• Spring 2007 News from India, Iran, and Korea
• Greenhouse Effect Policies both U.S. and Abroad
• Alternate Energy in the News
• Scientific American Article, Sept. 2006 Issue: "The Rise of Renewable Energy."

1.   List each of the four major types of change that will occur due to the Greenhouse Effect, and add an example for two of them.

2.  Describe two of the most interesting new ideas for alternate energy sources that are being researched here in the U.S. as mitigating strategies for our fossil fuel-based economy.

3.  What do the film makers suggest is the most important thing for communities to do “right now” in terms of adaptation?

4. What final thoughts does the narrator leave you with?

Nuclear Power Discussion

1.  Why would one support the present use and increased use of nuclear power in the US?

2.  What reasons are there for not supporting an increase in nuclear power in the US?

3.  How does each person in the group fell about use of nuclear power as part of the US energy solution?  List the major reason for each person.

• BBC News Website:  Guide to Nuclear Power -- use this website to explore the basics of nuclear power
• Scientific American Article, Sept. 2006 Issue: "The Nuclear Option."
  
• National Geographic Article, April 2006 Issue:  "Nuclear Comeback."
• New York Times Magazine Article, July 2006 Issue:  "Atomic Balm."
• 
  

Nuclear Weapons -- The World Scene --
Nuclear Power vs. Nuclear Weapons

• How nuclear bombs work
  
• Articles on India
• Articles on North Korea
• Articles on Iran

The Nucleus -- Ch. 26

• Raisin Pudding Model (J.J. Thompson)
• Gelatanous positiviely charged "pudding" with specks of negatively charged "raisins"

• Becquerel discovers "radioactive" materials: namely uranium salts
• Gives Pierre and Marie Curie the job of isolating radioactive materials
• They share the Nobel prize for discovery of radioactivity and radium.
• Rutherford finds alpha and beta rays looking at "Becquerel rays"
• Villard finds gamma rays
  

• Rutherford, Geiger, & Marsden  -- Use alpha particles to bombard gold foil and see where alpha particles are diverted.
• See alpha particles reflected BACK from foil
• So surprising (given the raisin pudding idea) that Rutherford said, "It was like firing a cannon ball at a piece of tissue paper and having it bounce back !"
• Rutherford puts forth the planetary model of the atom:  Nucleus at core with electrons orbiting.
  

• Alpha particles are helium nuclei -- 2 protons and 2 neutrons
  
• Beta decay depends on an electron either
  
• being produced when a neutron turns into a proton and then an electron must be spit out of the nucleus
• being absorbed, or captured, by a proton so that it turns into a neutron
• Gamma decay is a photon with very high energy
• 100s of KeV or Mev in energy
• compared to xrays in the 10s to 100 KeV
• compared to visible light in the 0.5 - 2 eV
• ²³³Pa ₉₁ has 91 protons, 142 neutrons, 91 electrons, and 233 nucleons.
  

• Number of nucleons is conserved
• Element may transform up or down the periodic table to a different element depending on the number of protons remaining after the decay
• Element may stay the same and just release energy from the nucleus (gamma decay)
• Charge is conserved

• The half-life of a radioactive material (one with unstable nuclei in it) is defined as the time it takes for half of the radioactive nuclei to decay to their decay products (called daughter or child products).
• For instance, if the half-life of helium-8 is 0.119 seconds, then if 50 grams of helium-8 decayed for 0.119 seconds, there would only be 25 grams of helium-8 left and the rest would be made up of the daughter material.
  

Q1.  Looking at the “Wedge” from the Scientific American article and the subsequent pie chart, how do you see the US managing its future energy needs?

Q2.  From a social standpoint, how does the world energy needs fit with the energy use of the US to date and possible future use?  See Rich World, Poor World map.

Q3.  Using the charts on coal resources, use, and emissions answer the following.  Should fossil fuel plants be completely replaced over time? Or should we find a way to improve their efficiency and then add other fuel production methods to our list of possible sources?

Q4.  Using charts, and figures provided, comment on the different ways we can make energy that are not “mainstream” right now. 

Q5.  Do you agree with the idea that we can only count on technology that is now available as a sure thing resource for future energy needs?  Why or why not?

