More Maths

With exams done for the year and internal exams over now is the time to create a stock more maths questions in similar styles and levels of difficulty as the exam questions for the students to practice on once they have done all the book questions

 

Ore on a Stick

 One of the easiest ways of extracting small amounts of ore - powdered rock on a stick. Works well with Malachite and Iron ore haematite. Copper sometimes get small balls 0.5mm and the iron get good iron filings

Modelling the expanding Universe

 Having a model of the Universe is handy

Simulations

Sometimes there is no other way of explaining science than to use a simulation. Here I am using counters in make believe cells to show how infection can move through a population like the plague or Covid. The model also shows how herd immunity works.

Code.Node

 

One of the best hybrid sensors I have come across the @Pascoscientific Code.Node is great for learning programming, can the programmed to do all types of things that ordinary sensors can't but programmed by me for  science lesson can be invaluable.

Playing with magnets

 Playing with magnets. It doesn’t seem to matter the age, the students love playing with magnets.

Using a gas syringe

Repeating the rates experiment but this time using a gas syringe, so that the students can get experience of doing the same experiment in different ways and comparing them.

Prisms and things

 Investigating Prisms, rainbows, diffraction gratings, electromagnetic spectra and spectrometers. Mixing up the syllabus to make other connections. #iteachphysics

Density

Putting a pin in a piece of wood so the density can be measured. It came out at 0.92 g/cm3 with no wet fingers.
 

Investigating rates of reaction

Looking at the rates of reaction of vinegar and chalk. The hardest problem to solve is how to get a full measuring cylinder of water with no air bubbles. Clingfilm is the answer and works really well.

 

Looking at E/Z isomers

Chair, boat, cis trans, E-Z confuses the students until they get hold of the models and can create the different forms and see that they are different. Doing this quickly is difficult with some system but with the @snatoms it is simplicity itself.

Crushing Chalk

 Looking at rates of reaction, particle size. And the best bit of the experiment was crushing the large bits of chalk and making it into a powder.

Plancks Constant Apparatus

The students were horrified when they worked out the error in using this apparatus at over 50%, so we spent a lot of time getting the errors down to around < 10% and getting some reasonable figures for Plancks constant.

Clinostat

 My new clinostat has arrived so we can now have a go at some tropism experiments, demos and videos. I cam hope to do a series of time lapse videos of the seedlings growing and not bending towards the light.

Pasco metal Metre Stick

 At the other end of the ruler the two are together but the new wooden metre stick is warped and  is not straight. It isn't even 1 metre. I believe in giving the students the best equipment so that they can get the best results.

Spectroscope

Using a hand spectroscope causes many problems for the students to observe what they are supposed to see. Using the camera I can at least ensure that even if the student could observe the spectra themselves they have looked at what they should have seen
 

Thermoelectric Generator

 Thermoelectric Generator or a Seebeck generator works via a heat transfer though a material to convert 'heat' into electricity.

A thermoelectric generator also known as a TEG, is a solid state device that converts heat flux (temperature differences) directly into electrical energy through a phenomenon called the Seebeck or Peltier effect which is a form of thermoelectric effect. this type of generator is being used by NASA and the Martian Rovers to power without the uses of solar panels, because of how inefficient they are!

A level Maths

One of the most essential Maths lessons a student can have is on how to use a calculator. The students take these calculators into the exam without the knowledge of most of the functions, which could help them in the exams

Simulations

Sometimes simulations are a good idea to show a concept that can't be seen. But should you use computer simulations or instead is it better to have models and apparatus that the students can touch and play with. The latter although they take time to make seem to work much better

Dragons fire

 One of those fun experiments - producing dragons fire - the boron sparks off an exciting and interesting conversation on flame tests, identification of chemicals and fireworks.

Osmosis

Trying to find an isotonic solution for the chips. I have found that the chip cutter is excellent at producing chips of the same sizes.

Pasco Ultrasonic sensor

I probably use this @pasco ultrasonic sensor more than any other sensor in Physics. Other sensors come out for specific experiments but this one seems to be used in more experiments than any other and being wireless and having a good range  it is invaluable.

The students Listening to themselves

So few students seemed to have listened to their bodies. The heartbeat, the breathing and how it changes as we do exercise and recover afterwards. Getting out the stethoscope is so easy and so rewarding.

Feather and Coin

The coin and feather experiment must rate as one of my favourites, so simple but so effective and with a bit of slight of hand and two identical setups then the magic begins. Why do they fall together in the tube but not outside. Science is Magic.

Making Anhydrous Copper Sulfate

 One trick missed when making anhydrous copper sulfate seems to be repeating the experiment by adding a little water, hydrating the copper sulfate and then repeating the experiment to show how the reaction is repeatedly reversible.

Hydrotrioxides found in the atmosphere, the impact of which needs to be examined.

Organic hydrotrioxides (ROOOH) are known to be strong oxidants used in organic synthesis. It has been speculated that they are formed in the atmosphere through the gas-phase reaction of organic peroxy-radicals (RO2) with hydroxyl radicals (OH). Researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research in Leipzig, Germany, have reported the direct observation of ROOOH formation from several atmospherically relevant RO2 radicals. For the OH-initiated degradation of isoprene, global modelling predicts molar hydrotrioxide formation yields of up to 1%, which represents an annual ROOOH formation of about 10 million metric tons. The atmospheric lifetime of ROOOH is estimated to be minutes to hours. Hydrotrioxides represent a previously omitted substance class in the atmosphere, the impact of which needs to be examined.

 

Virtually ready for Maths 2

 The students have all been studying hard over the half term with me preparing for the second Maths paper. We have gone over all the things that  they were unsure about and now they are ready.

Making Vinegar

 Making vinegar from ethanol and an oxidising agent  Potassium dichromate. A great example of an exothermic reaction, and here just using hot water rather refluxing.

The mortar and Pestle

It always feels like real chemistry when you have to get out the mortar and pestle and grind up something to do the experiment

Internal Energy

 

Trying to get over the idea of heat and internal energy in molecules. The students don't seem to grasp the idea of molecules in motion - but the desk is stationary!

Physics Revision

 Working hard with the GCSE Physics revision. The students making sure they have covered all the material in detail

Pascals Vases

 

Pascals Vases. Something to get the students to think about. They nearly all got it wrong and were surprised at the results until all the equations came out.