Thursday - January 31, 2008

On Thursday, January 31, 2008, we took notes on wavefront and the Doppler Effect. Before we did that, we watched a four minute video on waves. It was quite interesting.

Wavefront is a characteristic of waves. It is defined as the locus of adjacent points, which are all in phase. (Quick refresher - waves are in phase if they have the same displacement from rest position and the same direction of motion.) An example of a wavefront is the crest of a water wave. There are also spherical wavefronts that result in a circular depiction of the waves.

The Doppler Effect occurs when there is a variation in the observed frequency when there is relative motion between a source and an observer. Note - the actual frequency does not change.
When a sound is approaching, a higher frequency is observed. When a sound is receding, a lower frequency is observed. In sound, a change in frequency is a change in pitch. In light, a change in frequency is a change is color.

At the conclusion of class, we received a homework assignment that included a variety of problems dealing with the characteristics of waves, which were discussed on Wednesday. We had about five minutes to work on this worksheet in class. It was quality.

I think that its obvious we should have had more review time in class, with a better discription of each unit. maybe if it was organized differently and broken down a little, I think that we would have a better understanding, and by this i dont mean for the teacher to stand in front of the class and talk the entire time, thats a prime exsample of how to lose the class attention. When I took the midterm I walked out feeling like I got a great grade but, clearly along with my fellow students we didnt do as well as we all thought and, im not a bad student, i studied hard like i do for every class, and i still did poorly. We need more time in class for us to ask questions and actually do the work. Not just have loads of homework every night along with a blog. its not helping. This isnt the only class that we're taking, im a senior and I have a full schedule

midterm feedback

Were you prepared?

-i felt that i recognized all the material on the midterm it was just that i had forgotten how to actually get the right answer.

How well did you think you did before you received your grade?

-after taking the exam i felt that i did not do well on the multiple choice and better on the part 2. i was hoping that i got a B and with the curve i did so it worked out.

What could you have done better?

-i could have studied alot more than i did

What could Mr. Wirth have done better?
- i think that we could have gone over all the equations that we needed to know whether they are on the reference tables or not.


What suggestions do you have for yourself and your classmates to help us all be more successful in the second semester?
-just keeping up with all the assignments and labs rather than putting them off until the last minute. also i need to start doing homework daily to understand things more thoroughly and so i wont be surprised when i see a problem tests, quizzes, and the regents.

Mid Term Reflection

The most obvious statement is WE SHOULD HAVE HAD MORE REVIEW TIME! simply giving us a couple packets and expecting us to absorb everything over a couple nights is rediculous. Not to mention the nice unit test two days before the end of classes. I dont know about everyone else but the last thing on my mind was a unit test two days before MID TERMS. Then the ONE single day of "review." I didnt attend the class but I could imagine most students were focusing on the unit test from the day before more than the review. So obviously I feel that i could have done much better on the midterm if we had more time to review as a class. As my 10 week grade reflects, im not exactly one to do too poorly on tests. I feel that the lack of preparation going into the midterm was a direct cause of so many poor grades.

I Spy?

The midterm was alright. I knew how to do almost all of the question but I lost some points by not doing some of the steps. I should have probably study more for the exam.

January 28

Today we began the wave unit. Most of the lesson came from a video we watched. The video explained waves as a mechanical disturbance in one place leading to a reaction in another. For example, tipping over the first domino will lead to a reaction in all of the others. There are many types of waves, such as sound and light. Also, we learned an equation that can be found in the reference tables (not on the back). The velocity is equal to the frequency of the wave times the wavelength.

Other than that, we looked at what we will study for the rest of the year, and most of the concepts are more advanced, like electrostatics, magnitism, modern physics, and DC circuits.

Im pretty sure this is how the scribe is suposed to do this, but forgive me if I am wrong.

I thought that the midterm was alright and that I just lost some stupid points in many places. For instance the arrows on the vector, I still dont understand why that is two points off. I did not really study so I was not expecting something high but I hoped for something a little higher than I got. I think getting rid of the three amigos in front will only help my learning.