FizziksGuy

Those are some great questions! (And great to hear from you, and after seeing you just a few weeks ago too!) As far as radiation goes, you could consider the EM spectrum infinite, going from infinitessimally small frequencies to the infinitessimally large. Finding intelligent is thought by many to be an impossible task, and by others to be an almost inevitability. You make a great point, though, in that much of the information we obtain about places far far away is from a time long, long ago, so the intelligent life we might find could be extinct by the time we realize it's out there. As for the last, that's a great question that brings to mind conservation of energy as well as some laws of thermodynamics (entropy, to be specific). I'd recommend searching deeper with a Briane Greene or Stephen Hawking book. All the best!

Thrilled to hear it! Best wishes on a great school year. :frog:

I took a brief stab at estimating the cost of 4 credit hours worth of freshman physics (assuming a 16-credit-hour load) at a number of institutions for a semester course to help illustrate the value of taking AP Physics in high school. These values are quick estimations and are not guaranteed in any way for validity or accuracy. For better information, please feel free to make your own comparisons. http://infogr.am/AP-Physics-C--Mechanics-Cost/

It's been a crazy couple months, but last night I finished up the flipped class videos covering the entire AP Physics C: Mechanics curriculum. My goal was to try and target all the major points of the course requirements in roughly 6 hours worth of videos, realizing, of course, that students would need some background in physics in order to handle the material at this speed. I have a bit of tweaking to do (there's a minor math typo in the SHM video, for example, that I'll redo at my earliest convenience), but I'm pretty excited that the entire set of videos clocks in right around 6:18:00. [ATTACH=CONFIG]544[/ATTACH]When people first hear this, the typical reaction I receive is "you must not have done a good job to cover all that material in such a short period of time." I look at it from the alternate perspective -- I'm boiling down the course into the key concepts and examples that illustrate them. These videos are not meant to be a substitute for an in-the-classroom standard course -- far from it, for that purpose, they would be an abysmal failure (as, I imagine, any video-based system would fail). Instead, these are meant as an additional resource, a tool, for students to review the take-away highlights from each subject, reinforcing major principles and applications. Physics is something you do, not something you know, therefore the meat of any course is taking resources such as these and applying them in a variety of situations. Practice, exploration, discovery -- that's how you learn. But having a concise review available on demand certainly can't hurt. So, for those interested in such a resource, I hope you find these videos useful and enjoyable. At the beginning of the year I'd never planned to undertake this project, but student requests in early September got me started, and ongoing feedback on the value of these has been tremendous. Our most recent unit, in which I completely flipped the classroom (absolutely no lecture in class, students watched videos at night and each day was hands-on exploration, lab, group problem solving, and reflection) led to the highest end-of-unit exam grades I've seen from a class to date. This reinforces how effective this method of instruction can be with motivated students who engage fully in the process. In short, I hope others are also able to take some value from these videos. For the 6 hours of completed videos, I would estimate I've put in close to 120 hours of work (organizing, researching, presenting, taping, re-taping, re-re-taping, editing, producing, etc.) beyond what I would have done just to teach my standard lectures, but I believe I've created a resource I can use again and again, year after year, tweaking and updating the videos as I find improved methods and alternate explanations. Not sure I want to take on the E&M half of the course this year… I have a ton of other projects on my docket (some of which are quite extensive with looming deadlines), but would love your feedback if you find these of value, if you don't, or if you'd like to see E&M completed as well. Make it a great day! Link to AP Physics C: Mechanics videos Link to AP Physics C: Mechanics guide sheets (accompany videos) (PS -- did you know APlusPhysics has a facebook page? https://www.facebook.com/pages/APlusPhysics-Regents-Physics-Essentials-and-Honors-Physics-Essentials/217361071607226?ref=hl

Check this out guys... very cool. There's a TED talk that goes along with it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkbr-FItV00

Wow, so many things I didn't know. And I love the "fencing smilies" at the end! :wave)

To insert a video, just click the video button and paste in the Youtube link... :wave)

That's a lot of pressure... no heels for me tonight, thank you!

