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  1. When your driving a car physics is involved. If you had a blow horn and blew it out the window while you were driving and someone was standing outside of the car and as the car drove away the frequency would decrease compared to the frequency and amplitude would be the same way as frequency it would be higher as your closer and lower as your farther away or as the object goes farther away. The wave created from the blowhorn would be sound wave which is considered longitudinal wave. Also another part of physics that is connected to a driving a car is kinematic equations as well as ramp inclines depending of the car is going up or down hill

  2. gcaso
    Latest Entry

    Have you ever been in the car sitting at a red light and you know the person next to you wants to get in the same lane as you? If you are a nice person you may slowly accelerate and let them in ahead of you, but like a lot of drivers will accelerate just as fast (if not faster) and try to eiether keep them in their own lane, or get past them so that they enter the lane behind you.

    This situation I have just prefaced you with is, essentially drag racing. However, there are many other components to drag racing than just a quick acceleration, experienced drag racers will use a wide range of strategies to gain the edge over their opponents (on a closed track, of course!)

    The first thing that racers usually upgrade or modify, are the tires of their cars. Stock tires have a tread on them, the more tread there is, the less surface area there is. This results in less grip which can slow cars down by a couple of hundreths of a second, enough to lose a race and frustrate any racer.

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    This is a drag racing tire known in the racing world as a "slick"

    Another major component also comes from the tires. You may think a burnout is just unnecessary wheelspin, but actually what the racer is doing is heating the tires up. This makes the tire softer by nature and it conforms to the track a lot better, again giving the racer more grip.

    Another common misconception of drag racing is the function of the spoiler. No, no it does not try to make the car fly, nor does it just look pretty. Well, some do just look pretty and aren't very efficent, but thats not important at this point. The fact is, is that spoilers are placed in the rear of the car. They are angled so that in some way, it pushes the air going through it, from the bottom to the top. The air pushes against the spoiler with a force, n. Some of this force is then directed directly down and more pressure is pushed onto the tires, forcing more grip action.

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    Have you noticed a trend here? I have, Drag Racing is all about the grip of your tires!

    Here's a little something to satisfy the inner speed demon. (Mustangs are better!!)

  3. public-service-broadcasting-04-gq_20feb15_b_1445x878.thumb.jpg.43381713ce93f6fcc89704aebd7a54b0.jpg

     

    The Space Race between both the USSR and the United States is by far one of my favorite eras of history to study. They say competition is the perfect motivation, and I truly believe, from a technological standpoint, this is era is a prime example of that motto in its purest form. Some of the biggest strides in human history were made in a time where computers were still the size of rooms all due to fear, curiosity, and drive. Public Service Broadcasting’s album, “The Race For Space”, tries to capture all of these emotions, during a handful of critical points, along this journey in order to show how important this period was for Humanity as a whole. (I will cover the tracks in event order not track order)

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    Track 2: Sputnik

    The year is 1957, and, as tensions of the Cold War are ever increasing with no end in sight, humanity has its eyes on the one place neither power has even traveled: space. The Soviets, ever fearful of the United States launching into orbit, rushed through their plans to launch a 3,000 pound satellite equipped with various scientific instruments.  They ended up downsizing dramatically to a 184 pound payload with a 58 centimeter diameter without any instruments. On October 4th of that year it was launched on a R-7 rocket with four stages. It nearly suffered a catastrophic launch failure, but the a combination of engine thrust and wing movement saved it last second.  Well what did it do? It beeped. And that beep was the beep heard all around the world. Well at least for 22 days… its batteries actually exceeded the expectation of 14 days. For the first time in all of human history something was able to orbit the earth. It wasn’t the first man-made object in space, but it was the first which was in continual free fall around the earth. So, yes, the Soviets to prove themselves put a beeping piece of metal into orbit because that is all they needed to do to stir so much amazement and fear. The device whose name directly translates to “travelling companion”, would be the spark which set the both  countries ablaze and straight into the most heated technological race in all of human history.


