Michael Pennisi SpreadSheet Activities for Science Introduction Car Race Example Water Balloons Vector Adder Emission Lab

Introduction

This is a printable activity that combines basic kinematics with constructing a spreadsheet. Students create a spreadsheet that models the motion of two cars and use the data to answer analysis questions.

Car Race Example

This is a sample of what the above activity will look like.

Water Balloons

This is a spreadsheet that models the vertical motion of two water balloons being dropped. Each balloon can be given a vertical velocity and a time delay can be introduced between dropping the two balloons. The data produced can be used to analyze the motion of falling objects.

Vector Adder

This spreadsheet was designed by students. It takes up to three vectors (magnitude and direction in 360 format) and determines the magnitude and direction of the resultant.

Emission Lab

This is a complicated lab for advanced physics or chemistry involving the Bohr model of the atom. It is assumed that students have analyzed a light spectrum from some ionized gas and have determined the wavelength of light produced they can then use a spreadsheet to quickly perform transition calculations to determine what energy level transition was necessary to produce the observed light.