I have become quite ill, and have been instructed by my doctor to remain at home for one week. I will not be in all of this week (from Monday 27/10 to Friday 31/10). I will be sending in information with the replacement teachers to cover your curriculum needs, but all assessment tasks (except for the Physics test on Friday) will be held over until I return.
If there are any questions or support you need while I am absent, please either comment on this post or email me – I will respond as quickly as possible.
What you are is controlled by two factors – your genetic inheritance from your parents and the environment in which your live. This is called the Nature-Nurture division and is the basis of modern genetic understandings. You will have noticed that you have certain physical similarities with other members of your family – people may say you have “your mother’s ears” or “your father’s hands”. This doesn’t mean that you actually have your parents’ appendages, more that they are physically similar – that you have inherited those characteristics. This was first investigated by an Austrian monk, Gregor Mendel who spent much of his time cross-breeding plants to discover how these inherited factors would relate to each other. He was the first to identify the concepts of dominant and recessive characteristics – i.e. that an organism could have a genetic trait which was not expressed in its physical appearance.
Numbers are such seemingly simple things – even babies can learn to count. But they keep on getting much more complicated. First it was fractions, then it was decimals, and later negative numbers.
Why is it so complicated? Even now, we keep on adding more types of numbers – natural number, whole numbers, integers… it keeps on going. We need all these different labels because the different types of numbers have different properties – and the relationships between these sets are essential to know as you continue your studies of mathematics. When you go on, you will learn that the various number sets (e.g. real numbers or irrational numbers) have different properties.
Here is some information on the different sets of numbers
Well, we finished the project on posters and all of you should be receiving you posters back shortly. One person however did not submit a poster, but did do the following:
Energy is an unusual concept in physics. Physics defines energy as the ability to do Work. Hyperphysics explains the concept of Energy as a “currency” of work:
Energy is the capacity to do work; You must have energy to do work, it is like the currency for performing work. To do 100J of work, you must expend 100J of energy.
Energy can be in many types – there is the energy of movement (Kinetic Energy), and energy of sound (Sound Energy), Light Energy, Heat Energy, Electric Energy and so on. There is another type of Energy, Potential Energy. This is “Energy waiting to happen”, or stored energy. Some examples of this are Gravitational Potential Energy and Elastic Potential Energy.
What do we mean by Potential Energy (Stored Energy or “Energy waiting to Happen”)? Well the best answer to that involves a concept called Conservation of Energy, which states:
Energy in a closed system can neither be created nor destroyed, it merely changes forms.
This is actually a complicated concept. It does not mean that objects cannot lose a type of energy, i.e. objects cannot lose kinetic energy, but that if they do lose one type of energy they must gain another type of energy. For example, an object shot upwards gradually slows down (thus losing kinetic energy), but as it does, it gains gravitational potential energy – it has energy ‘stored’ by its position above the surface. If it were to be stopped at the maximum height (for example by sticking to a ceiling), it could later fall, and thus gain kinetic energy again. The kinetic energy it had was “stored” until it began to fall again.
Cells are the fundamental structural unit of almost all life. There are some forms of life such as viruses (virii) and other so-called “non-cellular” life, but everything else is based on and formed from cells. This is called “Cell Theory”.
All organisms are made up of one or more cells
Cells are the fundamental structural unit of life
All cells come from pre-existing cells
This is the “Classical Theory”. The modern theory is somewhat more complex, but we will not be studying that as part of this unit. The eventual focus of this unit is the genetic factors affecting inheritance, and when we have time, Evolution. In order to understand these complex ideas we will be building up from the basic structure of cells, through cell division, DNA structure,introductory protein synthesis and thus to genetic expression.
The first thing you must learn is the structure of a standard eukaryotic cell, with the names, functions and locations of the various organelles. The website “Cells Alive” will help you study and learn this information.
The next thing is cell division – the processes of mitosis and meiosis. I reccommend the following site as an excellent animation of the phases and operations occuring during these processes; John Kyrk’s Animations.
Posters are often assigned to students to present information they have learned in a different format. Transforming or presenting knowledge and information in different styles is difficult to do, but Posters are particularly difficult to do… well.
Posters are a visual communication medium, and the organisation of graphics, images, colours and shapes are a critical part of the communication, and you must consider the principles of visual design to develop a poster that is effective – and thus earns good marks!
Here are some hints on what not to do when designing a poster – Bad poster guidelines
Here are some hints on some things to consider when designing a good poster – Good Poster Tips
So it is the end of the Holidays, and time to get back to class. We continue our studies this term into Kinematics and Dynamics – the study of moving objects and the forces that create changes in movement. You were given a set of worksheets to practice with over the holidays (worked-answers-to-hewitt-holiday-sheets) – You should ensure that you have done these by the time you return – we will be referring to them in class and using parts of them to explain and explore concepts. the concepts presented through these sheets may make an appearance on tests for this unit of study, so if you are unclear on any of the issues, please make an appointment to see me to clarify and resolve the problem.
I have found a link to a youtube video that may be of interest – it is a combination of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Physics that should cause a great deal of groaning – but it is also a good explanation of the difference between elastic and inelastic collisions – something you have to know! Link to Biffy the Physics Slayer.
There is no question that quadratic equations are one of the most difficult elements of Year 10 mathematics. Quadratic equations have many aspects of advanced algebra, and can seem to be completely useless mathematical constructions with no applications to the real world.
The truth is that, to an extent – this is true! Quadratics do have real world applications, but they are difficult to understand at first. Just like when you start riding a bike, you shouldn’t expect to be able to do a superman jump like one of the crusty demons of dirt!
The word Kinematics comes from the Greek “Kine”, which is related to the English word “Cinema”. Films shown at the cinema were called “Moving Pictures” (hence “movies”). Kinematics is the study of of motion and movement, and now it is your turn! You’d better get moving yourselves – You have a test on Monday!
What you are is controlled by two factors – your genetic inheritance from your parents and the environment in which your live. This is called the Nature-Nurture division and is the basis of modern genetic understandings. You will have noticed that you have certain physical similarities with other members of your family – people may say you have “your mother’s ears” or “your father’s hands”. This doesn’t mean that you actually have your parents’ appendages, more that they are physically similar – that you have inherited those characteristics. This was first investigated by an Austrian monk, 
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