Happy Birthday Kepler (Dec 27)

It's the birthday of astronomer Johannes Kepler, born to a poor mercenary in Württemberg, Germany (1571), who tracked the orbital path of Mars and published his three famous laws of planetary motion - which validated Copernicus's theory of a sun-centered solar system - and later helped Isaac Newton discover the law of gravity. Kepler was nearly blind from a smallpox epidemic when he was three, and he developed the first eyeglass designs for nearsightedness and farsightedness. He was also the first to explain that the tides are caused by the moon, the first to propose that the sun rotates on an axis, and the first to use planetary cycles to calculate the year of the birth of Jesus Christ.

Homework and Agenda for 12.18.14

Read Chapter 31.3, pp  847 - 854
Do problems 1 - 6, pg 851
study questions 1-6, pg 856 for quiz

• Final Exam on 12/18/14
• Bring a #2 pencil

Homework due 12.16.14

Read Chapter 31.2

Do problems 1-6 pg 846 

Start studying questions 1-6, pg 856 for quiz

Friday schedule

Just in case you wondered, Friday is an odd day, even though we missed an even day today. Spread the word. 

Homework due December 12, 2014

832 - 838
Do problems 1 - 6 pg 838

Start studying questions 1-6, pg 856 for quiz

Homework and agenda for December 10, 2014

Read Chapter 7.3, pp167 - 173
Do Problems 1 - 5 pg 173

There will be a quiz! 
questions 1 - 10 on pg 178

Homework Due December 8, 2014

Read Chapter 7.2, pp 162 - 166
Do Problems 1 - 5 pg 166

Continue studying questions 1 - 10 on pg 178
(remember, there will be a quiz on these questions)

Homework due Dec 4, 2014

Read chapter 7.1, pp 152 - 161
Do problems 1 - 4 pg 161.
Start studying questions 1 - 10 on pg 178

Homework due Dec 2, 2014

Read Chapter 6.3, pp133 - 139
Do problems 1 - 7  pg 139
Study problems 1 - 17 on page 144 for a quiz

Homework due November 26, 2014

read chapter 6.2, pp 128 - 132
Do questions 1-6 pg 132

Homework due 10.23.14

Happy Mole Day!

Read Chapter 5.1, pp 98 - 106
Do problems 1 - 7, pg 106
Please outline this subchapter in Cornell Notes, turn in on Thursday

The Kepler Supernova

October 17

On this date in 1604, Johannes Kepler witnessed the last supernova observed in the Milky Way. Kepler had figured out the laws of planetary motion, and he knew the night sky very well, so he was surprised to see a very bright object in the western sky one night. Kepler thought he was witnessing the birth of a star, but a supernova is actually an explosion that signals the star's death. The exploding star had first been noted in northern Italy about a week before, but Kepler, who lived in Prague, was unable to see it until October 17, due to cloudy weather. He began studying it in earnest, recording observations of it for more than a year. The supernova was so bright that it was visible during the day for three weeks. The telescope wouldn't be invented for a few more years, so all of Kepler's observations were made by the naked eye. He eventually wrote a book about it, which he called De Stella Nova (1606). In the book, he compared the supernova to the Star of Bethlehem, and wondered if it might convert the American Indians to Christianity.

Though astronomers have since observed several supernovae in other galaxies, this one — known as SN 1604, Kepler's Supernova, or Kepler's Star — is the last supernova observed by the naked eye in our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Kepler's Supernova was closer to the center of the spiral galaxy, less than 20,000 light years away from our location out on one of the arms. Scientists estimate that supernovae occur in the Milky Way roughly every 50 years, but there is no observational record of them. Cosmic dust obscures our view.

Astronomers are still studying the supernova's remnants with the help of NASA's three Great Observatories: the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and the Spitzer Space Telescope. The shockwave of gas and dust is still spreading through space at a speed of 400 million miles per hour. In 2013, astronomers completed their post-mortem of the star, and determined its cause of death. Two stars — a binary system — were orbiting around each other. The smaller of the two — a white dwarf — began to accumulate matter from the larger star, a red giant. The white dwarf became heavier and heavier until it could no longer support its own mass, and burned up in a spectacular explosion.

Homework/Agenda for Friday October 17, 2014

Please review questions 1 - 15 on pg 96.   Last time we had a chapter quiz, many of you were not ready!

Finish your "Scientific Method" handout.  It will be stamped on Friday!

Homework due 10.15.14

Read Chapter 4.2, pp 84 - 91
Do Problems 1 - 8 pg 91

Homework due 10.9.4

Read Chapter 4.1 pp 76-83
Do problems 1-7

What is malachite?

Homework Due 10.7.14

re-read all of Chapter 3
Review questions 1-20 on pp 74-75
Quiz on Tuesday

Homework due 10.3.14

Read Chapter 3.3, pp 67-72
Do Problems 1-5 pg 69

Homework due 10.1.14

Read chapter 3.2, pp 60-66
Do problems 1-5, pg 66

Homework due 9.29.14

Read Chapter 3.1, pp 53-59
Do Problems 1-5 pg 59

Homework due 9.23.14

Read Chapter 2.3
Do problems 1-5 pg 41
Study questions 1-7, pg 46 for quiz

Homework due Friday Sept 19, 2014

Read Chapter 2.1, 2.2 pp 26-36
Do problems 1-5 pg 31; 1-5 pg 36.
Study problems 1-8 on page 46 for future quiz

Homework due 8.25.14

Read chapter 1.3, pp 17-22
Do problems 1-6, pg 19

Homework due August 21, 2014

• Re-read chapter 1.1, pp 4-10
  • Do problems 1-5, pg 10
• Read chapter 1.2, pp 11-16
  • Do problems 1-5 , pg 16

Homework due August 19, 2014

Read Chapter 1.1