285

285

The number of students who have earned 20/20 on semester iClicker pointage: 285, out of 501 students.

Very nice for your grades!

Best three midterms

I just created a new row in you Grades page, "Best three midterms" out of a possible 120 points.

This is a large fraction of your semester grade, going into the final exam. It is good, because 92% of the class made it to all four midterms and have the benefit of dropping one stinky and dinky midterm score. Nice.

Other big pieces of semester grade -- HW and clicking -- are still in progress. I will be trying to update clicking data today, until my brain melts or mental discombobulational chaos sets in.

Side note: 90/120 or more would be a letter grade "B" average.

Schedule for this week

Schedule for this week:

Monday, Nov. 25 Lecture 41 Finish concepts from Ch. 17 on rocks and minerals, begin Ch. 24 concepts on the oceans of Earth. Regular clicker work in class. HW 25 assignment, due 11/27

Wednesday, Nov. 27 Lecture 42 Finish Ch. 24 concepts on the oceans of Earth. Regular clicker work in class. HW 26 assignment, due 12/2 Chuck Norris Mega-Review HW assignment, due on 12/2.

Office hours cancelled today only

I have to cancel office hours this morning. I am taking a family member to the hospital.

Red hydrogen

From APOD, Astronomy Picture of the Day

This is an interesting view of an astronomical nebula, the Veil Nebula, loaded with hydrogen (red).

Here is a nifty reference for the spectra of other elements: Spectra of Gas Discharges by Joachim Köppen, Strasbourg/Illkirch/Kiel 2007.

Exam 3 clicker scores are now up for almost everybody.

Exam 3 clicker scores are now up for almost everybody. Exceptions:

1. morning sec. 0001 students who left before 9:10 AM -- we are trying to reconstruct your data;
2. a few students who did not click (e.g., forgot their clickers).

But for the majority, your three midterm exam scores are now complete. You can now make an estimate of your grades before the W deadline, but under the following provisions:

1. You have to remember the grade scale for THIS course:
   1. 90% average
   2. 75%
   3. 60%
   4. 50%
   6. below 50%
I emphasize this because so many students forget the actual grade scale!

2. Your other pointage, from participation in lecture and homework, factors in as a N_p/20 for participation and N_h/20 for homework. You can estimate N_p and N_h by looking over your Grades page.
3. So you make your estimate based on possible 160 points available to date: 120 from exams, 40 from HW and clickiing.
4. One of these midterms might be the one you drop, after you've taken Exam 4 on Nov. 20.

So there is a lot of roughness in your estimate right now. You can make an estimate, but it still boils down to a judgement call on your part.

Guest instructors on Monday

I will be at a physics conference in Colorado on Monday. To provide a lecture for me, I have asked Dr. Fernandez and Dr. Chini of the physics department to proved a Ch. 8 lecture, mainly on the structure of the atom and atomic spectra. They will have a set of iClicker questions, 6 or more, of my design, so be ready.

Dr. Yan Fernandez 8:30 AM lecture

Dr. Jacquelyn Chini 1:30 PM lecture

Taking signups for SSG in Library

I am taking signups for SSG in the Library/Java City right now, until about 1:15 PM. This is for the first group. Signups will open up for everyone at 2:30 PM, when I get back to the Java City after the afternoon lecture.

Signups procedure

Here is the signup procedure for Special Study Groups this coming week, for the students who just got a message in Webcourses from me about signups:

1. Look over the Full SSG Schedule page, linked to the home page, right below the HW 16 link.
2. Find one or two SSGs that fit your Monday/Tuesday schedule.
3. Sign up for your top choice, starting at 7:30 AM on Monday, in our lecture hall, MSB260.
4. I will be there at 7:30 AM with signup sheets. Bring your campus ID. First come, first served.
5. If you cannot get there before lecture starts at 8:30 AM, then you can catch me in the Library cafe from about 9:30 AM until 12:30 PM, after which I will head back to MSB260 for my afternoon lecture.

