I’m really bad about doing this. I’ve at least learned to keep a bottle of vinegar and Q-tips in my stockroom…

I teach my students that vectors aren’t inherently positive or negative. We use positive and negative numbers as a convenient shorthand for direction when combining one-dimensional vectors because the math works. However, mathematically -3 < +2, but a velocity of -3 m/s is faster than +2 m/s.

I use short lengths of pipe insulation. Push wires into the slit and pull them out the same way.

No, but if I put in just the right amount of water to balance the system, I can raise or lower buckets & table to any height I want. At that point, the normal force is zero. 😁

I just felt it in Lynn.

True. It helps that both scales read in newtons, which are relatively unfamiliar units. It also helps (and provides for an interesting discussion) that they can change the readings by leaning forward or backward to shift their center of mass and change the geometry of the system.

Amazon. a.co/d/2bpZmEc

I made an overlay so it reads newtons instead of pounds.

I do the same. I point out that when I start to pull the magnet away, the spikes get shorter, showing how the magnetic field gets weaker with distance.

Before I do this, I model magnetic flux by drawing dots on a balloon with a marker, showing that they get farther apart as I blow up the balloon.

I often say that my political position has not changed appreciably over the past 40 years, but the ground under me has shifted from pale red to dark blue.

There’s a popular meme that says “I’m a serial killer. I wrote my confession into the stories in my recipe blog, because I know no one will read them.”

Amazing pictures. May I include some of them (with attribution, of course) in my physics notes? (I share the notes for free with physics teachers around the world.) The physics 2 notes have a section explaining how a combination of refraction and internal reflection produce rainbows.

Feel free to DM me if you want some specifics.

[cont’d] Events can include pencil & paper tests or hands-on activities, and are designed to run in about 40-45 min. or less. Some of the “instant invention” events are probably the kind of thing you’re looking for.

Kind of. The North Shore Science League is an association of schools north of Boston. We have monthly competitions (kind of Science Olympiad style, but homegrown). There are three events at each meet, and students compete in teams of up to 4 from each school. Events can be from any discipline.

I like it. I try to color code everything. I generally use blue & red—two of the defaults on my Smart board. The variable I’m solving for is usually red, and the rest of the equation is blue. For projectile motion, the horizontal equation is blue and the vertical is red, with time in green.

Exactly this. Energy is not a property of chemical bonds.

Bio teachers simplifying the ATP -> ADP +P process by saying that “chemical bonds contain energy” creates a misconception about the nature of chemical bonds to which students cling tenaciously, and refuse to let go of.