Announcements

6/8/2010

Final exams in Physics / Honors Physics are on Tuesday, June 15 at from 12-2pm. We design the exams to take the full two hours (including checking your work). Plan on staying the entire time. I will post rooms as soon as I get the information.

Bring the following to your final exam:

• several sharpened number 2 pencils
• your calculator and spare batteries (you may not share calculators, even if you run out of batteries!!!)
• a ruler and a protractor if you have them (I cannot provide enough for everyone to borrow)
• a single 8.5"x11" sheet of paper with your notes (I will not provide you with formulas or fundamental constants)

Mr. Boire has made review sheets for Physics for all four quarters. You may download them from his website here.

Review materials for Honors Physics:

• Regents review booklet (this doesn't cover everything we've learned, but does have information on some of it)
• Honors review packet (this was made by another teacher, but it's a good review for you, too)

12/7/2009

Here is an article on the science being worked on at the large hadron collider for those interested.

10/7/2009

The 2009 Nobel Prize in physics has been announced! Charles K. Kao gets half the prize "for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication" and Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith share the other half "for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit – the CCD sensor". Read all about it here! Curious about previous years' prizes? You can check them all out here.

9/16/2009

A true scientific hero died at 95 in Dallas this past Sunday. Read more about Norman Borlaug.

9/8/2009

Mr. Bernecker is available the following times for extra help: ACE days - periods 3 and 8; BDF days - periods 2 and 3; after school - Tuesdays and Thursdays.

9/2/2009

Welcome to a new school year! Don't forget to sign up for your WebAssign accounts right away. Please make your username your first initial and last name. For example, if your name were "Jane Doe" your username would be "jdoe". Also enter your full name into the system, rather than a nickname. Finally, be sure to write down your password! I cannot retrieve this for you. You can register by going to https://www.webassign.net/v4cgi/selfenroll/classkey.html. The class codes are:

Physics	somers.ny	3600	7192
Honors Physics Period 4	somers.ny	7770	7346
AP Physics	somers.ny	7491	7715
Honors Physics Period 9	somers.ny	3228	7387

Why should I study physics? Good question. Read the following articles to find out.

"Eight Reasons Why No Student Should Go Through High School Without Taking Physics"

"The Cultural and Economic Impact of Physics"

Why should society do pure, basic science research? Why don't we concentrate on applied science to improve people's lives? Also good questions. Here's some food for thought.

"Basic vs. Applied Research" from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

"The Intrinsic Value of Basic Research"

"Why Do Astronomy?"