If you did not get a message about this in Webcourses from me, then you'll have to wait until 2:30 PM, Monday; if there are any more spots, maybe you can sign up.

Full schedule of SSG sessions

The full schedule for SSG sessions is now set. It is linked to the home page in Webcourses.

For those of you who have a test average below 60%, total points 47 points or fewer, you will have the first shot at signing up, starting at 7:30 AM in our lecture hall, MSB260. Signups will continue after the morning lecture, until the SSGs fill up.

There are not nearly as many SSGs as I need, so if your exam average is above 60%, 48 points or more from Exam 1 and Exam 2, then you most likely will NOT get a shot at SSG this time around.

Anyway, be alert and ready.

Please take the Exam 2 double check.

To double check your scantron scores, I set up a tiny "quiz" object in Webcourses. It asks you

1. if you have your printout yet or not,
2. if the scantron contains some "double answer" incorrects, or
3. if it contains "blank" incorrects.

Please take this quiz before Wednesday, and it will help us get your scantron score squared away if you do have a false double (one answer + one smudge) or a false blank (one answer but too light).

If you have not gotten your exam 2 printout yet, you are already squared away. I did catch a few doubles and blanks.

Your i>Clicker2 data

I just finished uploading your i>Clicker2 data from today's exam: the points you earned, out of 4 possible.

I also posted the actual number you entered for your answer on #2, the three-pointer. Morning section: v = 7.0 m/sec. Afternoon section: Q = 38750 cal. Those of you who did not enter a number on #2, I posted -1 to signify "no answer sent."

No word yet from test scoring concerning your scantrons. We will have to wait until tomorrow, maybe Friday for that data.

Exam 2 today

Exam 2 today
Bring UCF raspberry scantron, calculator, i>Clicker2, pencil, good eraser.

Erasures

Use this for erasure of scantron dots.

HW 11 is ready.

Your homework assignment #11 is ready.

I will be working like a subhuman maniac for the next 36 hours to get your Exam 2 prepared, so post your questions in Discussions (unless you have a personal question, like grades). The LAs Marina and Alexa will be watching Discussions like the proverbial hawk, and if I am not able to chip in some advise in your Discussion thread, they will be able to do so.

ALSO: Be careful not to post duplicate threads -- read carefully to see if your question has already been asked and answered.

HW 10 is UP.

Your tenth homework assignment is UP. It will be due, as usual, at the beginning of lecture on Monday.

You'll want to do some reading in Ch. 4 for this assignment. Click on the assignment, and you'll see where to read.

In science there is only physics;
all the rest is stamp collecting.
- William Thomson, Lord Kelvin

Typos

I had some typos in both iClicker solutions PDFs from Exam 1. They are now fixed, corrected version is now in place on the Exam blurbs page.

Thermal concepts

There is a new mini-module on thermal concepts that will open up tomorrow after morning lecture. It has a few details and links that will help you learn some of the concepts.

Office hours for blooper checks etc.

I will be having office hours today, 9:00 - 10:30 AM, as scheduled. If you need to do a blooper check on your scantron, or if you have any other thing to discuss, drop by and we can try to get stuff squared away.

ALSO: L.A. Marina will have office hours tomorrow afternoon, 12:30 - 1:30 PM.

Additional office hours

Our LA Marina has set up office hours on Wednesdays, 12:30 - 1:30 PM, Wednesdays, in Room PS158 of the Physical Sciences Building. She will start this week.

My office hours continue, 9:00 - 10:30 AM, Tuesdays, PS158.

I hope LA Alexa will also get some office hours scheduled. Then we will have multiple office hour slots, increasing attendance.

Fingerprints: Hubble Catches a Spiral in the Air Pump | NASA

Hubble Catches a Spiral in the Air Pump | NASA
If you read this story carefully, you will find a mention of how astronomers use "emission lines" -- like we saw on the first day of class -- to identify a specific kind of galaxy.

