We returned to school for a full day - no delays at all though I did experience some patches of black ice coming in. All-in-all, the roads are much better. Also, CMS has changed a few things in regards to make-up days. February 18th and March 29th are now regular school days instead of teacher workdays as originally scheduled. In literacy, we discussed the importance and value (priceless value) of primary documents. Students examined a copy of a map and determine its purpose, the type of document, who made it, what is was about, and its purpose. In science, we went over light and three of its properties. We first started with a warm-up but since this was an older one from a different pacing calendar, I had them disregard question #5. ![]()
We then discussed the following concepts about light and optics: - Light travels out in all directions from its source - Light goes in a straight path indefinitely unless something gets in its way Properties of Light: Absorption - light can be blocked and its energy taken in completely Refraction - light can bend when it enters something more dense than air, such as water Reflection - light can bounce back at the exact same angle from which it came Everything you see is the result of light being reflected Light is white but is made up of seven colors of the spectrum: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet. White is the result of all colors being reflected back Black is the result of all colors being absorbed When you see a color, you are seeing only that part of the spectrum being reflected back. The other colors are absorbed. Then, we did an experiment by answering the following question: Students were split up into small groups and each group was given a blank sheet of paper and a flashlight. The important part was to not touch the paper to avoid messing with the experiment. I went around with my non contact IR thermometer and took an initial temperature reading of the center of each paper. Then, the students turned on their flashlights and shined them at the paper's center continuously for at least 3 minutes. I then went to each group, had them turn off their flashlights, and I took another temperature reading of the spot where the light was shining. In almost all cases, the temperature slightly increased. Why? Because as light is absorbed and more light is coming in continuously, the absorbed energy has nowhere to go so it builds up and then transforms into thermal (heat) energy. Comments are closed.
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