Science Camp

Science camp is awesome!
We are in Rotorua at the moment, staying at Tim's and Faith's Motel. Yesterday we went to a place called Agroventures, where we all did a few extreme activities. Sprint jet boating, freefall extreme, the dreaded swoop, and the fast shweeb. Here are a few pictures.

Today we are going to check out some places with thermal activity.

Catch you later!

Text Books

Hey all,
Don't forget to bring your Physics and Calculus textbooks back to the library before school closes.
Also, I'm away for a while over the Summer Holidays, so may not have a chance to see your results when they come out. I'd love to know what you get, so if you remember, please email me how you went.
mrwoollaston@gmail.com
Thanks Guys.

That's All Folks!

Well I'm sitting outside the Calculus exams with about 10 minutes to go.
Nick reckoned it was hard, I told him to study but he just kept listening to music and then he stole my chair. He reckons he would have got a Merit. I'm not putting money on it.
Anyway, hope you guys did okay. I will do the physics and calculus exams this weekend and put the links to them up here. I know what it's like waiting for them, and I often think it's better if you have an idea of how you went.
Anyway, have a good summer if I don't see you again. Feel free to drop into school if you want to come see me - we have about another week to go.
Be safe, catchya next year,
Mr W

Great Physics Program

Hey all Physicists!
I have just found this awesome program that I will be using in both Year12 and Year 13 Physics next year. It gives you opportunities to play with things that you wouldn't normally be able to. Diffraction, interference, circuits, radiation, Doppler effect, and more.
Download from here:
http://www.yenka.com/en/Downloads/
After installing, you can apply for a home license, and that will unlock all of the aspects. There is some stuff about maths that I haven't looked at yet.
It's very worthwhile playing with this sort of thing in your own time, as you will recognise some of the phenomenon already, and what you don't know, I'll explain next year.
Have fun.

Calculus is coming!

Hey Calculites!
If you guys are wanting to use Lab 5 to study on Monday, I can hang out there and help. Email me if anyone is planning to come in,
mrwoollaston@gmail.com
Hope the study is going well,
Mr W.

What you were born FOR

If you have ever been in my classes, you know I like to listen to music. I love how music can just be playing sometimes, and even though you are not exactly concentrating on it, it's still going in. I'm a huge proponent of making sure the music you listen to has a message that you want to reflect in your life, because it will come through.

Anyway, I was listening to a song today, and there is a line in it "this is the day you were born." That got me thinking, what is it actually saying? It's not my birthday, and I certainly wasn't just born. There must be something behind it.

A lot of times, it can feel like life is something that happens to us. That is not what God wants for us. We need to make sure that the decisions that we are making are conscious choices, and choices that will be best for others and us. Every day you are in a moment that has been planned for. You life has been constructed so that the moment you are in, the stuff you are going through, the people you are with, everything will be impacted in someway. You may not know it, but this very second, it was planned that you would be reading this. This isn't the day you were born, but this is the day that makes your birthday important. This is the day you were born FOR.

It's sometimes easy to forget that. God doesn't want you to be like a flag that has been torn and is flapping loosely in the wind. God made you so that you can stand for Him each day.

Don't let life just happen to you.

Happen to life.



PS. I hope you guys don't mind the occasional rant on this blog. There are some thoughts that need to get out.

Morning study tomorrow

Hey Physicists!
Not long until the exam. Just to let you know, I was going to spend tomorrow morning in Lab 5 so if you have any questions, or just need a good study environment, come along. I have a class period 1, but will be there from 10 am.

Happy studying, and I hope the maths exam was ok.

Hey Guys,
There have been a few issues with the downloading of the schedules. These links will work with every internet browser. Do let me know if you have problems though.
When you click the links, it will take you to another page and then the download will start.

Calculus:
2008: http://www.adrive.com/public/076e97c1e273f80d1f22942c51cb80fddf32e0601bcf3170ba0fb27fdbe7302f.html
2007: http://www.adrive.com/public/1067da548b48b7491d0b46be8d95fb34e7055a92e6464111f8976b32e93037d6.html
2006: http://www.adrive.com/public/5c4f45aa3000a5517f5e940b6e0ccb7d09df7d1491361ab9455d716f55a74687.html
2005: http://www.adrive.com/public/5684adcbb7f836953f25c6330bb46efdd0c1c37803dc44687e30cf738b0f98da.html


Physics:
2008: http://www.adrive.com/public/357eda4869f3377d35f425e1ddf90ea2403299671a180f39e0490071d9c9178d.html
2007: http://www.adrive.com/public/065920ceea4c3a2bea2e499a74e85f3af8c854acbc4ecc265a68031c35cd74a2.html
2006: http://www.adrive.com/public/32f64b3b53d4d3fc23f385211aa75d98ec4efa32c12153af7b2a810a81b390dd.html

These will last for about a month. If you don't manage to get them, I can chuck them up again.
Sorry for the delay.

