High School Physical Science—Semester A
The real physical education.
- Course Length: 18 weeks
- Course Type: Basic
- Category:
- Science
- High School
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Science is just like ice cream: it's cool, it makes your head hurt sometimes, and there is never enough of it. It is the tool for getting reliable knowledge about the world. Er, we mean science, not the ice cream. Anyway, it turns out that there's a lot of stuff to know about: spiders, galaxies, obscure bands from the '70s, bread, and so much more.
This physical science course, though, doesn't concern itself with everything in the universe. It just focuses on what we know about all the stuff in the world that's not alive. Think: atoms, chemicals, motion, radiation—the works. We call all that non-alive stuff "the physical world."
Yeah, "non-alive stuff" only narrows the possible topics of study from a gazillion to a few billion. But that's physical science for you: it can cover a lot of stuff. In Semester A of this physical science course, we'll use in-depth readings, kickin' activities, gobs of practice questions, and totally sweet lab coats to explore the following topics:
- What science is all about and how we do it;
- The basic properties of matter;
- Atoms and the periodic table of the elements (a chemist's best friend);
- Why chemicals bond and react in all the funny ways they do;
- What happens when atoms, molecules, and compounds come together;
- The basics of organic chemistry (or o-chem, as people in the biz say): the meeting point of chemistry and biology;
- The good, the bad, and the interesting about radiation.
Are you ready to slather yourself in science and explore all the non-alive stuff around you? Then step into physical science à la Shmoop. Oh, and the slathering is optional, if that's a deal-breaker for you.
BTW, physical science is a two-semester course, and you're looking at the skim for Semester A. Semester B can be found right here.
Technology Requirements
From a technology standpoint, all you need for this course is a web browser-capable computer and a reliable internet connection. A tablet works, too, if you don't mind typing on it. Additionally, access to a scanner or digital camera, or a cellphone with a camera, or jeez, even a webcam, will come in handy, since you'll occasionally need to upload images of diagrams you draw. That's it.
Required Skills
Knowledge of basic Algebra
Unit Breakdown
1 High School Physical Science—Semester A - Introduction to Science
Science is a method for making sense of this weird and wonderful world we live in, and it's a staggeringly, remarkably, superbly good at it. Thanks to scientific thought we have engines, televisions, antibiotics, cell phones, rollercoasters, MRI machines, and a lot more. We'll study key parts of scientific thought: the scientific process, data collection, sorting, and presenting, and, finally, we'll look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of how people discuss science.
2 High School Physical Science—Semester A - Properties of Matter
Now that we have a handle on the whole "science" business, we'll start doing some. The best thing to start studying: stuff—or as we call it, matter. We'll explore matter through microscopic and macroscopic lenses, learning about the physical properties of matter, the states of matter, and how they connect. We'll finish by talking about water. Yes, water. Water is everywhere and it's useful, making it the perfect example of the small-scale details having a big-time effect.
3 High School Physical Science—Semester A - Atomic Structure and the Periodic Table
Atoms. The ancient Greeks were the first people to start thinking about them, even though they had no way to see them. Nowadays, and after many, many experiments, we have a pretty good handle on them—what their deal is, what they like, who they get along with, and who they avoid. We'll hash all of that in this unit.
4 High School Physical Science—Semester A - Chemical Bonding and Reactions
Like children on a massive sugar high, atoms don't like staying put. Not even for a second. As atoms zip through the universe, they react and re-react with other atoms to create all sorts of chemical wonders. Interactions between atoms are what chemical reactions are all about. This unit walks us through chemical reactions, where they are (everywhere), how to spot them (over there!), and why certain reactions only occur between certain types of atoms, but not others (it's their electrons' fault).
5 High School Physical Science—Semester A - Acids, Bases, Mixtures, and Solutions
After a whole unit on chemical reactions, we all know that strange/cool things happen when atoms interact. Well, there are even stranger reactions to see out there. This unit is all about molecules and compounds getting together to form mixtures and solutions. Most things we see around us are mixtures of one kind or another: the cleaning products under the sink, the dozens of molecules found inside a loaf of bread. They really are everywhere.
6 High School Physical Science—Semester A - Organic Chemistry
If you ask your neighborhood grocer what "organic" means, they might answer with a long spiel about the growing conditions of the veggies and fruits in their store. If you ask a chemist, though, they'll answer: carbon. Plain and simple. Organic chemistry, though, is anything but plain. It's a topic full of plot twists and fun surprises. In this unit, we'll explore what "organic" means in the molecular world and why chemists and farmers don't agree on a definition. You'll give your everyday stuff a once-over, investigating what man-made stuff is still considered organic by chemistry's standards.
7 High School Physical Science—Semester A - Nuclear Science
After years of superhero movies, the term "nuclear" is associated in our minds with things like "superpower elixir," "evil-guy tool," and "green ooze," just to name a few. For this unit, though, we'll need to scrap all of that and start fresh. We'll see radioactivity for what it truly is: the most sun-powering, electricity-producing, armageddon-capable force in the known universe. It hasn't given anyone superpowers, but it does power a lot of cities around the world and cause (and fight) cancer. And it's everywhere; in our food, under our feet, and between our toes. Don't worry, though—we're perfectly safe...mostly.
