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Kepler and his Laws
Students examine Kepler's Laws. They confirm Kepler's 3rd law by comparing orbital periods and mean distances for all major planets and study conic sections, qualitatively.
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Newton's Theory of Universal Gravitation
Young scholars explore how Newton tied together the gravity observed on Earth and the motion of the Moon. They apply an earlier lesson about centripetal forces.
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Kepler's 3rd Law
Students derive the velocity in a circular orbit of any radius. They derive the Earth escape velocity and prove Kepler's 3rd law for circular orbits # A simple formula for the orbital period in a circular Earth orbit of given radius.
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The Way Things Fall
Students explore concept of acceleration and motion under the influence of gravity, starting with free fall and ending with motions that start out with both horizontal and vertical initial velocities.
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Newton and his Laws
High schoolers explore Newton's laws, including what they state, and what the intuitive meaning is of the first and third laws.
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Newton's Second Law
Pupils examine how physical quantities and laws depend distance, mass and time. They examine the MKS system; meter, kilogram and second, for doing calculations.
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Our View of the Sun
Students are introduced to safety rules for observing the Sun, how the distance of the Sun is measured using Kepler's Laws and identify the visible layers of the Sun. They discuss solar eclipses and view images of eclipses using the...
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Milestones in the Space Program
Students brainstorm names of astronauts from NASA space missions. They are explained that the Cold War was not actually a war but pervasive tension that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union for several decades...
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10 Great Places to Savor the Wild Blue Yonder
Young scholars discuss developments in aviation. In this reading comprehension lesson, students read an article that discusses ten aviation museums and developments in civil and military aviation. Young scholars find relationships...
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Forensic Detectives: Chemistry at Work
Learners examine the different careers associated with chemistry and see how it is used everyday. In this forensic lesson students research a chemistry related career and write a presentation to give to the class.
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Observational Astronomy
High schoolers research about the characteristics of celestial bodies using a database. In this space science lesson, students collect data such as brightness, apparent color and size by observing the night sky. They share their findings...
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Discover Magazine: The Solar System
Students research ideas for NASA's space exploration. In this Space Science lesson plan, students will try to find a way to bring NASA back into the spot light. Students will presented their ideas to the class for review.
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Seeing The Sun In A New Light
Students examine the observation of "coronal holes," by x-rays, also about related fast streams and moderate magnetic storms that recur at 27 day intervals. They study NASA'S great observatories.
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(S-4) The Magnetic Sun
Young scholars explore magnetism and magnetic phenomena on the Sun.
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(S-1) Sunlight and the Earth
Students discuss the solar heating of the Earth and atmosphere, its heat loss proceses, and the way these relate to weather and climate.
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#24 Rotating Frames of Reference in Space and on Earth
Learners explore rotating frames of reference, focusing on the weightless environment in space and the Coriolis force.
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#22c Airplane flight #22d Airplane flight--How High? How Fast?
Students discuss the application of frames of reference to an airplane flying with a constant velocity v through the air.
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#22 Frames of Reference: The Basics
Learners explore the concept of frames of reference in physics.
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Motion in a Circle
Students study about deriving centripetal acceleration for motion at constant speed around a circle.
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Kepler's Second Law
Students gain an understanding of Kepler's 2nd law--that planets (and satellites) move fastest at their closest approach to the center of attraction, and slow down when far away. They explore the concepts of "potential energy" and...
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Ellipses And Kepler's First Law
High schoolers explain that planets actually orbit the center of gravity of the solar system, and that distant planets may be detected by motions of their central star around the centers of gravity of their planetary systems.
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Graphs And Ellipses
Students become acquainted with linear graphs, the parabola and the rectangular hyperbola. Also prepare tables of paired values as preparation for plotting a line. They study the cartesian equation of an ellipse, with a worked example.
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May The Earth Be Revolving Around The Sun?
Students trace the beginning of the heliocentric theory of the solar system--the idea that the solar system revolves around the Sun--to an observation by the Greek astronomer Aristarchus, which convinced him that the Sun was much bigger...
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How Distant is the Moon?--2
Pupils examine total eclipses of the Sun and their limited regions of totality. They explain that this limited view occurs because the Moon is close enough to us for different points on Earth to view it differently.