The NSDL Scout Report for Physical Sciences -- Volume 1, Number 9

May 17, 2002

A Publication of the Internet Scout Project
Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison




In This Issue:

Research

Education

General

Topic In Depth




Research

Center for Climatic Research
http://ccr.meteor.wisc.edu/
Part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, The Center for Climatic Research (CCR) "focuses on studies of present, future, and past climates, the links between ecosystems and climate and between civilizations and climate, and assessment of the impacts of climate variability on water, food, and energy resources." The Web site offers descriptions of research; publications; upcoming events; and, most notably, a data page that allows visitors to download and create plots of CCR data, as well as run various models including the Energy Balance Climate Model. [JAB]
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GeoVista Studio
http://www.geovistastudio.psu.edu/jsp/index.jsp
GeoVista Studio is a "programming-free environment that allows users to quickly build applications for geocomputation and geographic visualization." Developed and offered by the Department of Geography at Pennsylvania State University, the program is distributed at no cost to academic and noncommercial users. The Web site contains the download, an overview of the program, examples of what can be done with it, a manual/ tutorial, tech support, and more. [JAB]
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Center for Aerospace Information Technical Report Server
http://www.sti.nasa.gov/RECONselect.html
NASA's Center for Aerospace Information Technical Report Server site contains bibliographic citations for various NASA produced Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports, journal articles, and conference proceedings. The database can be searched by more than a dozen criteria and produces citations that include document identification, file series, authors, published date, abstract (if available), subject terms, and various notes. For those searching for aerospace specific information, this database with over 2.2 million records will definitely assist. [JAB]
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Association of American State Geologists
http://crude2.kgs.ukans.edu/AASG/AASG.html
From the Association of American State Geologists (AASG) comes a simple but helpful resource. Clicking on a particular state of the United States directly opens its Geological Survey's Web site. Other things can be found on the site such as a calendar of events, a listing of the association's officers, awards that have been given out, and news from the AASG. [JAB]
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National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse
http://130.11.52.184/
As a result of Executive Order 12906, the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) is tasked to "develop procedures and assist in the implementation of a distributed discovery mechanism for digital geospatial data." One product of this order is the National Geospatial Data Clearinghouse Web site, which contains over 250 spatial data servers that have digital geographic data primarily for use in Geographic Information Systems, image processing systems, and other modeling software. Users can search the servers and freely download (if available) the particular products they need. [JAB]
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Plasma Gate: Free Software for Atomic and Plasma Physics
http://plasma-gate.weizmann.ac.il/FSfAPP.html
Maintained by the Plasma Laboratory of Weizmann Institute of Science, the Free Software for Atomic and Plasma Physics Web site contains over thirty links to various programs. Examples of available software include Weizmann Institutes: 369j-symbol calculator and Russia's Institute of Spectroscopy's spectral bibliography database. Although several of the links currently seem to be dead, the site does give those working in this field access to several sites with useful software programs. [JAB]
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US Global Change Research Group Archives
http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/archives/default.htm
According to their Web site, the US Global Change Research Group (USGCRP) was created to address uncertainties about changes in the Earth's global environmental system; monitor, understand, and predict global change; and provide sound scientific basis for national and international decision making. The archives page of the site provides links to current and past postings of the USGCRP information pages, going back to 1990. The postings include information on the latest global change research, including links to material on other sites. [JAB]
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US Geological Survey Fact Sheets
http://water.usgs.gov/wid/indexlist.html
The US Geological Survey (USGS) Fact Sheets Web site summarizes research and investigations done by the agency and provides details about particular activities. The sheets are organized by theme, including resources, hazards, environment, information management, by individual state, and by scientific discipline. The fact sheets give basic summations of the research and provide links to more detailed pages for those seeking further information. [JAB]
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Education

