Crosswords that work in college prep courses

Crossword puzzles are amusements appropriate for elementary school students. Middle school at tops. They sit at the base of Bloom's taxonomy, and have no place in a rigorous high school college prep course,

Or so I thought.

I don't even remember what my impetus was for creating a series of crossword puzzles for my college prep physic course, but create I did. Computer software meant I could load a list of words and the computer would craft a puzzle grid. Then I could add words to flesh out the puzzle and fill the page.

What I didn't expect was student enthusiasm for the puzzles. That enthusiasm acted s a catalyst, and I worked out an implementation scheme.

When students finish a unit test on test day, I don't have anything else for them to do. Students work at different paces and I wanted everyone to have ample time to complete the test. So quick finishers have time left over. In college, they could simply leave the classroom. In high school, that's not an option. So now there's a problem: students who are finished have "idle hands"... the Devil's plaything. They want to talk to classmates or (increasingly) be on their phones. I wasn't good with phones in my classroom, especially during a test administration.

So when students turn in their Unit 1 Test, they pick up the Unit 2 Crossword. It includes Unit 2 vocabulary words. Their task for the remainder of the period is to work on the puzzle. Now you might reasonably wonder how students can work on a crossword filled with terms they have yet to learn.

Therein lies The Lessons of Phyz crosswords difference. My crosswords include a wealth of general knowledge/trivia, general science (planet names, etc.), state nicknames, elements, acronyms and initialism, and pop culture references (Disney, Star Wars, contemporary music, etc.). Students can tear into the crosswords right away. Oh, and review terms from previous units are always fair game.

More surprises. Not only did students devour the crosswords, the students who seemed to enjoy them the most were the ones who struggled the most in the course. I often caught grief from colleagues who complained about my students working on their crosswords in their classes. (I color-coded my handouts: each unit was a different color, in accordance with the spectrum. Unit 1 was pink, 2 salmon, 3 canary, 4 green, 5 blue, 6 lavender; rinse and repeat at semester.) I confess I never admonished my students for working on their crosswords outside of my class.

Now that I've created a few series of crosswords, I thought of an application that hadn't occurred to me before. The first day of school is significant, and warrants above and beyond levels of planning. I never jumped straight into heavy content on Day 1. It was a day devoted to "Physics Begins With an M: Mystery, Magic, and Myths". Essentially a day of unanswered questions. But I didn't leave students with anything to do after the presentation. 

Why not give them a crossword for Unit 1 on their first day? The puzzles are by no means a drag, especially with all the off-topic tangents. If anything, I think students would enjoy knocking out the easy clues and pondering the elusive terms yet to be learned.

Here's a post detailing The Lessons of Phyz crossword advantages. It takes me a full day to craft each puzzle. Filling the otherwise empty spaces is quite a process, which is why most teacher-created crosswords you see have enough empty space to grow farm crops.

Here are the crossword puzzle series that I've completed. I've set the first puzzle in each set as free. And I've made an online version of a puzzle from most sets openly accessible. Note: the online puzzles are intended for desktops, laptops, and tablets; they don't play nicely on phones.

Give the crosswords a try as part of your first day of school lesson. It's free, and you might be surprised how well these things land.

High School Physics  (aligned with OpenStax Physics: High School) · Online Sample

Conceptual Physics ( (aligned with Conceptual Physics: High School 2009) · Online Sample

AP Physics 1 and AP Physics 2 (aligned with AP Physics 1 and 2)

Chemistry (aligned with OpenStax Chemistry) · Online Sample 

Biology (aligned with OpenStax Concepts in Biology) · Online Sample

Astronomy (aligned with OpenStax Astronomy 2e) · Online Sample

High School Physics Crossword Puzzles [OpenStax-aligned]

The first set of crossword puzzles I posted on TPT consisted of puzzles I created years ago for my Conceptual Physics course. Next I posted a set intended for use with AP Physics students. Then I proceeded with crosswords aligned with the OpenStax Chemistry, Biology, and Astronomy textbooks.

The Chemistry textbook had a decent set of key terms for each chapter. Key terms in Biology were ... abundant! In the Astronomy textbook, I needed to supplement key terms with "non-key" terms from the chapters.

This brings me to the OpenStax Physics: High School textbook. I aimed for about 50 topical terms (key and non-key terms from each chapter along with review terms from previous chapters as needed). Additional terms were added to fill the gaps in the puzzle. Additional terms could be physics or science-related. But they could also be from random tops all over the general knowledge board. State nicknames, chemical symbols, tech, Roman numerals, and so on.

As ever, the resulting puzzles each include over 100 words with over 150 crosses. "Busy crosswords".

I gave crosswords to students as they finished unit tests. It gave quick test-takers something to do while classmates finished their tests. I gave them puzzles for the upcoming unit of study. Each puzzle had enough non-chapter terms to keep students engaged before and while learning the upcoming unit.

High School Physics Crosswords MEGABUNDLE at TPT

All 23 puzzles, bundled and steeply discounted.

High School Physics Crosswords Series One: Motion and Forces at TPT

Puzzles 1-5 bundled and discounted.