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    Track 3: Gagarin

    It is now April 12th, 1961. Multiple years have passed since Sputnik, but no shortage of tests and animals had been launched into space, including the famous cosmonaut dog Laika on Sputnik 2. Now it was time to push the barrier forward onto man's reach into space. Enter Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin. A 27 year old Senior Lieutenant Gagarin was chosen out of over 200 Russian Air Force fighter pilots by peers and project heads due to his exceptionally quick thinking and attention to detail. At 9:07 A.M. Vostok 1 took off carrying Gagarin on board. Due to the feared consequences of free fall, the Russian mission control was totally in control of the craft the entire time. Yuri was the first human ever in space, a true high water mark achieved by humanity. His trip lasted one obit, a total of 108 minutes. While the United States press showed fear of losing the space race, he was seen in many places as a hero for humanity, going on a global world tour to be paraded around countries including England, Canada, and, of course, across the USSR. This stance of him being a pioneer, regardless of national affiliation, is what PBSB was aiming for in their upbeat track. Looking back now it is easy to say he was a true pioneer for all of humanity and his efforts will forever go down in history as that of a hero.
     

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    Track 1: “The Race for Space”

    The date is now September 12th 1962. President Kennedy is making a speech to 40,000 people in Rice Stadium. At this point, the United States is far behind in the space race launching the first American, John Glenn, nearly a year after Gagarin. Kennedy knew he needed to rouse the American spirit, and, in effect, his speech became a defining speech in American history. A link to the full speech can be found here:  https://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/ricetalk.html.

    Perhaps one of the most ambitious technological proposals made by a president, Kennedy promised that by the end of the decade America would put a man on the moon. Keep in mind no spacewalks had been taken, lunar modules had been made, no docking sequences had even been practiced, and here was the nation’s leader saying we could make it in 8 years or less. The National Defense Education Act had been passed due to Sputnik and had been in effect since October 4th 1957. Now its efforts of acting as a booster for the mathematics and science related fields was beginning to see results. Young engineers and scientists began coming out of Universities in order to rapidly increase the nation’s technological investments to bound ahead. This key moment not only left the nation space crazed, but made getting to space a budgeted objective at the front of the nation's interest. This vow and critical commitment is what would pave the way for the American Space program to come, as now Americans all over had their eyes on the skies.
     

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    Track 7: “Valentina”

    Fast forward to June 16th, 1963, Vostok 6 is launched. It is the last in the man orbital missions launched by the USSR starting with Gagarin. Well what made this so different? This time the passenger was Valentina Tereshkova. Yes, the first woman in space. Her mission lasted 3 days and she kept two way radio communications with Voltok 5 which was orbiting with her. In this time she made 48 orbits, which was quite a large feat at the time. Her personal background was that of an avid skydiver and textile factory worker making her the first civilian in space as well. The space suit she wore was the MK-2 which was very similar to the MK-1 that Gagarin wore. These suits were only meant to be pressurized in an emergency, such as if the cabin was punctured. It would take a better space suit in order to do an EVA which is the coming up milestone. Up until this point, humans have remained within their pressurized cabin in order to take a safe trip, but now we move onward and upward by finally getting out of the restrictive hull.

     

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    Track 5: “E.V.A”

    On the 18th of March 1965, the Voskhod 2 mission was launched. Two cosmonauts were abroad: Pavel I. Belyayev and Alexey A. Leonov. Belyayev was the primary pilot while Leonov was the secondary, but he had a far more important mission. He was to perform the first E.V.A trialing the first space suit with a life support system in the backpack. The flight lasted 26 hours and made 16 orbits. During this time the first spacewalk lasted approximately 20 minutes with Leonov claiming the experience gave him a sense of complete euphoria and tension at the same time. The mission, being reported as a major success, acted as a dramatic blow to the United States government. At the same time, many catastrophic failures occurred while in space, but were never reported on the ground. A few moments after Leonov stepped out of the shuttle he realized his suit had inflated to the point he could not get back in. He needed to decompress, and as he let out oxygen he began feeling the initial symptoms of decompression sickness. He began pulling rapidly on the cord thrusting himself in with a moment to spare, but at his current temp he was at risk of heat stroke. His perspiration blocked his view so he had to maneuver around the airlock blind. He eventually did it and made it back in to the safety of the shuttle. This was only the start of the problems though. Due to this maneuver the oxygen content of the shuttle soared, meaning any single spark would have it blow up as quick as a flash. They managed to lower the oxygen concentration back to a safe levels. The ultimate test occured when they had to manually re-enter the atmosphere due to engine problems. They were exposed to high G forces along with high temperatures only to land off course in Siberia. They were eventually recovered and hailed as heroes. This was yet another large step to making it to the moon with the United States still lagging behind. And they were soon to have one of their largest hardships to date.

