Interested in Climate Modeling, but don't know how to code? Check out EdGCM!!

Here is a wonderful resource for students and teachers to use for climate science interests. You can run a professional climate simulator without having to know the vast levels of science or coding that go into such simulators. The Educational Global Climate Modeling site at Columbia University, EdGCM, takes an old NASA climate model and has developed a GUI for user friendly accessibility for running the simulations.

Run and analyze your own simulations using parameter sets of your choice, to 'discover' the effects of all sorts of physical processes on the global climate. I believe you can even run simulations for past climates, such as ice age periods, to learn how natural physics processes cause cycles in climate patterns.

This could be a game changer both for learning about the actual science of climate, as well as the science research process used to study climate!! Have phun!

Relevant to Juniors: New Star-Exoplanet system found close to us

Especially juniors, check out this article about a large gas giant planet, similar to Jupiter, orbiting a small dwarf star. There are many questions astronomers are asking about how a small star could form large planets, but regardless it is there! This is a new binary system like we have been studying. Enjoy!

This is the link to the binary star simulation we used in class.

Seniors, Sept. 11 work

Unfortunately, I had to leave with illness; very sorry about this. Happy hump-day!

Please be sure to talk with others to go through the practice problems from last night on electric potential and the use of energy, and have consensus on those.

For today, check out a video on an electrical analog to projectile motion, where we imagine an electron moving into a constant, uniform electric field. This electric force will play the role of gravity for a ball rolling off a table. Take notes on it, along with writing down any questions that come up.

Also, to begin getting a sense of scale for electricity, check out two short introductory videos on the power grid. Click here and then for this second one. Again, take notes and make any comments or questions so we can chat about them.

After the videos, make good use of time to work through practice problems:
        AP Problem from 2000, from the Substitute Teacher;
        Ch. 21 #33, 92     these are in the initial unit packet
        Ch. 23 #4, 11, 13  these are in the small potential pack from yesterday

For SAT II people, we'll meet Thursday during periods 5, 6.

Seniors - Check out Band Theory

As we get into electricity, materials become important, with the big 3 being insulators/nonconductors; conductors (usually metals); and semiconductors. To begin understanding why there are different electrical properties, we have something called Band Theory, coming from quantum mechanics and the notion of energy levels for atoms. Check out this video to get a hopefully clear conceptual understanding of what these 'bands' are that we'll refer to.