Alcohol, Chemistry and You
http://chemcases.com/alcohol/index.htm
Developed by Kennesaw State University, ChemCases.com is a series of curriculum units that link responsible decision making in product development with chemical principles taught in college General Chemistry. Alcohol, Chemistry and You, by Dr. Bill Boggan, is the latest offering by the Web site, which "looks at the chemistry of beverage alcohol (ethyl alcohol) through the eyes of a General Chemistry student." The fourteen chapter lessons cover everything from what ethyl alcohol is to alcohol addiction, relating it to various principles learned in a general chemistry course. [JAB]
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Low Temperatures [.pdf, PowerPoint]
http://www.ph.rhbnc.ac.uk/lowtemp/posters/index.html
The Physics Department of the Royal Holloway University of London offers several talks, Web sites, posters, and other learning material related to Low Temperatures. The highlight of the site are the six downloadable posters that teach the basics of Low Temperatures, Cryogenics, Cold on Earth, Cold in Space, Superconductivity, and Superfluidity. The other links provide additional information on these subjects, resulting in a very interesting and useful resource for Physics teachers. [JAB]
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Whelmers - McREL's Accessible Science Series
http://www.mcrel.org/resources/whelmers/index.asp?
McREL is a "private, nonprofit organization whose purpose is to improve education through applied research and development. McREL provides products and services, primarily for K-12 educators, to promote the best instructional practices in the classroom." The Whelmers - McREL's Accessible Science Series of hands-on activities are based on Steve Jacobs Whelmer's activities (read the Introduction of Whelmer's page to find out why they're called this). The Web site offers twenty physics related activities that teachers can attempt with their students, such as an air cannon, a balloon vacuum, and energy transfer. Each activity contains everything needed to complete it, including instructions, illustrations, and more. [JAB]
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Underwater Exploration
http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/madisonjason11/
From the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Web site comes the Underwater Exploration educational pages. The cool science link tells about decompression, underwater archaeology, student aquanaut research, and more. Other pages include diving, which has information on types of diving and diving hand signals, experiments, quizzes, an underwater exploration timeline, and a tools and gear link that describes such things as scuba gear and diving bells. [JAB]
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Teacher Tools
http://nsc10.nscdiscovery.org/TeacherResources/EntryPage.cfm
The Teacher Tools Web site is part of the National Science Center -- a partnership between the National Science Center, Inc. and the US Army. The tools include lesson plans, classroom activities, videos, distance learning, and backpack activities that are organized into eleven topics that include magnetism, chemistry, electricity, energy, sound, etc. The tools are all downloadable and offer excellent learning resources for those teaching science to students in grade 3 to 12. [JAB]
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SLN Lab [QuickTime, Flash]
http://www.jsf.or.jp/sln/laboe.html
The Science Learning Network (SLN) Web site is part of the Science Museum-Japan and contains four experiments or lessons that explore auroras, cloud chambers, neutralization formulas, acid rain, and balloons and gasses. Each lesson is set up a bit differently but includes interactive, multimedia activities that are unique and educational. [JAB]
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Earth Science Explorer
http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/msese/explorer.html
Part of NASA's classroom of the future program, the Earth Science Explorer site contains a virtual tour of a castle that contains several floors of varying topics. The earth floor has a plate tectonics, geologic time, biomes, diversity, cycles, spheres, and an adaptation room to explore. The site also has a dinosaur floor with interesting information as well as a teacher's resource area and a resource room with additional links. The site is very well organized and illustrated, making it easy for younger kids to have fun learning about the subjects covered. [JAB]
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Energy Quest
http://www.energy.ca.gov/education/
Energy Quest is a Web site offered by the California Energy Commission that includes various energy-related activities and learning links. For example, the Energy Story link features fifteen chapters that include: what energy is, what electricity is, fossil fuels, various types of energy, electricity transmission system, saving energy and energy efficiency, and more. This extensive site has many good and informative pages that will definitely help kids learn about how energy is created, used, and conserved. [JAB]
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General

Earthbeat [RealPlayer]
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/earth/default.htm
Earthbeat, presented by Alexandra de Blas, is a weekly environmental science radio program offered by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that provides "in-depth analysis of current green issues." Each program that has aired can be downloaded and listened to over the Internet via RealPlayer audio. Recent story topics include "Developing Countries at the Johannesburg Summit," "Artists for Forests," and "Cambodian Rice Project-Sustainable Development in Action." [JAB]
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By the Sea
http://www.gfc.dfo.ca/habitat/index.html
Offered by Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the By the Sea Web site gives visitors an introduction to coastal landforms of Canada. The site describes everything from estuaries, tidal mudflats, beaches and dunes, coastal islands and cliffs, and much more. Each link details how the landform is formed and its environmental benefits. Although photographs are not included, the simple descriptions give those unfamiliar a good introduction to the topic. [JAB]
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Fundamentals of Physical Geography
http://www.geog.ouc.bc.ca/physgeog/home.html
The Fundamentals of Physical Geography Web site was created by Michael J. Pidwirny, Ph.D., of the Department of Geography at Okanagan University College. This extensive learning resource contains eleven chapters beginning with an Introduction to Physical Geography and ending with an Introduction to Geomorphology. Each page contains descriptions, illustrations, other visual learning aides, and highlighted words that are linked to dictionary of terms. Anyone learning about or interested in learning about physical geography subjects will enjoy visiting this site. [JAB]
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Virtual Sky
http://virtualsky.org/index.html
The Virtual Sky Viewer is sponsored by The Center for Advanced Computing Research at the California Institute of Technology and the Microsoft Corporation. The Web site allows users to view "stunning, seamless images of the night sky; not just an album of popular places, but the entire northern sky at high resolution". Although reading the help link before attempting to use the viewer is recommend, the powerful application gives fascinating and unique views of the sky that most people have never seen. This site is also reviewed in the May 17, 2002 Scout Report. [JAB]
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PaleoMap Project
http://www.scotese.com/Default.htm
Offered by researcher Christopher Scotese of the University of Texas, Arlington, the PaleoMap Project Web site (last mentioned in the February 16, 2000 Scout Report for Science & Engineering) contains several new additions worth checking out. New 3D paleogeographic models and animations of the Latest Cretaceous, Cretaceous, Early Permian, and the Middle Devonian are offered, as well as several new teaching materials. [JAB]
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MISR Image Gallery
http://www-misr.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/gallery.html
The MISR Image Gallery contains photographs and imagery from the Multi-Angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer experiment being conducted by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology. The spectacular images of the Earth are accompanied by descriptions and quizzes about the photographs. The photos are organized in sections: the latest imagery, the main collection of the MISR imagery, flight imagery, and photographs of the actual instruments taking the pictures. [JAB]
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Plate Tectonics Animations
http://www.aqd.nps.gov/grd/usgsnps/animate/pltecan.html
Originally produced for a US Geological Survey (USGS) video, thirteen animations are available on the USGS web site called Plate Tectonics Animations. The very cool animated GIFs show things like plate motions from 600 million years ago to today and magma rising in a mid-ocean ridge. Two other links on the page contain similar material called the geology potpourri animation page and the oil and gas animation page. [JAB]
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The Hydrologic Cycle: Online Meteorology Guide
http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/hyd/home.rxml
The Hydrologic Cycle: Online Meteorology Guide Web site is maintained by the Department of Atmospheric Sciences of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The guide describes the various aspects of the hydrologic cycle, such as the water budget, evaporation, precipitation, runoff, etc. Each page contains very well done illustrations and animations of these phenomena in action, making it easy to understand and fun to learn about. [JAB]
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Topic In Depth