     

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    Track 4: “Fire in the Cockpit”

    On the 27th of January 1967, an event which would live in national infamy occurred. The Apollo 1 space crew, comprised of Virgil Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee, all entered their command module to undergo a simulation for their up and coming launch. The first problem arose when Grissom complained of a “sour smell” in the spacesuit loop, but decided to continue the test. This was followed by high oxygen flows triggering on and off the alarm. This wasn't resolved as the communications were experiencing problems resulting in the line being only between pilot Grissom and mission control. At 6:31, oxygen levels quickly rose as Chaffee casually says he smells fire, but within two seconds, White proclaims, “Fire in the cockpit.” Escape procedure was supposed to take ninety seconds, but ultimately that time frame was too long. In the highly oxygenated environment, the fire spread too quickly, followed by the command module rupturing forcing black smoke across the landing pad. An eventual investigation found that the fire was started by a faulty bundle of wires located behind their heads. It took firemen three minutes to quell the fire and to open the doors, but it was too late all three perished. It was a day of national remembrance and an overall low in the American Space program up until that point. Their sacrifices were distinguished with the highest regard as the nation mourned and tremendous loss.

     

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    Track 8: “Go!”

    Apollo 11 is by far the most known aspect of the space race. It is the moment where scholars say the United States sealed their place as the winners of the space race. It inspired kids for years to come to become astronauts. The Apollo 11 mission’s ultimate goal was to land the first man on the moon fulfilling Kennedy's earlier promise and legacy. Apollo 11 launched on July 16th, 1969 with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin. It took 75 hours to reach lunar orbit. This is where the focus of the song is. It includes a systems check as the lander makes it's landing maneuver and lands on the surface. The utter tension at mission control was palpable. This was the most critical part of the mission, and when they landed, from the utter joy heard over the radio, the public knew they had finally done it. Tee descent began at 102:33 with the ultimate touchdown resulting at 102:45. After a period of set up and a postponed rest period, Armstrong made his exit onto the surface at 109:24:19 to utter those famous words. Aldrin soon followed behind with the whole thing being broadcasted to the American Public. This moment, the moment where America gathered around their television screens to watch them be the farthest away from anyone else that any human has ever been, was the height of the space race. They made their return launch starting at 124:22 and plunged back into the Pacific Ocean on July 24th. These pioneers set the standard of human exploration in the space age and acted as role models for new explorers for years to come.
     

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    Track 9: “Tomorrow”

    The last track of the album is of course the most inspirational. It focuses around Apollo 17, which was the last manned mission to the moon. it was launched on December 7th, 1972 with crew members Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt. It's main objectives were to put a Rover on the moon, conduct testing, and take samples such as moon rocks and photographs. In total over 16 hours of EVA were conducted, 30.5 kilometers we're traversed by the rover, and 243 pounds of samples were collected. The mission was a success but extremely bitter sweet being the last mission in the Apollo chapter. It ultimately completed the era of the Space Race. It has much more sentimental value in this aspect, as the track takes the time to reflect on the previous decade and a half of progress and how far the human race has come.

     

    Ultimately the space race was a period of history where nations gathered behind the scientific progress they conducted. Yes, there was always the fear of mutual destruction, but the sense of shared awe at what humanity achieved far overshadows that factor when looking back at history. There are not many periods of history where technology progressed at such breakneck speeds, and may not be for a long time. There is plenty more to read about the period, and I encourage you to do so if this interested you at all.

     

     

    As always it had been a pleasure! This is ThePeculiarParticle, signing out.

     

     

     

    Informal Bibliography

    Esa. “The Flight of Vostok 1.” European Space Agency, European Space Agency, www.esa.int/About_Us/Welcome_to_ESA/ESA_history/50_years_of_humans_in_space/The_flight_of_Vostok_1.

    “The First Spacewalk.” BBC, BBC, 2014, www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/2014/newsspec_9035/index.html.

    Larimer, Sarah. “'We Have a Fire in the Cockpit!' The Apollo 1 Disaster 50 Years Later.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 26 Jan. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/01/26/50-years-ago-three-astronauts-died-in-the-apollo-1-fire/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7d4feb08cec3.

    “NASA.” NASA, NASA, www.nasa.gov/.

    “National Air and Space Museum.” The Wright Brothers | The Wright Company, airandspace.si.edu/.

    RFE/RL. “Kennedy's Famous 'Moon' Speech Still Stirs.” RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, 13 Sept. 2012, www.rferl.org/a/kennedy-moon-speech-rice-university-50th-anniversary/24706222.html.

    “Space.com.” Space.com, Space.com, www.space.com/.

