Mechanics

Pendulum

Teacher:  Jamie York  (Read more about his biography here)

Dates for 4-Week Course:

October 14 to November 8, 2024 

Times for Live Sessions:  Monday through Thursday, Starting at 9:30am MT (which is 11:30am ET and 8:30am PT).  Each live session lasts between 40 and 60 minutes.  Additionally, the students spend around 20 minutes each day watching a record presentation.  

Course Description

Our high school physics main lessons allow for a deeper penetration of one field of the world of physics. This is in contrast to middle school physics, when each main lesson touched upon several different subjects (heat, electricity, mechanics, optics, etc.). In tenth grade, our studies focus on mechanics. Students first encountered mechanics in seventh grade using the principle of mechanical advantage through “simple machines.”  History plays a significant part of this tenth grade main lesson. We come to appreciate the contributions of both Galileo and Newton in the development of the modern scientific method.  Our studies neatly integrate science and mathematics. We seek to discover the laws motion expressed in the form of equations, which allow us to predict the outcomes of uniform motion. We expect students to observe demonstrations, perform their own hands-on experiments, and through a careful thought process, discover the laws behind their observations.

Topics Covered (subject to change):

  • Galileo’s life and work
  • The Scientific Method
  • Aspects of movement: (velocity, acceleration, gravity, etc.)
  • The measurement of the acceleration due to gravity
  • Free fall and terminal velocity
  • Projectile motion
  • Mass versus weight
  • Kinetic and potential energy
  • Newton’s Three Laws of Motion
  • Conservation of Momentum
  • Conservation of Energy

If you register your student for a science program and live outside the US, we will send you an invoice for an additional $30-$50 for your science kit shipping, depending on your location. 

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