What happens when a windmill's materials/design specifications are pushed beyond their limits

This is what happens when lightning strikes a windmill or the brakes fail?  At excessive speeds, the generator and blades can't handle the stress and kaboom!

Which of the following mechanical properties would you think are important for a windmill?

• hardness
• elasticity
• resilience
• ductility
• malleability
• stiffness
• resists corrosion
• conducts electricity
• conducts heat (thermal energy)

The Mother of All Science Resources

Hi All,

The Montreal and Laval School Boards got together and made this mega awesome resource.  Considering someone from inside these boards probably wrote the exam, you might consider taking a look.  The doc is in google docs in the exam study folder or follow the link below.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6GI0t4hbq6bU05oZUs5U1dYN0E/edit?usp=sharing

2012 June Science exam

Hard copies were given out today.  Answer key is already online in the appropriate folder.  Come see us for a copy of the old 2012 exam.

Stress busting video...

It's getting hot in here

Yup..exams they are a coming.  We're trying to get all your study resources together in one place... as a part of your google drive, we've added a folder that is just for study materials and old exams.  Check it out.
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B6GI0t4hbq6bOGw1U2laQU9Jb00&usp=sharing

Good luck... you've got only a few weeks left.

Forces & Motion Review Videos

In this review, we present videos that will help you with:
1. understanding gravity and how it affects how much you weigh  http://youtu.be/oaz-LJ4wrWM
2. undertstanding the relationship between distance, speed and time  http://youtu.be/y40aVo90ETE
3. why planes fly (Bernouilli effect) and ships float (Buoyancy)


4. how to transfer force through fluids (Pascal`s principle)

What sort of world do you want?

A few years ago, a girl named Severn Suzuki gave a speech at the UN.  She challenged the political leaders to  think about how they want to live and create a better world.  Take a look and reflect on what type of world that you want to live in, what type of world you want for future generations.

Energy Resources Research & Discussion Project

Earth Day celebration in Maria on Sunday... so try to attend or do your own thing to honour our beautiful home called Earth. Below is a videoclip from Greenpeace... have a look.

• Project description is on google drive already under the Earth, Air and Water unit
• Here are the research assignments

Topic	Research Team	Topic	Research Team
Fracking	Joe (to be confirmed)	Wave	Hannah & Cassey
Coal		Tidal	Dylan & Kyle
Uranium (nuclear)	Mike W & Jordan	River current	Jessie & Joy
Geothermal		Hydro (dams)	Ryan & Alex
Wind	Karen & Haley	Biogas
Solar	Molly & Courtney	Biofuel (ethanol)	Aly & Jason

• Monday April 22nd will be a research day
• Wednesday April 25th is a presentation day
• A summary of all energy resources and their qualities was found by Haley & Karen:
• http://crcresearch.org/case-studies/case-studies-sustainable-infrastructure/energy/wind-power-generation  
• (scroll down and there is a big chart titled "Impact of Electricity Generation Options")

Plastics and ocean pollution

Food for thought...

Hot Springs of Japan

We've been talking about the Lithosphere and how we can get energy from it. In some places of the world, geothermal energy is much more prevalent where people get heat from the ground.

Japan is a country on the Pacific ring of fire meaning that it is prone to earthquakes and vulcanism (volcanoes nearby) but it also means that hot magma lies closer to the Earth's surface and this energy can be used for:

• hot baths (spas)
• steam oven
• home heating
• power generation

Below is look at the city of Beppu which is a great spot for taking a bath and seeing hot springs.

The Shale Gas Debate

Shale gas exploration is a hot topic in the Gaspe as companies like Petrolia seek to explore the area for petroleum (hydrocarbons).  Trapped within specific areas of the Earth`s crust, we have things like natural gas and crude oil.  It seems that the shale formations of the Gaspe coast could yield a lot of natural gas.  What is the best course of action? What needs to be considered?

Here`s a funny look at how Quebecers view shale gas.



Here`s something more serious... what is fracking??? This is a report from 16x9 by Global News.



What`s your opinion?

A sneak preview of your boat drag racers!

take a look folks... our track will be a similar length of about 7m of rain gutters filled with water.




And the record holder for the 5m track with a time of 1.5sec.


Wanna see more?...http://electricboatproject.com/photo_gallery.htm

Now that's fast...

Hi All...  applications of magnets are everywhere and they are being used to make trains go fast...REALLY FAST!

Check it out.

Series & Parallel Circuits - Video to assist assignment

Check out this video and think about the questions that follow. The questions below and a few more now form a review assignment (given on Feb.7, available on our google drive).  For extra tutorial, go to facile learning, we recommend lesson 15 topics #1, 2, 3 for voltage, current and resistance in circuits and #5 for some practice with series circuit calculations. (note: equivalent resistance in a parallel circuit will not be tested but if you're interested, please look!)
 


Part A:Compare Series and Parallel Circuits

                                                                    series circuit                           parallel circuit
1.  How many loops are there?

2.  (a) Brightness of 1 bulb?
     (b) Brightness of 2 bulbs?

3. What happens to the circuit when a bulb blows?

4. What happens to the current when a bulb is added?

Part B: General questions.
5. What is the disadvantage to using parallel circuits?
6. How do you check current (how do you connect an ammeter to the circuit)?
7. How do you check voltage (how do you connect an voltmeter to the circuit)?

The Bell

Hi Applied Science 4,

To help you study, I have burned a copy of the exam video from 2012 to a mac in the library.  It's the mac on the hallway wall with flowers as the desktop background.  Just look for the file on  desktop and click. It should open easily.

The answer key is still on google docs and you should already have your own copy of the 2012 tech part of the exam.

Good luck,
Mr.H

Pre-midyear exam update

hi Folks...

as Term 2 draws to a close, here is the plan for this week:

Tuesday Jan 15th:

• Looking at power and related calculations,
• The slideshow will be posted soon 

Thursday Jan 17th:

• Finishing up power and related calculations,
• Midyear exam overview and some review questions
•  but you can always begin reviewing by looking over your old tests and making summary notes & check out the review pack that was made for summer school 2012.

Friday Jan 18th:

• REVIEW & TUTORIAL DAY

Friday Jan 25th:

• EXAM DAY

Don't get ZAP-ZAPPED!

Hi Folks,


Long time no update.  Anyways, please recall being safe with electricity even though we are using low currents in our labs!

I've included a few interesting videos for your viewing.

1. Something kewl to do with a Tesla Coil.
Nikola Tesla was an amazing inventor and engineer who invented the Tesla Coil.  His dream was to stream electricity wirelessly through the air to supply the electricity needs of a city. His invention only works over short distances but his ideas were revolutionary.  This demo is kinda neat.



2. A TED talk about Nikola Tesla.
Nikola Tesla was an incredible scientist and engineer.  His creativity was awesome yet he was pushed away from his work.  This TED talk explains a bit of his life story.

3. Conduction in metals (heat & electrons)
A nice animated explanation about conduction from the Eureka Series.