Science Questions
Provide focused answers for each of the questions below in 3-5 paragraphs each.
1) Using the concepts learned in Unit 1:
Explain how flight is achieved. Make sure that you provide an example and use at least three concepts or laws to support your explanation and example.
2) Using the concepts learned in Unit 2 (Chemistry), answer the following:
The periodic table of the elements in its modern form was first prepared in the late 1800’s. This arrangement was slightly changed a few decades later. This allowed the development of the Periodic Law which states that when the elements are arranged by increasing atomic numbers, the properties tend to repeat. Many of the chemical and physical properties of the elements change in a regular fashion, with successive elements in either the same row or the same column of this table. Name three quantifiable properties, other than atomic weight or atomic number, that change in the manner described. How do each of these properties change across rows and down columns in the table? Explain, in terms of atomic structure, why each of these changes occurs in the manner observed.
3) Using the concepts learned in Unit 3: answer the following:
The Fremont School District uses oil to heat school buildings. Go Green! is a new project the district will implement. The superintendent has declared that the district will dedicate itself to reducing its carbon footprint. In addition to taking serious energy-conservation measures, the district is planning to help offset its carbon dioxide emissions by raising money to help conserve a portion of a large tract of forest land adjacent to the high school campus. Describe one alternative energy source that would reduce the carbon footprint of the school district. Discuss one environmental benefit (other than reduced CO2 emissions) and one environmental drawback of using the alternative source instead of fuel oil.
4) Using the concepts learned in Unit 4:
Describe the forces that cause the tectonic plates to move. Describe the different kinds of plate tectonic boundaries and what happens at each type of plate boundary. The expanding Earth hypothesis was first formulated in the 1950s by S. Warren Carey, an Australian geologist. Though Professor Carey recognized sea floor spreading and the idea that the continents had once been assembled into the supercontinent of Pangaea, he did not recognize an important element of the modern day plate tectonic paradigm. What was that element and how does it weaken the expanding Earth hypothesis? Think about the entire Plate Tectonics process.
5) Using the concepts learned in Unit 5:
The future of the universe is continually studied and theorized. However, we still have not developed a good enough understand or complex Universe. Will it continue to expand forever? Is inflation a law of Nature? Or will the universe eventually collapse again? Use the concepts discussed in Unit 5 to create your very own hypothesis on how the Universe will end? Or will it?
