Learning Objectives for this week. 

(from the article: In Hot Water) 

• What is a Marine Heat Wave?
• What weather related phenomena led to so much heat building up in the ocean?
• What was the impact on Marine Life?
• How did the die-off of Giant Sea-Stars affect the coastal Kelp forests?
• What percentage of the ‘extra’ global heat that is accumulating go into the oceans?

(From the article:  Breathless Oceans)

• How did the scientists decide to collect data on ocean conditions?
• What kinds of data were they collecting?
• What did they discover about the oceans level of dissolved oxygen?
• What are the forecasts for the future?
• How have large-scale fisherman benefitted from these changing conditions?

Tuesday through Thursday: Clark was out so the sub gave the students two articles to read in class, In Hot Water and Breathless Oceans. The sub described how to Annotate a text like this in which there is very little space on the page itself to write notes (highlight, underline, put ‘boxes’ around the text and then give each item a number which can be referenced on a separate sheet of paper. The key idea is that Annotating is the process of interacting through writing (usually in the margins) with the reading  including: Restating important points, identifying key vocabulary, asking questions about topics or reflecting on ideas being presented. In parallel, students watched the film: March of the Penguins. 

Friday: Clark returned today and spent the first part of the period introducing himself and then laying out some introductory ideas about Thermodynamics. These include some of the units we use in science (Today we just used T, delta T and To). 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.

Learning Objectives for this week.

• 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..
• The Zero’th and First laws of Thermodynamics. 

Monday: 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!

Tuesday: 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)

Wednesday: Today we started a new lecture titled: The Science of Heat. In this conversation, we first discussed the idea that Energy is not a thing you can hold in your hand but instead, is an abstract concept; the Ability to do Work. Wind has it, fuels have it, bows pulled back to launch arrows have it, but what is IT? The ability to exert a Force and make something move through a Distance. Along the way we considered different units for Force (pounds and Newtons) and different units for distance (inches, meters, miles, etc.). The Standard Units in Science are Newtons for Force and Meters for distance. We then spent a fair amount of time reviewing the HEAT equation which allows us to calculate how much Heat Energy the water must have absorbed in order to change temperature to the degree that it did. We also spent time considering the idea that Energy cannot be measured directly, so instead, we measure the effects on systems by adding energy (i.e., by how much something changes temperature, or by how much something’s speed increases, etc). As part of this, we considered three, separate ‘cubes’ of stuff; rock, metal and water.. and how each material will respond differently given the same heat input. (the lab we will do tomorrow will allow us to see this directly).

Thursday: Clark first introduced the idea that in similar fashion to distances and forces, energy itself can be measured with different units.  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. We then stepped into the Hot Bolt into Cold Water which has students dropping hot metal into cold water. This allows us to see the Zero’th law and the First Law of Thermodynamics in action.

Friday: Today Clark reviewed yesterday’s lab: Hot Bolt into Cold Water and emphasized that though the Zero’th law states that all components of a closed system want to reach Thermal Equilibrium, the rule does NOT state that they must meet ‘in the middle’ (i.e, if an object at 80C comes into contact with an object at 20C, they will not necessarily reach an equilibrium temperature of 50C). What is true, is the 1st law comes into play: That the Energy Lost by the hot metal (delta Q metal) will equal the heat Gained by the water (delta Q water).. i.e., the SUM of those two must be ZERO. We then had class time to complete this lab and start work on their Poster Project: What is Heat? What is Energy? 

Learning Objectives

• Thermal Conductivity as a measure of the rate of heat transfer through a material.
• 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?
• That Temperature will increase if Heat is added and decrease if Heat is removed.
• The Ice Core Data set and what it tells us.
• Velocity = distance/time (m/sec)
• Kinetic Energy = 1/2 mV^2
• That semi-circles can be used to approximate a parabola
• The concept of arclength and how to calculate using the Circumference formula

Monday: Today began with a review of the crash of a Lear Jet over Florida and the likely causes. From here we moved into the general topic of Aircraft (or Spacecraft) coming in from outer space at speeds in excess of 20,000 miles per hour. At this speed, the atmosphere compresses into a Plasma that envelopes the aircraft as it slows from 20,000 miles per hour down to a manageable 500 mph.. In order to protect the space/air craft from the incredible heat (upwards of 3,000 degrees!) special tiles are utilized which have an extremely LOW thermal conductivity.

Tuesday: Clark first introduced a new article for students to annotate about batteries which store heat. We first reviewed how ‘green energies’ such as Wind and Solar have been improving for years now but the fact remains that Wind Turbines only spin when the wind blows and Solar panels only work when the Sun shines. So Battery technology is just as important as power generation ideas. We then switched to a documentary called Chasing Ice which documents a project from 2010 to capture imagery of the melting polar glaciers. (We just watched the first 20 minutes or so, up to the discussion of the ICE CORE data set).

Wednesday: 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. 

Thursday-Friday We stepped into the topic of Kinetic Energy and how we calculate it. Today’s lecture became our third example of required “messy notes” with the topic being Kinetic energy and its relationship to Temperature. First Clark reviewed the idea that even during Newton’s time, scientists were still not clear on exactly what the concept of energy was. They could see that there was something special about an object’s mass and its velocity, especially during collisions, We then stepped into a bit of history by watching a short clip from Einstein’s Big Idea which focuses on this debate through the lens of Emile Du Chatelet. We then stepped outside to throw tennis balls around and to calculate how much kinetic energy they must posses, and by extension, how much work and force the students must have put in. This calculation though also required that we take a moment to discuss Velocity (distance/time) and how we can measure it directly.  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.

Additional Resources!

