There comes an awkward moment in my AP Physics 2 course when we arrive at the topic of electromagnetism. Students enrolled in Physics last year studied magnetism in some depth, with a robust qualitative laboratory component. Students enrolled in AP Physics 1 did not hear the term "magnetic" in class at all: there is no magnetism in AP1.
So I segregate my AP2 charges by which course they had las year. The former AP1s move quickly through the Physics course material while the former Physics students get some enrichment by way of The Mechanical Universe, Conceptual Physics Alive, and Nova. Eventually we reunite and move into deeper issues of electromagnetism and induction, ending up at Faraday's Law.
The Nova episode is S31E07, "Magnetic Storm," concerning the changing nature of Earth's magnetic field. [Warning: do not make a drinking game out of each time a thunderbolt sound effect is deployed—you will not make it to the end.]
Nova - Magnetic Storm
In developing a video question set to accompany the episode, I noticed that a pop song was featured heavily throughout the episode. A bit unusual for Nova in my experience. The end credits included the name of the artist but not much else. It was enough to track down the... track.
It's Judith Edelman's "Magnetic" from the 2009 Thirty One Tigers release, Clear Glass Jar, available on iTunes, Amazon, and wherever fine music is sold. Someone commented that Edelman's "Magnetic" is to electromagnetism what Don McLean's "Vincent" was to the art of van Gogh. You be the judge!
Judith Edelman - "Magnetic"
A comment for the video included the lyrics.
It's the buzz when I'm full
Of your sweet magnetic pull
It's the tug that I crave
It's how opposites behave
Is electricity all there is to you and me?
In the fields, in the fields
Where the static is revealed
If the north isn't true
Will I lose my way to you?
Is electricity all there is to you and me?
What's gonna happen when the magnetism fades?
Will we burn up one bright day?
Will the aurora borealis give us one last show?
You can't leave love to science when you go.
In the deep molten heart
Where these strange attractions start
If we are passionate
Will this rock remember it?
Is electricity all there is to you and me?
What's gonna happen when the magnetism fades?
Will we burn up one bright day?
Will the aurora borealis give us one last show?
You can't leave love to science when you go.
What's gonna happen when the magnetism fades?
Will we burn up one bright day?
Will the aurora borealis give us one last show?
You can't leave love to science when you go.
It's the buzz when I'm full
Of your sweet magnetic pull
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