8 High School Physical Science—Semester A - Midterm Review
We've covered all sorts of ideas and models and ideas throughout this semester, so we've set some time aside to review them all. We'll make sure the ideas are in their proper place, the connections are well and clearly made, and any fuzzy concepts are unfuzzied before the end-of-semester test.
Recommended prerequisites:
Sample Lesson - Introduction
Lesson 1.03: Units and Numbers
Remember learning those A, B, Cs and 1, 2, 3s?
Those were the good ol' days. Reciting the alphabet; high-fiving our friends after a successful count all the way up to ten; eating paste…ah, memories.
Er, sorry. We got a little caught up in nostalgia there. There is a point to all this reminiscing about numbers, though. And that point is: this lesson is all about numbers. Hurray!
No, we're not busting out those colorful number refrigerator magnets to practice counting to ten. This is a physical science class, so we're going for something a bit more sophisticated and complex.
To be precise, we'll be learning about SI units, scientific notation, and prefixes. That way we'll be experts at dealing with really, really big numbers, and really, really small numbers. After all, no one wants to have to write out 602,214,150,000,000,000,000,000 by hand. (And yes, that's a number we'll get to know—it's called Avogadro's number, and it's the number of units in one mole of a substance.)
Sample Lesson - Reading
Reading 1.1.03: Let us Count the Ways to Count
Not surprisingly, numbers are pretty important in science. This field puts a lot of value on data and evidence. But numbers are numbers, right? What could possibly be so complicated that they need an entire lesson devoted to them?
A couple of things, actually.
For one, numbers aren't all that helpful unless scientists everywhere use the same units. If one scientist measures things in inches and another scientist measures in centimeters, it's hard to compare their results and advance science as a body of knowledge.
The other issue is dealing with really big and really small numbers. It's time consuming and confusing to have to write them out, so scientists have come up with shortcuts because, hey—we all love to do things quicker, right?
SI and the Metric System
The International System of Units was created in 1960 and based on the metric system, so that everyone's measurements could be compared the world over. Did you know that a second is defined as the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation emitted by the transition between two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium-133 atom?
Probably not…but it sure is.
Then there's mass. Someone had to define exactly how much mass a kilogram has, so why not this polished cylinder of 90 percent platinum and 10 percent iridium that is 39 mm in diameter and 39 mm in height? This is the standard for all mass in the U.S.
And it looks the part, too.
(Source)
The International System of Units, a.k.a. SI units, tells us the standard measurements for length, mass, time, and more. Here are a few. Make sure to take note of the one weirdo in there, kilograms; it's the only standard unit that has a prefix in it.
Whenever we take measurements or start making calculations with formulas, we'll want to make sure our data is in these standard units.
Each of these units can also have a prefix in front of it, which lets us know just how much of Unit X we're dealing with. Here's a handy list of prefixes we'll be using—feel free to get this tattooed on your arm, 'cause it's going to be that useful.
Note that most of these prefixes are three orders of magnitude bigger than the prefix below, with the exception of centi-. (An order of magnitude is how many powers of 10 are in the number.) To find the orders of magnitude between pico- and kilo-, for example, we find the difference between the exponents on 10: 3 – (-12) = 15 orders of magnitude.
2 Many Num6ers
In science, we deal with some very LARGE numbers. For example, 1 mole = 602,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 particles
Don't worry, we won't be asking anyone to count the moles on Uncle Tim's forehead…that's a conversation for another lesson. In science, a mole is a unit used for referring to this crazy large number of particles.
We also deal with some really small numbers. For example, the mass of an electron = 0.00000000000000000000000000000091 kg.
To avoid writing out all those stinking zeros, some Shmoopy smart folks came up with scientific notation, which is basically just a way to abbreviate really small and really big numbers.
To get the lowdown on scientific notation, first watch this video we made just for you. It gives the gist of how scientific notation works and what makes it so awesome.
To reinforce the idea and see how to work with small numbers too, also check out this Shmoop-torial.
Recap
Numbers aren't hard, but they can get confusing if we're not all using the same units. For that reason, scientists came up with a standardized set of units, known as SI units. These are the standard units we'll always be working with, so they're worth committing to memory.
When it comes to dealing with really big and really small numbers, we can abbreviate them using scientific notation. The basic idea is to move the decimal point over to give us a number between 1 and 10 and then count the number of places we moved the decimal point. Our final abbreviated number should looks something like 1.3 × 1012 or 4.7 × 10-7.
Sample Lesson - Activity
Sample Lesson - Activity
- Course Length: 18 weeks
- Course Type: Basic
- Category:
- Science
- High School
Schools and Districts: We offer customized programs that won't break the bank. Get a quote.