| Physics topic |
Description |
Pros and Cons |
Reviewed by whom and
date |
| Vectors | The website
tries to teach the user to find the net force by
summing the forces using vector addition. The site actually offers 3
lessons- one on fundamental vector operation, the second on projectile
motion, and the third on forces in two dimensions. |
The site provides a
comprehensive but readable description of the topics and even has
sample problems for the student, as well as answers with complete
explanations. There are some other interactive components, where the
student can click a button causing animated diagrams to appear. The
website could be more interactive, perhaps by allowing the student to
interact with the animation and see for him/herself what happens at
different vector angles or in different projectile motion scenarios
instead of quickly going through the animation on its own. Overall,
this is a good website for anyone in need of a review of basic vector
addition, projectile motion and summing the forces. |
Molly 2007 |
| This website show a great example of vector addition so that the user may come to better understand it. On the first section, two vectors may be drawn on the graph, they will then be moved so that they can be added and the resultant vector will be created. The second part will do the same with 3-D vectors. The most important use for this site is the ability to watch the resultant being created step-by-step. This is a great introduction to vectors for any new physics student. | Pros: The site also
features some guidelines that show how vector subtraction works much the
same as addition. This gives the user a more rounded education of
vectors and their additive properties. Most importantly anybody who uses
this can begin adding vectors like a professional once they are done. Cons: The 3-D vectors are hard to deal with because they complete the triangle for every vector and it is on a small scale graph. If the graph was larger this may be fine, but because it is so small this gray line may get in the way of the vectors. |
Travis 2007 | |
| Kinematics
and Gravity |
|||
| This
website
is a calculator and explainer of various projectile motion provided a
lot more than frozenport. It deals only with one and two dimensional
projectile motion but it expands on it in every way possible. It shows
you the physics behind every launch type, every launch surface, velocity and circumstance. What I mean by all of this is that it explains all of the variable in any kind of one to two dimensional launch situation i.e. from a cliff going down, going over a fence, landing on an un even surface etc. Free fall, horizontal launches, vertical launches, general trajectory, Launch speed, time of flight, launch angle, and height of projectile are all explained, demonstrated and available for calculation.
|
Pros: An
excellent source of information for any type of kinematic problem: one
dimensional, two dimensional, and three dimensional are all present.
You can enter a single or multiple variable to solve any problem, but
there are also explanations for each scenario and how the physics work.
Diagrams are full and visuals are attractive making the production on a
whole seem that much more intuitive and well thought out. Cons: Might make your future or current students reliant on a calculator that does the problem (for the most part) for them, although to be fair it only cranks out what a student would if they knew the formula in the first place. No moving illustrations or flash animations make it a little dull for those who need to learn exclusively from visual demonstrations, but this is an AP/ IB class, so they can suck it up and accept what you’re offering. |
Arthur 2007 |
|
| The
website
mainly deals with one dimensional kinematics, and all of the components
relating to it such as displacement, distance (the difference between
the two), speed, velocity, and acceleration (and their distinctions
amongst one another). It also discusses free falling bodies and he
effect of gravity. Along with all of this it lists the equations useful
to all of the situations, provides sample problems (also combining
concepts and formula) and definitions of terms.
|
Pros: The highlights of
this web site is that it is both interactive and flash based, per your
requirements. You can cycle through various aspects of Kinematics and
projectile motion and there are little interactive segments on each
page that reveal an answer or demonstrate a property of whatever may
have been discussed. Another nifty little thing is that it gives you
almost every single equation (useful or not) that has to deal with the
given topic, so you don’t have to hunt around the book for them. It is
relatively lengthy, but this happens to be good thing as it does
not overload content on any given page, but distributes it evenly
by topic or example over a good 20 pages. It is concise yet informative, and perfect for learning if both a textbook and a Mr. Brabec fail to peak your interest. Cons: It only deals with Kinematics in one dimension, making it useful only for an introduction to projectile motion. The graphics aren’t top of the line, and the whole thing has a little bit of a thrown together feel. Also, an annoying little clicking sound permeates in every page turn, but it’s a miniscule annoyance.
|
Authur 2007 |
|
| Can you hit the monkey with the cannon? It is harder than it seems. The monkey is set to fall just as the cannon is launched. You must use your understanding of physics to hit him or face embarrassment when he is missed. The game involves a lot of interactivity. The user may change the initial velocity, the angle, and even gravity itself, but where this application really shines is when the vectors are turned on. | Pros: The most
education portion of this game deals with free-body diagrams. When the
boxes for vectors and snapshots are checked the path will be shown
according to the individual free-body diagrams at given time intervals.