Q6.  What about our Research and Development budget (R&D) and how do these concern tie in with the articles we read at the beginning of the semester on the US losing its “edge” in science?

• IPCC 2007 Report
• Energy Flow Diagram for the U.S. from Energy Information Administration
  
• IPCC Poster with a Quick Overview of Report
  

Climate and the U.S. Energy Budget

1.  Where would you place yourself in terms of your views of the US and its place in the world?

From:

We should be 100% global in our views

·     Economic

·     Social

·     Political

·     Energy-wise

To:

We should be 100% nationalistic in our views

2.  Global warming needs to be considered in a _____________ sense. (and when)

Global 

National 

Regional 

Local

3.  How does our wealth (the country’s in general) affect the global scene?

4.  What do you think the national priorities should be in terms of energy and global warming?

Alternate Energy and the World's Energy Future

• Scientific American Article, Sept. 2006 Issue:  "A Plan to Keep Carbon in Check."
• Scientific American Article, Sept. 2006 Issue: "The Rise of Renewable Energy."
• APS News Article, Oct. 2006:  US research and its Energy Future
• National Geographic Articles, March 2006 Issue:  "The high cost of cheap coal."

Tues. Mar. 20th, Thurs. Mar. 22nd, & Tues. Mar. 27th
Ch. 11:  Thermal Energy

Fun with Liquid Nitrogen

1.  Describe all the thermal processes which occur in the liquid nitrogen in your cup, and what the sources of each are.

2.  What happens to the marshmallow as it is dunked into the liquid nitrogen?

Tues. Mar. 6 & Thurs. Mar. 8th
Al Gore's "an inconvenient truth" DVD

An Inconvenient Truth: A Global Warning !

With Al Gore and www.ClimateCrisis.net

DAY 1 of the Movie

Group Discussion Paper

1.  List 5 important points that were presented on the DVD, and explain them in one sentence

2.  List 2 questions worth discussing as a group.  Discuss them and record different group member’s points of view.

DAY 2 of the Movie

Group Discussion Paper

1.  What was the most surprising thing that you learned from this presentation?  Record each group member’s response and discuss briefly among yourselves.

2.  What things could you do, as an individual, in your daily life that would make a change for our global environment?  Make a list below.

Tues. Feb. 27th & Thurs. Mar. 1st
Ch. 8 -- Energy

Main Ideas:

Work:    Can be defined in a number of ways.  It is related to changing the state of
motion of an object, changing an objects position, and/or changing its state of energy.

                                   W =  F d  = DKE  = DPE

F is force, d is distance, KE is kinetic energy, and PE is potential energy.  Applying a force over a distance can increase the
speed of an object or change its potential energy.

                                    KE = 1/2 m v2

Is energy due to motion of an object.  Any object in motion will exhibit KE.  It is a
scalar quantity NOT a vector quantity.

                                     PE = m g h

                           Power = Work/Time

This describes how quickly you do the work.  The quicker it is done the more power is required.

Conservation of Energy states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it
simply changes states (or types of energy).

Conservation of Mechanical Energy states that a system that is isolated can exhibit
conservation of mechanical energy. That is the total energy of the system comes from the sum of PE and KE and as the system

evolves:

                               KE + PE = Constant.

In-Class Demonstrations and Calculations of W and
Conservation of Mechanical Energy.
 

Examples of Conservation of Energy:

 (1)  A 1 kg pendulum swings from a starting position of 50 cm above equilibrium. What is its speed at the bottom of its
swing?

(2)  The same pendulum swings to 15 cm above equilibrium.  What is its speed there?

Mini Experiment

Bouncing Balls & Roller Coaster Experiments

1.      Bouncing Ball:  Ball, meter stick

a.       Choose a height to start from.  hi =

b.      Drop ball.

c.       Record height ball returns to.  hf =

d.      Calculate the following quantities:  PE before, PE after, Speed ball hits ground with.

e.       Is mechanical energy conserved during fall?  After return bounce?  What happens to the energy of the ball?

f.        Choose another height to start from.  Then calculate how fast the ball is moving part of the way through the fall (for instance, drop ball from 75 cm and see how fast it is moving at 30 cm)

2.      Roller Coaster Problem:  Loop-de-loop, car or ball, meter stick

PE at top, Speed of car/ball at bottom, Speed of car/ball at top of loop

CH. 6 -- Momentum

Information on the Neutrino Discovery and Recent Experiments:

http://ppewww.ph.gla.ac.uk/~psoler/P1X_neutrino_2004_1.pdf

Other Neutrino News:  http://www.physorg.com/news346.html

Main Equations:

Linear Momentum                                   p = mv

Newton's Second Law                              F = (p_f - p_i) / t

Impulse                                                 F Dt = D(mv)

        In order to change an object's momentum, you must apply a force for a period of
time.  If you increase the time, you can decrease the necessary force.

