Physical Science: Session 2

Virtual Particle Lab: Compressibility of Air

Air, unlike water, can be compressed. Why?

In Session 2, we introduced the particle model of matter by looking at examples of the behavior of matter on a macroscopic level that were best explained by assuming matter was made of particles. In these “Virtual Particle Labs,” you will manipulate a realistic scientific model of matter as particles in order to build your understandings about how interactions and changes on a microscopic scale relate to the macroscopic scale.

Each time we show a simulation or give you a choice to change something about a simulation, we’ll ask you to predict the result, so you can check your understandings of the macroscopic implications of the microscopic model.

Each Virtual Particle Lab has the following parts:

  1. Setup: What phenomenon are we looking at?
  2. Exploring the Model: Predictions are made about the way the model will act.
  3. The Virtual Lab: Several parameters are changed to experiment with the model.
  4. Wrap up: What did we learn?
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