1. What is Physics? at TPT

Word Count: 109     Word Crosses (Puzzle Score): 166     Cross/Word Ratio: 1.52

Key Terms: Accuracy, Ampere, Atom, Base, Classical, Constant, Conversion, Dependent, Derived, Experiment, Exponential, Hypothesis, Independent, Intercept, Inverse, Kilogram, Law, LHC, Linear, Logarithmic, Log-log, Meter, Methods, Model, Modern, MRI, Notation, Observation, Order, Percents, Physical, Physics, Precision, Principle, Quadratic, Quantity, Quantum, Relationship, Relativity, Rosetta, Science, Second, Semi-log, Significant, Slope, Stonehenge, Theory, Uncertainty, Units, Universal

Selected Additional Terms: AI, Air, Angle, Deep, Echo, Fe, Fermi, GMO, HTML, IRL, Kelvin, Krypton, LA, mg, Micro, Motion, Nano, Pi, RNA, Sphere, Square, URL, VGA

2. Motion in One Dimension at TPT

Word Count: 119     Puzzle Score: 179     Cross/Word Ratio: 1.50

Key Terms: Acceleration, Accuracy, Atom, Average, Base, Constant, Delta, Dependent, Derived, Displacement, Distance, Experiment, Giga, Independent, Instantaneous, Inverse, Kilo, Kinematics, Linear, Magnitude, Mega, Meter, Methods, Observation, Physics, Pico, Position, Precision, Principle, Quantity, Reference, Rise, Run, Scalar, Science, Second, Slope, Speed, Speedometer, Tangent, Time, Uncertainty, Units, Universal, Vector, Velocity

Selected Additional Terms: Au, Cos, Cyan, Ear, Earth, Force, Fracture, Ga, Helium, Hot, Hydrogen, Ice, Ion, ISS, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Neptune, PCR, Pi, Pluto, Push, Quad, Rx, Saturn, Season, SEO, Sigma, Sin, Snow, SSD, Stereo, STP, Telescope, Ten, Tera, Uranus, URL, Venus

3. Acceleration at TPT

Word Count: 121     Puzzle Score: 180     Cross/Word Ratio: 1.49

Key Terms: Accelerator, Accuracy, Average, Base, Classical, Constant, Conversion, Deceleration, Delta, Displacement, Experiment, Giga, Gravity, Hypothesis, Instantaneous, Inverse, Kilo, Kilogram, Kinematic, Kinematics, Magnitude, Mega, Meter, Micro, Milli, Modern, Nano, Negative, Notation, Observation, Peta, Physics, Pico, Position, Precision, Quantum, Reference, Rise, Run, Scalar, Science, Second, Speed, Speedometer, Theory, Uncertainty, Units, Vector, Velocity, Vomit

Selected Additional Terms: Air, Atom, CDC, CME, Crater, ISS, Jupiter, Larva, Lithium, Mars, Mass, Mercury,, Neptune, Pulp, Rush, Saturn, Scholar, Strike, Twitter, UK, UV, Velocity, Weight

4. Forces and Newton's Laws of Motion at TPT

Word Count: 119     Puzzle Score: 190     Cross/Word Ratio: 1.60

Key Terms: Acceleration, Accelerator, Average, Coefficient, Constant, Deceleration, Delta, Dependent, Displacement, Distance, Dynamics, External, First, Force, Free, Freefall, Friction, Gravity, Independent, Inertia, Instantaneous, Kinematic, Kinematics, Law, Magnitude, Mass, Negative, Net, Newton, Normal, Position, Reference, Resistance, Scalar, Second, Speed, Speedometer, Sum, System, Tangent, Tension, Third, Thrust, Time, Vector, Velocity, Weight

Selected Additional Terms: AGN, ASL, Atom, Au, CME, Coma, Effect, External, GMO, Hot, ICE, Inch, Inert, Iridium, Jupiter, Kilogram, Knee, Luna, ma, MRI, Nagasaki, Nano, Neptune, Observation, Omega, Quotient, REM, rms, RN, Sister, State, Sunscreen, Tegu, Titania, TNT, UFO, Uranus, USB, Velocity, Xe

5. Motion in Two Dimensions at TPT

Word Count: 114     Puzzle Score: 197     Cross/Word Ratio: 1.73

Key Terms: Acceleration, Accuracy, Addition, Amplitude, Analytical, Atmospheric, Coefficient, Component, Deceleration, Deformation, Delta, Equilibrium, Free, Frequency, Friction, Graphical, Gravity, Harmonic, Head, Height, Hooke, Kinematic, Kinetic, Magnitude, Motion, Normal, Oscillate, Pendulum, Period, Periodic, Precision, Projectile, Pythagorean, Range, Resistance, Restoring, Resultant, Scalar, Slope, Speed, Speedometer, Static, Tail, Trajectory, Uncertainty, Vector, Vector, Velocity

Selected Additional Terms: Air, Cyst, Die, Document, Earth, edu, Euro, Galaxies, Jupiter, Mega, Mu, PET, Peta, Pi, Right, Saturn, Sodium, Toxic, Tungsten, Zn

High School Physics Crosswords Series Two: Conservation + at TPT

Puzzles 6-10 bundled and discounted.

6. Circular and Rotational Motion at TPT

Word Count: 122     Puzzle Score: 187     Cross/Word Ratio: 1.53

Key Terms: Acceleration, Alpha, Amplitude, Angle, Angular, Arc, Centrifugal, Centripetal, Circular, Curvature, Distance, Dynamics, Equilibrium, Force, Frequency, Friction, Hooke, Kilogram, Kinematics, Lever, Mass, Meter, Newton, Normal, Omega, Oscillate, Period, Radian, Range, Rise, Rotational, Run, Scalar, Second, Slope, Spin, Tension, Theta, Thrust, Torque, Trajectory, Uniform, Universal, Vector, Velocity, Weight

Selected Additional Terms: AAAS, Acute, AIDS, Ape, BB, Be, CCD, Charge, Circular, CPR, Ear, Earth, Galileo, Grand, Gravity, Huron, Jupiter, Li, Mars, Micro, Nano, Neptune, NSF, NY, Observation, Odds, Orbital, Pd, Pearl, PhD, Pluto, Proton, Qi, Radio, Relativity, Resistance, Resultant, Rotates, Salt, Saturn, SETI, Speed, Starburst, Symptom, Te, Theory, Titan