Random

A lot of people use the word "random" to describe an event that the did not expect (I'm guilty of this). However, this is the very definition of random - something that you could not predict the outcome for. The human mind actually has a lot of difficulty with randomness. Many people confuse randomness with evenness. If you ask someone to pick a random number from one to ten, chances are they will pick a number near 5, and usually it wont be an even number (try this on your friends). The most common number is seven, because people say the number seven "feels" random.

Next time someone tells you to pick a random number between 2 numbers, pick one of the numbers they said. That will throw them off.

;)

How to Download the marking schedules

I see a few people are having trouble download the stuff here.
Here's how:
1 Click the link. it will take you to another page.
2 On the right hand side of the page, there is a button that says "Download file." Click this.
3 You will have to enter a combination of letters and number to prove that you are not an automated trawler. Then click "get file" and save the document onto your computer.
Hope this helps (Jacinda)

Mechanics question

Hi everyone, (especially Harley).
I have had one or two questions about the exam. I'll just post the explanations here, and you can have another go.
2006 Paper, question 2 (e)
They want you to label the diagram with all the information that you know. This includes:
The acceleration - gravity = -10 m/s^2
The velocity at the top of the flight is 0 m/s
They tell us that the initial upward velocity of the ball is 19m/s
Also, because gravity acts at the same rate all the time, we can assume that the ball will reach 19m/s on it's way down as it passes the exact height of the helmet.

2 (f)
So now we have to calculate the time from the ball first hitting the helmet to hitting the ground. They want you to assume that the ball bounces up vertically; there is not horizontal motion.
We can separate the motion into three parts: The hit to the top, the top to the height of the helmet, and the height of the helmet to the ground.
Doing vi=, vf=, a=, d=, t=, for each of these three parts, and adding the times for each together, will result in the correct time.

Good luck!

Oh and also for Harley: Waves with a lower frequency are able to diffract more. This means that they can be heard over a longer range of distances, and around and over more obstacles. The actual physical reason has to do with the amount of energy that is required per meter of travel. If you think about it, a wave which has a high frequency means its moving a lot of particle per second, whereas a low frequency is moving fewer particles per second. This allows it to travel further.

Hey,
Here is the link to a study planner for NCEA that I created. It may help you orginise your time, and more orginised time is always more productive time.
Have fun :)

http://www.wikiupload.com/download_page.php?id=189927

Year 12 Physics Marking Schedules

Hey Guys,
Here is the links to the marking schedules that go with the exams I handed out.
2008: http://www.wikiupload.com/download_page.php?id=189882
2007: http://www.wikiupload.com/download_page.php?id=189891
2006: http://www.wikiupload.com/download_page.php?id=189892

Hope they help.
If any of the links stop working, send me an email, and I will reupload them.

Happy Studying!

Marking schedules for year 13 Calc internal exams

Hey Guys,
Here is the link to download the marking schedules for the internal exams I gave you.
2008: http://www.wikiupload.com/download_page.php?id=189862
2007: http://www.wikiupload.com/download_page.php?id=189863
2006: http://www.wikiupload.com/download_page.php?id=189864
2005: http://www.wikiupload.com/download_page.php?id=189865

Hope they help!
Let me know if any are not working, and I will put them up again.

How to get hold of practice exams

If you are a year 11, 12 or 13 student, wanting to get hold of some practice exams, then head over to http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/ncea/for-students/exams/index.html

This site allows you to search for past exams, and their marking schedules.
For exams, enter your year level, and subject (e.g. physics), and the drop down arrow should say "exams & exemplar"
For the marking schedules, same as above, but the drop down arrow should say "reports & schedules"

It's best to have a go at these in exam conditions, and then mark them yourself.

Happy studying!

Is this a good idea?

Well, I'm not even sure if this is going to be helpful to anyone. Maybe, maybe not. It's kind of going to be a place for students to find stuff they may need for their studies, a place where I can post random thoughts, and a place where physics and maths is discussed at a level it can't in class.

I hope you find it helpful. Come on back when you need to find stuff, or when you feel like exploring some interesting sites.

Good luck to year 11, 12 and 13 for exams.