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My Car Has Potential
Seventh graders investigate how changes in the mass or height of a ramp can affect the change in potential energy. They discuss the concepts of work and energy, then using the four question strategy, they design an experiment that...
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Will it Stretch?
Students explore elasticity and describe the effects of temperature changes on physical properties. In this rubber band stretch lesson students complete an experimental activity and show their results.
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A Potpourri of Thermo Questions
In this thermodynamics instructional activity, students match terms to their definitions such as enthalpy, equilibrium, bond energy, and heat capacity. This instructional activity has 20 words to match.
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Thermodynamics
In this thermodynamics worksheet, students review enthalpy, state functions, bond energy, and heat capacity. This worksheet has 2 multiple choice, 6 matching, and 12 problems to solve.
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Fuel Mystery Dis-Solved
Students describe how temperature and surface area exposure affect the rate at which fuel is consumed. They explain why engineers want to know about the properties of a fuel when designing rockets. They create a bar graph of result data.
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CO2 and You
Students study the scientific evidence about carbon dioxide emissions. They learn to calculate the amount of energy used by different appliances. They complete a worksheet which analyzes the amount of energy that their home uses.
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Science: Hurricanes As Heat Engines
Students conduct Internet research to track the path of Hurricane Rita. They record the sea surface temperature of the Gulf of Mexico during and after the hurricane and draw conclusions about how hurricanes extract heat energy from the...
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Ice Ain't Easy
Young scholars are introduced to the laws of thermodynamics. The 1st law of thermodynamics states that the energy must be conserved when two objects of different temperatures come in contact. If one object gains energy, the other object...
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Classification of Changes
In this classification of changes worksheet, students identify each example as either chemical or physical changes. Students also classify other examples as either element, compound, solution, colloid, or suspensions. In the other...
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Keeping Warm?
Fifth graders explore conductors and heat loss in different materials. In this Physical Science lesson plan, 5th graders will be measuring the temperature drop of water in four containers. The class will then discuss what an...
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Preventing Hypothermia
Young scholars identify the causes of hypothermia. In this biology lesson, students investigate the different types of heat transfer and heat loss. They discuss several practical measures to avoid hypothermia.
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Shake, Rattle and Roll
Young scholars compare the weathering of materials. in this weathering lesson, students experiment with the chemical and physical weathering of different materials. Young scholars use salt and water as an example of how weathering occurs.
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Shake, Rattle and Roll
Students compare the weathering of different-sized materials. Comparisons are made and data analyzed to reach conclusions about the process of weathering. Applications can be made for the higher grades.
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Rising Water!
Young scholars observe water change from a liquid to a gas state when heated and then return to its liquid stage when cooled. They learn that gas molecules move faster than liquid molecules. They discover physical properties that...
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Capturing the Sun's Warmth
Students explore the variety of ways to use solar energy. They investigate the thermal energy storage capacities of different test materials to determine which to use in passive solar building design. They explain how passive solar...
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It's Just Right
Young scholars conduct an experiment to determine the temperature tolerance of yeasts. In this biology lesson, students collect data and compare them by plotting graphs. They explain how extreme temperatures affect organisms.
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A Model of the Rock Cycle
In this rock cycle worksheet, students use different colored crayons to represent different types of rocks. They follow step by step procedures to model the rock cycle with the crayons. Students draw the rock cycle, show weathering,...
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A New Phase In Town
Middle schoolers explore heat energy and how it is used to change the phase of matter, and discover that temperature does not increase or decrease until the phase change is complete. This extremely well-written plan is packed with great...
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Sorting Plastics For Recycling
First, young chemists practice polymer identification by density and flame tests. With the data collected, they propose a method of separating polyethylene from other plastics and determine what property makes it desirable for recycling....
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Heat Unit
Young scholars define thermal equilibrium. They distinguish between internal energy and heat. Students describe how the quantity of heat that enters or leaves a substance is measured.
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Physical Science: Solar Energy
Students review and discuss how Solar energy and electricity produce light and heat. They create a photo/picture journal and include pictures taken during solar energy activities to a PowerPoint slide presentation.
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Environmentally Friendly Home
Learners discuss ways to make homes more environmentally friendly. They comprehend ways to reduce home resource consumption, such as passive solar heating, insulation, and geothermal heating and cooling
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Phase Transition Temperature of Fats
For this chemistry worksheet, students investigate through experimentation the solidifying behavior of some edible fat mixtures by determining their cooling curves. Then they data-log equipment to obtain a large number of temperature...
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Biodiesel Combustion and Its Influences in NOx Emissions
Tenth graders evaluate the physical mechanisms that cause a change in NOx emissions. In this combustion lesson plan, 10th graders participate in a research project. Students create a presentation of their findings.