7. Newton's Law of Gravitation at TPT

Word Count: 117     Puzzle Score: 172     Cross/Word Ratio: 1.47

Key Terms: Acceleration, Accuracy, Angular, Aphelion, Arc,Centrifugal, Centripetal, Circular, Copernican, Curvature, Dynamics, Eccentricity, Einstein, Equilibrium, First, Force, Frequency, Geocentric, Gravitational, Gravity, Heliocentric, Kepler, Kinematics, Lever, Mass, Newton, Perihelion, Period, Planetary, Position, Precision, Principle, Ptolemaic, Rotational, Scalar, Second, Slope, Spin, Tangent, Third, Torque, Tycho, Uniform, Universal, Vector, Velocity, Weight

Selected Additional Terms: Acre, Ag, Apogee, Arch, Bq, CAH, DNA, Error, Gas, Greenland, HDL, Hybrid, Jupiter, Mars, Meter, Milli, Mu, Nano, Net, Nm, Oval, Peta, Pi, Pluto, Queen, RGB, Rh, Rough, RSS, Saturn, SHM, Sixty, Sn, Star, Straight, Tail, Time, Uranus, UV

8. Momentum at TPT

Word Count: 117     Puzzle Score: 183     Cross/Word Ratio: 1.56

Key Terms: Angular, Aphelion, Change, Conservation, Copernican, Dynamics, Eccentricity, Einstein, Elastic, First, Force, Freefall, Friction, Geocentric, Gravitational, Gravity, Harmonic, Heliocentric, Impulse, Inelastic, Inertia, Isolated, Kepler, Magnitude, Mass, Momentum, Newton, Oscillate, Perfectly, Perihelion, Period, Planetary, Point, Position, Ptolemaic, Recoil, Scalar, Second, Theorem, Third, Torque, Tycho, Universal, Vector, Velocity

Selected Additional Terms: Amazon, Atom, Catalyst, Cookie, Ear, Earth, Ellipse, Equals, Giga, Gram, Higgs, IBM, Iceland, iOS, Jupiter, Mega, Mercury, Meter, Moon, Neptune, Optics, Penicillin, Pi, ROM, RSV, Run, Saturn, SEO, Snow, States, Sum, Sun, Tail, Tc, Vinyl

9. Work, Energy, and Simple Machines at TPT

Word Count: 122     Puzzle Score: 186     Cross/Word Ratio: 1.66

Key Terms: Advantage, Angular, Axle, Change, Complex, Conservation, Efficiency, Elastic, Energy, Fd, Friction, Gravitational, Ideal, Impulse, Inclined, Inelastic, Input, Isolated, Joule , Kinetic, Lever, Mass, Mechanical, mgh, Momentum, mv, Output, Perfectly, Point, Potential, Power, Pulley, Rate, Recoil, Screw, Simple, Steam, Theorem, Torque, Velocity, Watt, Wedge, Work

Selected Additional Terms: Acronym, Acute, Air, Alloy, CME, DC, Drive, Experiment, First, Flex, Force, Ga, Geocentric, Gravity, He, Heliocentric, HTTP, Hypatia, Instantaneous, ISS, Jupiter, Kilowatt, Leaf, Mercury, Mumps, Ne, Neptune, Os, Pacific, Pluto, Podcast, Ruler, Static, Synonym, Tera, Time, Venus, Volume

10. Special Relativity at TPT

Word Count: 112     Puzzle Score: 179     Cross/Word Ratio: 1.60

Key Terms: Binding, Centripetal, Change, Conservation, Contraction, Defect, Dilation, Efficiency, Einstein, Elastic, Energy, Ether, Factor, Force, Galileo, General, Geocentric, GPS, Gravitational, Heliocentric, Impulse, Inertia, Inertial, Joule, Kinetic, Light, Mass, Mechanical, Momentum, Morley, Newton, Normal, Oscillate, Period, Planetary, Postulate, Potential, Power, Proper, Reference, Relativistic, Relativity, Rest, Simultaneity, Special, Theorem, Universal, Velocity, Watt, Weight, Work

Selected Additional Terms: ACL, Atlantic, Atom, CTE, Datum, Erie, GOES, Inertial, Juneau, MPEG, Nb, Neptune, Net, Ni, Ovum, Pi, Radio, Screw, Sea, Six, Speed, State, Sum, Swarm, United, Vein, VLSI, Watt, Web, XML

High School Physics Crossword Series Three: Heat and Thermodynamics at TPT

Puzzles 11-12 bundled and discounted.

11. Thermal Energy, Heat, and Work at TPT

Word Count: 116     Puzzle Score: 186     Cross/Word ratio: 1.60

Key Terms: Absolute, Atom, Boiling, Capacity, Celsius, Condensation, Conduction, Conservation, Convection, Degree, Deposition, Efficiency, Equilibrium, Fahrenheit, Freezing, Fusion, Gas, Heat, Input, Ionization, Joule, Kelvin, Kinetic, Latent, Mass, Melting, Output, Phase, Plasma, Point, Potential, Power, Radiation, Recombination, Scale, Specific, Sublimation, Temperature, Thermal, Vaporization, Velocity, Water, Watt, Work, Zero

Selected Additional Terms: Acceleration, Angstrom, Circle, Earth, Earthling, Eon, EV, Eye, GIF, Giga, Gold, Hadron, Hot, Ice, IG, Impulse, Inventor, Iowa, Jr, Jupiter, KHz, Lie, Linear, Neptune, Nova, Order, Oslo, Pad, Pair, Plant, Potential, Power, RNA, SHM, Sting, Stop, Tesla, Tiger, Uranus, Venus, Wuhan

12. Thermodynamics at TPT

Word Count: 118     Puzzle Score: 176     Cross/Word Ratio: 1.49

Key Terms: Absolute, Boiling, Boltzmann, Capacity, Celsius, Condensation, Conduction, Convection, Cyclical, Degree, Deposition, Efficiency, Engine, Entropy, Equilibrium, Expansion, Fahrenheit, First, Freezing, Fusion, Gas, Heat, Ideal, Internal, Ionization, Kelvin, Latent, Melting, Mercury, Metabolism, Pascal, Phase, Photosynthesis, Plasma, Point, Pressure, Pump, PV, Radiation, Recombination, Scale, Second, Specific, Sublimation, Temperature, Thermal, Transduction, Vaporization, Water, Zero, Zeroth

Selected Additional Terms: Air, API, Atom, Borneo, Brahe, CMOS, EKG, Energy, Force, Hz, IR, Jupiter, Lab, Mars, mm, Pi, Rate, SOH, Spider, SSD, Ulna, Up, Uranus, URL, USB, Wave, Zn

High School Physics Crosswords Series Four: Sound and Light at TPT

Puzzles 13-17 bundled and discounted.

