Keith Johnson has written an amazing book which is being updated regularly. You can access free powerpoints here. I really hope that he doesn’t mind me reproducing one of them here, but pop along there for a whole list of useful powerpoints for all your classes, or for students to brush up on lots of Scientific skills.
Mrs Physics Dec 2021
Here are a few lessons to give you some chance at practicals.
Let’s try this easy practical and difficult explanation for a bit of light relief during lockdown
It looks like some of you are going to be doing the electricity unit online. This is tricky but we’ll try to do as much practical as possible.
Please read the RISK ASSESSMENT IF WORKING FROM HOME
| Hazard | Control Measures |
|---|---|
| Rechargeable Cells or PP3s | Do not use rechargeable cells, lithium batteries or PP3s (the flat ones) for your own electrical kits as they have low internal resistance and could cause a high current. |
| Use only 1.5 V cells and zinc chloride are safer than alkaline. | |
| Dispose of these as instructed on the packet once they no longer work. (they should be fine for the whole block) | |
| Don’t use cells that have leaked- they must not be emitting a liquid or a powdery substance. | |
| Only use a maximum of 2 x 1.5 V cells at a time. | |
| Kitchen foil | Kitchen foil boxes usually have a sharp edge to cut the foil. Ask a grown up to tear you some off if there is a chance you can cut your finger |
| Scissors | Beware of sharp edges on scissors |
| Parcel tape or sellotape | This can be very sticky and pose a risk to pets or young children, ask a grown up to help tape off the home made wires or complete the task well away from young children and pets. |
| Electrical kit use | Do NOT use your electrical kit near electrical sockets or electrical items. |
| Do NOT use near water and other liquids. | |
| Static Experiments | Do NOT do your static experiements near electrical sockets or electrical items. |
| Balloons can cause a shock to children and pets if they burst so don’t over blow them or use sharp finger nails. Warn young children and keep away from pets. | |
| Torch | If you take apart a torch do not lose any small parts that can be a choking hazard. Do not use LED torches. Make sure the cells in the torch haven’t leaked. You will know if they have as there will be a white powder or liquid. |
You should know that:
Watch the intro video clip for our Electricity Unit.
Watch the two video clips on Electrical Safety.
Electrical safety undated for UK. It does claim about 30 lives a year in the UK so don’t let it be you. Be safe around electricity!
The video below is the UK version of safety in the home.
http://www.twothirtyvolts.org.uk/electrical-safety/around-your-home.html
List 10 things to be aware of to be Electrically Safe, eg don’t put knives into toaster.
Watch the video -The Atom, write out the passage at the end of the video. Check your answers using the wordwall game (link below)
Check whether you have filled in the answers correctly by trying the wordwall
Draw the diagram of the Model of the Atom or print it out, stick it in and label it.
You should know
Check your answers from last lesson on the atom using the wordwall game. Review the work to make sure you could label a model of the atom.
Answer the microsoft Form on the Atom.
Static Electricity
Watch this video on static experiments. Try these at home and pop a picture in the comments of how you get on.
Watch the clips on the Van de Graaff Generator, it is just an effective way of collecting charge. There are instructions to make your own in the electrity notes in another post.
Try some of these experiments. NB styrofoam means polystyrene in the UK and try a plastic ruler if you haven’t got plastic pipe.
Here are the individual videos of the static experiments
Watch the video How to Light a Bulb
Watch the video clip about Making your own Electricital Kit. Try making your own electrical kit and post some photos.
Watch the video clip to improve your circuit and try to put a switch in your own circuit if you make one.
Now use your circuit to test materials for conductors and insulators. Instructions are in the clip below. Don’t forget to record your results in the table shown.
A conductor is a material with free electrons that allows electrons through it. An insulator is a material where additional electrons cannot pass through.
You should know
You should know
Resistance
Voltage.
Watch the videos and answer the questions in the forms!
You should know
Use the video to fill in the table of definitions
| Ammeter | Charge | Circuit | Conductor |
| Continuity tester | Current | Insulator | Multimeter |
| Ohmmeter | Parallel circuit | Potential Difference | Resistance |
| Series circuit | The effects of a current | Voltage | Voltmeter |
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| the difference in the amount of energy that charges have between two points in a circuit. | |
| electrons passing through a circuit | |
| a meter to measure many different electrical quantities |
|
| a meter to measure resistance | |
| a meter to measure voltage | |
| a meter to measure current |
|
| a complete path for the current to follow |
|
| the quantity of unbalanced positive or negative ions in or on an object | |
| the push that makes the charges move around a circuit | |
| a material that free electrons can’t pass through | |
| a material that free electrons can pass through | |
| heat, light, magnetism and chemical effects | |
| A circuit to test whether something is a conductor or an insulator, or to find faults in circuits | |
| a circuit with more than one path for the current to follow | |
| a circuit with only one path for the current to follow | |
| is a measure of how difficult it is for a current to move through an object |
Watch the video, it takes you through a model to help us explain series circuits and the rules for current and voltage in a series circuit.
You should know
You should know that
The Parallel Model.
Watch the video and draw your own Town called Parallel Circuit
Note down what you expect then try things out of the Phet.