It demonstrates the change in y-velocity and the constant x-velocity. Cons: A lot of the abstract changes like air density and wind, often do nothing to the system. This is understandable as the projectile may be very small, but the path does not change in any way. After taking this into account, the only real thing that this application is good for is for free-body diagrams. |
Travis 2007 | |
| This website is a very clean and simple application that allows for many test fires of projectile motion. It shows the graph of y-displacement over x-displacement of something being launched. The user can change the initial velocity, the angle of trajectory, and the mass of the projectile. Gravity is constant as the tests are happening on earth, and wind/air resistance is negligible. The application is good to show the simple properties of projectile motion and to simulate the outcomes of any firing. | Pros: The
application uses a graph as a visual so that the user can see with
certainty that the y displacements at opposite sides of the parabola are
the same. The application also shows the maximum distance, height, end
velocity, and total time after each launch. Cons: There is no ability to change gravity or other little things within the system. Also, though this is better than the monkey cannon for projectile motion (cleaner mostly), it does not show the velocity of the projectile in a free-body diagram. |
Travis 2007 | |
| This website has a great looking application that demonstrates orbit. There are many presets of orbits to see or you may make your own scenario. The center point (sun) can also be changed so that it is not fixed to the center, but free to move around. Masses of planets, positions, velocities and even the number of bodies up to 4 can be changed. When wanting to see some great examples of how orbits work, this is the perfect application for anybody. It is very impressive, especially the 4 star ballet. | Pros: The number of
preset configurations is the biggest plus for this application. You
could watch what happens when almost any celestial figures interact. The
number of ways that you may change the application also adds to the
great experience. Anyone who plays with this application for any given
time will begin to understand orbits easily. Cons: In the way of understanding orbits, the application does not give any kind of explanation for what is happening. This makes the user learn through trial. It would be easier to learn orbits from the application if it had a short summary of gravitational field and how and why orbit works the way it does. |
Travis 2007 | |
| This website has sections on one dimensional motion, two dimensional motion, energy and momentum. There is also a separate area on quantum physics and one on classical physics. The 1D motion is pretty simple but a good overview with stuff like falling and a car’s movement. There are also some equations we never learned for kinematics which seem pretty useful. The 2D motion talks about projectiles etc and has a practice problem with a baseball. The energy and momentum pages discuss friction, potential v. kinetic energy and conservation of momentum. There are some more interactive problems. | Overall, this is a really
helpful site. The information is very readable and its all written by
someone who really likes physics. Its more conceptual than applications
although there are some interactive problems to do. The only real
problem with this site is that it doesn’t go into huge amounts of detail
but its really good for an overview of the concepts if you are having
trouble understanding or visualizing the ideas. Also, it requires java
script but it loaded pretty quickly on my computer so it wasn’t too much
of a pain. |
Chloe 2007 | |
| Energy and momentum |
This website covers a few different topics but this section of the website is devoted to energy. It discusses the different types of energy. First giving a brief description of the main ideas of energy then going into a little more detail including equations. |
Pros: It gives a simplified organized idea of energy and the different types and equations. It makes a lot more sense than the IB book. It gives some demonstration idea that can help explain energy and energy transfer. Cons: Doesn’t give units for the equations. Doesn’t go into enough depth about the topics. Very limited to energy. Not very well organized repeats itself. Could be organized into one section instead of two. |
Tim 2007 |
| Electricity and magnetism |
The website
provides users with a list of links to interactive diagrams relating to
electricity and magnetism. Some of the most relevant topics to our
class include a model of Crookes' cathode ray tube, Lenz's law, an
illustration of magnetic field lines when a magnet is on and off, and a
diagram of Ohm's Law showing the relationships between voltage,
resistance and current. |
This website has interactive diagrams and explanations on a wide array of topics relating to electricity and magnetism. Some of the topics, however, seemed very advanced and were ones that we have not covered in our class. There were some extras that might interest some West physics students, such as how a hard drive works and how a compact disc works. The interactive diagrams effectively illustrated some important physics concepts we have covered, like Ohm's Law and magnetic field lines. The website could be a helpful review for someone needing a quick reminder of some E&M concepts. . The explanations, however, were only 1-2 paragraphs long and do not cover everything. It might have been helpful if they were a bit longer. | Molly 2007 |
| Waves |
This website describes mechanical waves. It talks about all the parts of mechanical waves. For example wavelength, amplitude, frequency, crest, and trough. It describes some of the different types of waves and how they are made. It shows wave interference. |
Pros: This website give a very easy to understand description of mechanical waves. It describes all the parts, including wavelength, amplitude, frequency, crest, and trough of waves with simple easy to understand diagrams and interactive wave creation programs. It gives simple descriptions of transverse waves and longitudinal waves. It also has some really cool interactive programs that do a great job of showing wave interference. There are more interactive animations that show standing waves. It also has a page of simple wave questions that a student could use to make sure they understand the basics of mechanical waves. Cons: The website is a little to