• student notes_kinetic energy and related

• student notes_kinetic energy and related 2

Learning Objectives:

• Phase Change diagrams (solid -> liquid-> Gas -> Plasma
• Heat of Fusion, Heat of Vaporization (forwards and backwards!)
• That a phase change does not include a temperature change.
• How to apply the 1st Law of Thermodynamics to solve for Heat of Fusion
• Ablation as a process which goes from solid to gas (skipping the liquid state)
• Phase diagram for Water
• How pressure plays into phase changes.
• Polar Vortex as a heat driven fluid dynamic
• The Thermal-Halene cycle as a heat driven fluid dynamic.

Monday: Clark first introduce the concept of a phase change highlighting the fact that during a phase change, the temperature remains fixed. We then considered what water looks like in each ‘state’ including plasma. What exactly is ‘plasma’? When plasma’s cool, what do they condense into? (recombination is the term). We also discussed briefly, the chemical process of combustion focusing on the combustion of HydroCarbon’s (vs CarboHydrates) and introduced terms such as Reactants and Products. The point was that when you see a fire burning in a fire place, the FIRE that you see is actually a State of Matter (called a Plasma) which in fact, are the Substances Called Water and Carbon Dioxide. (the plasma then cools to form two, transparent gasses). We then stepped into our Heat of fusion of ice lab

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!). Clark then shared with students the concept that phase changes are not solely based on temperature, but also on pressure. With this he showed an interesting clip showing how a fighter jet flying at near the speed of sound can produce a ‘cloud’ of water vapor in the shape of the Shock Wave.  We then considered a Phase Diagram for Water highlighting the fact that as pressure swings wildly, the resulting temperature swings cause water vapor to condense and then reevaporate as the Jet moves forward. We then continued with this train of thought by stepping into Ablation as a transition from Solid to Vapor, but skipping the Liquid state. Dry Ice does this when it evaporates. Of special interest though, was a 20 minute video showing how the recent Artimis II mission utilized the ablation of a ‘sacrificial material’ to protect the returning astronauts from the over 3,000 degree Celsius reentry temperatures. Students then used the last 20 minutes to finish their recent Heat of Fusion lab for water. 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.

Additional Resources! 

• student notes_phase change

Wednesday: Is a Holiday! Veterans Day! Yay! 

Thursday: To start off today’s conversation Clark discussed how the worlds oceans, which are absorbing !95% of the planets excess heat, also redistribute that heat around the planet. There is a reason the Pacific Ocean off of California is cold (as water comes down from the Arctic) and the Oceans off of the East Coast are warm since they are coming up from the Tropics. In the Atlantic Ocean, this warm water comes up to Greenland, cools off (dumping heat into the atmosphere and keeping Europe Warm) but also gets more dense and sinks.. This is called the Thermohaline cycle.  The Concern now is that this cycle may collapse due to the volume of fresh water coming off of the Greenland Ice sheet. Clark passed out the Heat of fusion of ice lab and poster project and gave students the entire period to get started.

Friday: Class began with Clark reminding students that Global Warming is not just about things getting hotter but also includes all of the extended consequences. Some of these include the fact that the oceans are absorbing ~ 90% of the excess heat. And as the oceans warm up they both expand causing sea-level rise and they lose their dissolved oxygen (see the article: Breathless Oceans) which is resulting in mass die-offs of marine life (see this article in the New York Times highlight thousands of bird deaths down in Southern California).  We then stepped back into the film: Chasing Ice and jumped into a sequence in which the scientists are exploring the massive surface melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet creating Moulins  which can drop down thousands of feet into the Ice sheet itself. As a final comment, Clark brought up the Great Flood of 1862 in which the entire central valley flooded up to 20 feet deep in some places.

Learning Objectives:

• How did sweating help early humans hunt?
• How do most other animals shed heat if they can’t sweat?
• What is pressure? What are standard units of pressure?
• How can we determine the force on an object given the pressure?
• How does an implosion differ from an explosion?
• 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: Today was mostly a work day with students beginning to organize their Main Lesson Portfolios. New for the discussion was the structure of the portfolio including a Title Page, Table of Contents and a Reflection page.

Friday: Today we introduced the concept of Buoyancy and Buoyant forces. Clark described how hot air rises as its density changes. As an extension, we discussed how students have likely seen vultures ‘catching Thermal’s”.. More interesting however, is the Albatross, which can stay aloft for weeks at a time (and sleep while they are flying!). With this we watched some youtube clips of Lava Lamps and discussed how they work. This then led into our first Buoyancy Lab in which students predicted the ‘water line’ for cylindrical candles.

Tuesday: We first considered buoyancy of objects which are submerged through this short video illustrating how submarines can control their depth. From here we did an interesting lab in which students first weighed a set of steel washers as well as calculating their volume. We then place small cups of water onto scales and compared the apparent weight of the system before and after the washers were submerged (without touching the bottom). This served as an interesting example of forces and the concept of the ‘net force’ acting on a system.

Wednesday: Life of Mammals:(Episode 10: food for thought). This episode fundamentally describes humans as an extension of other, higher primates but on interesting sequence describes Persistance Hunting, in which humans quiet literally, run down their prey. They can only do this because we are able to sweat which, due to the high Heat of Vaporization of water (2,260 joules/gram) allows us to stay cool even on hot days and even while running after wild game!

Thursday: Today’s topic is pressure. What is pressure? How can we make use of it? How does a hydraulic jack work? What is atmospheric pressure a measure of? Why does the water stay in the inverted Erlenmeyer Flask? Why can’t two people pull apart the Sphere of Thor? Clark also passed out the Review guide for Thermodynamics end of Unit test_block2

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.