JoinAll Physical Science resources
Book Chapter
If you browse through the sunglasses at your local department store, you'll find that some of them are advertised as "polarized." What is it that makes a pair of polarized sunglasses so special, and are they really better at reducing glare, as advert...
Book Chapter
Light doesn't always travel in straight lines. It can bend around corners, just like sound. When it does change direction like this, you end up with light waves that originated from different places coming together at one spot. This can lead to some ...
Book Chapter
This chapter is, as the title indicates, all about eyeballs and how they work. We'll use just about everything we've learned so far, plus one or two new things, including how to draw 3-D pictures. You'll be asked to do a number of little projects, on...
Book Chapter
Fire the Photon Torpedoes, Mr. Sulu!
Yeah, what about those photon torpedoes? Aren't photons supposed to be little light particles? Yes, they are, and they constitute the third model for what light is. Although much of the photon stuff is beyond the scope of this book, the author gives ...
Book Chapter
Stop Children, What's That Sound?
Aging hippies might recognize the title of this chapter from an old Buffalo Springfield song. Others will just have to ignore it, and realize that this is the first chapter in a book on sound. As you go through this book, you'll be exposed to scient...
Book Chapter
Unless you really haven't been paying attention to the world around you, you know that plucked strings produce sounds. Carlos Santana demonstrates this on a regular basis. Because stringed instruments are so commonly used to produce sounds, we're g...
Book Chapter
Sound travels in waves, but those waves aren't exactly like waves on a string. One nice things is that sound waves have all the same relationships between frequency, wavelength, and velocity that waves on a string have. In this chapter, we will fin...
Book Chapter
Harmonic convergence refers to a day back in 1987 where there was a particular planetary alignment. New Agers went crazy over the event, and if you want to get a taste of what it was like, enter harmonic convergence into your favorite Internet searc...
Book Chapter
Yep, you guessed it. This chapter is all about music. Yes, we've already talked about music and musical instruments, but we're going to get into this subject in more detail. For example, you might already know that larger musical intruments tend t...
Book Chapter
We've covered most of the basics of how sound is produced and transmitted, but we've left something out, and that's all the electronic devices we use to amplify sound, reproduce it, or get it from one place to another. How exactly does a CD player w...
NSTA Press Book
Sound: Stop Faking It! Finally Understanding Science So You Can Teach It
Muddled about what makes music? Stuck on the study of harmonics? Dumbfounded by how sound gets around? Now you no longer have to struggle to teach concepts you really don’t grasp yourself. Sound takes an intentionally light touch to help out all...
By William C. Robertson, Ph.D.
NSTA Press Book
Light: Stop Faking It! Finally Understanding Science So You Can Teach It
Why is left right and right left in the mirror? Baffled by the basics of reflection and refraction? Wondering just how the eye works? If you have trouble teaching concepts about light that you don’t fully grasp yourself, get help from a book that�...
By William C. Robertson, Ph.D.
Book Chapter
This first chapter deals with one of the most basic principles of motion, which happens to be known as Newton’s first law. Not coincidentally, it has something to do with Isaac Newton. It’s a nice law to start out with because it doesn’t requir...