Exam 1 scores are UP.

You can now view your Exam 1 scores in the Grades page of Canvas. The Exam 1 score is the sum of

1. Exam 1 scantron (out of 34) +
2. Exam 1 clicker (out of 6).

Some of you might not have scantron scores if you blooped up the PID or test form dots. You might not have clicker points if it is not registered or you did not click in any answers. I hope to get those bloopers squared away in the next week or so.

A few of you nabbed the bonus points on the fourth iClicker2 question. Of those few, one student actually got 41/40 on Exam 1. WOW.

Here is a histogram of the scores. Avg. = 30.6/40.

Drama majors!

The Physics Dept. is having a "career day" for high schoolers in a few weeks, Oct. 12. One part of the program includes faculty dressed up like famous scientists from the past -- Sir Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday etc.

But physics faculty are major eggheads, up in the ozone layer most of the time. They need help with costume, makeup etc.

IF YOU are a drama major or have costuming experience and would like to assist the faculty, please send me a message in Canvas, or check in with me after lecture for a minute. After Exam 1 we can coordinate and work on some kind of plan.

BTW: Check out that equation in red!

YouTube demonstrations

Here is a YouTube from a few years ago of the spectrum of hydrogen.

There are other YouTubes at the PSC1121 channel in YoutubE.

Excitement and... a wipeout!

Yesterday afternoon was so exciting →→ Alexa singlehandedly CRUSHING the metal paint can.

Excellent.

But in the excitement, one of the humanoid beings up front forget to SAVE the podcast file, so there is no podcast of it.

HOWEVER, the same subhumanoid being who wiped out a lovely afternoon podcast also preserved his morning lecture podcast in the usual manner.

SO... afternoon section can view the morning podcast, which is slightly different, and we did cover a bit more material. It should help with the homework, too. I have slotted it into the 1:30 PM Lecture side of our iTunes U area; you have the "emergency version".

GO! GO! GO!

L6 data is UP.

Both sections of L6 clicking data are up, AM and PM.

Have a great weekend with the William Hung Fanboy Convention, or wherever it is you are headed. :D

See you next Wednesday!

Next homework is UP.

The next homework assignment is now UP in Webcourses. HW 2 will activate at 3 PM today, and it will be due on Wednesday next week at the beginning of your lecture.

PDF of Monday lecture

I just set up a page for PDFs of lecture slides for last Friday and this Monday, which were not in the podcast. Look for "Lecture PDFs, emergency mode" in the right hand side bar of Webcourses.

I just placed the Monday PDFs. The PDFs from Friday, I will work on directly.

L5 PM is up.

The clicking data from yesterday afternoon is up, L5 PM.

HW 1 is ready.

Make sure to have skimmed Ch. 2, if possible, before tackling HW 1, our first homework assignment of the semester.

Data from morning participation is UP.

There are several new rows in your Grades page in Webcourses. Each row starts with the 12th letter, L, for "lecture", then a number to indicate which lecture.

Today's data is L5.

Additionally, the data indicate

1. how many questions you answered and
2. how many of the ones you answered were actually correct.

Afternoon section, you will always have zero for anything that reads "L5 AM..." But your data this afternoon already has a slot ready for it, and I will upload that sometime after lecture.

Ignore the Grades page's percentages.

The percentages at the bottom of your Grades page are useless and misleading, but I cannot turn them off. Unfortunately, for some of Canvas' features, it is Canvas' way or the highway.

That being the case, it is good for you to simply ignore that stuff in gray at the bottom of your Grades page, e.g.,

Water in motion

Interesting video of a sink hole breaking out. Check the change in the waterline at the end of the video.

Bonus point up; iTunes U

I posted the bonus point from today's lectures IF your iClicker2 was registered via Webcourses. YAY.

