Unit 5 - Day 2

On the second day of unit 5, we learned about equilibrium and balanced forces, by going more in depth on Newton's laws. In the photo, the ball is experiencing equilibrium. Equilibrium means that two or more forces are acting upon the ball. The forces acting on the ball in the picture are weight, and the force of the table pushing against it. This prevents the ball from accelerating down or up. The ball is experiencing to kinds of force. The force of weight or gravity, which is an at a distance force, this means that the force doesn't make direct contact with the ball. The table is providing contact force. This means that the force comes in direct, physical contact with the ball. A free body diagram would look like this:

The arrows represent the forces acting on the ball. The downward arrow represents weight, because it pulls the ball down. The up arrow means normal. This is the force applied against the ball, it is equal to the downward force causing the ball to be in equilibrium.

Unit 5

Newtons laws of motion are:


1. Every body remains in a state of constant velocity unless acted upon by an external force.


2. A body of mass subject to a net force undergoes an acceleration that has the same direction as the force and a magnitude that is directly proportional to the force and inversely proportional to the mass.


3. For every action there is an equal and opposite action.


This video of one of my favorite basketball players, Ron Artest, blocking a shot is a good example of Newton's laws of motion. As the ball goes up, it remains in the state of a constant velocity, as he hits it away, it is being acted on by an external force. When Ron hits the ball, the acceleration of the ball accelerates in the same direction as the force applied to it is going. And finally, there is an equal and opposite action for hitting the ball. The equal action would be hitting the ball in the same way, the opposite action would cause the ball to accelerate in the opposite direction. While researching this topic, I   began to realize how much Newton's three laws apply in our life. Almost everything we do incorporates this in one way or another. 

Unit 4

In unit 4, we covered trigonometry in physics. This basically involves using Soh Cah Toa to solve for problems involving kinematics. A good example of this is this small rocket I built in 4th grade. After the initial launch, it becomes a projectile. Using soh cah toa and 2d kinematics, it is possible to calculate the distance, time, velocity, and multiple other factors of the flight of the rocket. I thought that learning to find where a rocket will land was interesting. What we learned in unit 4 was pretty much what the second semester of geometry was about. Being able to apply these principle in physics shine a whole new light on them. In geometry, I was wondering how much I would actually use soh cah toa, so it was great to put my skills to work.

Unit 4

Unit 4 was the beginning of learning about 2d kinematics. 2d kinematics involves movement on both the x and y axes at the same time. The first rule of 2d kinematics is known as the vegas rule. This is based off the saying "what happens in vegas stays in vegas." When applied to physics, this rule basically means that movement on the x axis doesn't affect the y access, and vice versa. The picture I have is of the target for the donkey lab. In this lab we used different formulas to find the exact spot where a small ball would land when rolled off the table. Applying the basics of 2d kinematics caused us to be successful in the lab. One example of 2d kinematics in life is basketball. when shooting a basketball, the ball goes forward on the x axis, and suffers the affects of gravity on y axis. In order to make a shot, you must compensate for gravity. The NBA stars today may not use formulas to find the exact shot, but the basics of 2d kinematics applies. Unit 4 has really put all we have learned so far together.

Review of Quarter 1

This quarter has gone by so fast. I never knew how much I could learn in just a week and a half. Unit 1 was a good start to physics in summer school. The material we learned was new, but simple enough to grasp it quickly. Through out Unit 1, we covered the basics of motion, and graphs. Unit 1 taught me how much of our everyday life revolves around physics, after the first day of class, I started noticing things I always do, like drive in a car or throw a ball. Unit 2 went much more in depth of both motion and graphs. Unit 2 brought more about velocity into play. Before this unit, I never knew the difference between speed and velocity. I learned much more about graphs then I ever thought I would, for example, how the slope of a D vs T graph is velocity.  In unit 3 we went even further into motion and graphs, then added gravity and free falls. This unit again caused me to notice things throughout my everyday life. Things as simple as water dripping from a faucet. I learned a bit about galileo and how he proved to the world that the laws of physics were different then what was accepted. Over all, I have kind of enjoyed this quarter, other than the long class hours, but putting in the time now will pay off in the regular year. I am looking forward to learning more about physics through out the next 3 quarters.

Unit 3

When a person leaps out of a plane, they are free falling toward the ground. In unit 3, we have covered the physics behind a free fall. Similar to rolling the ball down a ramp, a sky diver accelerates uniformly. The force of gravity pulls the person toward the earth, the person accelerates more the further they fall. In a perfect world, each sky diver would accelerate the same, and have the same speed as they fall, but as we have learned, there are many factors, including aerodynamics, that contribute to acceleration toward earth. I have learned many new things so far in unit 3, especially about Galileo's experiments. I thought it was interesting how he discovered that two balls of different sizes and weight would accelerate at the same rate.

