Physics
It’s a beautiful Southern California day--the sky is blue and the waves are crashing on the shore. But did you realize that the sky appears blue because of what happens when the white light coming from the sun passes through our atmosphere? And that the waves are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon on the earth’s oceans? Exploring these types of questions--What are the principles of nature? And how does the natural world work?--is what physics is all about. To learn more about physics, use the direct links on The Times Launchpoint Web site: https://www.latimes.com/launchpoint/
Here are the best sites for getting your schoolwork done or for just having fun.
Level One
Hearing My Own Voice: Why does your voice sound different on a tape recorder than how you normally sound? Find out why by learning about how sound waves work and how sounds can change depending on what objects the sound waves travel through.
https://www.youcan.com/myvoice/myvoice.html
Bill Nye Physical Science Episodes: Try some fun physics experiments that explore different concepts such as energy, gravity, light optics, magnetics and static electricity.
https://nyelabs.kcts.org/nyeverse/episode/
The Phantom’s Portrait Parlor: The Phases of Matter: Find out what happens to different elements when the temperature changes.
https://www.miamisci.org/af/sln/phases/
Level Two
Science Whatzit! Why is the earth round? Where do the bubbles in bubble gum come from? Why is water bigger when it is frozen? The Whatzit Gremlin answers these and other physics questions that are sent to him.
https://www.omsi.edu/online/whatzit/physics.html
Sport! Science: Why do some balls bounce higher than others? And what factors can affect how far a baseball travels after it’s hit? Explore physics through the world of sports in these articles that include some simple experiments.
https://www.exploratorium.edu/sports/
8th Grade Physics Investigations: Which falls faster: crumpled paper or flat paper? Is there a difference in speed when a toy vehicle runs on carpet or on tile? Find out what some eighth graders from Baker School discovered as they investigated these questions.
https://nlu.nl.edu/bthu/nlu/eight/eights-physics/physics.html
Level Three
“Beam Me Up”: Traveling instantly from one place and appearing in another seems like the stuff of science fiction. But read how scientists at the University of Innsbruck have proven that teleportation is actually possible--for photons.
https://www.sciam.com/explorations/122297teleport/
NOVA Online: Einstein Revealed: During the course of one year, while he was only 26, Einstein developed the theory of relativity, the quantum theory of light, and his famous e=mc2 equation describing the relationship of energy to matter. Learn about the man that many consider to be the greatest physicist ever.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/einstein/
Galileo and the Mathematics of Motion: See animations that demonstrate how Galileo used an inclined plane to study motion and the effects of gravity.
https://bang.lanl.gov/video/stv/arshtml/mathofmotion1.html
Launch Point is produced by the UC Irvine department of education, which reviews each site for appropriateness and quality. Even so, parents should supervise their children’s use of the Internet. This week’s column was designed by Emily Caldwell, Curt Southworth, Barbara De Roes, Anna Manring and Stan Woo-Sam.
EXPLORER’S QUEST
What is the main difference between the three phases of matter--gases, liquids and solids?
CLUE: See Bill Nye Physical Science Episodes
Find What You Need to Know: Have a project on California history? Need help doing a math problem? Launch Point now covers more than 40 topics for getting your schoolwork done. Go to https://www.latimes.com/launchpoint/ for the full list of subjects and direct links to the best Internet sites.
Answer to last week’s quest: The Chumash played the “hoop and stick” and “ring and pin” games.