Fluids
1. Fluids
http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/fluids.htm
2. Liquids and their Vapors [.pdf]
http://www.sfu.ca/chemcai/pdf/LiqVap.pdf
3. Floating Log
http://www.explorescience.com/activities/Activity_page.cfm?ActivityID=30
4. Liquids
http://chemed.chem.purdue.edu/genchem/topicreview/bp/ch14/liquidsframe.html
5. Gallery of Fluid Dynamics
http://www.eng.vt.edu/fluids/msc/gallery/gall.htm
6. Fundamental Fluid Mechanics Movies
http://www.itsc.com/movies/
7. Fluid Properties Calculator
http://www.mhtl.uwaterloo.ca/old/onlinetools/airprop/airprop.html
8. Physics of Fluids
http://pubster.aip.org/journals/doc/PHFLE6-home/top.jsp
This Topic in Depth explores the Web's offerings on the physics of fluids. By an educational Web site called School for Champions, the first site is the Fluids lesson plan (1). Here, students or anyone interested can read about the basics of fluids and then take a short interactive quiz on the topic. The second site is maintained by Steve Lower of the Department of Chemistry at Simon Fraser University called Liquids and their Vapors (2). This Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) file contains an eighteen-page document that covers topics such as properties of liquids and changes of state. The next site contains an interactive multimedia activity presented by explorescience.com called Floating Log (3). The site allows users to explore how a fluid can affect buoyancy by letting them change the mass of the log and the fluid's density. The next site from Purdue University's Chemical Education Web site is called Liquids (4). This page describes the structure of liquids, what kinds of materials form liquids, vapor pressure, and more. The fifth site, offered by Professor M.S. Cramer at the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, is entitled Gallery of Fluid Dynamics (5). It contains movies, animations, photographs, and descriptions of various fluid mechanics topics such as condensation, shock waves, and supersonic cars. Next comes the Innovative Technology Solutions Corporation's Fundamental Fluid Mechanics Movies Web site (6). Over thirty short films show how fluids move in various conditions including gravity waves, fire, material transport, and hydraulics. From the University of Waterloo's Department of Mechanical Engineering-Microelectronics Heat Transfer Laboratory comes the next site, called the Fluid Properties Calculator (7). This online tool allows users to select a fluid and enter a temperature to calculate various parameters such as density, viscosity, specific heat, and thermal diffusivity. The last site is the online journal Physics of Fluids (8), which is published monthly by the American Institute of Physics with the cooperation of The American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics. The journal is "devoted to the publication of original theoretical, computational, and experimental contributions to the dynamics of gases, liquids, and complex or multiphase fluids" and provides free full-text articles for online viewing. [JAB]
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From The NSDL Scout Report for Physical Sciences, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2002. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/

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Copyright Susan Calcari and the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, 1994-2002. The Internet Scout Project (http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/), located in the Computer Sciences Department of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, provides information about the Internet to the U.S. research and education community under a grant from the National Science Foundation, number NCR-9712163. The Government has certain rights in this material. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of the entire Scout Report provided this paragraph, including the copyright notice, are preserved on all copies.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, or the National Science Foundation.




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