Picture: http://aloharentalactivities.web.officelive.com/images/SkydivesSkydive-Hawaii.grid-6x2.jpg

Acceleration

Acceleration can be found all through out life. One example in my life is football. This is not me, it is of my friend Austin, who is quite a stud. Throwing and catching a football incorporates acceleration. When you throw the ball it accelerates forward, heading toward the target. When you catch the ball, it accelerates to a stop. Every time the ball is thrown and caught, acceleration happens. Another example in this picture is when you jump. Austin is showing an example of acceleration when he jumped for the ball. He pushed off the ground, changing his speed toward the ball, and then changed his speed when he hit the ground. Each of those demonstrates acceleration.

Unit 2 again

Angry birds is a good representation of acceleration. When you shoot the bird, it accelerates toward the target. When it hits the target, then it accelerates to a slower speed and then to a stop. The flight of an angry bird could be measured by a d vs t graph. It takes so many seconds for the bird to reach a certain distance. By creating that graph, you could find the velocity. You could also use a velocity vs time graph. This would be a way to measure the displacement of the bird. As you can see, physics is very applicable to many aspects, important or unimportant, to life.

Unit 2

In unit 2 we learned about motion, specifically distance, velocity, speed, acceleration, and time. A car is a great example of each of these factors in physics. A car demonstrates acceleration when it starts, stops, and changes speed. This is an essential part of a car because if you couldn't start, stop, or change the speed of a car, it would either not work or be very dangerous. As we covered in class, speed is measured by a speedometer. A car is capable of traveling great distances in a short amount of time, and at a relatively high rate of speed. This is an important way that physics makes life easier. A car on a freeway is a great example of velocity. On the freeway, you can't turn around. You are kept to going in a relatively same direction. On a regular road it is more difficult to track velocity, due to turns and potential complete change of direction. Overall, the uses for a car are a great example for what we learned in unit 2.

post 2

This represents some of what we learned in unit 1 of summer physics. A track is 400 meters around, using the metric system. The activities performed on a track have a lot to do with physics. From speed, velocity, distance, and time, a track sees them all. People are timed for speed on a track in races. Distance is also measured in meters. However, one lack around the track has a velocity of zero this is because when you run around the track, you cancel out each stretch by going in the opposite direction on the other side. Most tracks encircle a football field. There is a lot of physics involved in football. Precision and accuracy are very important in football. When a quarterback throws the ball, it is important for him to be both precise and accurate. If he lacks accuracy, he will rarely complete a pass and not score points. Precision is important because receivers will often be in the same spot. If you can have a good grouping in the receivers direction, he can fix himself to be where the ball will be. Precision itself may not be good. If the quarterback throws it bad, but groups it very well, it makes no progress in scoring points. This is just one example of physics in a small aspect of life.

Picture: http://www.uhsecho.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Track.jpg

About Me

I am 16 years old. I play football and surf. I have taken biology and chemistry in science thus far. For each of those classes I have done fairly well. I took bio over the summer before freshman year, and took chem during the regular year. I found it a lot easier on my schedule to knock out science prior to the school year. I took regular geometry last year. I hope to get a good grade in this course. Taking it over the summer allows me to focus only on one subject. I find this easy because I sometimes get overwhelmed during the year. The driving force behind taking this class is to finish it so I don't have to take it during the school year. I am doing this because it will free up my schedule. Between sports, school, family, and other activities, I rarely have free time. The breaks this will create in the year allow me to finish school work at school, as well as let me focus more on the other classes.

I took this picture last winter up at pipeline. This is somewhat a metaphor for me. First off, I love the ocean, I love to ride the waves whether it is surfing or bodysurfing. So this picture is of one of my passions. Second, a wave can be a very enjoyable experience. Riding a wave is fun and gives the rider one of the greatest experiences of all time. I am a fun person. I enjoy being around people and am a kind person. For those who surf larger waves, it is common to figure out the wave. By this I mean where it breaks on the reef, how it beaks, what the best direction to drop in is, and where to line up. For some people, it takes time to figure me out. Waves deserve respect. They can hurt you and even kill you. Now,  im not saying that I hurt people or kill anybody, but I don't like disrespectful people. Not only to me, but toward others and their surroundings. Being Hawaiian, I have a good connection with the land. It bugs me when others disrespect it by littering and other bad acts. I am looking forward to taking physics, because the sacrifices I make now are going to greatly benefit me in the near future.