Welcome home Scott Kelly, and what's coming in March 2016

After 140 million miles and 340 days, let's welcome astronaut Scott Kelly back on earth. His year long mission on the International Space Station will help us better understand how the human body reacts and adapts to long-duration in space. These are monumental steps towards developing capabilities for manned missions to Mars. Read more about it here.

As promised, the February 2016 scheduled updates are now live on prepmagic.com. March 2016, will bring some very exciting interactives as listed below.

CHEMISTRY

Acids & Bases

  • Strong-Weak Titration - Interactive demonstrating titration between weak acid and strong base. Compare and contrast with strong-strong titration curves.

NGSS: SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Cause and effect, PS1.B: Chemical Reactions.

Chemical Equations

  • Balancing Chemical Equations - Interactive to practice balancing of chemical equations

NGSS: SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Energy and matter, PS1.B: Chemical Reactions.

BIOLOGY

Heredity & Evolution

  • Genetic Equilibrium - Interactive exploring genetic equilibrium condition proposed by the Hardy-Weinberg principle

NGSS: SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Systems and system models, LS3.B: Variation of Traits.

  • Natural Selection - Case of peppered moths - Interactive investigating how natural selection affects population distribution

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Cause and effect, CCC - Systems and system models, LS4.B: Natural Selection.

PHYSICS

Electricity

  • Electrical Power - Interactive exploring the heating effect of electric current or Joule heating

NGSS: SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Cause and effect, PS2.B: Types of Interactions.

Sound & Waves

  • Doppler Effect - Interactive illustrating Doppler effect, the shift in frequency when the source and observer are in relative motion.

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Patterns, CCC - Cause and effect, PS4.A: Wave Properties.

  • Sub-sonic, Sonic & Super-sonic - Interactives exploring wave formations in case of objects moving slower or faster than speed of sound

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Patterns, CCC - Cause and effect, PS4.A: Wave Properties.

Electromagnetic Waves

  • Amplitude Modulation of Radio Waves - Interactive exploring application of electromagnetic waves in communication technology, involving amplitude modulation of a carrier wave based on the signal wave.

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Patterns, CCC - Cause and effect, PS4.B: Electromagnetic Radiation

Effect of Moon’s tidal forces on the amount of rainfall on Earth and what's coming in February 2016

We are already a month into the new year, and it has been the most exciting times for us here at prepmagic.com. Though for many of us on the east coast, we did see some ugly effects of storm Jonas. Weather has always been a researchers enigma. More we think we know about it, more curve balls it throws at us. For the first time, University of Washington researchers, have convincingly connected the effect of Moon’s tidal forces on the amount of rainfall on Earth. Read more about it here.

So after the updates for January 2016 being live on prepmagic.com, this is what you should expect for the month of February 2016.

CHEMISTRY

Reactions

Types of Reactions - Interactives illustrating

  • different types of chemical reactions - synthesis, decomposition, single replacement, double replacement, neutralization, and combustion.
  • endothermic and exothermic processes.

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Cause and effect, CCC - Energy and matter, PS1.B: Chemical Reactions.

Solutions

Colligative Properties - Interactives demonstrating that

  • a liquid’s boiling point and freezing point are affected by changes in atmospheric pressure.
  • the presence of certain solutes and the number of solutes changes the freezing point and boiling point of a pure substance.

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Cause and effect, CCC - Energy and matter, PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter.

Gases

Partial Pressure - Interactives demonstrating

  • that the sum of the partial pressures of all the components in a gas mixture is equal to the total pressure of a gas mixture.

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Cause and effect, CCC - Energy and matter, PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter.

Phase Changes

Vapor Pressure - Interactives demonstrating

  • that a liquid boils when the vapor pressure equals the ambient pressure.

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Cause and effect, CCC - Energy and matter, PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter.

BIOLOGY

Evolution

Fossil Dating - Interactives demonstrating 

  • methods to determine the age of a fossil using radioactive decay.

NGSS: SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Systems and system models, LS4.A: Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity.

Reproductive Strategies & Survival Rates  - Interactives investigating

  • the impact of reproductive strategies and rates on a population’s survival

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Cause and effect, CCC - Systems and system models, LS4.C: Adaptation.

PHYSICS

Electric Circuits

Electrical Power - Interactives demonstrating that

  • the dissipated power of a circuit element equals the product of the voltage across that element and the current through it.

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Cause and effect, CCC - Systems and system models, PS2.B: Types of Interactions.

Sound & Waves

Wave Characteristics - Interactives illustrating various aspects of a wave, including

  • wavelength, period, frequency and amplitude
  • simple harmonic motion
  • velocity of sound waves versus medium of propagation

NGSS: SEP - Developing and using models, SEP - Planning and carrying out investigations, SEP - Analyzing and Interpreting Data, CCC - Patterns, CCC - Cause and effect, PS4.A: Wave Properties.