Just curious where you get a gun's muzzle velocity of 120 mph. If I recall correctly, gun muzzle velocities tend to be significantly higher...

That is awesome. Now, who would make a great sponsor for this sport... Nike, Adidas, Blue Cross / Blue Shield?

I'm pretty sure this isn't the exact video clip I remember seeing explained, but it does recount the basic gist of the story in which a bullet fired randomly into the air comes back down with a high velocity to strike an innocent some distance away, consistent with our physics discussions about the symmetry of free fall (neglecting air resistance). Note that the video is graphic and disturbing, and not for the faint of heart. Find more details on annotated Mythbusters. [TABLE] [TR="bgcolor: #e5e5e5"] [TD]SPIKE[/TD] [TD="align: right"][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="colspan: 2"]Nite Capped[/TD] [/TR] [TR="bgcolor: #353535"] [TD="colspan: 2, align: right"]www.spike.com[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="colspan: 2"][/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD="colspan: 2"][TABLE] [TR] [TD]Spike Full Episodes[/TD] [TD]Spike Video Clips[/TD] [TD]Spike on Facebook[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] [/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

Great video. FermiLab actually made a response video as they were searching for the Higgs Boson as well, and a couple years ago the head of the Higgs Boson research project came into our classroom. He stayed for an interview in our Physics In Action Podcast (Episode 12: Field Hockey and Particle Accelerators with Dr. Ben Kilminster), and also pointed out the rap he worked on, attached below. You can see Dr. Kilminster in the video around the 3:12 mark.

Thanks for taking the time to look these over and provide an opinion on which is best. I'll have to take a look at an updated Barron's AP Physics C, 3rd Edition... they're fairly cheap from Amazon.com. Hope you get feeling better, and don't get lost in any more coffee mugs!

Hi Lil' Bretz, It's up to you to figure out what goes in each paragraph... I know, not the straightforward answer you were looking for, but it also gives you the freedom to meet the requirements of the report in your own style. The formal lab report format can be seen here: http://www.aplusphysics.com/courses/regents/lab_report.html. Baylor has a nice PDF document talking about their requirements for physics lab reports. Although, as a university, they are considerably more stringent and specific than our high school requirements, glancing through the sample report should give you a reasonable idea of what a solid report would look like: http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/110769.pdf. And, of course, you can always come in and ask the instructor for help! Make it a great day... :wave)

A terrific analysis of falling cats that will tie in especially well with our study of conservation of angular momentum this fall!!!

Love the post, and things will get hard, but I won't let you quit, because I know you'll be fine!

Soooooooooo this is my second day of AP Physics-C. I'm waiting for the day where I hear something and get the "oh-crud-what-did-I-get-myself-into" moment still.... But for now; Physics! Still figuring out this blogging business... so not sure how to make that like a preview... ah well.

Hiya Liz. What is your cooking specialty?

Hi Roxy. We've had lots of cross country runners do very well in physics -- looking forward to having you continue that trend!

Hi Tori, and welcome to physics. What's been your favorite place to visit?

I understand special relationships with my dog. Mine is still my best friend, and has been for 9 years. So much so that she's even in the physics book I wrote (I'll show you where someday if you ask!). What type of dog is Sydney? Make it a great day!

Oh wow, we can do magnetism (an entire unit) and propulsion (water bottle rockets). You wouldn't be my first student to go into music production -- I'll have to show you, one of my first students just dropped off his first CD last year! Best of luck in the course...

Hi Lily, and welcome to physics! I understand how tough it can be to pick up and move and start over (was a Navy brat myself), but it'll settle down, and we're thrilled to have you here!

Perhaps you can give us a demonstration when I pull out the guitar in the waves unit? Because really, no one wants to hear me play and sing! :banghead)

Hi Caitlin, and welcome to physics!