Byram Hills Central School District

This information has been taken directly from the Accelerate U - Standards and Resource Guides (with approval) from the K-12 Education, NEW YORK STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT site. No information in this document has been changed.

Learning Standards for Mathematics, Science, and Technology at Three Levels

Standard 6 - Interconnectedness: Common Themes - Commencement

Students will understand the relationships and common themes that connect mathematics, science, and technology and apply the themes to these and other areas of learning.

Equilibrium and Stability

4. Equilibrium is a state of stability due either to a lack of changes (static equilibrium) or a balance between opposing forces (dynamic equilibrium).

Students:

describe specific instances of how disturbances might affect a system's equilibrium, from small disturbances that do not upset the equilibrium to larger disturbances (threshold level) that cause the system to become unstable.
cite specific examples of how dynamic equilibrium is achieved by equality of change in opposing directions.

This is evident, for example, when students:

     use mathematical models to predict under what conditions the spread of a disease will become epidemic.
     document the range of external temperatures in which warm-blooded animals can maintain a relatively constant internal temperature and identify the extremes of cold or heat that will cause death.
     experiment with chemical or biological processes when the flow of materials in one way direction is counter-balanced by the flow of materials in the opposite direction.