Author: bge

WORMS MAKING FOR FREEDOM

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.

Worms move in!

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.

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HEAT topic resources

Heat Need to KnowDownload

Experimental Help sheetDownload

These are a set of results from the Doll’s House. What happens at 20 000 s and what happens at 33,000s? State how the graph would be different if the house was well insulated? Why is the upstairs at a higher temperature? Try to describe the Physics behind each of the graphs.
Heat-Lesson-1Download

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.

Notes for the Heat Theory

Click on the red link below to open the theory notes in pdf format.

Heat theory 2016

Continue reading “HEAT topic resources”

Climate change

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.

Home Page
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
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Light & Beyond

Inductiveload, NASA [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

The S3 Physics Block covers Beyond the Visible after covering light. Attached is the outcomes that you should cover in your course.

S3 outcomes BTV pdfDownload
S3 outcomes BTV wordDownload

The Electromagnetic Spectrum

The electromagnetic (em) spectrum is a collection of transverse waves that all travel at the same speed in air, the speed of light, 300 000 000 m/s. (equivalent to 7.5 times round the Earth every second)

One of the waves is VISIBLE LIGHT

A=amplitude λ = wavelength

Others are RADIO & TV, MICROWAVE.

The others are INFRA-RED, ULTRA VIOLET, X-RAYS, GAMMA WAVES.

The only difference between each of these waves is their wavelength or frequency. They all fit the formula

Speed= frequency × wavelength

v=f λ

The order is important and to remember it use the following rhyme!

Randy                  Radio & TV

Monkeys              Microwaves

Invade                 Infrared

Venezuela           Visible

Using                   Ultraviolet

Xylophone           X-rays

Gunships             Gamma

Period, T, is the time for one wave to pass a point and is measured in seconds.

Frequency, f is the number of waves being produced or passing a point per second. Frequency is measured in Hertz (Hz)

Here are lots of resources for you to check and practice. My utmost apologies if I have not credited people for sending this material. As soon as I know who you are I will thank you personally.

EM Spectrum answers pdfDownload
EM Spectrum answers excelDownload
DRAWING-RAY-DIAGRAMSDownload
I2_WavesOpticsDownload
em-spectrumDownload
Power-of-a-LensDownload
Power-of-a-LensDownload
Lesson 1 – Reflection of Light JAHDownload

S3 Physics Review

Homework Exercise

S3 Review (Complete at the end of the course)

We have covered three topics this year.

  • BEYOND THE VISIBLE (covering the EM Spectrum v=fλ, uses of EM radiation, research projects, make your own practical, reflection, refraction, diffraction)
  • ROAD SAFETY 2, (covering acceleration, forces, vectors, Road Crash Investigators, Tart Ma Kart, Newton’s Three Laws of Motion)
  • SPACE. (definitions of space, the big bang, The Martian, Rockets, Newton’s Three Laws of Motion review, stars, light years, challenges of space travel, Moon Myths)

Mark each topic out of 10, with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best- GIVE A PROPER REASON for your score a short paragraph at least saying
which parts of each course were the best and what were the worst . State what SKILLS you’ve learned such as calculator work, arithmetic, road safety skills, Road Crash Investigator, Experimental Design (Beyond the Visible) Space.

Lastly state what you wished we had changed. Only sensible answers.

July 2019
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S3 Space

We aim to check out lots of information about Space and the Universe. As it is rather a large topic and contains all we know and lots that we don’t we wont be able to cover it all. This is the content statements that we hope to cover.

S3 SPACE OUTCOMESDownload

As part of your course we expect you to research one unmanned SPACE mission. You can choose any space agency, NASA, ESA, Roscosmos, etc

You need to consider

  • When was the mission?
  • What was the purpose of the mission?
  • How long did the mission last?
  • What did the mission conclude?
  • Did the mission exceed expectations?
  • What information can you share about the mission?
Some of the Space Agencies from across the world. Some are state sponsored, some private companies.