You should know
The current in series and parallel is a word version of the instructions for the videos above on setting up the Phet to check the rules for current and voltage in a series circuit. It would also be a great introduction to resistance
The current and voltage questions are based on the questions produced by Mr Belford and cover identifying current and voltage readings with series and parallel circuits.
You should know
https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/fruit-power-battery/
I think these notes need a bit of an update, so here goes
Various Need to Know sheets have been made as we’ve both tried to put something together. Check with your teacher what you’ve managed to cover.
Drat and here is one I made earlier!
The first sheet is the brief version, the second one has more detail in it.
Don’t forget you can get more information and detail from the National 5 section of this website. GO to the PHYSICS NOTES link in the header and click on the DYNAMICS section. You can also answer some of the Compendium Questions and check the answers in the LO Answer section.
Below are the same files as above but as word versions
This information will help you revise for your assessment. We have not covered the sky diver or vectors at right angles this year.
Here is the link to the questions for Newton’s Second Law F=ma. Don’t forget to use IESSUU when answering these questions but no need to write out the question, just summarise the information.
October 20th 2019 and after a week of worry I decided it was finally time to investigate the wormeries and see if the kilogram of worms were still with us. I am finding the stress and responsibility of these hard to take.
My plan, empty each wormery on an old piece of vinyl, investigate what is there and remake each one as they’ll be alone for a week. This was made more difficult as a very cute and friendly robin has been following me around the garden for the last fortnight and passes behind you after you’ve moved any piece of garden soil.
It was really heartwarming to see oodles of big fat juicy worms fall onto the vinyl. They weren’t moving much but were certainly a good size and huddled together in some big piles. The bottom of the blue wormery was quite wet, this was the one with no drainage. The paper had gone slimy and the potato skins were still undigested. Katrina, your McDonald’s straw is still there, but I think the bacteria might be thinking about working on it. So a new cardboard base, screwed up paper, the worms and then some partially digested compost. Lid back on and ready for off. The robin was flapping around so I posted a guard at the door.
Even the pink wormery had worms but the bottom was slimy with sand and paper- whoops I forgot to take a photo of this. So I’ve made up the box, with fresh cardboard and moved some of the worms from the blue box to the pink one and added more partially digested leaf mould / compost. Lid back on.
I was in two minds as to whether I ought to hold out one for the robin as a treat, but then Miss Crozier came to mind and I couldn’t bear to sacrifice one of the little cuties. Everything back in order, I stepped inside to get cleaned up and then remembered I ought to take a photo of the robin. It was then I noticed the escapees. I’ve no idea where they came from but at least 10 were making their way to freedom down the cracks in the paving and across the slabs. I couldn’t pull one up (see photos). If the robin gets you it isn’t my fault as I did give you a little tug to put you back.
So to the Sophie and Hollie- I’ve not killed them and they ought to be ready for you to get them through the winter next week!
Sorry the photos are in the wrong order with the escapees first.
Well, Wednesday 4th September one group in the Climate Catastrophe Group built their wormery. We are going to look into recycling of food and break down of fruit and vegetables. Worms do create greenhouse gases, but play an important part in maintaining the soil, which has taken a hammering over the last 60 years.
Unfortunately the worms arrived late on Thursday 5th September and had to be in the wormery before the weekend. The students hadn’t quite finished the wormery, so many came up during their lunch break and helped get the worms a temporary start. Our biggest concern is the amount of moisture that we need. The wormery isn’t a draining one, so getting the air and moisture levels is important. We also had to put all the worms in the one box as the second box wasn’t ready.
Let’s hope the worms make it through the weekend. The suspense is terrible and the temperature this weekend was pretty warm, the first dry weekend in four weeks- drat.
Hooray! we’re back to doing our heat unit with a few minor changes. Let’s see if I can upload the ppp here! They’re rather large. No idea why I’ve large gaps. Originally these showed the pdf files and now I’ve no idea what has happened!
Conduction
NB if you want a copy of the Conduction ppp you’ll need to email me, as it has embedded video it is a whopping 484 MB! I’ve taken out the videos and its just 98MB
Convection
Radiation
Radiation part 2 and Intro to Heat Loss
Click on the red link below to open the theory notes in pdf format.
Click on the red link below to open the final summary notes in pdf format.
Thanks to Adam P for holding the camera as I did this demo. It shows so much Science in one large boiling tube! Convection, lack of conduction, state of matter, floating and sinking, density! Hope you like it.
The gauze is there only because the ice floats on the water and the ice needs to be at the bottom for the experiment to work.
3 States of matter in one tube from Mrs Physics on Vimeo.
Below are the resources for the HEAT topic that you’ll cover in S1 Physics. You might not be given all of the information by your teacher, but you can always use the additional materials to read around the subject, that’s what makes a successful learner, confident individual and responsible citizen.
Click on the red link below to open the theory notes in pdf format.
I’m getting into working to increase the profile of Climate Change/ Catastrophe to students as it will be the biggest concern to students in the next 20 years.
The graphics below are fantastic.
In these posts I’ll try to add content about the most important topic facing our world. I will only use evidence based Science to make my points.
Having Mr Physics on the case helps as he’s been involved in measuring this stuff from the late 1980s to the beginning of the twenty first century.
Here is the definitive link for all things Climate Change, ask an adult if it is too hard.
