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The LeTaS! teachers found these books to be particularly helpful:

Other helpful resources:

Rader’s Physics4kids!
Great introductory website that covers all the basics and includes quizzes to test understanding (question are not trivial which is nice). While the site does cover a wide range of topics, the attention to detail does not equal that of a decent high school physics text book.

HyperPhysics
A wonderful page for learning how all the different parts of physics connect to each other. The explanations given for the topics are at the high school level or above. This however does not mean it cannot provide some useful knowledge. I highly recommend at least checking out the front page as it shows a wonderful flowchart of all the interconnections in physics.

Eric Weisstein's World of Science
From webpage “Eric Weisstein's World of Science contains budding encyclopedias of astronomy, scientific biography, chemistry, and physics.” Great for wide range of topics, however explanations are technical.

The Physics Hypertextbook
From webpage “The Physics Hypertextbook™ exists! Read it if you want to learn more about physics. Read it if you need to learn more about physics to achieve some other end. Read it if you are curious about physics or enjoy science in general. It's an interesting diversion and you just might learn something in the process. Certainly no harm can come from any of these objectives.”

I have not had the opportunity to look through this resource; however it seems to be a nice online physics textbook. However as the author points out there could be mistakes within it. I would not however allow this to deter you from using it as a resource when trying to learn more about any physics topic.

Learn Physics Today
This is a physics tutorial webpage which goes over introductory physics concepts. Integrated into the tutorials are problems with the solutions that allow you to check your understanding of the material. This is good way review physics.

The Particle Adventure
Site concentrates on particle physics, keeps explanation general. This site is nice because it provides understandable tutorial of a large section of modern physics. Considering the Department of Energy spent $750 million on the area of high energy physics/particle physics last year alone, this may be a topic of interest.

The ABC's of Nuclear Science
Provides introduction to Nuclear Physics.

Physics 2000
Provides interactive tour of modern physics. The best part is the interactive applets which allow you the opportunity of a “hands on experience”.

Science in the News

"Official prototype of kilogram mysteriously losing weight"

I would like to make two comments about this article. The first deals with the use of scientific terminology in popular science. The second deals with standards used to define the meter, second, and kilogram.

When talking about scientific concepts it is essential that the correct terminology is used. In this article (especially in the title) weight and mass are used interchangeably. However, they are not the same. Weight is actually mass times gravity, so weight is a force with units of Newton’s. Mass has units of kilograms. This is a very important difference, especially for this article. I read several comments dealing with this article and I found several people attributed the problem to gravity, which would be a plausible explanation if the weight change was the issue. However, I believe the mass change was the issue, in which case gravity plays no part. If the title was more specific this ambiguity would not have arisen.

Secondly, it is interesting that the unit of mass, the kilogram, is defined by a physical object which could gain/lose mass over time. Work is being done to define the kilogram on more fundamental terms, like the meter and second are. The meter is no longer defined by a metal rod, but rather the distance light travels in a particular period of time. The second is defined by the oscillation of a Cesium atom.

Nobel Prize in Physics

The preceding article gives a brief outline of this years’ Nobel Prize in physics. This is a great example of a discovering in physics leading to a direct application in our everyday lives. This may be used as an opportunity to see how hard drives and physics are related. As usual if you are interested in more information or clarification, just ask.


Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Here is an article on this years’ Nobel Prize in chemistry. This work seems to have some important practical applications. As usual if you are interested in more information or clarification, just ask.


The replacement of 120-watt incandescent street lights with the 56-watt light-emitting diodes.

Additional Link

There are two advantages to switching lights from incandescent to LED (light-emitting diode). One, LED last longer (no need to have someone go replace them); according to this report up to 5 times as long. Two, they will use less energy.

Remember a watt is a unit a power (1 watt = 1 Joule/second). A joule is a unit of energy, so 120-watt light uses 120 Joules of energy every second. Side note: Our electricity bills are in kilowatt-hours, which is essentially a measurement of the energy being used.

Now why are LED’s using less power? The main problem with incandescent light bulbs is that they lose a lot of energy through thermal heat. Incandescent bulbs work by passing a current through a resistive element (the small wire seen in light bulbs is typically made of the element tungsten, symbol W and atomic number 74). When ever current is passed through a resistive element, the element heats up (like toasters and electric stoves). The heated wire emits light with a continuous spectrum. Most up the energy passed through the wire is dissipated away as heat, the infrared part of the light spectrum (this can be over 90 %). For light bulbs only a couple of percent is turned into visible light. So we can see here incandescent bulbs are not efficient.

LED’s emit light at a specific frequency (a discrete spectrum), this is why they can come in colors (red, blue, green, ...). This is also one of the main reasons there is not a thermal energy loss problem. This leads to better efficiency. LED’s are more expensive and have other usage problems, but they can produce the same luminescent as incandescent bulbs while using less energy. And that is a good thing.

As usual please post follow up questions, or even question what I have said. This is the best why to increase our understanding of the world.

This article titled "Sweden Turns to a Promising Power Source, With Flaws" appeared in the business section of the New York Times on 11/23/07. It is an interesting read.

There were two sections that may lead to nice classroom discussions.

The first deals with the random nature of wind.

The article states "For starters, the wind does not blow all the time. When it does, it does not necessarily do so during periods of high demand for electricity. That makes wind a shaky replacement for more dependable, if polluting, energy sources like oil, coal and natural gas." But later on the article presents a great solution, even if it will not work in all areas. "Wind power ..., which it uses ... to pump underground water into elevated reservoirs. The water is later released during periods of peak electric demand to drive hydroelectric stations."

This is a great example of potential energy and kinetic energy. Water at high elevations is potential energy. When it goes through a dam it falls, (changes to kinetic energy) turning turbines and generating electricity. By using wind power to move water back to a higher altitude, one is essentially charging a battery for later use.

The second is more of a debate about "not in my back yard". This deals with peoples need for energy, but their unwillingness to deal with its possible effects. For example, wind energy can provide a great alternative/supplementary form of energy. However, who wants giant wind turbines to disrupt their scenic views. Another example is nuclear energy and the placement of waste or coal and strip mining. These are all questions that have to be dealt with.