Constructing Physical Science

Adam Johnston

phenomena

ice melting

On hot summer days you might really enjoy a glass with ice, just because you like a cold drink. But have you watched the ice in your glass up close? This glass of ice water shows that the ice floats at the top. You probably see this all the time. I like investigations just watching ice melt. By taki…

sun circles

It was a nice morning, and I thought it would be a good choice for me to sit in my backyard and read a book. But it's easy for me to get distracted, and soon I was really interested in a spot of light that was on my chair: Reading outside, I saw this spot of light on my chair.(For more information a…

waves on a lake

On a camping trip a while ago, we had a site that overlooked a small, calm lake in the Uintas. From a perch we could toss small rocks into the lake and watch the ripples they created. Tossing two rocks at the same time made it so that we could see what happens when the two sets of waves overlap. htt…

light in gelatin

Some science investigations are especially fun to do at home. Playing with light and playing with jello are each great activities for indoors. This investigation prompt puts these two things together. Here's a video that I made at home, with no fancy lab or equipment -- the perfect setting for most …

looking up at the night sky

When the weather gets clear, it’s not only great for going out in the day, but also for going outside at night. There’s a lot of great science happening both during light and dark hours. In fact, observing dark skies is a scientific study all by itself! Sometimes we take it for granted, but the reas…

hot chocolate effect

We often imagine that good science is the kind of thing that studies the dynamics of distant stars and a cure for disease. Sure, it does work on these big problems. But it is just as focused on and important to our everyday experiences. Here's my prime example. This is me at home, stirring some hot …

walk on rock

I like to walk in rocky places. Fortunately, we have lots of this terrain here in our mountains overlooking Ogden and the surrounding area on the Wasatch Front. From here in my backyard mountains (as I like to think of them), I'm looking up at rock cliffs, or maybe across a canyon at a pile of rocks…

sky nuggets

A few days ago some late afternoon clouds rolled in, the winds picked up, and then stuff started falling out of the sky really violently. It was a big thunderstorm with hail. The first thing I noticed after the storm passed is how these little chunks of ice stayed on the ground, but they disappeared…

science at home: noticing and record keeping

Schooling in a collaborative environment with a collective vision is no small task in any time, and that’s probably ten times more apparent in the middle of the pandemic. The educational system we’re used to, in spite of owning its share of flaws, is a monumental invention and a well-designed piece …

Newton’s 3rd Law

Whenever two objects collide or interact in any way, we might start to talk about "Newton's 3rd Law." I should say from the outset that I don't like starting with this label, because I think we have to assemble a bunch of experiences before we really have a feel for what we're talking about. At the …

Subscribe