You can find a list of posts from previous science clubs here.
Greek and Latin Roots
Here is the list of Greek and Latin roots for this week:
Here is a link to all of the Greek and Latin roots we have discussed.
Test your memory of the Greek and Latin roots that we have discussed with this quiz.
This is the link to the Wikipedia list of Greek and Latin roots.
Important Points We Discussed
Calculating the Amount of CO2 Produced
- A mole is just a number in the same way that a dozen is a number.
- 1 mole is the number of atoms needed to convert from an atomic or molecular weight to grams.
- The volume of a mole of gas can be calculated by the ideal gas equation: PV = nRT, where P is pressure, V is volume, n is number of moles, R is a constant, and T is temperature.
pH
- Litmus paper can be used to determine if a chemical is an acid or base.
- Blue litmus paper turns red in the presence of an acid.
- Red litmus paper turns blue in the presence of a base.
- Citric acid is very acidic, with a pH around 2.
Chemistry books
- There are often books at the public library that can teach you about chemistry.
- Simple chemistry experiments that are aimed at younger kids can often be modified into great learning opportunities by making actual measurements throughout a range of conditions, such as changing the concentrations or temperatures.
History of Physics
- The early 20th century was a time of rapid change in the field of physics.
- Classic physics includes:
- Classical mechanics
- Electromagnetism
- Thermodynamics/Statistical mechanics
- Modern physics includes:
- Special relativity, developed by Einstein, published in 1905
- General relativity, developed by Einstein, published in 1915
- Quantum mechanics, initiated by Planck in 1900 and fully developed by 1927.
- James Clerk Maxwell, who combined the laws of electricity and magnetism into 4 equations that unified the field and showed that light was electromagnetic radiation, is considered one of the most important physicists alongside Newton and Einstein.
Motors
- There are three types of motors that are easily controlled by an Arduino:
- a basic DC motor
- a stepper motor
- a servo motor
DC motors
- A DC motor is a basic small motor found in many battery-powered vehicles toys.
- They only require two wires and no special circuit to control them.
- They keep spinning for a little while after the current stops and there is no way to precisely control how much they turn.
Servo motors
- A servo motor can be programmed to go to a specific angle.
- They usually cannot be turned through a full rotation. They are often limited to 180 degrees or less.
- They require 3 wires (usually) and are require a little programming to control but no special circuit.
Stepper motors
- A stepper motor can be programmed to turn a specific number of steps, each less than 2 degrees.
- A stepper motor requires at least 4 wires and a special circuit to control it.
- Stepper motors are often used in scientific experiments because they can precisely control where something is.
Details of Things We Discussed
Mole
- A mole is approximately equal to 6.022 x 1023 particles.
- 6.022 x 1023 is known as Avogadro’s number.
History of Physics
Many people contributed to the field of physics. However, a few people are recognized as having made such revolutionary contributions that they deserve special recognition.
Galileo Galilei, 1564-1642
- An Italian scientist who began the field of physics. He accomplishments included:
- Developing equations to describe physical phenomena
- Studies of speed, gravity and free fall
- Describing the properties of a pendulum
- Using a telescope to study celestial objects
Isaac Newton, 1642-1726
- An English scientist who is credited with:
- 3 laws of motion
- the law of inertia
- F = ma
- for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction
- the law of gravity
- studies on light and optics
- calculus
- 3 laws of motion
James Clerk Maxwell, 1831-1879
- A Scottish scientist who combined laws of electricity and magnetism into 4 equations:
- Faraday’s law of induction
- Gauss’s law
- Ampere’s law
- Gauss’s law of magnetism
- His initial set of equations were written as 20 separate equations but can be written in modern notation as 4 equations. The compactness of the equations belies the complexity of the mathematics required to use them.
- In addition to unifying the work of others into a consistent theory, he also realized that Ampere’s law needed to be modified.
- He was able to use these equations to develop an equation for a wave which traveled at the speed of light.
- He realized that light was an electromagnetic wave and predicted radio waves.
- His work unified three different fields: electricity, magnetism and optics.