13. Waves and Their Properties at TPT

Word Count: 117     Puzzle Score: 177     Cross/Word Ratio: 1.51

Key Terms: Amplitude, Antinode, Constructive, Crest, Deformation, Destructive, Displacement, Earthquakes, Energy, Equilibrium, Force, Frequency, Harmonic, Hooke, Inertia, Inversion, Joule, Kinematics, Kinetic, Longitudinal, Magnitude, Mass, Mechanical, Medium, Nodes, Oscillate, Period, Periodic, Position, Power, Pulse, Reflection, Refraction, Richter, Seismic, SHM, Speed, Standing, Superposition, Tension, Transverse, Trough, Vector, Velocity, Wave, Wavelength, Weight, Work

Selected Additional Terms: Area, Au, Bison, Bouquet, Cs, DESI, Earth, Fluid, Forearm, Forest, FPS, Higgs, Hz, Image, Instantaneous, Jupiter, Kr, Llm, Mirror, Ohm, Pacific, Pi, Qi, Rain, RNA, Saturn, Spider, STEM, STP, Titan, Uniform, UV, Venus, Volt, Zero

14. Sound at TPT

Word Count: 116     Puzzle Score: 174     Cross/Word Ratio: 1.5

Key Terms: Amplitude, Antinode, Audible, Beat, Compression, Constructive, Crest, Damping, Decibel, Destructive, Doppler, Earthquakes, Energy, Frequency, Fundamental, Harmonics, Hearing, Intensity, Inversion, Lambda, Level, Longitudinal, Loudness, Mechanical, Medium, Natural, Nodes, Overtones, Period, Periodic, Pitch, Power, Pulse, Rarefaction, Reflection, Refraction, Resonance, Resonate, Richter, Seismic, SHM, Sonic, Sound, Standing, Superposition, Transverse, Trough, Velocity, Wave, Wavelength

Selected Additional Terms: Ampere, Atlas, Au, Dissect, DNA, Earth, Eureka, Evolve, Ga, Hand, ICE, Igloo, Mega, Melanin, Meter, ml, Mo, Model, Nautilus, Neural, Object, Persia, Pi, POTUS, Precision, Remedy, Rh, RNA, Toxic, Unit, Velocity, Water, Work

15. Light at TPT

Word Count: 112     Puzzle Score: 166     Cross/Word Ratio: 1.48

Key Terms: AM, Amplitude, Beat, CFL, Damping, Decibel, Destructive, Doppler, Electric, Electromagnetic, Emr, Fm, Frequency, Fundamental, Gamma, Hearing, Illuminance, Infrared, Intensity, Interference, Inversion, Led, Light, Loudness, Lumens, Luminous, Lux, Magnetic, Maxwell, Mechanical, Medium, Microwave, Natural, Periodic, Pigment, Pitch, Polarized, Pulse, Radio, Rarefaction, Reflection, Refraction, Resonance, Sonic, Sound, Superposition, Transverse, Ultraviolet, Velocity, Wave, Wavelength, Xrays, Year

Selected Additional Terms: Accuracy, Astronomy, Average, CGI, Cloud, Eardrum, Fd, IR, Laser, Lava, LCD, Leap, LIGO, Mars, mm, MPEG, mv, Neon, Np, Realistic, SHM, Slope, Stable, Tan, TNT, Trajectory, Ulna, UV

16. Mirrors and Lenses at TPT

Word Count: 124     Puzzle Score: 174     Cross/Word Ratio: 1.40

Key Terms: Aberration, AM, Angle, Central, Chromatic, Concave, Converging, Convex, Critical, Diffused, Dispersion, Diverging, Electric, EMR, FM, Gamma, Hyperopia, Illuminance, Incidence, Incident, Index, Infrared, Interference, Internal, Laser, Law, LED, Length, Lens, Light, Luminous, Magnetic, Maxwell, Microwave, Mirror, Myopia, Pigment, Point, Polarized, Radio, Radius, Ray, Real, Reflection, Refracted, Refraction, Snell, Specular, Ultraviolet, Virtual, Xrays, Year

Selected Additional Terms: Andes, Biology, Bq, CAH, CCD, Co, Cornea, Corona, DM, DNA, Elementary, Force, Heat, Heliocentric, ICE, Ion, Ir, JD, Manga, Mars, Nano, Neutron, Nile, No, PE, PGP, pH, Pi, Pico, Pluto, RGB, RNA, Saturn, Shark, Si, Teach, Trek, Unit, Venus, Work

17. Diffraction and Interference at TPT

Word Count: 118     Puzzle Score: 183     Cross/Word Ration: 1.55

Key Terms: Aberration, Chromatic, Concave, Converging, Convex, Critical, Diffraction, Diffused, Dispersion, Diverging, Gamma, Grating, Huygens, Incidence, Incident, Index, Infrared, Interference, Interference, Internal, Iridescence, Laser, Law, LED, Length, Lens, Light, Magnification, Maxwell, Microwave, Mirror, Monochromatic, Monochromator, Point, Polarized, Radio, Ray, Rayleigh, Real, Reflection, Refracted, Refraction, Resolution, Snell, Specular, Ultraviolet, Virtual, Wavefront, Xrays, Year

Selected Additional Terms: AM, Arsenic, Bismuth, Cancer, CD, Earth, Einstein, Engine, Eurasia, Fe, First, GIF, Graph, Hand, HEIF, Ice, Indigo, Insomnia, IR, Iris, km, Ovary, QED, Roof, ROV, sec, Skin, Sonic, SOS, Tangent, Teflon, Tera, Tremor, Umami, UV, Vein, Venus, Xe, XLV

High School Physics Crosswords Series Five: Electricity and Magnetism at TPT

Puzzles 18-20 bundled and discounted.