For the rest of youse, NO MORE SNOOZING! Get those rigs registered up, in Webcourses, asap, and then you will get a bonus point on Friday, if you come to lecture.

ALSO: the afternoon podcast is UP in our iTunes U area.

Session data, morning section

I just uploaded raw scores from this morning's i>Clicker2 session. It will show up in your Grades page, if

1. you clicked properly, and
2. your i>Clicker2 is registered in Webcourses, as of about 10 AM.

Section 0002, at 1:30 PM, you'll have your shot. Be ready.

Morning lecture podcast is UP.

You can now download and view the 8:30 AM Wednesday morning lecture, in our iTunes U area. Look in Webcourses for the "iTunes U" page, right hand sidebar.

You can get an eBook, now.

You can now purchase the eBook version of the Tillery Physical Science textbook. Look for the "eBook etc." page, in the right hand side bar of Webcourses, then follow the instructions. You can use a credit or debit card.

Bonus points: Early iClicker registration

These students have already registered their i>Clicker2s.

1. Erica C.
2. Natalya C-Z
3. Robert D.
4. Cory G.
5. Ja'Far K.
6. Daniel K.
7. Kari-Ann L.
8. Zachary M.
9. Baily S.
10. Andrew S.
11. Casey S.

Excellent!

Tomorrow, Friday and Monday we will have some simple practice sessions on i>Clicker2 in lecture. For students who have registered in Webcourses, like the students listed above, they will get one bonus point on their semester grade for each lecture they have been registered before Wedneday next week. That is potentially 3 bonus points, more than 1% on semester grade.

Nice.

eBook soon

The McGraw Hill eBook site is still processing our request for the textbook. They've been slow and 503 a lot, being as how it was the first day of school yesterday for so many places, tons of students.

I am hoping it will be squared away and available to you all sometime today.

Webcourses is my friend.

NOT.

But even if Webcourses/Canvas is not our friend, we will persevere and use all of our skills to defeat it this semester.

No homework tonight, but do try to get the textbook and your i>clicker2.

Welcome aboard, everybody!

Cold ocean water, from size of your hand to size of Pacific Ocean

Incredible finding!

The cold surface sea water that keeps the Galapagos dry is part of a basin-scale structure called the equatorial cold tongue, and is known to originate from beneath the surface.

...the equatorial cold tongue [figure above] is a tale of remarkable interactions across eight orders of magnitude, from turbulence (10^-1 m) to the size of the vast Pacific Ocean (10⁷ m).

Climate science: Unequal equinoxes
by Shang-Ping Xie

This is amazing once you consider the size scales involved. The extent of the equatorial cold tongue reaches from about the Galapagos Islands west to about Jarvis Island, an arc of about 69°. If you factor in the average depth of the Pacific ocean, about 2000 meters, it looks about like this scale diagram:

What I am reading

OH, brother! What a textbook, from the master!

Galileo Galilei, Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences by Galileo Galilei.

And first of all it seems desirable to find and explain a definition best fitting natural phenomena.

Translated from the Italian and Latin into English by Henry Crew and Alfonso de Salvio. With an Introduction by Antonio Favaro
(New York: Macmillan, 1914). Accessed from http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/753 on 2013-08-07

Can't put it down...

This interesting biography of Rosalind Franklin is very hard to put down.

Lots of physics concepts set in the drama of a one woman's life. Excellent.

An interesting gamma ray burst during final exam week, GRB 130427A

An interesting gamma ray burst happened during finals week, GRB 130427A

Back in the early 1960s, the United States launched a few satellites, the Vela satellites, to detect secret nuclear weapons testing by the Soviet Union. By treaty between the US and USSR, no one was to test nuclear weapons above ground; underground testing was permitted. To monitor the Russians, US scientists at Los Alamos developed the Vela platform.

Nobody ever saw the Russkies nuking off any above ground tests, but while the detectors were not over Siberia, they could definitely see bursts of high energy gamma rays from sources outside the solar system.

