To gain an understanding of mixtures and the concept of separation of mixtures, students use strong magnets to find the element of iron in iron-fortified breakfast cereal flakes. Through this activity, they see how the iron component of this heterogeneous mixture (cereal) retains its properties and can thus be separated by physical means.
In this activity, students will experience echolocation themselves. They actually try echolocation by wearing blindfolds while another student makes snapping noises in front of, behind, or to the side of them.
In this activity related to magnetism and electricity, learners discover that a magnet falls more slowly through a metallic tube than it does through a nonmetallic tube. Use this activity to illustrate how eddy currents in an electrical conductor create a magnetic field that exerts an opposing force on the falling magnet, which makes it fall at a slower rate. This activity guide also includes demonstration instructions involving two thick, flat pieces of aluminum to illustrate the same principle.
Students use a watt meter to measure energy input into a hot plate or hot pot used to heat water. The theoretical amount of energy required to raise the water by the measure temperature change is calculated and compared to the electrical energy input to calculate efficiency.
This course covers the role of physics and physicists during the 20th century, focusing on Einstein, Oppenheimer, and Feynman. Beyond just covering the scientific developments, institutional, cultural, and political contexts will also be examined.
In this activity about electricity, learners explore how static electricity can make electric "fleas" jump up and down. Learners use a piece of wool cloth or fur to charge a sheet of acrylic plastic. Then, they observe as tiny bits of Styrofoam, spices, ceiling glitter, or rice (aka "fleas") jump up to the plastic and then back down.
" This class discusses the origin of electrical, magnetic and optical properties of materials, with a focus on the acquisition of quantum mechanical tools. It begins with an analysis of the properties of materials, presentation of the postulates of quantum mechanics, and close examination of the hydrogen atom, simple molecules and bonds, and the behavior of electrons in solids and energy bands. Introducing the variation principle as a method for the calculation of wavefunctions, the course continues with investigation of how and why materials respond to different electrical, magnetic and electromagnetic fields and probes and study of the conductivity, dielectric function, and magnetic permeability in metals, semiconductors, and insulators. A survey of common devices such as transistors, magnetic storage media, optical fibers concludes the semester. Note: The Magnetics unit was taught by co-instructor David Paul; that material is not available at this time."
In this fictional case study, the state of Oklahoma has profited by giving incentives for companies to build power plants in rural areas of the state. The "scrubbing" systems used to minimize air pollution create potentially hazardous solid waste.To contain this waste, an impoundment facility has been built on unsuitable land from which water-soluble toxins can leach into groundwater. Student teams design a prototype sensor capable of measuring dissolved oxygen and fluorescein dye in water in order to analyze the runoff from the impoundment facility for toxins. The case was developed for an undergraduate laboratory course in photonics for junior- and senior-level students.
"This course examines electric and magnetic quasistatic forms of Maxwell's equations applied to dielectric, conduction, and magnetization boundary value problems. Topics covered include: electromagnetic forces, force densities, and stress tensors, including magnetization and polarization; thermodynamics of electromagnetic fields, equations of motion, and energy conservation; applications to synchronous, induction, and commutator machines; sensors and transducers; microelectromechanical systems; propagation and stability of electromechanical waves; and charge transport phenomena. Acknowledgments The instructor would like to thank Thomas Larsen and Matthew Pegler for transcribing into LaTeX the homework problems, homework solutions, and exam solutions."
"Published in 1989 by Prentice-Hall, this book is a useful resource for educators and self-learners alike. The text is aimed at those who have seen Maxwell's equations in integral and differential form and who have been exposed to some integral theorems and differential operators. A hypertext version of this textbook can be found here. An accompanying set of video demonstrations is available below. These video demonstrations convey electromagnetism concepts. The demonstrations are related to topics covered in the textbook. They were prepared by Markus Zahn, James R. Melcher, and Manuel L. Silva and were produced by the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The purpose of these demonstrations is to make mathematical analysis of electromagnetism take on physical meaning. Based on relatively simple configurations and arrangements of equipment, they make a direct connection between what has been analytically derived and what is observed. They permit the student to observe physically what has been described symbolically. Often presented with a plot of theoretical predictions that are compared to measured data, these demonstrations give the opportunity to test the range of validity of the theory and present a quantitative approach to dealing with the physical world. The short form of these videos contains the demonstrations only. The long form also presents theory, diagrams, and calculations in support of the demonstrations. These videos are used in the courses 6.013J/ESD.013J and 6.641. Technical Requirements:Special software is required to use some of the files in this course: .mp4, .rm."
Students will investigate the characteristics of electromagnetism and then use what they learn to plan and conduct an experiment on electromagnets.
Basic principles of electromagnetism: experimental basis, electrostatics, magnetic fields of steady currents, motional e.m.f. and electromagnetic induction, Maxwell's equations, propagation and radiation of electromagnetic waves, electric and magnetic properties of matter, and conservation laws. This is a graduate level subject which uses appropriate mathematics but whose emphasis is on physical phenomena and principles.
Survey of basic electromagnetic phenomena: electrostatics, magnetostatics; electromagnetic properties of matter. Time-dependent electromagnetic fields and Maxwell's equations. Electromagnetic waves, emission, absorption, and scattering of radiation. Relativistic electrodynamics and mechanics.
The simulation illustrates the situation of a person in an elevator. The elevator takes the person from one floor to the next floor up.
For this situation, try sketching three free-body diagrams, one for the person, another for the elevator, and a third for the person-elevator system.
First, draw the diagrams for when the system remains at rest. Then, predict whether the free-body diagrams will change (and, if so, how) when the elevator is accelerating up, moving up at constant velocity, and moving up but slowing down (acceleration is down).
The simulation draws the diagrams for all these cases, but make sure you try drawing your own before looking at the simulation's diagrams.
This activity is a lab investigation where students collect data concerning and endothermic and exothermic reaction.
Students learn to apply the principles and concepts associated with energy and the transfer of energy in an engineering context by designing and making musical instruments. They choose from a variety of provided supplies to make instruments capable of producing three different tones. After completing their designs, students explain the energy transfer mechanism in detail and describe how they could make their instruments better.
Demos and activities in this lesson are intended to illustrate the basic concepts of energy science -- work, force, energy, power etc. and the relationships among them. The "lecture" portion of the lesson includes many demonstrations to keep students engaged, yet has high expectations for the students to perform energy related calculations and convert units as required. A homework assignment and quiz are used to reinforce and assess these basic engineering science concepts.
Students evaluate various everyday energy conversion devices and draw block flow diagrams to show the forms and states of energy into and out of the device. They also identify the forms of energy that are useful and the desired output of the device as well as the forms that are not useful for the intended use of the item. This can be used to lead into the law of conservation of energy and efficiency. The student activity is preceded by a demonstration of a more complicated system to convert chemical energy to heat energy to mechanical energy. Drawing the block energy conversion diagram for this system models the activity that the students then do themselves for other simpler systems.
Students search for clues of energy around them. They use what they find to create their own definition of energy. They also relate their energy clues to the engineering products they encounter every day.
The students participate in many demonstrations during the first day of this lesson to learn basic concepts related to the forms and states of energy. This knowledge is then applied the second day as they assess various everyday objects to determine what forms of energy are transformed to accomplish the object's intended task. The students use block diagrams to illustrate the form and state of energy flowing into and out of the process.