Conservation of Linear Momentum           p(before) = p(after)

Fermi Lab:  <http://www.fnal.gov:80/> Go see how conservation of momentum and
energy are used in real life!

        Momentum is a vector quantity defined as   p = mv where p and v are
        vectors.

        Momentum is a conserved quantity when there are no external forces
        acting on a system.

        Elastic Collisions are ones in which both momentum and kinetic energy
        are conserved.

Key Concepts:

F = ma                  F = D(mv)/Dt

In  Class Work:
              Define Newton's 3 Laws

              Give examples of each as you would explain them to a middle schooler..

Focus in on Newton's Laws:

1.  First and Second Law:  The NET force is the important quantity.  If there is a NET
force, there is an acceleration.  If there is NO NET force, there is no acceleration; BUT there can still be motion (constant speed in  straight line).

2.  Examples of Places where net force must be considered:

Falling objects and air resistance.
Pushing objects across a surface and friction force.

3.  Third Law:  Action and Reaction Pairs, Which forces need to be largest to get an
object to accelerate in a  particular direction.

Examples of Newton's Laws -- Net force and terminal velocity

Units of Force, Weight, Mass

Ch. 4 Homework

Thurs. January 25, Tues. January 30th, & Thurs. Feb. 1st
Ch.  3-  Motion

Key Concepts:

Acceleration - average and due to gravity

Free fall and Air resistance -- Terminal velocity

Projectile Motion:

              Motion can be separated into its vertical and horizontal components.

        Vertical motion controlled by gravitational forces and any air resistance that occurs.
        An object undergoing horizontal motion feels no unbalanced forces (once thrown/shot
        object is released).
        Equations of motion can be chosen for each type of motion.

                Vertical:    d_y = 1/2 a t²       V_fy = V_iy ± at

                Horizontal:  d_x = V_ix t
 

When a ball is thrown up in the air, it experiences vertical motion.

When a ball is rolled across a table, it experiences horizontal motion.

When a ball is thrown across the room, it experiences BOTH vertical and
horizontal motion.
 

              Galileo showed that we can look at each of the above motions separately.

              Angles for projectile motion -- In class demo/ experiment --

What angle is the best to use for shooting a dart gun if one wants to have the dart travel the
farthest in the horizontal direction?
 

Phy 101 Motion Problems

1.  Balloon Fight !   You want to drop a water balloon on a friend who is out jogging at 1.6 m/s.  If the residence hall is 30 meters high, how far away from the target spot should your friend be when you drop the balloon?

2.  The tortoise and the hare!  The tortoise and the hare are having a race.  Hare expects to win easily and so doesn’t line up quickly.  Tortoise starts off from the start line accelerating at 0.03 m/s² for 20 seconds, then continues at that speed for 120 seconds.  If Hare finally leaves 50 seconds later and accelerates at 0.5 m/s² for 5 seconds, and then continues at that pace, when will he catch up with tortoise?  How far will they both have traveled by then?

3.  Cannon Balls Away !  Galileo is testing cannons by holding a cannon shooting contest.  If the cannon you have is shot at a 30 degree angle with a velocity of 36 m/s, how far away could the target be located from the cannon and you still be able to hit it?