18. Static Electricity at TPT

Word Count: 115     Puzzle Score: 185     Cross/Word Ratio: 1.61

Key Terms: Absolute, Capacitor, Capacity, Celsius, Conductor, Conservation, Copernican, Coulomb, Dielectric, Einstein, Electron, Elektron, Energy, Fahrenheit, Farad, Field, Field, First, Gas, Geocentric, Gravitational, Gravity, Heat, Heliocentric, Induction, Insulator, Inverse, Kelvin, Kepler, Kinetic, Newton, Nucleus, Phase, Planetary, Plasma, Polarization, Potential, Proton, Ptolemaic, Radiation, Second, Semiconductor, Specific, Temperature, Test, Thermal, Third, Torsion, Tycho, Universal, Volt, Xrays, Zero

Selected Additional Terms: API, Arctic, Camera, CDC, Circle, Cos, Crater, Cyan, Exponent, Eye, Hg, Infrared, Jupiter, Kinematics, Land, Lens, Mars, Mercury, MN, Nuclear, Optics, Rough, Saturn, Sec, SIMM, Sin, Sixty, Static, STEM, TIR, TNT, Uranus, Wave

19. Electric Circuits at TPT

Word Count: 118     Puzzle Score: 175     Cross/Word Ratio: 1.48

Key Terms: AC, Alternating, Ampere, Capacitor, Circuit, Conductor, Conservation, Conventional, Coulomb, Current, DC, Diagram, Dielectric, Direct, Electron, Elektron, Energy, Equivalent, Farad, Field, Franklin, Induction, Insulator, Inverse, Joule, Nanometer, Nonohmic, Nucleus, Ohm, Ohmic, Parallel, Polarization, Potential, Power, Proton, Resistance, Resistor, Semiconductor, Series, Silicon, Steady, Test, Torsion, Volt, Watt

Selected Additional Terms: Air, AQI, Aspirin, Au, Cd, Copper, CPU, Darwin, Equilibrium, EV, Experiment, Free, GIF, HDTV, Ion, Isotope, Jupiter, Loudness, Lux, Methods, mm, Neon, PDF, Phase, Pi, Ptolemy, RCS, Sirius, SOH, Static, Storm, Tangent, Titan, TOA, Uniform, Universal, Uranus, Visual, Zinc

20. Magnetism at TPT

Word Count: 118     Puzzle Score: 174     Cross/Word Ratio: 1.47

Key Terms: AC, Alternating, Ampere, Capacitor, Circuit, Conductor, Conservation, Conventional, Coulomb, Curie, Current, DC, Diagram, Dielectric, Dipole, Direct, Domain, Electric, Electromagnet, Electromagnetism, Electron, EMF, Energy, Equivalent, Faraday, Ferromagnetic, Field, Flux, Franklin, Generator, Induction, Insulator, Inverse, Joule, Magnetized, Nanometer, North, Nucleus, Ohm, Parallel, Permanent, Pole, Potential, Proton, Resistance, Resistor, Right, Series, Silicon, Solenoid, South, Steady, Test, Volt

Selected Additional Terms: Ag, Am, amu, Attract, Cos, Cs, Digit, Drag, Egypt, EPA, Europium, Giga, Hz, Ice, La, LLM, Mars, Mass, Mercury, Minute, Neuron, Node, Oil, Oxygen, Pico, Quantity, Rain, ROV, Sin, Sn, Sound, Spine, STEVE, Tan, Ten, TIR, Unum, URL, Venus, VPN, Water

High School Physics Crosswords Series Six: Modern Physics at TPT

Puzzles 21-23 bundled and discounted.

21. The Quantum Nature of Light at TPT

Word Count: 108     Puzzle Score: 152     Cross/Word Ratio: 1.41

Key Terms: AM, Blackbody, Catastrophe, Compton, Concave, Converging, Convex, Critical, Debloglie, Diffraction, Dispersion, Diverging, Duality, Electric, EMR, FM, Frequency, Gamma, Grating, Huygens, Incidence, Incident, Index, Infrared, Interference, Internal, Iridescence, Kinetic, Laser, LED, Length, Lens, Luminous, Magnetic, Maxwell, Microwave, Mirror, Momentum, Photoelectric, Photoelectron, Photon, Photovoltaic, Planck, Point, Polarized, Quantized, Quantum, Radio, Ray, Rayleigh, Refracted, Resolution, Ultraviolet, Wavefront, Wavelength, Xrays

Selected Additional Terms: Area, Beach, Cm, Corona, DNA, Exa, Exam, Eye, Faraday, HDL, Hg, Ice, Ion, KE, LAN, Metric, Oersted, pH, Pi, Polio, River, Scalar, Sixty, Sound, Tail, Tan, Ton, UFO, Volume