- Maxwell is often considered the third greatest physicist after Newton and Einstein.
Statistical Mechanics
- Statistical mechanics is a branch of physics that describes the physical properties of matter in terms of the properties of microscopic particles using probability.
- The earliest use of statistical mechanics was in thermodynamics to describe the temperature of an object in terms of the velocities of individual atoms.
- Statistical mechanics was developed by:
- James Clerk Maxwell, 1831-1879
- Ludwig Boltzmann, 1844-1906
- Josiah Willard Gibbs, 1839-1903
“The End of Science”
- The 19th century had seen a maturation of ideas in classical mechanics, the unification of electricity, magnetism and optics into electromagnetism and the development of thermodynamics to use the ideas of atomic theory to explain macroscopic properties of matter.
- Albert A. Michelson, wrote in 1894: “… it seems probable that most of the grand underlying principles have been firmly established … An eminent physicist remarked that the future truths of physical science are to be looked for in the sixth place of decimals.”
- However, there were already some hints that not everything was understood.
Michelson-Morley Experiment, 1887
- It was assumed that an electromagnetic wave must require a medium, just as water waves travel through water and sound waves travel through air.
- The hypothetical medium was known as “ether”.
- Michelson and Morley attempted to measure the rate at which the earth moved through the ether.
- They developed a way to measure the speed of light very accurately and found that the speed of light did not change with the rotation of the earth.
- Their experiment was 40 times more precise than they thought they would need to be to see a change in the speed of light.
- This is considered the most important “failed” experiment.
- Although the results could not be explained initially, eventually Einstein realized correct explanation: the speed of light is constant in all reference frames.
The Development of Modern Physics
- Albert Einstein published his theory of special relativity in 1905.
- Einstein published his theory of general relativity in 1915.
- The development of quantum mechanics began in 1900 when Max Planck developed the idea of a “quanta” of light, which we now call a photon.
- Einstein proved that the reality of a photon by explaining the photoelectric effect in 1905.
- Bohr developed his model of the atom in 1913.
- de Broglie suggested that subatomic particles had wave properties in 1924.
- Schroedinger proposed his wave equation in 1925 and, in 1926, Born proposed that the wave equation should be interpreted to give probabilities of the properties of a particle.
- Heisenberg introduced his uncertainty principle in 1927.
How Things Changed
There was a radical transformation in our understanding of the universe between 1899 and 1927.
| Topic | Before 1899 | By 1927 |
| Atom | The smallest particle of matter | Made of electrons, protons and neutrons which all have wave-like properties. Electrons are in orbitals around the nucleus. (Neutrons were suspected but not discovered until 1932.) |
| Time | The same for all observers | Variable between observers based on their relative velocities as well as the gravitational field |
| Time & Space | Space was 3-dimensional. Time was completely separate from spacial dimensions. | Space and time are on equal footing as part of a 4-dimensional space-time. |
| Energy & matter | Energy and matter are different things, described by two separate laws: the conservation of energy and the conservation of mass. | Energy and matter are interchangeable, described by the law of conservation of mass and energy. |
| Light | Made of electromagnetic waves, unaffected by gravity | Made of photons following a path bent by gravity |
| Gravity | The attraction between any two masses | The warping of space-time by matter |
| Speed | There was no limit to how fast something could go | The speed of light is the fastest possible speed |
| Certainty | There was no limit to how precisely something could be measured | There is a limit to how well a particle’s position and momentum could be known at the same time. |
| Determinism | Outcomes could be calculated exactly. | Only probabilities can be calculated. |
Things To Do
- Fill out the list of Greek and Latin roots.
- Determine the roots in the example word.
- Write in the meaning of each root
- Give at least one example of each, be prepared to give its actual definition and the way that it is related to the root word
- Presentation
- Research your topic of choice and be prepared to give a 5-minute presentation on the topic, geared toward people your age level.
- Include the background information needed for someone who does not know the topic as well as you.
- Be prepared to talk about how you found this information.
Next time we will meet on 2/6/25.
CoMo Science 
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