters and that water has a density of 1 gram per mL. We learned about ‘delta T’ as the change in temperature, and the value that matters in the heat equation. And for many students, we learned simply how to light a match. Please see the assignment above: heat lab 1_burning chips  for details.

Wednesday: Today we first reviewed the discussion of how to take notes during class and then put these new-found skills to practice. Clark gave a lecture which described the series of record-breaking-temperatures the Earth has been experiencing including new terms for how we discuss data sets (terms like extrapolate and interpolate were introduced). Along the way we reviewed the Earth’s cycling of temperatures through the last 2 million years of Ice ages and how the Earth has historically, naturally heated up and cooled down. Of special interest was the discussion of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal maximum  (PETM)  in which the oceans became largely deoxygenated and most of animal life on Land shrunk down to cope with the heat. As an extension, students then did a few minutes or research on Animals of the Eocene, which they included in their notes.. (see the assignment above: Quick and Messy notes: Due on Friday)

Thursday: Today we spent some time reviewing the different units we use to quantify energy. Joules, calories, Calories and BTUs. Each of these has a history and industry which utilizes them. Scientists and engineers use joules, food industries use Kilocalories (also called Food Calories) and heating and A/C folks use BTUs. Also, we did add one more line-item to our recent lab handout for Burning Chips lab: to describe how Kinetic Energy relates to an object’s temperature (more on this in the coming days).  See the copies of students notes above for details. 

Friday: We first reviewed the idea that we use different units for measuring energy, depending on the circumstance. Also revisited, was the idea that the concept of Energy wasn’t well understood, even during the time of Isaac Newton. (Clark discussed how after Volta invented the battery, a French scientist place probes into frog legs which then ‘jumped’ which led to the idea that electricity might the Vis Viva, the ‘energy of life’). From here we stepped into the documentary Einstein’s Big Idea (starting at the 55’05 minute to the 1:07: 54 mark) focusing on the sequence in which Emilee du Chatelet challenges Newtons ideas about energy of motion. (the last 20 minutes was work time).

Learning Objectives

• How does the Kelvin temperature scale differ from Celsius and Fahrenheit?
• What is the Boltzmann Energy Distribution graph an illustration of?
• How did Newton, Leibniz and Emilie Du Chatelet contribute to the development of the theory of energy?
• work defined (applying a force over a distance)
• That Temperature will increase if Heat is added and decrease if Heat is removed.
• Velocity = distance/time (m/sec)
• Kinetic Energy = 1/2 mV^2
• Work = Force x distance.
• Energy is conserved, but can change forms.

Monday: Clark first considered the different temperature scales in use today. Most people are familiar with the Fahrenheit scale and many are conscious of the Celsius scale. In science however, we frequently use the Kelvin Scale, which starts at Absolute Zero.  From Clark showed students a simulation of gasses and how they behave as they heat up. The purpose of this demonstration, is to illustrate that, for a collection of particles (in a gas, solid or plasma!) each individual particle will have its own speed and kinetic energy, but its the collection of these energies that determine the Temperature of the system. This then, leads to the Boltzmann Energy Distribution graph. 

Tuesday: First on the list today, was an overview of the Cookstove challenge (see the image from week 1) which basically attempts to address the fact that several billion people around the world rely on dirt and inefficient stove because they are too poor to afford anything better. (click on the link to learn more) We then took a look at the current El Nino models and discussed what exactly El Nino is. We then got back to our discussion of heat transfer by considering the Zero’th and First Laws of Thermodynamics. In short, the First Law states that, for a closed system, energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but it can change forms and move around. To demonstrate this, students did the Hot Bolt into Cold Water  lab. As its title implies, hot chunks of metal are dropped into cold cups of water. As the hot metal cools down, the cold water warms up

Wednesday We continued our discussion of Specific Heat Capacity today, and how water requires SO much more energy to change temperature than other materials. The reverse is also true..that when water dumps heat, it dumps enormous amounts of heat into the atmosphere. As part of this discussion, students were given the article In hot water_SCIENCE original  which describes the formation of a Marine Heat wave back in 2015 which wiped out entire ecosystems along the Western Coast of North America (which still have not recovered). Also discussed is the hurricane forming off of Mexico right now and how hurricanes are an example of the ocean dumping heat into the atmosphere. Students were then given the rest of class time to work on their poster project from last week.