22. The Atom at TPT

Word Count: 119     Puzzle Score: 187     Cross/Word Ratio: 1.57

Key Terms: Activity, Alpha, Anger, Atomic, Becquerel, Beta, Blackbody, Chain, Compton, Constant, Critical, Dating, Dating, DeBroglie, Decay, Duality, Effectiveness, Electric, Energy, Excited, Fission, Fraunhofer, Fusion, Gamma, Geiger, Ground, Halflife, Heisenberg, Hydrogen, Isotope, Kinetic, Liquid, Mass, Momentum, Nucleons, Photon, Planck, Planetary, Proton, Quantized, Quantum, Rad, Radioactive, Radioactivity, Radiopharmaceutical, Roentgen, Rutherford, Rydberg, Scintillator, Strong, Tagged, Therapeutic, Transmutation

Selected Additional Terms: ACL, Alpha, Asia, CCD, CDC, CFC, Circle, Cu, DC, DND, EFT, Frequency, Heat, HTTP, Kr, Light, Mars, Monkey, Moon, Moving, Mu, Net, Odyssey, Reactor, Rise, Saturn, Stem, Ten, Tera, Theory

23. Particle Physics at TPT

Word Count: 121     Puzzle Score: 184     Cross/Word Ratio: 1.52

Key Terms: Annihilation, Antimatter, Bang, Baryon, Beam, Bottom, Carrier, Charmed, Chromodynamics, Color, Cyclotron, Down, Electrodynamics, Electroweak, Epoch, Era, Everything, Fermi, Feynman, Flavor, Gluons, Grand, Graviton, Hadron, Higgs, Inflationary, Lepton, LHC, LIGO, Mass, Meson, Negative, Neutral, Pair, Photon, Physics, Pion, Positive, Positron, Quark, SLAC, Standard, Strange, Strong, Superforce, Synchrotron, Top, Up, Weak, Yukawa

Selected Additional Terms: AI, Binding, Bismuth, Catastrophe, CM, CO, Delta, Diffraction, GOES, GW, Halflife, Helium, Hermes, HTML, ICE, Inert, Inertia, IRL, Laser, Ma, MM, MP, Newton, Photoelectric, Pi, Pico, Planetary, Plasma, Potassium, Qi, Quantum, Radioactive, Rhino, Rubidium, Sea, Stable, Theorem, TIR, Tusk

BONUS PUZZZLE

Mostly Measures at TPT

Word Count: 121     Puzzle Score: 178     Cross/Word Ratio: 1.49

Word List: AC, Acceleration, Ache, Alpha, Ampere, Angle, ASAP, Beta, Beyonce, Blog, Bun, Candela, Candy, Capacitance, cc, Charge, City, Co, Colorado, Comet, Coulomb, Coyote, Cramp, Cranium, Cub, Current, Delta, Density, Deoxyribonucleic, Dr, Earth, Echo, Elements, Elephant, Energy, Epsilon, Farad, Field, Fin, Flux, Force, Ford, French, Frequency, Gamma, Ham, Inert, IRL, ISS, Jet, Joule, Jupiter, Kelvin, Kilogram, Kyoto, LA, Lambda, Leg, Length, Lion, Mass, MBA, Mercury, Meter, Mole, Momentum, Mu, Newton, NFL, NGO, OAS, Ohm, Omega, Once, Opposite, Organ, Oslo, Pacific, Parallel, Pascal, Phi, Phoebe, Pi, Plus, PM, Power, Pressure, Psi, Purple, Radian, Resistance, RGB, Rho, Rio, Rooster, RSS, Sara, Scuba, Second, Shoe, Sigma, Sneezy, Speed, Tau, Taylor, TB, Tehran, Temperature, Tesla, Theta, Time, Torque, Tube, Uber, Venus, Volt, Voltage, Watt, Wavelength, Weber

The Invisible Shield

This 4-part PBS series tells the story of public health and epidemiology through the lens of the pandemic.

THE INVISIBLE SHIELD at TPT

The Invisible Shield, a four-part documentary series, reveals a little-known truth: that public health saved your life today and you probably don’t even know it. But while public health makes modern life possible, the work itself is often underfunded, undervalued, and misunderstood.

1. THE OLD PLAYBOOK at TPT

History repeats itself. It’s not the first time the world has had to deal with a pandemic, and the push highlights how the public health sector had to go back to work.

2. FOLLOW THE DATA at TPT

Data has been an essential public health tool since at least the seventeenth century. Helping the world understand and mitigate the spread of disease, data has helped us make sense of the threats to our collective health.

3. INOCULATION & INEQUITY at TPT

Public health officials face disinformation, skepticism of science, and distrust in government as they begin vaccinating the public against COVID. Historical injustices and inequities lead to apprehension, forcing public health to refine its approach.

4. THE NEW PLAYBOOK at TPT

With all the challenges the public health sector faces, and life expectancy declining, how will a committed next generation of public health workers going overcome these obstacles?

Secrets in Your Data

There is content that you're supposed to teach when you are a classroom teacher. Usually the product of academic content standards, textbook adoptions, and other processes that take years to develop.

Sometimes new topics arise that students should probably know something about. Maybe pandemics or emerging and widely-adopted technology. I would classify personal data privacy and security as such a topic. Involved technology (phones and websites) seem universally adopted among students. Data brokerage is a $200-million dollar/year industry. Data theft/identity theft/ransomware are growth industries. 

We can wait until approved curriculum is developed and adopted, of course. Or we can at least provide a baseline awareness of the issues. This 15 May 2024 episode of NOVA provides an opportunity.

SECRETS IN YOUR DATA at TPT

Whether you’re on social media or surfing the web, you’re probably sharing more personal data than you realize. That can pose a risk to your privacy – even your safety. But at the same time, big datasets could lead to huge advances in fields like medicine. Host Alok Patel leads a quest to understand what happens to all the data we’re shedding and explores the latest efforts to maximize benefits – without compromising personal privacy.

Astronomy Crossword Puzzles [OpenStax-aligned]

Who needs astronomy crossword puzzles? I have no idea! But if you do, I have some you might like. When I make crossword puzzles, I include appropriate chapter key terms; everyone does. But where most creators stop there, I take things further. I fill those awkward empty spaces (large enough to grow farm crops). I bring in non-key terms from the chapter, terms from previous chapters, science, math, general knowledge, pop culture, and randomness. That's among The Lessons of Phyz Advantages.

