Visual understanding of how centripetal acceleration relates to velocity and radius. Created by Sal Khan.
This interactive resource adapted from the National Park Service illustrates the difference between explosive and effusive volcanic eruptions as well as the hazards that can result, including lahars, tsunamis, and lava flows.
This interactive resource adapted from the National Park Service illustrates the variety of landforms and features created by volcanoes. Featured are calderas, craters, fumaroles and other geothermal features, igneous rocks, lava flows, lava tubes, and maars.
Ever wonder how a battery works? This segment highlights voltaic cells, their various components and how they operate.
Learn about the instruments we use to measure voltage and current. Created by David SantoPietro.
Sal introduces the notion of moving fluids and laminar flow. Then he uses the incompressibility of a liquid to show that the volume flow rate (flux) must remain constant. Sal then derives the equation of continuity in terms of the area and speed. Created by Sal Khan.
In this video segment from TV411, WNBA player Olympia Scott Richardson discusses her techniques for effective time management.
Students use inclined planes as they recreate the difficult task of raising a monolith of rock to build a pyramid. They compare the push and pull of different-sized blocks up an inclined plane, determine the angle of inclination, and learn the changes that happen when the angle is increased or decreased.
This review is on the first segment of the Grade 5 curriculum of "The Inquiry Project: Seeing the World Through the Scientists' Eyes." Water, A Liquid is a series of 5 investigations about water. Students use readily available materials such as water, sand and gravel to deepen their understanding of weight. Having a conceptual understanding of weight is important because students will use it when they begin exploring matter that is too small to be seen. The students are introduced to the study of matter by looking at images of ships sitting in a dry seabed in the Aral Sea. This introductory investigation will hook students because it is posed as a mystery and has a real life connection. Within this series of 5 investigations students will: -practice measurement using standard units -collect and record data -read a letter from an engineer -compare the weight of sand and water -use a digital scale -learn vocabulary -review volume, estimation -engage in discourse -reflect on the weight of small bits of matter -summarize evidence -collaborate -develop strategies -observe -transform (by crushing). The Inquiry Project is a quality curriculum developed pre-NGSS but closely aligned with The Framework of K-12 Science Education. This curriculum "links the three dimensions together" through the qualitative and quantitative measurement of water and sand using standard units and student observations. Each lesson is "designed to link with the previous lesson" as students build toward the capacity to be able to "make observations and measurements to identify materials based on their properties" in the context of the dry sea phenomena.
What makes rockets fly straight? What makes rockets fly far? Why use water to make the rocket fly? Students are challenged to design and build rockets from two-liter plastic soda bottles that travel as far and straight as possible or stay aloft as long as possible. Guided by the steps of the engineering design process, students first watch a video that shows rocket launch failures and then participate in three teacher-led mini-activities with demos to explore key rocket design concepts: center of drag, center of mass, and momentum and impulse. Then the class tests four combinations of propellants (air, water) and center of mass (weight added fore or aft) to see how these variables affect rocket distance and hang time. From what they learn, student pairs create their own rockets from plastic bottles with cardboard fins and their choices of propellant and center of mass placement, which they test and refine before a culminating engineering field day competition. Teams design for maximum distance or hang time; adding a parachute is optional. Students learn that engineering failures during design and testing are just steps along the way to success.
This video segment adapted from Last Oasis explores the use of new dams as a way to provide or store water. In the 1990s, the city of Denver was looking for a new source of water for its growing population, and its plan to build a new dam suddenly became highly controversial.
Students observe a model waterwheel to investigate the transformations of energy involved in turning the blades of a hydro-turbine. Students work as engineers to create model waterwheels while considering resources such as time and materials, in their design. Students also discuss and explore the characteristics of hydropower plants.
In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, visit a water treatment plant and learn how water from a local reservoir is turned into drinking water.
This simulation from the National Center for Atmospheric Research portrays annual patterns in water vapor and precipitation across the globe, illustrating general circulation patterns as well as seasonal and regional variation.
Students learn about the importance of dams by watching a video that presents historical and current information on dams, as well as descriptions of global water resources and the hydrologic cycle. Students also learn about different types of dams, all designed to resist the forces on dams. (If the free, 15-minute "Water and Dams in Today's World" video cannot be obtained in time, the lesson can still be taught. See the Additional Multimedia Support section for how to obtain the DVD or VHS videotape, or a PowerPoint presentation with similar content [also attached].)
Make waves with a dripping faucet, audio speaker, or laser! Add a second source or a pair of slits to create an interference pattern.
David explains wave interference and solves a few examples to find the value of the total wave when two wave pulses overlap. Created by David SantoPietro.
In this interactive activity adapted from the University of Utah's ASPIRE Lab, learn how to measure wavelengths and see how wavelength affects the color of the light that we see.
Watch a string vibrate in slow motion. Wiggle the end of the string and make waves, or adjust the frequency and amplitude of an oscillator. Adjust the damping and tension. The end can be fixed, loose, or open.
Watch a string vibrate in slow motion. Wiggle the end of the string and make waves, or adjust the frequency and amplitude of an oscillator. Adjust the damping and tension. The end can be fixed, loose, or open.