Thursday: We stepped into the topic of Kinetic Energy and how we calculate it. This calculation though also required that we take a moment to discuss Velocity (distance/time) and how we can measure it directly. In this lab Kinetic Energy of Tennis Balls  since students would be throwing tennis balls into the air, we first discussed Conic Sections and considered Parabolas.. which are the natural trajectory that thrown objects follow. In our case, since the Arc-length for a parabola requires calculus, we approximated the arc-length as semi circles.. (we can then use the equation for circumference to solve for the semi-circle. And from here, is just a matter of using the equation for Kinetic Energy to determine how much energy the flying ball must have had. 

Friday: We began the day with the film Chasing Ice. (We watched the first 30 minutes today) This sequence leads us to the discussion of the Ice Core data from the Ice sheets in Greenland. From here, we stepped into our Lab for the day, determining the Heat of fusion of ice lab (the energy required to melt ice or the energy which is removed for water to freeze INTO ice. First up, is a phase change diagram (such as the one at right).

Learning Objectives: 

Continuing to refine our understanding of: 

• Heat of Fusion and Heat of Vaporization (for water)
• Changes of phase and states of matter (ancient and modern views)

New Learning Objectives include: 

• Thermal Conductivity
• Atmospheric Transparency
• The Greenhouse Effect.

Monday: Class began with a discussion of how the ‘ancients’ viewed matter. They had no idea about atomic structure, but did imagine that everything is made of very tiny particles called Atoms.. In their view however, the particles consisted of Air, Fire, Water and Earth and the quantities of each determined what the object would become. Students were directed to read more about these ideas from the Links at right in order to include these history views in their Heat of fusion of ice lab and poster project. From here, we stepped back into the next 30 min. sequence of  Chasing Ice which details how global, heat related disasters on the rise and gives a closeup look at the melting of the Greenland Ice cap (the Moulins are rivers of melt-water which then pour down mile deep holes in the ice, accelerating the glacial disintegration into the surrounding oceans)

Tuesday: We first revisited the Phase Change Diagram (generic) and thought again about the energy required for phase changes (and how much MORE energy is required!). We then reconsidered our recent Hot Bolt into Cold Water lab, and how, even though it only took seconds to remove the hot metal from the water bath, in those few seconds the hot water that was evaporating was pulling 2,260 joules per gram from the system! (clearly NOT a closed system during this transfer). From here we took a look at this interesting video showing how the Space Shuttle Tiles are made and how they work. The Thermal Conductivity is so low that they both protect the space shuttle as it reenters Earth’s atmosphere but can be held only moments after being removed from a 2000F oven. We then returned our discussion to writing the paper required as part of the Tennis Ball kinetic Energy Lab. Clark reviewed how to start sections with meaningful section headings, making use of Heading in Microsoft Word as well as several other cool feature. Clark pointed out that students can download Microsoft Office for free onto their personal devices (not Chromebooks)..

Wednesday: We started class today by reviewing our discussion of the Insulating Tiles used by NASA on the Space Shuttle, and how they demonstrated an extremely LOW Thermal Conductivity (the ability to transmit heat through the material) which allowed the scientist to hold a blow torch to one side while feeling zero heat on his bare hand on thh back side. We then considered situations in which you might want something to have a ‘high’ Thermal Conductivity .. such as a frying pan to quickly transmit heat into your food or perhaps on Computer Chips to pull heat away quickly (we thought about how how our cell phones get when they are being used continuously). It turns out that DIamond has one of the highest values for Thermal Conductivity which is why some modern CPU’s are mounted to thin sheets of Diamond. From here we stepped into the video The 4 minutes that will decide if Astronauts survive. which describes the incredible dangers of atmospheric reentry when the capsule is coming in from a trip to the Moon at 30,000 miles per hour. This video explains in detail, how the bottom of the capsule is covered in Tiles that are designed to ABLATE (or to evaporate) as the craft is enveloped in Plasma for up to 4 minutes. Students were to take Messy Notes, due on Friday. The rest of the period was project time. 

