Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

This week in Science we will begin our studies of the Physical Sciences. This will include Matter, the Physical States of Matter, and how they can Change, Forces, Motion, Energy, Heat, Electricity, Magnetism, Light, Sound, and lots more.

Physical Science is a very fun unit, and the students usually really enjoy it.

This week we begin discussing Matter, or "the stuff everything is made of"; the Three states of matter (solid, liquid, and gas) and physical changes that include, evaporation, condensation, melting and freezing. By the end of the week your student should be able to tell you the three states, give you their characteristics and tell you the temperatures and state changes of the four physical changes listed above.

Solids: Have a definite size
Have a definite shape
The particles move very slowly, they vibrate in place.
The particles are very close together
Liquids: Have a definite size
Take the shape of the container they are in
The particles move at a medium speed
The particles are spread a little bit apart
Gases: Have no definite size, take the size of their container
Have no definite shape, take the shape of their container
The particles move very fast
The particles are really far apart

Evaporation is when a liquid changes to a gas. In water this is like liquid water being heated to 100*c or 212*F and turning into water vapor. These temperatures are also referred to as water's boiling point.

Condensation is when a gas changes to a liquid. In water this is when a gas like water vapor cools down and turns back into a liquid, like on the outside of our cups, or in the sky to make clouds.

Melting is when a solid changes to a liquid. In water, this is when an ice cube heats up to above 0*C or 32*F and it will start to melt into liquid water.

Freezing is when a liquid changes to a sold. In water this is when liquid water cools down to 0*C or 32*F and turns into ice.

A really good at home video to watch is found on the BBC website link on the right of the screen. It is under physical processes, this allows you to add and take away heat to view the change occurring.

If you notice on the side of the screen under vocab there is a new link. This is a link to the ten new words that your student is adding to their vocabulary rings each week.