Friday, October 3, 2014

How it's made Neon Signs



Daily Question: How are Neon Signs made? Why do different gasses produce different colors? How do they create a variety of colors.


Real World Chemistry

http://www.compoundchem.com/

A great site with beautiful infographics which explain the chemistry behind everyday foods and the periodic table.

Monday, September 29, 2014

Substitute 9/29

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hxIlAa8L9A

Click on the link to the video above. If you can't see the video below.
Please ask the students to write the following questions on a piece of paper. They need to answer them as the video plays.

 
1.        When did the Chinese discover black powder?

2.       Potassium nitrate (KNO3) is also called ________________________.

3       How long does it take to wire a large fireworks?


4.       Until the 1830s, fireworks displays had very little color until  KNO3 was replaced with _________________________.

5.       What types of salts are added to fireworks to give them colors?

6.       Copper makes the fireworks _________ in color. Strontium makes them ________ in color, and barium makes them __________ in color.

7.   How many people in the US are injured each year by fireworks? What percent of those are injured by illegal fireworks?

  8. How hot do sparklers burn?





Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

NASA Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum



http://murphyscience.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/2/8/13285190/video_ws_tour_of_em_spectrum.pdf

Video



Friday, March 28, 2014

Newtons Three Laws For my Substitute

For my Substitute
Please ask the students to watch read chapter 10 section 3 and then watch this video. They need to take notes on everything written at the bottom of the video. Give them each a piece of white paper and tell them to draw a picture of Newton's Three laws. If they are unclear after the video they can look it up in their books. It should be in the next section.


Wednesday, March 26, 2014

NFL Acceleration Kinematics

https://www.nbclearn.com/portal/site/learn/science-of-nfl-football

Click on Kinematics to see an NFL running back run the 40 and talk about the benefits of speed vs. acceleration.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Sink Holes Explained CBS News

CBS News contributor Michio Kaku, a physics professor at City University of New York, talks to Charlie Rose and Norah O'Donnell about sinkholes - where and why they happen, and their warning . Great explanation! Link Here

Mythbusters Killer Quicksand

Good explanation of Quicksand

Killer Quicksand

What is quicksand? A colloid, solution or suspension? Why?

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Squishy Circuits

VAST Region 3 Conference-

One of my new favorite activities. Today we were learning about Ionic and Covalent bonds. Salt is an ionic bond and is a good conductor and sugar is a covalent bond and is not a good conductor.

LED lights and the connectors for 9v batteries are really inexpensive on Amazon. We are going to do this project again when we look at electricity but we will need way more LEDs, maybe 10 for each group. The dough stays fresh for a few days and one batch makes a lot. I used one batch of each for my classes and split them into groups of 2-4. The LED's rust after a few uses, so I am going to wipe them down next time.

Instructions here:
http://courseweb.stthomas.edu/apthomas/SquishyCircuits/index.htm

TED talks http://new.ted.com/talks/annmarie_thomas_squishy_circuits

Lenz Law




Great clip demonstrating Lenz's Law. Click here to see the practical application of it in recycling.

Monday, February 3, 2014

Ionic Bonding




Good video that explains Ionic Bonding. I had my students copy his notes.