What does each type of graph look like for the following
situations:

        Constant Motion -- the distance increases with time (straight line with some slope, the steepness of the line is related to the speed), the speed stays the same regardless of time (straight horizontal line), the acceleration is zero

        Acceleration -- The distance increases or decreases with time but the slope changes (as you speed up the slope increases, as you slow down the slope of the curve decreases) thus you see a curved line on distance graph, the speed incresases of decreases with time in a linear fashion (straight line with some slope corresponding to acceleration), the acceleration is a constant at all times (straight horizontal line (non-zero, may be positive or negative))

        No Motion -- the distance remains the same regardles of time (straight horizontal liine), all other graphs are at zero (no speed and acceleration)

        Changing Acceleration -- all graphs are more complicated, distance changes with time in a curved fashion and so does speed, accelearation is changing with time (straight line at some angle)
 

Graphing of Scenerios
Ex. Dog runs ambles down street at constant pace, sees a cat and speeds up
to chase it at a full run, cat ducks into doorway and dog must decelerate to
a stop.

Ex.  Hawk sitting in tree, sees a mouse, dives going faster and faster to a high speed,
swoops across the field, grabs for mouse but misses, flies dejectedly at a lower speed
to a fence post, lands on post feeling sorry for itself.

Mini-experiment In Class

Equipment:  Meter sticks & stop watches

Using the above tools and the people in your group.  Measure the
following quantities.

a)  Average speed of a person walking at constant pace.

b)  Average acceleration of person starting from stop to a run.

c)  Your response time when dropping a ruler between fingers
 

Experimental Procedure:   Describe below how you would do the
above 3 measurements.

How many trials would you do? Why?

Data:   Record data below and show calculations of speed,
acceleration, and response time.

Analysis:  Are the values you calculated reasonable?  why or why
not?

What are possible sources of error?

Ch. 1,2, & 3-  Motion

Key Concepts:

Looking at graphs to determine trends and find information

Vectors vs. scalar quantities
    Length associated with amount is a scalar, but is part of a vector.
    Direction completes the designation of the vector -- vector is a scalar quantity PLUS direction

Addition of vectors graphically in 2-D and numerically in 1-D

Speed -- average and instantaneous

Distance

Velocity

Vector Quantities

Acceleration - average and due to gravity

The US standing in science -- see websites listed below

Article Analysis:

• What are the facts of the case?
• What are the issues brought out in the readings
• Who is affected by the problem (may or may not be persons directly mentioned in stories)?
• What science information is given and what is needed to understand the story?
• What questions do you have as a result of reading this article?

Science -- an intro -- see websites listed below

• What is science?
• What is technology?
• How is science conducted?
• Scientific method
• Academic and Industrial Laboratories
• Why do citizens need to know science?

• What is critical thinking?
• How do YOU form an opinion?
• What is an informed opinion?
• How does one effectively argue a point?

• What are the facts of the case?
• What are the issues brought out in the study?
• Who is affected by the problem (may or may not be persons directly mentioned in stories)?
• What are possible directions one could take from where the story left off?
• What would be the possible consequences of such actions?
• Ethical, social, economic, and political implications
•  Practical constraints

• "Are we losing our edge?,"  by Michael D. Lemonick
• "Looking for a Lab-Coat Idol,"  by Rebecca Winters Keegan
• "Don't believe the hpye.  We're still No. 1," by Charles Krauthammer
• "The political science test," by Karen Tumulty and Mark Thompson

• " The technology industry:  Different Strokes,"  The Economist, October 7, 2006.
  

Is the US losing its edge in science?

From Time Magazine, Feb. 5, 2006 and The Economist, Oct. 7. 2006.

Page 1:

 (a) Article Analysis: (25 points)  The first part of the assignment should contain a listing of answers to the following questions:

• What are the facts of the case?
• What are the issues brought out in the readings?
• Who is affected by the problem (may or may not be persons directly mentioned in stories)?
• What information (like statistics, data, or info from graphs) is given and what is needed to understand the story?

Page 2-3

 (b) Article Discussion: (25 points)  The second part of the assignment should be a 1-2 page answer to the following questions from a single point of view (which you must identify).  This should be about 400-600 words long.

The Article Discussion page should follow good writing practices and contain an introduction, answers to two questions, and a conclusion.

Choose a particular person – a politician, CEO, scientist, student, parent, economist, minister, etc

• Describe one possible direction that the US could take from where the story left off from the viewpoint of the person you have identified?
• Tell me what would be the possible consequences of such actions

Ethical, political, social, economic implications and address Practical constraints

• Support your ideas from other articles, from sources you have found.

Paper should contain citations and references within text.  You can use ANY style, as long as it gives the reader the information necessary to find the source.