20151014

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

Astronomy 210, fall 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.
"That light can be split into different wavelengths."

"How there are a bunch of dark lines in the sun's rainbow, I never knew that."

"The neeeooow sound [Doppler effect] explained, it is something that I have noticed and can relate to."

"That light interacts with matter, and if it didn't we would not exist."

"That the Doppler effect also works with light. It's cool that astronomers can tell the movement of a star based on the light it's giving off."

Describe something you found confusing from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally confusing for you.
"I'm still trying to wrap my head around the different types of spectra."

"Distinguishing between the different spectra, simply because it is just memorizing."

"Most of it was confusing."

"I didn't find any of it confusing."

I believe Pluto should be a planet.
Strongly disagree.  * [1]
Disagree.  ************** [14]
Neutral.  ***** [5]
Agree.  ******** [8]
Strongly Agree.  [0]

Briefly explain your answer to the previous question (whether Pluto should be a planet).
"After discussing the parameters that define planets and dwarf planets, I do understand why Pluto is not a planet (technically). However, since I grew up learning that Pluto was a planet, and now its status most recently changed, I am not sure what I think."

"It should not be a planet because if it were a planet, they would have to use certain criteria that would allow many many other planets to exist and I think it is better if the number of planets is kept to a relatively low number."

"I just think it should because I believed it was my entire life and I can't imagine it as anything else."

Match the spectrum type with their appearance.
(Only correct responses shown.)
Rainbow containing all colors: continuous [100%]
Rainbow with thin black lines: absorption [86%]
Colored lines on a black background: emission [93%]
Given off by hot, dense object: continuous [71%]
Given off by hot, diffuse gas atoms: emission [71%]
Passing through cool, diffuse gas atoms: [79%]

Hot, molten metal produces a __________ spectrum, which appears as a:
continuous; rainbow.  ************** [14]
emission; series of bright lines on a dark background.  ********* [9]
absorption; series of dark lines on a rainbow background.  **** [4]
(Unsure/guessing/lost/help!)  * [1]

The sun produces a __________ spectrum, which appears as a:
continuous; rainbow.  ********* [9]
emission; series of bright lines on a dark background.  ****** [6]
absorption; series of dark lines on a rainbow background.  *********** [11]
(Unsure/guessing/lost/help!)  ** [2]

The lights atop the Fremont Theater in San Luis Obispo, CA, produces a __________ spectrum, which appears as a:
continuous; rainbow.  ********* [9]
emission; series of bright lines on a dark background.  ************** [14]
absorption; series of dark lines on a rainbow background.  **** [4]
(Unsure/guessing/lost/help!)  * [1]

Your instructor produces a __________ spectrum, which appears as a:
continuous; rainbow.  ***** [5]
emission; series of bright lines on a dark background.  ********* [9]
absorption; series of dark lines on a rainbow background.  ********* [9]
(Unsure/guessing/lost/help!)  ***** [5]

The balrog from The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring produces a __________ spectrum, which appears as a:
continuous; rainbow.  ******** [8]
emission; series of bright lines on a dark background.  ************ [12]
absorption; series of dark lines on a rainbow background.  ******* [7]
(Unsure/guessing/lost/help!)  * [1]

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.  **** [4]
starts quiet, then gets louder.  [0]
starts quiet, gets louder, then goes back down to quiet.  ********************** [22]
starts loud, gets quieter, then goes back up to loud.   * [1]
(Unsure/guessing/lost/help!)  * [1]

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.  ************** [14]
starts low, then goes higher.  *** [3]
starts low, goes higher, then drops back down to low.  ********** [10]
starts high, goes lower, then goes back up to high.   * [1]
(Unsure/guessing/lost/help!)  [0]

Ask the instructor an anonymous question, or make a comment. Selected questions/comments may be discussed in class.
"Can we go over all these spectra examples again in class?" (I think we need to.)

"Why can't you see stars in the videos of the first men on the moon? Is it because of the poor quality of the video or brightness of the moon?" (Because of the light pollution during the "day" on the moon. The stars would come out when the sun isn't up for the astronauts, but the missions were all timed to occur when the sun was up for them.)

"I'm ready for some more extra credit!" (So am I.)

"Will midterm grades always take longer to post than quizzes?" (Yes, because midterm essay questions take longer to grade than entering in your multiple-choice quiz answers.)

"How was your (not?) wonderful five-day weekend?" (Awesome--Mrs. P-dog and I got to stay in a five-thousand star hotel.)

No comments:

Post a Comment