20140319

Online reading assignment: Kirchhoff's laws (SLO campus)

Astronomy 210, spring semester 2014
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

Students have a weekly online reading assignment (hosted by SurveyMonkey.com), where they answer questions based on reading their textbook, material covered in previous lectures, opinion questions, and/or asking (anonymous) questions or making (anonymous) comments. Full credit is given for completing the online reading assignment before next week's lecture, regardless if whether their answers are correct/incorrect. Selected results/questions/comments are addressed by the instructor at the start of the following lecture.

The following questions were asked on reading textbook chapters and previewing presentations on Kirchhoff's laws.

Selected/edited responses are given below.

Describe something you found interesting from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally interesting for you.
"I think it's interesting how the electrons move from levels to levels and how they use energy to do so."

"I found it to be a bit crazy how we use the Doppler effect in sound everyday and we probably don't even realize it."

"If you watch or listen to car racing (hopefully with earmuffs) you can hear the doppler effect. I thought that it was interesting when I first learned about it in high school chemistry because it was an answer to something that always occurred (the noise of cars driving past) that I never thought twice about. But the feeling of being able to explain something that always puzzled you is amazing, and I love it when I finally understand something, and learning the doppler effect back in chemistry was one of the 'ah-ha' moments for me, something I won't forget!"

"I liked how each star has a unique 'barcode.'"

"Something I found interesting from the presentation previews was the whole spectra deal. I thought this was interesting because of the emission showing as humps or spikes when plotted and the absorption shown as valleys or dips when plotted. This was personally interesting to me because I have never seen that before!"

Describe something you found confusing from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally confusing for you.
"What I don't understand clearly is the difference between the blueshift and redshift."

"For me I found it slightly confusing trying to decide which pictures represented which spectrums of light, I sort of understood what each light spectrum was, just don't really know how to apply it."

"I can tell the difference between the three types of sprectra apart when looking at them on the slides, but I had a hard time trying to understand where each one applies."

I believe Pluto should be a planet.
Strongly disagree.  * [1]
Disagree.  ***************** [17]
Neutral.  ************** [14]
Agree.  **** [4]
Strongly Agree.  [0]

Briefly explain your answer to the previous question (whether Pluto should be a planet).
"I don't think so because if Pluto were to be a planet then all other objects like Pluto would be planets and there would be too many planets."

"For all the good times. We have history, man."

"I feel like Pluto has the right to be a planet because it was labeled as one for years and I don't think its very nice to take away somethings title. But on the other hand Pluto is incredibly small, the size of another planets moon. But I guess it just depends on how a person views it, whether or not they think Pluto should be judged by substance or size."

"Pluto no longer dominates its orbit. There has been other discovery of large objects located near and around Pluto. Pluto no longer meets the classification of a planet, it fits more into the category of a dwarf planet."

"I don't really have an opinion besides when I was growing up and learning about the solar system, pluto was a planet."

"There is no benefit or detriment to its classification as a planet."

"I don't feel bad for Pluto. It is what it is, I am neutral."

Suppose you are standing on the sidewalk as a car, with its horn continuously on, passes by (video link). The loudness of the car horn:
starts high, then drops lower.  ***** [5]
starts low, then goes higher.  [0]
starts low, goes higher, then drops back down to low.  ***************************** [29]
starts high, goes lower, then goes back up to high.   ** [2]
(Unsure/guessing/lost/help!)  [0]

Suppose you are standing on the sidewalk as a car, with its horn continuously on, passes by (video link, same as above). The pitch (high note/low note) of the car horn:
starts high, then drops lower.  ******************* [19]
starts low, then goes higher.  [0]
starts low, goes higher, then drops back down to low.  ******** [8]
starts high, goes lower, then goes back up to high.   ********* [9]
(Unsure/guessing/lost/help!)  [0]

Match the spectrum type with their apperance.
(Only correct responses shown.)
Rainbow containing all colors: continuous [94%]
Rainbow with thin black lines: absorption [81%]
Colored lines on a black background: emission [86%]
Given off by hot, dense object: continuous [78%]
Given off by hot, diffuse gas atoms: emission [83%]
Passing through cool, diffuse gas atoms: [83%]

Ask the instructor an anonymous question, or make a comment. Selected questions/comments may be discussed in class.
"Your DJ name should be DJ Deaf Star." (Sadly, that name appears to be taken.)

"I really enjoy the memes you put up during class."

"Why don't you like the Big Bang Theory?" (The Big Bang Theory makes fun of nerds and geeks. Community has fun with nerds and geeks. Pop pop!)

"I was really happy about with the midterm, I think you did a great job at giving us the appropriate material to study in order to do well."

"Are we like, the best class you've ever had? It's okay to say yes." (I live all my classes. Some, more than others.)

"Are you Waifer X?" (Well, even though Waifer X is the main character in an online webcomic I drew over ten years ago, that's kind of a weird question to ask.)

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