mrmackenzie

national 5 – satellites

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We’ve started looking at telescopes and this BBC programme from 2 years ago featured the replacement for Hubble, the James Webb Space Telescope.  The presenter, Maggie Aderin Pocock now hosts The Sky at Night on BBC4.

Please take some time to watch both parts of the film.  Maggie covers the basic idea of satellites, how we achieve geostationary orbit, looks at examples of Earth observation and the manufacture of the James Webb’s massive 6.5m mirror.  In part 1, around 17 minutes in, you’ll see satellite footage over the Highlands, can’t quite see Thurso though.

Satellites-part1 from mr mackenzie on Vimeo.

Satellites-part2 from mr mackenzie on Vimeo.

 If you want to download a copy of the video to watch later, use the download link below.  Please be patient, the file is about 660MB in size.

Podcast Video Download (1026)

Higher unit 2 – solutions to practice NAB.

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Here are my solutions to the practice NAB for Higher unit 2.

Check your own answers carefully.  Did you;

  • mix up the equation for charged particles with those for capacitors?
  • remember to calculate the period of an ac signal in seconds?
  • make the correct substitutions for V1 and V2 in the differential amplifier question?
  • use “it” instead of nouns in your explanations?
eBook Download (1707)

AH Physics: wave-particle duality

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We’ve been looking at wave-particle duality this week.

Here are 2 videos. The first is about electron diffraction (G. Thomson’s experiment) and De Broglie’s equation, while the second looks at the Davisson-Germer experiment.

Following on from our discussion of the Davisson-Germer experiment, I found a copy of Davisson’s Nobel Lecture online.  You can read it using the download link below.  You should be able to follow Davisson’s lecture as it ties in nicely with the modern physics element of the AH course.

eBook Download (808)

Using Excel for your LO3 and Investigation

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We’ll spend the next two lessons in the library learning how to use Excel.  Download the instructions using the link below.  If you have your own LO3 data, feel free to work with those values instead of the numbers I have provided.

By the end of this activity you will be able to;

  • manipulate raw data using formulae in cells
  • plot a graph of your results
  • add error bars to your graph
  • add a line of best fit
  • calculate the gradient and y-axis intercept of your line
eBook Download (1690)

AH Outcome 3 diagrams

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Here are the diagrams you will need for your LO3 report.  Cick on each link and then save the large image that opens up.  You can rezise them once they have been imported into your report.

turntable

stand

radian sector

turntable and stand

Later this week, we’ll look at how you can use a spreadsheet to process the data you obtained.