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.
"The fact that the Doppler effect works similarly in light. It makes sense when you are working in something with waves. That was way cool, I didn't really know light worked that way before this class."
"The Doppler effect--it's just cool to me that there is a difference in your hearing when a car honking its horn is moving towards you versus moving away."
"Reading about the different spectra, but it was also confusing."
"The idea that an atom will only absorb the photon if it has just the exact amount of energy. It if it has more or less it won't absorb it."
"How there are a bunch of dark lines in the sun's rainbow, I never knew there was actual dark lines in the sun's rainbow....that is so very interesting!"
"Just learning about color in the physical form if that makes sense. Throughout life you just learn to accept colors for what they are but you never actually know where they come from so it was cool hearing about them in the form of waves."
Describe something you found confusing from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally confusing for you.
"Different types of spectra."
"The difference between the absorption spectra and emission spectra, because I don't understand why one has many more colors present than the other."
"Distinguishing between the redshift and blueshift of the Doppler Effect."
"The Doppler effect, maybe just a clearer explanation might help me."
"I'm not clear on what's going on when stars are moving towards us/away from us."
I believe Pluto should be a planet.
Strongly disagree. [3] Disagree. [5] Neutral. [4] Agree. [2] Strongly Agree. [1]
Briefly explain your answer to the previous question (whether Pluto should be a planet).
"Because although it technically doesn't qualify, it seems to me removing it from the list wasn't necessary really. You could have found another specification to use instead of one that drops Pluto out."
"When I was younger I was originally taught that Pluto is a planet. I've come to accept it as a dwarf planet, however. I just don't feel strongly about the matter, hence my 'neutral' answer."
"Still don't have much of an opinion. If scientists say it shouldn't that's good enough for me."
"There are so many dwarf planets that have similar characteristics to Pluto, it doesn't make any sense to only include Pluto."
"In my opinion doesn't matter"
"It does not dominate it's gravitational orbit."
"Pluto doesn't dominate its own orbit and therefor is a dwarf planet."
"I was raised thinking that Pluto is a planet and so I want to stay that way. I don't want to think of Pluto being a dwarf planet like how I don't want to think about a certain character's death from a certain video game because of this certain video game's sequel."
"After answering the IAU rules & classes it was said Pluto was a dwarf planet because it doesn't dominate its orbit. I feel like we should just accept reality. Pluto isn't a planet and that's it."
"Pluto does not dominate its own orbit."
"Pluto is no longer considered a planet due to the fact that it is a dwarf planet and because Pluto shares its orbital neighbourhood with other icy Kuiper Belt Objects. It needs to be in orbit around the sun: yes! It needs to have enough gravity to pull itself into a spherical shape: yes! It needs to have 'cleared the neighborhood' of its orbit: uh oh. Here’s the rule breaker: Pluto is not a planet."
"If Pluto would be considered a planet, then all the other dwarf planets would have to be included too. However, none of them meet the criteria to be a planet."
"As much as this saddens me the fact is that it doesn't dominate its orbit so it is not the boss that I once thought it was."
Match the spectrum type with their appearance.
(Only correct responses shown.)
Rainbow containing all colors: continuous [87%]
Rainbow with thin black lines: absorption [87%]
Colored lines on a black background: emission [87%]
Given off by hot, dense object: continuous [67%]
Given off by hot, diffuse gas atoms: emission [53%]
Passing through cool, diffuse gas atoms: [67%]
continuous; rainbow. [7] emission; series of bright lines on a dark background. [6] absorption; series of dark lines on a rainbow background. [1] (Unsure/guessing/lost/help!) [1]
continuous; rainbow. [5] emission; series of bright lines on a dark background. [5] absorption; series of dark lines on a rainbow background. [3] (Unsure/guessing/lost/help!) [2]
continuous; rainbow. [4] emission; series of bright lines on a dark background. [5] absorption; series of dark lines on a rainbow background. [3] (Unsure/guessing/lost/help!) [3]
continuous; rainbow. [3] emission; series of bright lines on a dark background. [4] absorption; series of dark lines on a rainbow background. [5] (Unsure/guessing/lost/help!) [3]
continuous; rainbow. [2] emission; series of bright lines on a dark background. [3] absorption; series of dark lines on a rainbow background. [2] (Unsure/guessing/lost/help!) [3]
starts loud, then gets quieter. [3] starts quiet, then gets louder. [0] starts quiet, gets louder, then goes back down to quiet. [9] starts loud, gets quieter, then goes back up to loud. [0] (Unsure/guessing/lost/help!) [3]
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. [5] 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. [0] (Unsure/guessing/lost/help!) [2]
Ask the instructor an anonymous question, or make a comment. Selected questions/comments may be discussed in class.
"Where do the missing colors go?" (They were absorbed by electrons so they jump to higher orbitals. When those electrons jump back down to lower orbitals, those photons are emitted in every other direction, so that's why that light seems to be "missing.")
"How does the Doppler effect work with fighter jets? When a jet goes overhead, the sound from it is delayed--because it is moving faster than the speed of sound, or the Doppler effect or something else?" (Both--because of the Doppler effect, the sound waves coming off the front of the jet are so "scrunched together" that they effectively can't get out in front of the jet, and instead can only get away from the sides and the back (where the sound waves are "stretched out"), which is the that "sonic boom" that you hear just after the jet passes overhead.)
"Do you need a telescope to see color differences in stars? They all look white to me." (Many of the stars that we can see are bright white-hot stars, but if you look carefully there are a few that you can see that are blue or orange in color. Many faint stars that only telescopes with good light-gathering power can see are red dwarfs.)
"Is there any extra-credit still available during the semester?" (Yes, in fact there is an extra-credit survey this weekend, in addition to the usual online reading assignment.)
"About the instructor's temperature (in the infrared camera view). How could he be hot? Because he is way cool! And the cool goatee, well if he's hot then it's cool, but if he's cool than it's hot?!?"
"I am still wondering if you are down to go paint-balling?" (Can I bring Mrs. P-dog?)
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