Lighting is responsible for nearly one-third of the electricity use in buildings. One of the best ways to conserve energy is to make sure the lights are turned off when no one is in a room. This process can be automated using motion sensors. In this activity, students explore material properties as they relate to motion detection, and use that knowledge to make design judgments about what types of motion detectors to use in specific applications.

Biology is designed for multi-semester biology courses for science majors. It is grounded on an evolutionary basis and includes exciting features that highlight careers in the biological sciences and everyday applications of the concepts at hand. To meet the needs of today’s instructors and students, some content has been strategically condensed while maintaining the overall scope and coverage of traditional texts for this course. Instructors can customize the book, adapting it to the approach that works best in their classroom. Biology also includes an innovative art program that incorporates critical thinking and clicker questions to help students understand—and apply—key concepts.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Explain how plants absorb energy from sunlightDescribe short and long wavelengths of lightDescribe how and where photosynthesis takes place within a plant

By the end of this section, you will be able to:Explain how plants absorb energy from sunlightDescribe short and long wavelengths of lightDescribe how and where photosynthesis takes place within a plant

This activity demonstrates the spectral nature of light and the identifiable features of the visible light spectrum. Students learn the elemental spectrum, and the ROYGBIV distribution of colors in a rainbow. Students compare the spectra of various light sources, and how to identify specific elements based on their spectral signature.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Light-responsive proteins have revolutionized our understanding of the brain. By introducing the genes encoding these proteins into neurons and then exciting the cells using lasers – a technique known as optogenetics – individual cells can be rapidly turned on or off, enabling exquisitely sensitive investigations of brain function. But a fundamental limitation of the method is that light doesn’t travel very far through brain tissue, which has hampered the study of more buried – and often vital – structures. Now, researchers at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science have developed a way to extend the reach of optogenetics by nearly an order of magnitude, providing new possibilities for deep-brain stimulation. The team accomplished this using a special type of nanoparticle known as an upconversion nanoparticle, so named for its ability to transform – or “upconvert” – near-infrared light into visible output..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Students learn the basics of the electromagnetic spectrum and how various types of electromagnetic waves are related in terms of wavelength and energy. In addition, they are introduced to the various types of waves that make up the electromagnetic spectrum including, radio waves, ultraviolet waves, visible light and infrared waves. These topics help inform students before they turn to designing solutions to an overarching engineering challenge question.

To evaluate the different integumentary systems found in the animal kingdom, students conduct an exploratory research-based lab. During the activity, students create a model epidermis that contains phosphorescent powder and compare the results to a control model. After learning about the variations of integumentary systems—systems that comprise the skin and other appendages that act to protect animal bodies from damage—students act as engineers to mimic animal skin samples. Their goal is to create a skin sample that closely represents the animal they are mimicking while protecting the base ‘epidermis’ from UV light.

Students gain first-hand experience with the steps of the scientific method as well as the overarching engineering design process as they conduct lab research with the aim to create a bioplastic with certain properties. Students learn about the light mechanism that causes ultraviolet bead color change, observe the effect of different light waves on a phosphorescence powder, and see the connection between florescence, phosphorescence and wavelength. Students compose hypotheses and determine experimental procedure details, as teams engineer variations on a bioplastic solid embedded with phosphorescence powder. The objective is to make a structurally sound bioplastic without reducing its glowing properties from the powder embedded within its matrix. Groups conduct qualitative and quantitative analyses of their engineered plastics, then recap and communicate their experiment conclusions in the form of a poster, slides and verbal presentation. As an extension, teams make their own testing apparatuses. As a further extension, they combine all the group results to determine which bioplastic matrix best achieves the desired properties and then “manufacture” the optimum bioplastic into glowing toy figurine end products! Many handouts, instructions, photos and rubrics are provided.

Students learn and use the properties of light to solve the following challenge: "A mummified troll was discovered this summer at our school and it has generated lots of interest worldwide. The principal asked us, the technology classes, to design a security system that alerts the police if someone tries to pilfer our prized possession. How can we construct a system that allows visitors to view our artifact during the day, but invisibly protects it at night in a cost-effective way?"

Students learn the basic properties of light the concepts of light absorption, transmission, reflection and refraction, as well as the behavior of light during interference. Lecture information briefly addresses the electromagnetic spectrum and then provides more in-depth information on visible light. With this knowledge, students better understand lasers and are better prepared to design a security system for the mummified troll.

Through an introduction to the design of lighting systems and the electromagnetic spectrum, students learn about the concept of daylighting as well as two types of light bulbs (lamps) often used in energy-efficient lighting design.

Students are introduced to the correct technical vocabulary for lighting, which is different than layperson's terms. They learn about lamp (light bulb) technology and how to identify the various types of lighting in their spaces. They are also introduced to lighting controls as a means for saving energy- reducing costs, human energy consumption, and greenhouse gas emissions on the environment. Using an accompanying worksheet, students embark on a guided audit in which they survey the lighting in their classroom and identify the potential savings from using controls.

Do you ever wonder how a greenhouse gas affects the climate, or why the ozone layer is important? Use the sim to explore how light interacts with molecules in our atmosphere.

Students are introduced to the physical concept of the colors of rainbows as light energy in the form of waves with distinct wavelengths, but in a different manner than traditional kaleidoscopes. Looking at different quantum dot solutions, they make observations and measurements, and graph their data. They come to understand how nanoparticles interact with absorbing photons to produce colors. They learn the dependence of particle size and color wavelength and learn about real-world applications for using these colorful liquids.

Students participating in Storm Signals play a critical role in the overall process of the Student Observation Network (S.O.N.). They are able to confirm the predictions of the Sunspotter's Sunspot Suspect, and they will predict magnetic storms around Earth, issuing Space Weather alerts that tell other students to begin monitoring the Magnetosphere for magnetic storms. By collecting and analyzing real-time data from their radio antennas, professional observatories, and NASA satellites, they can carry out the same duties as NASA researchers! The Space Weather alerts issued by the Space Environment Center (SEC) of NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) are essential to protect satellites, power grids and astronauts.

In Storm Signals you will learn:

1. How to instruct students in the construction of a simple device to detect radio emissions from the Sun.

2. How to enable students to obtain and interpret radio emissions from ground-based professional observatories.

3. How to enable students to obtain and interpret radio, x-ray and ultraviolet emissions from NASA satellites.

Student teams conduct an experiment that uses gold nanoparticles as sensors of chemical agents to determine which of four sports drinks has the most electrolytes. In this way, students are introduced to gold nanoparticles and their influence on particle or cluster size and fluorescence. They also learn about surface plasmon resonance phenomena and how it applies to gold nanoparticle technologies, which touches on the basics of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum, electrolyte chemistry and nanoscience. Using some basic chemistry and physics principles, students develop a conceptual understanding of how gold nanoparticles function. They also learn of important practical applications in biosensing.