Excellent.

In the 1970s, they began publishing scientific studies of these gamma ray bursters. The image below is an animation of the April 27 burst. Click the image to see the animation.

---

There is still a lot of study going on as to why these GRBs happen all over the universe. We do not know for sure, and neither do the Russians. This GRB was so close and so well-imaged, that maybe someone will now crack the puzzle, using F = ma, quantum physics and all the concepts we study in PSC1121.

Next semester

Next semester, I will try to feature more biographical material on

1. Rosalind Franklin (DNA, xray diffraction)
2. Louis Pasteur (crystals, polarized light)
3. Michael Faraday (electromagnetic field, light)

Simplifying the grades page

I decided to simplify the grades page, by

1. removing the weight factors -- man, was that a mess;
2. pushing all the regular points from exam, HW and clicking into the "Regular points subtotal."

If you look at your regular points subtotal, you get an estimate of your semester grade, even though I have not added in bonus points yet. I am still fussing with bonus pointages but I will get them squared away as fast as possible.

Be patient, and keep alert, and we humans will defeat the machine known as Webcourses2.

Subtotals

I am updating a new row of your Grades page, "Regular points subtotal," which includes best two midterms, final exam, homework pointage and class participation iClicker 2 pointage.

I will be getting to the bonus points subtotal last.

Exam 2 squared away now.

I think the Exam 2 score is squared away now, for EVERYBODY, even those who threw a blooper on their PID or test form. You have one other other of these two:

1. disasterized version, 2× 16 scantron questions everybody had + 2× iclicker
   (Those of you who had form C, this is your only grade.)
2. conventional version, true scantron (out of 35) + true iClicker (out of 5).

Most people had the disasterized version as their better score, so that is the one you get, on account of the proverbial benefit of the doubt.

Also, the "best two midterms" sum is now up to date and final.

That's about it -- I do not think another 37 pieces of flair are necessary for Webcourses2 today.

Chuck Norris Mega-Combo Review homework

You can now go work on the Chuck Norris Mega-Combo Review homework, which will earn you a few bonus points IF you answer questions correctly!

Chuck Norris Day solution set

You can now double check your answers with the blurb sheet on today's session. Look in Webcourses for the link to the Chuck Norris info.

All SSG times are now set.

All of the SSG sessions are now on the schedule:

You can sign up on paper, posted on Dr. Brueckner's office door, Room PS156, Physical Sciences Building starting at 11 AM on Monday, April 22.

1. Anfernee P.
   • Date, time: Wednesday, April 24th at 3 PM.
   • Location: UCF Library, study room
   • Meet at stone benches in front of the library. 

     I will be wearing a Green Mustache t-shirt.

2. Danielle H.
   • Date, time: Tuesday 4/23 from 3-4 PM. 
   • Location: UCF Library
   • Meet at the stone benches in front of the library. I will have on a teal colored tank top and carry a zebra print backpack.
3. David R.
   • Date, time: Monday, April 22, 4:00 - 5:00 PM.
   • Location: UCF Library
   • Meet at the flame statue in front of the library.
     Visible indicator: Orange v-neck, blonde hair, black backpack
4. Adam H., Last Chance Express
   • Date, time: Friday, April 26, 4:00 PM.
   • Location: UCF Library
   • Meet at the flame statue in front of the library.

     I will wear a plaid button down shirt, and have a study room reserved.

5. Blake A.
   • Date, time: Monday, April 22nd from 4:00 - 5:00 pm 
   • Location: All Knight Study @ Knights Plaza.
   • I will be wearing a bright blue shirt for students to notice me.
6. Drew U.
   • Date, time: Tuesday, April 23rd from 3:30 to 4:30 PM
   • Location: Office of Student Involvement Conference Room (Student Union, Room 208)
   • Meet at the front of the office. I will be wearing a black polo.
7. James M.
   • Date, time: Tuesday, April 23, noon.
   • Location: UCF Library
   • Meet at the flame statue in front of the library. I will be wearing a blue shirt.
8. Sadie M.
   • Date, time: Wednesday, April 24, 1 PM - 2 PM
   • Location: Classroom 1 Building
   • Meet at Classroom 1, 3rd floor study area tables.  I will put a sign on the table again.

