#$&*
PHY 121
Your 'collaborative labs' report has been received. Scroll down through the document to see any comments I might have inserted, and my final comment at the end.
** Collaborative Labs_labelMessages.txt **
This should look more like what I should have turned in in the first place.
** **
You have completed the first series of collaborative labs.
In that series you developed some important skills with teamwork, collaboration and communication. By now you have also developed additional lab techniques and insights, as well as an expanded understanding of physics and the standard formulations of motion, energy, momentum, forces and other topics.
You now have a good idea of the function of each member of the team, the designer, the experimenter, the analyzer and the interpreter.
You are also familiar with the items in your lab materials package.
The second series of activities will be spread out over the remainder of the semester. The investigations in this series will be more substantial and extensive than those of the first series, though we will limit the scope to keep the workload reasonable.
Please give a brief statement of three proposals for the second series of investigations, relevant to the topics of the labs you have performed and/or the material covered so far in the course. It should be possible to conduct your proposed investigations using the materials in the lab package, and/or common items you can expect your team members to have.
****
#$&*
Discuss your first idea. How do you think it might be tested? What sort of items do you think might be required? How do you think your idea might be tested?
****
Effects of forces at angles. Take a piece of graph paper and draw an x-y axis on it. Place a marble or ball at the origin. Choose an angle from which to roll another ball. Make a mark on the paper where you start rolling the 2nd marble or ball. Roll that ball toward the ball sitting at the origin. Mark where the 2 ball stop rolling. I would start at the x axis and try every 45 degrees, color coding where the balls come to rest each time and what their trajectories were. If it seemed like it would be too busy and confusing, you could do one paper for each angle, and then compare the results.
#$&*
Discuss your second idea. How do you think it might be tested? What sort of items do you think might be required? How do you think your idea might be tested?
****
Effect of force of magnet on a moving object. Get a Frisbee and the two steel balls. Also use the magnets provided. Start the small steel ball rolling around the inside of the Frisbee. Use the small magnet first. Start it at the middle (underneath the Frisbee) and gradually move it toward the outside. At what point does the magnet affect the movement of the ball. Do the same with 1 larger magnet and then 2 larger magnets. Repeat with the larger steel ball. Can you see a difference with different sizes of balls and strengths of magnets?
#$&*
Discuss your third idea. How do you think it might be tested? What sort of items do you think might be required? How do you think your idea might be tested?
****
Extend the ideas about forces and vectors by using 2 marbles/balls rolling toward a point, rather than just one at the origin at rest. Still using an x-y axis, start the balls toward a common point at different angles and different amounts of force. See where they meet and where they end up.
#$&*
Your instructor is trying to gauge the typical time spent by students on these activities. Please answer the following question as accurately as you can, understanding that your answer will be used only for the stated purpose and has no bearing on your grades:
Approximately how long did it take you to complete this activity? 45 min
#$&*
@&
Very good proposals. Thanks.
*@