Monday, April 23, 2012

Humidity Questions

Here are the essay questions about humidity that you can complete when you're ready on Classmarker.

  1. Suppose it is summer (YES!!) and you plan to have a glass of iced lemonade outside. You notice that water drops begin form on outside of the glass. Why does this happen? Where does this water come from? (2 points)
  2. A person's body tends to sweat more on a humid day than it does on a dry one, even if the outdoor temperature is exactly the same. Why does it happen this way? (Hint: Your answer should include how evaporation changes the temperature of the air.) How does this relate to how we measure relative humidity? (Hint #2: Would a large difference between dry-bulb and wet-bulb temperatures signify dry weather or humid weather?) (4 points)

Relative Humidity Lab Form

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Pressure in a Bottle

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Crushing Cans with Air

This is what I do. Here's the procedure:


  • Place 8-10 ml of water in an empty pop can.

  • Place the pop can onto the heat source and wait for the water to boil. After you see steam escape, continue to boil for one minute.

  • Use the tongs to remove the can from the heat. Quickly turn it upside-down and place it into a saucer with water (which was close-by).

In your blog response, explain what happened in this experiment step-by-step. Justify the result that you saw? What happened inside the can as it was being heated up? What does the air do? How about when it was placed in the water? Why was it crushed? Did a ghost do it?

After completing these questions in your comment, check out some "Pressure" flash cards on Ediscio, or look at the following pressure websites. Otto von Guericke makes a vacuum Toricelli's Barometer video Air Pressure Balloon Animation Storm System Animation

Power of Air Pressure


Air Pressure is the Best Around from Owen Hoegh on Vimeo.
Air pressure on top of a newspaper provides enough leverage to sever a piece of wood. Who would've thought that? Not me!

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Partner Evaluation and Reflection

Well, the Socratic Seminar on Climate Change came and went. Hopefully you were able to share your knowledge and point-of-view on this subject with your classmates. I say this because your opinion/knowledge matters. A lot.
Below is a link to your partner evaluation and your own reflection on the discussion we just had (and the research that led to it). Please include anything you might have wanted to say, but did not get the chance to. Show me what you know about Climate Change. Thanks.

Partner Eval and Reflection Form

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Socratic Seminar on Climate Change



Is "global warming" actually happening? If so, are humans causing it? Or, is climate change occurring because of natural fluctuations in the system? We will be discussing these questions and more in our Socratic Seminar on Climate Change, which will occur during class on Wednesday. Today, you will be preparing yourself to contribute (intelligently!) to that discussion. I will give you a list of questions that will be addressed, and you may use the links provided to research the issue of climate change. Remember to have an open mind, so that your arguments will be well-informed.

Here is the list of questions that may be discussed: Google Doc; Word Document). Open up the Google Doc if you have an account/Chromebook and "make a copy" to write on. If you don't have Google Docs, open up the Word document and save it to your home folder. Feel free to write notes on it as you research. You may use these notes during the discussion on Thursday.

Here is the list of links:

EPA for Kids (click on the "Climate Change -- what it is" and "Can we change the climate?")
Global Warming 101 (Roy Spencer)

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