The good people at OpenStax have published Astronomy 2e on their site. Chapters 2-30 have key terms. So I am making crossword puzzles for those chapters. This post will grow one puzzle at a time until all puzzles are finished. Some chapters have very few key terms; those chapters are combined into a single puzzle.

My favorite use case is to distribute the next chapter's crossword puzzle on unit test day. That is, give out the Chapter 2 puzzle on Chapter 1 test day, and so on. It's nice for keeping the room quiet while students finish the test at different times from one another. You might naturally worry that students wouldn't have a chance with a puzzle filled with as-yet uncovered vocabulary. And you'd be right, except that I filled my puzzle space gaps with words they already know from previous chapters or general knowledge. Often the acronyms and initialisms are, well, very straightforward. The clue for NIST is National Institute for Science and Technology. I gave students the duration of the next unit to complete the puzzle.

2. Observing the Sky: The Birth of Astronomy at TPT [Free]

Word Count: 107   Word Crosses (Puzzle Score): 166

Key terms: Accelerate, Apparent, Astrology, Celestial, Circumpolar, Cosmology, Ecliptic, Epicycle, Equator, Geocentric, Heliocentric, Horizon, Horoscope, Parallax, Planet, Poles, Precession, Retrograde, Year, Zenith, Zodiac

Selected additional terms: Aquarius, Arabic, Aries, Astronomy, Cancer, Capricornus, Constellation, Copernicus, Diameter, Flat, Galileo, Geyser, Hubble, Jupiter, Leo, Libra, Magnet, Mars, Mercury, Meteor, Milky, Mol, Moon, Nasa, NIST, Nobel, Ophiuchus, Optics, Owl, Pauli, Pisces, Planetarium, Polaris, Ptolemy, Renaissance, Sagittarius, Scorpius, Sputnik, Starlink, STP, Sun, Syene, Taurus, Uranus, Virgo, Voyager

All puzzles include an online option for tech-savvy users who can upload files to a server space. Here's a sample of an online version.

https://phyz.org/crosswords/02-Birth

3. Orbits and Gravity at TPT

Words: 105   Puzzle Score: 162

Great American Eclipse

As I post this, the "Great American Eclipse" is days away. NOVA released this video today as eclipse chasers are nervously monitoring cloud-cover forecasts and making their way toward the path of totality.

I worked a bit furiously to craft this question set for those who might find it useful.

GREAT AMERICAN ECLIPSE at TPT

Explore the spectacular cosmic phenomenon of a total solar eclipse. In April 2024, the Moon’s shadow is sweeping from Texas to Maine, as the U.S. witnesses its last total solar eclipse until 2044. This extraordinary astronomical event is plunging locations in the path of totality into darkness for more than four minutes–nearly twice as long as the last American eclipse in 2017. Learn how to watch an eclipse safely and follow scientists as they work to unlock secrets of our Sun–from why its atmosphere is hundreds of times hotter than its surface, to what causes solar storms and how we might one day predict them.

Participants include Amir Caspi, Craig DeForest, Jon Ghahate, Kelly Korreck, Judith Nakamura, Tyler Nordgren, Hakeem Oluseyi, Mathieu Ossendrijver, Sam Parks, Anjali Piette, Jenna Samra, Grant Tremblay, Anjali Tripathi, and Michael Wong.

For additional eclipse content, see:

ECLIPSE OVER AMERICA (2017)

TOTAL ECLIPSE (pre-2017)

From Ann Arbor to Asteroids

ANN ARBOR (c. 1984) I settle into booth in the recently opened food court area in the basement of the Michigan Union to work on a Physics 401 problem set. It's early afternoon, and I am fueled by a slice and a soda—sorry, pizza and a pop (this is Michigan!). The fellow undergrad preparing the square pizzas at Parcheezi is Phil Plait. And $2.85 was all you needed for that lunch. 

Later that evening, I visit my neighbor at the Mary Markley dorm to finish the 401 problem set. He's a year younger than me, and super brilliant. His name is Dan Durda and, like me, he can be found in the audience at the monthly AstroFest presentations produced by Jim Loudon. We attended those gatherings religiously!

SACRAMENTO (c. 1996) I'm a fan of Homicide: Life on the Street (predecessor to HBO's The Wire). The guy playing drug kingpin Luther Mahoney is Erik Todd Dellums. Many actors relish playing the bad guy, and Dellums is clearly eating up this role.

(2015) I've been asked to introduce Michio Kaku at the Sacramento Speakers Series. It's a rare non-wedding, non-funeral occasion for which I am willing to dress up. I do my best to hype him up for the large auditorium crowd.

BOZEMAN, 2024. I'm writing a question set to accompany Asteroids: Worlds that Never Were, an episode of How the Universe Works. The episode is narrated by Erik Todd Dellums. It features astronomy experts Dan Durda, Phil Plait, as well as physicist Michio Kaku.

ASTEROIDS: WORLDS THAT NEVER WERE at TPT

From icy worlds with more fresh water than Earth to flying mountains of pure metal, asteroids shaped our past and promise much for the future. Could these enigmatic space rocks hold the key to how life in the Universe arises and is extinguished?

Comets: To Catch a Frozen Wanderer

In 1996 and 1997, comets had quite a moment. Comet Hyakutake and Comet Hale-Bopp garnered attention worldwide. Some people used the passage of Hale-Bopp for nefarious purposes that ended tragically.

I recall Hale-Bopp being much more celebrated, but Hyakutake being much more beautiful in the sky.

