20150318

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

Astronomy 210, spring semester 2015
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.
"These dark lines in the spectrum of a star are like the barcodes on different products. Each barcode is unique."

"The Doppler effect was interesting for me to understand. I havr always experienced it yet never knew what it was."

"I've never been able to put a word to the car horn sound change, so I'm glad I know now it's called the Doppler effect."

"I always thought there was just one light spectrum that encompassed all kinds of light. Turns out there are different kinds, my world keeps adding new dimensions to it!"

"That every star, when split up into a rainbow, will show different dark lines."

Describe something you found confusing from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally confusing for you.
"The role of gas atoms in the various spectra."

"I was glad that I did not find anything to confusing these sections."

"The differences between why absorption spectra and emission spectra happen."

"The spectra, it was hard to really tell the differences."

"It's hard to tell which spectra is which..."

"I was confused on the definitions of absorption, emission, and continuous spectra."

"Nothing much. The presentation basically covered the whole homework."

I believe Pluto should be a planet.
Strongly disagree.  *** [3]
Disagree.  ************ [12]
Neutral.  ************ [17]
Agree.  ***** [5]
Strongly Agree.  *** [3]

Briefly explain your answer to the previous question (whether Pluto should be a planet).
"No, because if we allowed Pluto to become a planet, we would have to consider other dwarf planets to be planets as well."

"Because science, and it doesn't bother me having it not be a planet."

"I grew up hearing it was a planet and I plan on dying hearing it's a planet."

"Although it's technically not considered a planet, I really don't care if it is considered a planet by the general public. Everyone's going to believe what they want."

"Honestly it just doesn't matter to me. If it is a planet, cool. If it's not, that's cool too."

"It's an ice ball in the sky that we never see. I'll take it or leave it."

Match the spectrum type with their appearance.
(Only correct responses shown.)
Rainbow containing all colors: continuous [83%]
Rainbow with thin black lines: absorption [78%]
Colored lines on a black background: emission [90%]
Given off by hot, dense object: continuous [73%]
Given off by hot, diffuse gas atoms: emission [75%]
Passing through cool, diffuse gas atoms: [73%]

Hot, molten metal produces a __________ spectrum, which appears as a:
continuous; rainbow.  ***************** [17]
emission; series of bright lines on a dark background.  ************* [13]
absorption; series of dark lines on a rainbow background.  ******** [8]
(Unsure/guessing/lost/help!)  ** [2]

The sun produces a __________ spectrum, which appears as a:
continuous; rainbow.  ************ [12]
emission; series of bright lines on a dark background.  ********** [10]
absorption; series of dark lines on a rainbow background.  *************** [15]
(Unsure/guessing/lost/help!)  *** [3]

The lights atop the Fremont Theater in San Luis Obispo, CA, produces a __________ spectrum, which appears as a:
continuous; rainbow.  ******** [8]
emission; series of bright lines on a dark background.  ********************** [22]
absorption; series of dark lines on a rainbow background.  ****** [6]
(Unsure/guessing/lost/help!)  **** [4]

Your instructor produces a __________ spectrum, which appears as a:
continuous; rainbow.  ************* [13]
emission; series of bright lines on a dark background.  ******** [8]
absorption; series of dark lines on a rainbow background.  ************* [13]
(Unsure/guessing/lost/help!)  ****** [6]

The balrog from The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring produces a __________ spectrum, which appears as a:
continuous; rainbow.  ********* [9]
emission; series of bright lines on a dark background.  ************* [13]
absorption; series of dark lines on a rainbow background.  ************ [12]
(Unsure/guessing/lost/help!)  ****** [6]

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 loud, then gets quieter.  ****** [6]
starts quiet, then gets louder.  * [1]
starts quiet, gets louder, then goes back down to quiet.  ********************************* [33]
starts loud, gets quieter, then goes back up to loud.   [0]
(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.  ********************** [22]
starts low, then goes higher.  ** [2]
starts low, goes higher, then drops back down to low.  ************ [12]
starts high, goes lower, then goes back up to high.   *** [3]
(Unsure/guessing/lost/help!)  * [1]

Ask the instructor an anonymous question, or make a comment. Selected questions/comments may be discussed in class.
"The sample midterm essay questions you posted helped a lot to prepare me for the essays on this midterm. Thanks."

"I have no questions."

"Hope we review the three spectra types in further detail!"

"Would you consider our class smarter or less smart than past astronomy classes?" (Your class is right in the middle--not a bad place to be.)

"What is the point of this question if you never answer them in class?" (Wow--this question could not sound more zen to me.)

"It was hard to understand these questions from reading the book. It would be really helpful if you could go over this in class."

"Are there other spectra than just the continuous, emission, and absorption spectra?" (No, just only those three.)

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