Check schedule for SSG sessions.

Make sure to check the schedule for SSG sessions. It is linked to our home page in Webcourses2. Find the one you think will fit into your schedule, then get up to campus by 11 AM, Monday morning to sign up for it.

First come, first served.

Last regular homework is now available.

According to Chuck Norris Concept #207, "When Chuck Norris cuts up onions, the onios cry," it is now time to activate the last regular homework of the semester, Homework #18.

Don't forget: there will be a bonus-points generating Chuck Norris mega-combo homework next week.

Done.

OK, the third midterm exam is on the books. WOW. What a brain burner, -620 nanoNewtons.

Exam 2, the never ending story

In my effort to give everyone the proverbial benefit of the doubt on Exam 2 scores, I wanted to set everyone's Exam 2 score to be the higher of these two methods:

1. Doubles: double the clicker score (10 points possible), double the scantron scores on the sixteen questions everyone got to answer, even Form C students (32 points possible);
2. Regular: regular iClicker score (5 points possible), regular scantron score (35 points possible, but only for forms A, B and D.

I thought I had separated the two methods and posted the higher of the two. However, a handful of you have reported to me individually that your "doubles" was actually better but that the "regular" had been posted as the official Exam 2 score. I thought I had caught all of them, but apparently not.

So... I will try to get it all squared away again today. And as I work on it all, I will repeat this five times, "Webcourses2 is my friend... Webcourses2 is my friend..." :D

SSG signups going now

Special study groups signups on paper are now running, Room PS156 in the Physical Sciences Building.

Homework 15 is running now.

Ooooops, I forgot to activate Homework 15! But it is open for business now, so give it a go!

New HW and iClicker 2 estimates

I updated the estimates of your iClicker 2 and homework pointage:

1. (Estimate April 2) iClicker 2 participation pointage subtotal
2. (Estimate April 2) Homework pointage based on all HW

Remember, these are preliminary estimates and can change significantly by the end of April, due to more classroom participation on iClicker 2 and more homework.

And you know how much I love giving those excellent homework assignments! :D

Your study guide for Wednesday is UP.

A mini-study guide is now ready for Wednesday's bonus mini-quiz is ready.

Look for it in PDF, inside the "Exam blurbs" page in Webcourses2, near the image of the space shuttle liftoff.

Conversion

Your Wednesday and Friday clicking data are now up:

1. L28 special set correct, which will be converted to bonus points, and
2. L29 answered and L29 correct data.

The bonus points from Wednesday will eventually show up on the "Disaster Bonus March 20" line, up in the bonus point opportunities section.

HW and participation pointage estimates

I have estimated your current HW and iClicker 2 participation pointages, as of Wednesday's lecture. They are UP in Webcourses2, your Grades page.

Class averages right now are 17/20 for HW, 18/20 for iClicker 2 participation. Nice.

Remember: both iClicker 2 and HW pointage estimates are preliminary; they can change by semester's end... because we still have lots of HW and lots of clicking ahead!

Study guide ready

A mini-study guide is now ready for Wednesday's bonus mini-quiz is ready.

Look for it in PDF, inside the "Exam blurbs" page in Webcourses2, near the image of the space shuttle liftoff.

Normal operations resume at noon.

Just got the all clear from UCF:

UCF Main campus will resume normal operations at noon. Tower 1 remains evacuated.

I will see you at lecture, 1:30 PM.

Main campus closed until noon.

Emergency alert:

University of Central Florida’s main campus is closed for classes and employees until noon. Essential personnel should report to work.

Any class scheduled to begin before noon today, is cancelled.

