Meese 12/12

Today was a glorious day in the world of Honors Physics. There was no homework due today, because of the test on Friday, so the class began with various tables dicussing some strange results that they had recieved on their lab reports. I, however, could not contribute to the conversation, because I am not an overachiever. Nonetheless, the class then started with Coats-Haan reminding everyone of the lab report that was due tommorrow and she stated that page 99 of the lab manual was due on Wednesday. After this, all of the table partners paired up to do a small project, except poor Katie Schwab because of the absent Michaela Wandersee (hope you feel better, or something). The project was title Saturn's Moons and the idea behind this project was to observe different moons and their distance from Saturn, radius, orbital speed, time of orbit, gravitational pull and mass. After all of these results were typed into an Excel chart, the groups then had to make two graphs showing a high correlation between the tested variables. After these time consuming and tedious processes, each group must state six sentences explaining positive or negative relationships in the data. After this had been completed, the groups then proceeded to define the X and Y variables in the experiment and write out two equations that explain the relationships in mathematical terms. It was not a challenging lab, although I am speaking for myself when saying this because of my genious lab partner Chrissy Clyde, but it was time consuming. Some groups got finished in class, but many need to out the finishing touches on their projects tommorrow. All in all, the class wasnt as exciting as it normally is when we take notes, but instead of being humorous, Coats-Haan decided to wear an outfit of the utmost elegance to make up for the lack of opportunities for humor. Despite few funny moments, it was still a great day in Coats-Haan Honors Physics and if we ever need cheering up, Zach Sieber is always there tobe made fun of.
P.S. Scott and I will sit behind you again when Kevin Cleaves gets his Eagle Scout so that we can make fun of him (but mostly Zach) then as well.

12/01 Alaimo

Today we started off class by turning in our Friction questions worksheet that was homework last night.  We then talked about our test averages.  After, we watched a Simpsons' clip that showed the school floor being replaced by an ice rink and had no friction.  We then proceeded by taking notes over friction.  Our conversation strayed away from our friction notes for a moment when Lauren shared a story about a teacher putting a folder on a student's head and using a rubber band to hold it in place so that the student could not cheat during a test.  We then did an example on our example sheet together and then completed a pair check with our lab partner.  Our homework tonight is pg. 128 (#34, 35, 37, 39-44).

Question of the Day: What things affect the coefficient of friction?
Answer: Smoothness, whether or not they're lubricated, magnitude of the normal force, and type of materials in contact.

12/1 qod

What things affect the coefficient of friction?

-ch