Overview
PHY 101 Discussion
PROVIDE A 250 WORD MINIMUM ANSWER TO EACH QUESTION AND 2 FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS TO DISCUSS
1. Imagine that you are a contemporary of Galileo. Would you offer your scientific insights that might threaten establishment views? How would you make scientific reasoning about the position of the earth and the sun palatable to the powers in place?
2. Galileo determined the relationship between the length of a pendulum and its period. How would you design and execute an experiment to determine the relationship of a pendulum’s length and its period? How would you depict the results to make your analysis of the relationship clear?
3. When a multi-stage booster is fired into space, the mass of the booster changes as the fuel is burned during flight. Discuss how the change in mass influences the acceleration of the booster. When should the first stage of the booster be jettisoned (at maximum velocity, maximum acceleration, maximum altitude, or at some other time)? Justify your selection and give your own example of how mass influences acceleration and describe the process as it happens in your example.
4. It has been speculated that gravity does not truly exist as a force in and of itself, but is instead a manifestation of the electrostatic force, which is the force responsible for the repulsion of like-charges and the attraction of opposite charges. Do you believe this is a credible theory? Why or why not? What experiment could you devise to test this theory?
5. The ancient Egyptians most likely used simple machines to build the pyramids. Discuss how you might use one or more of the simple machines to move the massive stone blocks up the growing pyramid, and into their proper places. Hint: Space aliens are not part of the answer! How else could you use simple machines?
6. On the International Space Station, sensors have identified an interstellar gas cloud approaching the station. It seems to have temperatures in the millions of degrees K. The gas cloud has a very low density. Are you concerned about the heat from this cloud? Is it time to abandon the station? Discuss your answer, focusing on the difference between temperature and heat.
7. Your flashlight is getting dimmer and dimmer, so you assume the batteries are nearly dead. They are “D” cells producing 1.5 volts. You take the batteries out and test them with a voltmeter. The meter reveals the batteries have nearly 1.5 volts of potential. Are the batteries dead or is something else going on? Discuss how you can tell whether the batteries are dead, and how you would test the flashlight to see whether there is some internal problem. Is it an either-or proposition? Explain.
8. The U.S. Navy conducts sonar tests that may be harmful to undersea creatures like whales and dolphins. Discuss the propagation of sound waves under water and speculate on how Navy sonar waves might interfere with cetacean undersea navigation. Share your opinion on the need for regulation of man-made ocean sound.