I hope we will be cleared for our lecture meeting at 1:30 PM. Be prepared to attend.

updates

The two subsets

I just finished separating the 16 question subset from Exam 2 that everybody took, with the remainder being the 19 questions that we will review in bonus quizzes the next two Wednesdays, in lecture.

Comments:

1. The subset of 16 was actually a nice subset of topics, so basing your Exam 2 score on that is not too bad as a necessity;
2. there are still a few good brain burners on the bonus subset of 19.

Good.

More about this on Monday, and the study guide will be ready for Monday evening.

Homework 11 is running.

Your homework assignment #11 is now running in Webcourses2.

It is due on Monday, 1:30 PM, as usual.

Your iClicker 2 results are UP.

I graded your iClicker 2 data from questions 35 and 36 yesterday, a total of 5 points. Both were graded for partial credit if possible, so you might have something other than a 2, 3 or 5. Look on your Grades page in Webcourses2.

Disasterness plan

I have figured out a good plan for handling the disaster yesterday concerning Test Form C, the pink test.

I will explain it in lecture tomorrow.

Let's take the day off today!

We are right where my class was last semester at midterm. Good.

And we have been saving up a day off from lecture.

That being the case, we can take this Friday off from lecture, and I will see you on Monday, after spring break.

So keep your pocket protectors squared away, and enjoy your spring break!

P.S. Homework 10 is now due on Monday after spring break and lets you have one more attempt, making five attempts possible. YAY.

Homework 8 is ready.

Homework 8 is ready, a smorgasbord of hoops calculations on your home planet.

By the way, what is your caption for this photo? What is #3 thinking?

Special lecture section meeting today

Asteroid Encounter, Feb. 15

We will hold our class meeting today, Feb. 15, at the Pegasus Ballroom. Get there as early as you can -- I expect it to be crowded. We have seating set aside in the back.

1. Be there at our regular time, 1:30 - 2:20 PM.
2. Extra credit, 4 points on semester grade if you attend 1:30 - 2:20 PM.
3. We will take attendance and have two questions on iClicker 2, so be sure to bring it.
4. Sit in back near me.
5. I will be wearing a bright red shirt!
6. One question will be running for the first ten minutes, 1:35 - 1:40 PM.
7. I will stand up when the second question is ready, 2:10 - 2:20 PM.

Homework 7 for Kepler's laws

You can now work on Homework 7, concerning orbits and gravity and Kepler's three laws.

Special meeting in Pegasus Ballroom, Student Union, 1:30 - 2:20 PM, this Friday.

I am up to lecture L10 for iClicker 2 data uploads. Good.

Uploading iClicker 2 data

I am uploading a few lectures worth if iClicker 2 data right now.

So if you see your Grades page changing, fear thou not!

Variations in g on our moon

An interesting look at variations in the gravitational field of our moon, from the GRAIL spacecraft.

Mercator projections of free-air gravity, topography, and Bouguer gravity. Frames in (A) highlight the area surrounding the Korolev impact basin, at center. Frames in (B) show the western limb of Oceanus Procellarum. Details of free-air and Bouguer gravity are the same as in Fig. 1. Topography is from a LOLA 1/64° grid.

Cf., Zuber et al., Science 8 February 2013: Vol. 339 no. 6120 pp. 668-671.
DOI: 10.1126/science.1231507

Free-air gravity adjusts the value of g for altitude above sea level; Bouguer gravity also corrects for the mass of the rock piled up to that altitude.

1000 mGal = 1000 milliGalileos = 1 cm/sec². So the variations are small but telling.

Enjoy.

-1

By the way, if your grades page shows a "-1" for the ..Exam 1 scantron score, that means you forgot to bubble in the test form A, B, C or D, or maybe you messed up the PID.

It happens.

So if that happened to you: I will have to dig through the gigantic pile of exams to find yours and figure out what went wrong. Then I can get the true score figured out, but it will take some time.