In any case, comets can burst onto the scene with little notice. What are they all about? We begin with an episode from How the Universe Works. Comets: Frozen Wanderers provides a nice, comprehensive lesson on the nature of comets. It holds out hope that ESA's Rosetta/Philae mission will be able to get up close and personal with a comet.

PBS's To Catch a Comet picks up the story from there, providing a moment-by-moment account of Rosetta's rendezvous with Comet 67P. A great story with challenges and nail-biting moments.

As always, I have questions.

COMETS: FROZEN WANDERERS at TPT

We follow the odyssey of a comet as it sails through space, watching every move as it evolves from a chunk of ice and rock into an active nucleus engulfed in a gaseous haze. What we learn is a revelation; comets are even more mysterious than we imagined.

TO CATCH A COMET at TPT

On November 11, 2014, billions of kilometers from Earth, a spacecraft orbiter and lander did what no other had dared to attempt: land on the volatile surface of a comet as it zooms around the sun at 67,000 km/hr.

Hunt for the Oldest DNA

Sometimes the inspiration for a scientific breakthrough is an apple falling from a tree. Sometimes it's a race between a train and a light wave. And sometimes ...

Sometimes it's a dog pooping in the rain.

Sequencing DNA that's more than a million years old was thought to be impossible. And it was. Until it wasn't. Breaking that barrier is a story of scientific perseverance laced with frustration, anti-bullying vibes, and real consequences of failing to solve an as-yet insoluble problem. Success was never guaranteed, and it came at a price.

But what a story it is! Watch the program. If it's something that works with your curriculum, consider using the question set with students. It's written with them in mind: to keep them actively engaged without ever boring them. (And welcome to NOVA's 51st season!)

HUNT FOR THE OLDEST DNA at TPT

For decades, scientists have tried to unlock the secrets of ancient DNA. But life’s genetic blueprint is incredibly fragile, and researchers have struggled to find DNA in fossils that could survive millions of years. Then, one maverick scientist had the controversial idea to look for DNA not in fossils or frozen ancient tissue – but in dirt. Join the hunt as scientists decipher the oldest DNA ever found, and reveal for the first time the genes of long-extinct creatures that once thrived in a warm, lush Arctic.

Participants include Tom Gilbert, Ross Macphee, Mikkel Pedersen, Maanasa Raghavan, Maureen Raymo, Alexandra Rouillard, Natalia Rybczynski, Astrid Schmidt, Beth Shapiro, Niobe Thompson, and Eske Willerslev.

For more DNA content, see:

Human Nature

Secrets in our DNA

Eclipse Over America (2017)

The Great American Eclipse of 2024 is April 8. And that's coming right up. I made it to totality in 2017, so I understand the addiction that eclipse chasers feel. I knew exactly what was going to happen, when it was going to happen, where it was going to happen, and why it was going to happen.

None of that mattered when it actually happened. An expletive passed my lips involuntarily. 

I'll chase totality in April, as well. In any case, NOVA produced Eclipse Over America in conjunction with the 2017 eclipse. For reasons that elude me, they have not posted the episode to YouTube, nor have they made it available to PBS Passport subscribers. Amazon's Prime Video seems to have it available for purchase, though they have it mislabelled as a season 17 episode. Apple iTunes seems to need you to buy they whole season (44) to access the episode. I found a streaming copy of it on Facebook.

ECLIPSE OVER AMERICA on TPT

On August 21, 2017, millions of Americans witnessed the first total solar eclipse to cross the continental United States in 99 years. As in in total solar eclipses, the moon blocked the sun and revealed its ethereal outer atmosphere—its corona—in a wondrous celestial spectacle. While hordes of citizens flocked to the eclipse’s path of totality, scientists, too, staked out spots for a very different reason: to investigate the secrets of the sun’s elusive atmosphere. During the eclipse’s precious seconds of darkness, they gathered new clues on how our sun works, how it can produce deadly solar storms, and why its atmosphere is so hot. NOVA investigates the storied history of solar eclipse science and joins both seasoned and citizen-scientists alike as they don their eclipse glasses, tune their telescopes, and revel in the eclipse that spanned the continent.

Participants include Amir Caspi, Nicky Fox, Holly Gilbert, Don Hassler, Jason Kalirai, James Klimchuk, Bill Murtagh, Tyler Nordgren, Mathieu Ossendrijver, Jay Pasachoff, Steven Tomczyk, and Constantine Tsang.

The Universe's Total Eclipse is an older eclipse documentary. And I have questions.

Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul

A few years ago, we began seeing a spike in unscheduled fire alarms at my school. The culprit? Boys vaping in the bathrooms during class. And the leading vape product among teens? Juul.

Juul was a phenomenon. It burned bright and it died young. Its story is instructive. And packs a few surprises. At its heart, it's a story of when moving fast and breaking things, the celebrated Silicon Valley ethos, goes sideways.

This is a great lesson in marketing literacy. It also involves engineering, venture capitalism, and public health.

NOTE: This program is rated TV-MA (MPAA equivalent: R). Profanity is not bleeped. Instructors will want to pre-screen the episode to assess propriety for their students. 

BIG VAPE: THE RISE AND FALL OF JUUL at TPT

In this docuseries, a scrappy electronic cigarette startup becomes a multibillion-dollar company until an epidemic causes its success to go up in smoke.

1. THE SPARK

Two Stanford graduates set out to disrupt the tobacco industry by creating a sleek new product for adult smokers but run into a series of struggles.

2. FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Upon launch, Juul rolls out an edgy campaign targeting youth culture until the popular ads come under criticism and spur new regulations from the FDA.

3. WHERE’S MY JUUL?

Viral social media videos and word-of-mouth send Juul and its flavor pods flying off shelves- and into the hands of kids, causing nationwide outrage.

4. OVERNIGHT BILLIONAIRES

A landmark deal makes billionaires of Juul's founders but leaves other employees torn. A health crisis linked to vaping jeopardizes the company's future.