week of February 22nd

We have started our unit on atomic energy and have read through chapter four, section one. Expect a quiz on this material on Friday--unless of course we get more snow.

Topics to review include the definition of nuclear radiation, the concept of radioactive decay and atomic mass. Be able to compare and contrast alpha, beta and gamma decay. Think about both particle size and penetration.

We did discuss half-life in class today--It will not be on friday's quiz but it would be a good idea to review the concept.

Feb 10-11--finally finishing our projects

It has been a while since my last post. We have been busily working on our atomic energy projects and will have the 10th and 11th to finish them in class. Those that don't finish will need to complete them at home, or come in early and work on them before school.

We will be switching books--so please bring back your interactions of matter book. We will start on Earth Science on Monday the 16th

Jan 27 and 29

Snow day January 28th.

Today in class we started on our digital stories on atomic energy. In brief, students need to create a short story (~2 minutes in length) on an aspect of atomic energy. You can download the rubric and an explanation of the project by clicking through to http://www.freewebs.com/extremescience/atomicenergyproject.htm.

We will be using photostory 3 software at school to complete our digital stories. This software is free to download from microsoft.

We also learned how to use our class wiki. We will be using this to gather our information, get organized, and then complete the project. You can see the wiki at http://www.sciencerocksroom121.pbwiki.com/

We could use additional computer microphones for this project--if anyone has any to spare, we would love to borrow them!

Thanks,

Mr. J

Jan 23 and Jan 26

Today was silly hat day. We discussed Alpha and Beta Particles, and Gamma Rays. I wore a paper hat to illustrate the fact that Alpha particles are stopped by paper. I then wore an aluminum foil hat to show that Beta particles are stopped by thin sheets of metal or about a meter thickness of air. Finally I wore a cinder block hat to discuss Gamma Rays.

We also discussed the concept of half life and we performed the Headsium start up activity on page 79 of our textbook. If you missed this class you can do this activity on your own. All you need is 100 pennies.

Be sure to check my website, we will be starting our atomic energy project next week.

Jan 22-23, the birth of atomic energy (and paranoia)

Today in class we started the final chapter of our interactions of matter book. We are now in the atomic age.

To start off we looked at the world in 1953, when atomic energy was brand new. We watched the civil defense film "Duck and Cover" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0K_LZDXp0I

Then we watched film of an actual nuclear blast at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZxmDJYBKKo

Following this we compared life in 1953 with life today, then we watched excerpts from the film A is for Atom which can be found here.
http://www.archive.org/details/isforAto1953

Finally we discussed our new project. We need to think of some aspect of atomic energy that might interest us--it can be fallout, use in war, cold war, reactors, use in medicine, etc. We will be creating digital stories that help tell the story that we wish to tell.

We'll be doing this in class--however all should start doing some research now--come into class with a good idea on what you want to work on.