Is PI wrong?

All of the fun math in this video made my day!

7th grade Ch 19 Conserving resources

Standardized test practice

Chapter review quiz

How does an electric motor work?

Here is a discussion from a community college in Kankakee.  This discussion mainly focuses on electricity (how electric generators and electric motors work), but the point of the discussion is to prep the students about renewable energy (wind power).  This shows some physical attributes of electrical energy, circuits, resistance (ohms law), the principle behind a generator, the movement of electrons, etc.


Here is the link to the Grand Coulee Dam video... produced by PBS

8th grade Chapter 22 Electricity

Section 1: Electric Charge    self-check quiz

Section 2: Electric Current   self-check quiz

Section 3: Electric Circuits   self-check quiz 

Standardized Test Practice

Alternative Energy Poster Project

Chapter 19 is titled Conserving Resources

Section 1: Resources
Discusses renewable and non-renewable resources that are used in our lives.

We will be identifying alternative ways to provide resources for our energy needs.

You will be required to create a poster project in Ch 19 and you will need to focus on...one of these renewable resources
Water power
Wind power
Nuclear power
Geothermal energy
Solar energy/solar cells

Here is a link to the poster project directions...

7th grade: Chapter 18: Interactions of Living Things

Section 1: The Environment - Practice quiz

Section 2: Interactions Among Living Organisms - Practice quiz

Section 3: Matter and Energy - Practice quiz

Standardized test practice

Section 1 is broken down into Abiotic and Biotic factors.  You should know what each of these mean.  In the Section 1 review, you were asked to name 5 examples of each that are in your ecosystem.  Biotic factors are the living things... different types of living things are Plants, Animals, Bacteria, Fungi, and Protists.  I expect you to identify 3 of these.

You should be able to identify the levels of organization (and what each contains)...that the living world is categorized into.

From an organism to the biosphere

Highlight the block of space after the question to find the answer... it will change from looking like this...

To this

Question: What happens to vegetation when rainfall amounts gradually decrease over centuries (a long period of time)?

Answer: Plant species either adapt or die out.  New plant species may enter the area. The ecosystem may change from forest to grassland to desert over time.

There are 2 major kinds of ecosystems.  Terrestrial ecosystems are located on land.  Aquatic ecosystems include freshwater and salt water.  Saltwater ecosystems make up approximately 75% of Earth's surface.

What are some factors that distinguish one biome from another?

Answer: precipitation, temperature, plant life, and animal life.

Air pollution can come from many different sources.  Can you name one source of air pollution specifically mentioned in the book?

Why is topsoil fertile?

Answer: It contains decayed remains of organisms... it also contains different amounts of nutrients, minerals, and moisture.

Do you know the technical name of the scientist who studies the interactions of organisms and their environment?

Of the major biomes in the world, which one do you live in?

The needs of living things - Knowing what living things need to grow and reproduce will be helpful in understanding population size, density, spacing, and limiting factors.

A mob of kangaroos

Animal groups have interesting names.  For example a group of crows is called a murder. You wouldn't want to run into a crash of rhinos or a prickle of porcupines, and beware of a mob of kangaroos.

 Can you name a limiting factor of a population?

Answer: food, water, living space (limiting factors can be biotic or abiotic)

READ ABOUT BIOTIC POTENTIAL.  What does it mean?

Do you know the 3 forms of symbiosis?  Mutualism, commensalism, parasitism

What is the difference between the niche of an animal and the animal's habitat?

What advantages does a population that feeds on several kinds of organisms have?

Answer: This ensures a food supply for the population if one food source becomes unavailable.

Practice for the Chapter 21test

Section 1: Temperature and Thermal energy practice quiz

• You should be able to determine what temperature is warmer or warmest if given a F, C, and K temperature
• You should be able to convert one temperature into another C = (5/9) (F-32)   or F = (9/5)(C) +32 or K = C +273
• Think of the demonstration with the blowtorch... I had one metal ball that slipped through a metal hole.  When the ball was heated up, (the molecules moved faster and) it expanded thus causing it to not fit through the metal hole anymore.

1. Temperature

• temperature is related to the average kinetic energy of the molecules an object contains
• most materials expand when their temperatures increase

2. Measuring temperature

• on the Celsius scale, the freezing point of water is 0 degrees C and the boiling point is 100 degrees C
• On the Fahrenheit scale, the freezing point of water is 32 degrees F and the boiling point is 212 degrees F.

3. Thermal Energy

• the thermal energy of an object is the sum of the kinetic and potential energy of all the molecules in an object

Section 2: Heat practice quiz

• Think of the lab that measured heating up and cooling down... what did the graph show, what were the results of the lab.  What did you learn about how fast water heats up or cools down?

1. Heat and Thermal Energy

• Heat is the transfer of thermal energy due to a temperature difference
• heat always moves from a higher temperature to a lower temperature

2. Conduction, Radiation, and Convection

• Conduction is the transfer of thermal energy when substances are in direct contact
• Radiation is the transfer of thermal energy by electromagnetic waves
• Convection is the transfer of thermal energy by the movement of matter

Think of an example of each conduction, convection, and radiation.

3. Thermal conductors and specific heat

• A thermal conductor is a material in which heat moves easily - metal is an example of a conductor
• An insulator is a material that does not transfer heat.  In your house, windows have 2 layers of glass that sandwich a layer of air... this reduces the movement of heat  out of the house in winter (or heat moving into the house during the summer) - plastic or wooden handles are good examples of insulators used in cooking
• The specific heat of a substance is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 kg of the substance by 1 degree C.  Think about your experiences relating to some materials that heat-up faster than other materials.

Section 3: Engines and Refrigerators practice quiz

1. Heat engines and Energy

• A heat engine is a device that converts thermal energy into mechanical energy
• Energy cannot be created or destroyed. It only can be transformed from one form to another.
• An internal combustion engine is a heat engine that burns fuel in a combustion chamber inside the engine.

2. Refrigerators and Heat Pumps

• A refrigerator uses coolant to transfer thermal energy to outside of the refrigerator
• The coolant gas absorbs thermal energy from inside of the refrigerator - think about water evaporating off of your skin, spraying a can of hairspray, using a propane tank (to burn the gas and heat a garage)... all of these have a liquid that boils and it feels cold. This is the same as what happens in the pipes that are inside the refrigerator. 
• Compressing the coolant makes it warmer than the air outside of the refrigerator (thus when the pipes are exposed to the air, heat is transferred from the warm pipes to the cold(er) outside air).  Examples of compressing and heating-up could be the fire syringe video.  A diesel engine does this... compressing the air so much that it heats up to the point that the diesel fuel burns without a spark-plug having to ignite it.
• A heat pump heats by absorbing thermal energy from the air outside, and transferring it inside a building.

Standardized test practice