Thursday: 

Friday: What does it mean to be transparent? Review of what students have already learned about the greenhouse effect.. graphic of atmospheric transparency and ‘incoming radiation vs outgoing radiation’. Review of exponential increase of CO2 (today and in times past)… emphasizing the historic nature of this particular increase. Closeup of last 40 years of CO2 and discussion of why we have ‘seasonal’ fluctuation. Also on Friday, a deeper discussion of how to take notes including ‘catching what you can’ and annotating your own notes.

Learning Objectives: 

• The Four States of Matter
• What are ‘intermolecular forces’?
• How does increasing temperature affect an objects ability to stay solid? Liquid? Gas?
• What terms do we use to describe phase changes?
• Buoy vs Buoyancy vs Buoyant Force; what’s the difference?
• How to determine the Buoyant force on an object
• Phase Change diagrams.
• The First Law of Thermodynamics
• How to Calculate Percent Error. 

Monday: We first watched the next 20 minutes of Chasing Ice in which the increasing frequency and intensity of global, weather related disasters was described along with the data that Reinsurance companies are looking at when they consider their financial gains and losses. After wards, the students were given work time to complete their last round of labs and activities (the first thermodynamics and heat poster as well as their kinetic energy of Tennis Balls report).

Tuesday: Clark introduced the concept of States of Matter and Phase Changes. For historical interest, we also considered how the Ancient Greeks considered matter and energy. (see diagram at right). As part of this discussion, students built Candle-powered pinwheels.. (as the simplest example of a Heat Engine).. and as they ‘came to life’ we considered ‘why’ the pinwheel began to turn. This led to the topic of Bouyancy and Bouyant forces (what is a Bouy?)

Thursday-Friday: Clark first introduced the Laws of Thermodynamics. (there are 4). The First Law of Thermodynamics says that for a closed system, energy can be neither created or destroyed, it can only change form. Mathematically, that results in the equation: Delta Q1 +Delta Q2 + Delta Q3 = 0. In other words, if one object loses heat (i.e. -1000 joules) and a second object Gains heat (i.e., + 1,000 joules) than the SUM of those two must add to ZERO. In our lab, we had heat doing three different things: The Hot water was cooling (losing heat), the ice was Melting (phase change!) which TAKES HEAT (gaining heat).. and the newly formed Ice Water was warming up (gaining heat). Since we can use the heat equation to determine how much heat the two masses of water used to warm and cool respectively, the only unknown is Q3, the Heat to melt the ice. Once we have this, we can simply divide that value by the mass of Ice to determine the HEAT OF FUSION (joules/gram).

Additionally, we discussed the concept of Percent Error Calculations (how to determine how far off we were from the accepted value of 333 joules/gram). The remainder of the period was ‘project time’ which will continue into Friday.

Learning Objectives for the week: 

• How and why to use significant figures and carry them through calculations.
• Volume of cylinder 
• Density = mass/volume
• Percent error calculations
• Buoyant forces and predicting the ‘water line’ for a floating object

Monday was Labor Day. Tuesday and Wednesday we focused on how to use Significant figures in measurement and calculations. To put this into practice, students measured the diameter and height of a candle (a decent ‘classical’ cylinder) and then using these values, calculated the volume of that candle. From here we then determined the density (of wax) of their candle and based on the ‘law of buoyant forces’ (that the Volume of water displace is dependent on the Mass of the object which is floating (or immersed). From here we predicted the ‘water line’ (often painted on the sides of ships) to predict at what height the candle would float in the water (or from the student’s perspective, how much of the candle would remain above water).

Thursday we did one last lab, Hot bolt into Cold Water.. In this lab, students began with a known sample of cold water. We then dropped a Hot piece of metal into the cup of water and based on the final temperature (of the system in Thermal equilibrium) students were able to determine the Specific Heat Capacity of the metal.

Friday is the final, End-of-Unit test and the last day for students to submit their Main Lesson Portfolio. Review guide for Thermodynamics end of Unit test

Note to Clark: next year bring in a Helium balloon and a ‘regular’ balloon filled to the same volume. Same balloon, same size, same number of particles. Introduce elements on periodic table. Weight of He vs weight of N2, O2, etc.. very different. Affects buoyancy.. How much does does the He weigh? Gram scales to weigh He up.. to way Air (compressed) down.