simplified for the AP or IB programs and the student probably wont learn
anything new after already learning about waves but it would be help to
look at as one is in the waves section. |
Tim 2007 |
| This website provides a list of links to various topics on waves. These topics include moving waves, stationary waves, refraction, diffraction and the Doppler Effect. Each link contains a brief explanation of the topic. These explanations are concise and do not inform users about the basics of waves. However, they would be a good review for anyone needing to brush up on waves. Each link also has an animated diagram illustrating the different wave topics. These diagrams gave a clear visual of the theory behind waves. | The website had a list of links for all of the wave topics we covered in IB. Each link had a short, but good explanation of each topic and a helpful animation. However, the explanations were short and students needing to learn the basics of waves should not look to this site, at least at first. The animations were not especially interactive. Users cannot interact with the diagrams. Instead, the diagrams illustrate waves, which I still thought was helpful. The main problem that I had with this site was that it slowed down my computer quite a bit. The diagrams took forever to load and to stop. Of course, this might be because my computer is ten years old. | Molly 2007 |
|
| This website allows for the user to look at the physics of a string wave with almost unlimited possibilities. It begins with moving a wrench up and down on one end of the string. The other end can be fixed, not fixed, or completely open. Gravity, or "dampening", may be changed according to a scale from 1 to 100. Also, the tension of the string can be changed along with the size of the waves. They can also be set to be oscillated automatically and looked at in slow motion. | Pros: This
application allows for a great way to test waves and to see what
happens, first hand. The results are amazingly accurate and can be
changed in so many ways. This is a great way to learn standing waves. Cons: The only con is that the "string" is not connected so it does not show the motion between dots. This does help to show the violent motion of the molecules though. |
Travis 2007 | |
| Overall |
This
website has a long list
of links relating to 8 major physics subjects: mechanics, oscillations
and waves, electrodynamics, optics, thermodynamics, the theory of
relativity, physics of atoms and nuclear physics. Each link includes an
explanation and interactive diagram explaining more focused topics
relating to the subject. The Mechanics category includes links to
Kepler's laws, complete with the orbits of every planet in our solar
system, as well as elastic and inelastic collisions, constant
acceleration, and projectile motion. The Waves Category has links to
interference, standing waves and superposition, and the Doppler Effect.
The Electrodynamics category has links to Ohm's Law, magnetic fields of
bar magnets and current-carrying wires, and simple AC currents, to name
a few. The Optics section has links to refraction, reflection and
diffraction. The thermodynamics and Theory of Relativity sections each
have only one link, dealing with processes of an ideal gas and time
dilation, respectively. The physics of atoms category has links to
Bohr's Theory of the Hydrogen atom and the photoelectric effect and the
nuclear physics section has links to radioactive decay links. |
Overall, I found this
website very helpful and informative. Although it covered a broad range
of topics, the site provided good explanations of each topic. The
interactive diagrams all illustrated the physics subjects very clearly
and allowed the user to see why the various laws and topics held true.
The explanations of each topic are good, ranging from 1-2 paragraphs. It
might be helpful if they were longer, however. I recommend this site for
anyone needing to see physics in order to understand the theory behind
it. |
Molly 2007 |
|
This website covers classic physics and clearly explains the different equations and types of problems that are likely to appear, as well as examples. Energy, Momentum, 1D and 2D Motion are the different interactive types of physics explained on the site. Each topic builds up on the other and the explanations are really clear and written simply. There are clear example problems that explain the topic and the creator gives step by step instructions about how they reached the final result. The site is helpful for understanding energy, momentum and how they relate to each other as friction and other forces are introduced.
|
The website has good interactive features for the four topics, but it seems like the Energy interactive component is not available. I don’t know if it isn’t there or if it just didn’t show up. The other explanations and interactive features were easy to use and informative. The creator was clear, fully explained the concepts in simple language and explained all of the sample problems in detail. One thing that was especially good about the site were the various examples on 1D motion, because it covered various heights and looked at how the distance and acceleration changed. Unfortunately, the other two interactive features only offered one type of problem for momentum and 2D motion. I think the website is good for basic physics and understanding motion, energy and momentum. | Celine 2007 |
|
|
This
website is broken
into the different parts of physics which are divided into some Math,
Kinematics, Momentum, Oscillations, Waves, Heat, Electricity and
Optics. By clicking on a specific part of these topics, you access an
interactive applet that shows how they interact. Beforehand, the creator
gives background information on what will appear and how the interactive
set up will show what is happening, in terms of physics. The
interactive options are really easy to use, well thought out and varied. |
The only issue that I have with this site is that there are not always descriptions to go along with the interactive interface. While the explanations in the beginning explain what happens in the interactivity, it is not always specific or clear enough. Some of the different topics had descriptions, while others didn’t and I hope that the creator updates the site with more written information. The great thing about this website is that the interactive aspects were easy to use and require only one download in the very beginning to use all of the interactive aspects of the site. | Celine 2007 |
|