Still looking for something fun this summer?

One of the most mind-boggeling, thought-provoking, get students to completely change their conception of thinking, math and more, is

Godel, Escher, Bach.

And best of all MIT has created a free class based on this book, complete with lectures, notes and more.

If you undertake this journey, the rewards will be immense, and you'll certainly have your mind blown more than once.

Hard problem 4

Hard problem 4 has arrived.

Give it a try. Have fun, and ask questions.

Happy Valentine's Day--seeing hearts

Here's a really cool video that shows just how much we are pattern seeking animals. We can find hearts anywhere.

Hard problem 3

Hard problem 2 is dead——if you helped solve it, be sure to claim your propsicle.

Hard problem 3 can be found here.

An important point about 5C

A very important point came up today when a few students were discussing 5c. The question was which of the following two graphs is the right answer. It turns out the bottom graph is right. Why?

Hard problem, still not quite solved...

It's begging for you to finish it off... Have mercy...

Hard problem

SAT II practice questions

Here's a link to some SAT II practice questions from the college board.

SAT II practice questions

You should see a number of questions are quite easy and quickly answerable:
In particular #5, 6, 12, 21, 22, and 23 are all easily within your grasp.

With a little effort, you should be able to use what we're doing now to do problem 11 and 15.

Most of the rest, will be covered throughout the year, with the exception of the problems on optics, which we probably won't get to—-this is why you need a book to study from.

Here are some other resources:

Sparknotes SAT II physics


SAT II Wikibook--not that helpful

Cracking the SAT II: one of the better SAT II review books, but none of them are great. All you really need are lots of problems.

As always, I'm happy to help you dominate the SAT II, but it's up to you to create the plan that will lead to success.

homework for tuesday

Be sure in addition to 5A that you also read and answer some of the questions from your classmates:

5.1 and 5.2 Questions

Burj Dubai Base Jump

Two basejumpers just set the world record for BASE jumping from the world's tallest building the Burj Khalifa (formerly called the Burj Dubai), from a height of 828 m.

Check out the video below:


Two questions:
1. Why didn't this video take the 13 seconds you calculated take an object to fall to the ground?
2. What was the average velocity of the skydiver? How does this compare to the velocity an object falling only under the influence of gravity would have when it hit the ground?

Hard problem 2

Someone tore through the last hard problem very quickly (I added a bit to the end). This is incredible work. Whoever did this should certainly count it as a FARMIP, and anyone else should try to do it themselves as a FARMIP.

Here's another problem.

Good luck.

your questions from the reading

Hi Guys,
I hope you're enjoying a relaxing snow day. I've put all your questions together into a wiki page below. I think it would be a good exercise for us to try to answer these questions together as a class.

In order to edit the questions, you'll need to create a free account with pbworks.

5-1 and 5-2 Questions

If you can take a moment or two to read over these questions, and if you have some ideas, offer an answer or two, that would be terrific.

Also, if you haven't sent me your questions yet, please do so.

Another hard problem

Here's an idea if you're looking for something fun and challenging. I've posted a hard problem to google docs:

Hard problem for fun and challenge.


Give it a shot. It's a google doc, so you can just go and write questions, or try to sketch a FBD.

Projectile motion practice problems

Name says it all:

Projectile motion practice (and solutions)


Please share other resources you find with the class through the blog.

How to study distraction free

More last minute advice:

How to study distraction free

Mr. Burk's Top 5 Places to Study in Atlanta

One more great suggestion from Study Hacks is how Adventure Studying is a great way to prepare to study.

What is adventure studying? It's finding a cool, beautiful and quiet place for you to go away and study (and adventure doesn't involve Starbucks).

Here are my top 5 suggestions in the Atlanta Area:

1. The High Museum of Art—admission is a bit pricy ($15), but the cafe across the courtyard is free, rarely crowded and a great place to sit and admire the physics of the alexander calder mobile in the front (ever wonder how it stays balanced?)

2. Chuck E Cheese. You know you loved it 5 years ago. Why not go there, work for 45 minutes and then play some skee ball to put your physics knowledge to the test? If you go, bring headphones and find a quiet corner away from all the dancing robots.

3. A local college—Agnes Scott, Morehouse, Spelman, Emory, Georgia Tech—all of these places have beautiful campuses and libraries. It can be great fun to go to a college library for the afternoon.

4. The Carter Center--Recently completely renovated, you can visit a full scale model of the Oval Office (and that's a place where you really need to understand physics--check out Physics for Future Preisdents--a real course at UC Berkeley).

5. Outside—yes, it's supposed to be a bit rainy and cold this weekend, but it it would be great bundle up, to throw some FARMIPS and and some blank paper in your backpack, and go hike to some quiet, isolated place and solve physics problems under a tree.

how to create an online calendar for the upcoming week

I've created a google spreadsheet to help you plan out your success week to help you demonstrate your best understanding on the exam. To use it, go here

Study Plan for Finals Week

The spreadsheet is read-only, so you'll need to make a copy.

To do that, click on "File > Make a copy" as shown in the image below.

If you'd like me to see your study plan, simply share it with me via google docs (this is completely optional).

5 Mistakes to avoid during finals

Here is more great advice from study hacks:

5 mistakes to avoid during finals.

We'll talk about this a bit tomorrow, but here they are briefly

• Mistake #1: Not Having a Clear Schedule
  
  You should set up a plan for using the time you have to maximum benefit—giving yourself time to rest, and reflect so you achieve maximum understanding.
  
  
• Mistake #2: Not Purging Your Obligations
  
  Avoid letting the little things in your life keep you from having the
  time you need to seriously prepare for exams.
  
  
• Mistake #3: “Studying”
  
  Focus on specific action. Solve problems.
  
  
• Mistake #4: Social Working
  
  While it can be helpful to work with others, often, working in a noisy space with friends can be very unproductive.
  
  
• Mistake #5: Calculating Your Final Grade
  
  I'll let Cal speak for himself:
  
  

  
  Don’t do this! No good can possibly come from such a superficial focus on the numbers. It will add stress. This, in turn, will make it harder for you to execute a reasonable, specific, and efficient study plan. Also, it’s just plain crass. You don’t want to be that person…
  

  
  

LHC is on!

THe LHC produced the first collisions of protons today.

Gamma Ray Satellite may have found dark matter

Here's another great post that describes a recent discovery of what may be dark matter, which makes up 20% of our universe (regular matter is only 4%).

The excess gamma rays could possibly be coming from a hypothesized dark matter called Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), colliding with one another and annihilating themselves into pure energy.

Fermi may have spotted dark matter.

Want to conquer stress? Exercise is key

Here's a great article from the NYT about a new study on rats showing that exercise allows our brains to better handle stress.

Here's a quote:

It looks more and more like the positive stress of exercise prepares cells and structures and pathways within the brain so that they’re more equipped to handle stress in other forms,” says Michael Hopkins, a graduate student affiliated with the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory Laboratory at Dartmouth, who has been studying how exercise differently affects thinking and emotion. “It’s pretty amazing, really, that you can get this translation from the realm of purely physical stresses to the realm of psychological stressors.