    “Sputnik Spurs Passage of the National Defense Education Act.” U.S. Senate: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, 9 Mar. 2018, www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Sputnik_Spurs_Passage_of_National_Defense_Education_Act.htm.

    (Disclaimer the websites were used many times for different articles)

     

     

     

     

  4. SJamison
    Latest Entry

    Elon Musk is a god! 

  5. The gymnast on the balance beam does work and power to jump on the beam and do cart weels. The rhythmic dancer's ribbons go through centripetal force. The force is center seeking which causes the constant change in direction. When the gymnast jumps to the rings he does work and power too.

  6. Hey y'all,

    Chris, a student at Cornell, wakes up at 8:59am for his 9:05 class. If the class is 1.5 km away, at what constant velocity does he need to travel in order to make it to class at 9:05? Neglect air resistance.

  7. If someone asks why physics is so important, tell them that the world just wouldn't work without it. Not the way we know it at least. As this is my final post of the year, I thought it'd be a cool idea to talk about what the world would be like if certain parts of physics didn't exist. In a previous post, I discussed the difficulty that would come with living in a world without friction, and I also mentioned how without electrostatic force, objects would phase right through each other. It would also mean current electricity would not exist, but what would that matter if we couldn't even use it. If gravity didn't exist, objects would keep moving until they hit something, and everything in space would just drift endlessly in one direction. Which means the earth could potentially drift into another planet or a star, which wouldn't be good. Without magnets, we'd have to find different ways to generate electricity or make power, and compasses would have never been invented, so navigation wouldn't be as easy. So yeah, physics is pretty important, unless you prefer a world that doesn't work. It's what makes our world possible.

  8. Recently we learned about resonance, which by definition is "the tendency of a system to oscillate with greater amplitude at some frequencies than at others." This is one of the many examples of physics found within the guitar. Tuning a guitar is an example of resonance. The string's vibrations create sound waves with different frequencies. Also, when you plug in your electric guitar to the amp, you are actually making use of a physics skill! You are making a speaker. The amplifier projects the sound waves which leads to louder sound. However, these sound waves might sound a little muffled to your mom who has on earplugs. You can change the bass and the treble which alter the way your eardrums detect the sound waves. As opposed to acoustic guitars, electric guitars are electrical, so they require circuits, current, and an electrical source.

  9. As summer gets closer, the weather gets warmer and everyone itches to get outside. One of my personal favorite things to do on those hot summer days is to go swimming! So many people enjoy it and it is something that they do all the time, but the majority of people don't stop to think about all of the physics that is involved in it. And there is a lot!

    First, the most obvious is the difference in gravity. When you are just walking around normally, you stay on the ground. You never begin to float towards the sky because of the force of gravity on earth. The force of gravity is 9.81m/s^2. However, as you may know, when you are in a pool or the ocean it is very hard to stay on the ground because there is nothing pulling you down. But you are still on the earth... so how can that be possible? Although the force of gravity is the same, there is an additional force acting in the water called buoyancy. This means that when an object is put in water, it will displace the amount of water equal to its volume. This is why objects appear to be lighter when they are in water.

    There is also a lot of resistance in water. Water is about 1000 times more resistant than air and about 91% of a persons energy is lost through drag. Therefore, when swimming competitively, swimmers need to maximize their streamline. They can do this by wearing swim caps. As you can see, there is a lot of physics in swimming. So next time you jump in the pool, think about all of the physics that is going on! Thanks for reading :)

  10. A partial derivative uses this nice formula. (f)/(x), where f:R^2->R is lim h->0 (f(x+h,y)-f(x,y))/h. Physics is everywhere, waiting, watching. 

  11. ZZ
    Latest Entry

    The other day I was watching a soccer game, West Ham United vs Arsenal FC. I know I do blogs on soccer all the time but it's because I am just so fascinated by the things these players are able to do, hence why they are professionals. One of the players, Andy Carroll scored a bicycle kick, where a player flips himself/herself upside down with their foot in the air and kicking it over their head (sometimes referred to as an "overhead kick"). While this one was good, it reminded me of one from several years ago that another professional, Wayne Rooney performed in a game. Here's the video:

    While this goal may still have you in awe (this happens maybe once every several years by the way), I'd like to start talking about the physics. So it all started with the crosser, Nani, who crossed the ball in at about 22 mph (the speed of an average cross). This speed of the ball means the reaction window for Rooney was microscopic, even to just put the ball on target - much less the upper corner of the net. A half second too quick or too slow and this bicycle kick will end up on the blooper section of sportcenter. Upon timing the jump, Rooney is in the air for about 3/4 of a second, meaning the margin for error is quite small. Rooney's foot has also been measured to be 1.80 meters above the ground (5'9") which is about the same height as Rooney. So you might ask, what is the advantage of doing this if he could've headed the ball instead? While this is normally what players do in this scenario, a header simply wouldn't have provided the same force (and thus acceleration) on the ball. This is because of the net torque on the ball. With a header, one really only uses a little less than half of their body to cock back and snap into the header to deliver a net force upon it. However, with a bicycle kick the whole body is involved. Since the body in midair experiences no outside forces, it acts as if it were a rotating object, where both halves of the body contribute to a clockwise motion to allow a well powered kick.

    In addition, you will notice that he kicks one leg first and then the other. This has to do with momentum. as he generates momentum in one direction, this allows him to change the motion with the other leg and allow a greater velocity with his kicking leg before it makes contact with the ball. 

    All in all this stands as one of the best premier league goals of all time, ask anybody. It's really cool now to understand how Rooney did this (I know I never could):notfair:

  12. rtsully829
    Latest Entry

    I'm sure you have heard about, read about it book and even seen it in movies. Well I am hear to give you a basic overview, it is very complicated once you really look into it. I'm hear to shed light onto this for all of you. (All with out the use of a flux capacitor or a Delorean.)

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    I'm going to talk about the types into the future or into the past. Lets start with the future. In some ways this is on display everyday. The clocks on the GPS satellites need to be adjusted due to fact that when you are moving

    time moves slower thus you age slower. In theory, you could send someone out into orbit for say 20 years, he would only age 20 year when family member and friends on earth would age 30 or 40 years. And the faster you move the slower time would move but you would run into the problem that the faster you move the more massive you become.

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    Something I think that cool about time travel into the past is in some ways we see it all the time too, ever night to be exact. When you look at a star, your not seeing how it looks now, you seeing how it look 100, 200, even 1000 years ago. Now don't be worried, I know you though it would be slightly more interesting and let me try my best to make it so. Einstein's law of causality does kind of put a damper on the idea that you could step in a machine and just go back due to, in simple terms, cause and effect. Everything happens causing something else and something else to happen and we can't upset that. Now don't give up your dreams just yet. some physicist do theorize that if we could push past light speed time could flow backwards.

    Well there it is in a few minutes, time travel. Now to fully understand the science and theory behind it you would need to read a book and be much smarter than me. It is something very cool to think about. Stephen Hawking as talked about the idea of time traveling tourist if you want to look into that. But to save you the time. But if someone knocks on your door claiming to be your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandson, maybe you should listen.

  13. etracey99
    Latest Entry

    Many of us know the Aurora Borealis as the 'Northern Lights'. This natural phenomenon is, of course, thanks to the physics of our Earth and its atmosphere!

    Topic of the moment - northern lights and solar wind(Photo credit: NASA)

    The Aurora Borealis is an extremely beautiful event that occurs most often close to the magnetic poles of Earth. It occurs due to charged particles coming from the Sun of which collide with other molecules found in the Earth's atmosphere. Solar winds from the Sun carry these charged particles and when the wind passes by Earth, particles may be trapped in the atmosphere from the Earth's magnetic fields! The charged particles ionize molecules in the atmosphere, which give off light. This creates the Aurora Borealis!

    I had previously thought that the Northern Lights were from light reflecting somehow, but it awesome to see that it is caused by magnetism, which fits into our past few units very nicely.

  14. Brittany16
    Latest Entry

    at one point in everyone's lives they have tried to use a pogo stick (some more successful then others).

    for starters there is elastic potential energy stored in the spring. which is the work that is done stretching, in this case compressing, the spring. you can find out just how much energy is stored through using the equation PEs= 1/2kx^2. where k stands for the spring constant or the stiffness of the spring and x stands for the displacement from equilibrium. (the difference from the original spring and how long/ short it is after you stretch/compress it. also the more you stretch or compress the spring the greater the fore of the spring. in this case it means that the more you compress the spring the higher off the ground the pogo stick will go. have fun pogoing.

  15. We all know the type of people who have never met a mirror they didn't like, get it? Well not only do they like their own reflection, but they obviously like it because of the physics that it bestows! A mirror is an example of a specular reflection because it is a smooth surface that easily allows reflection to the point of visibility.We can see how the angle at which the wave strikes the mirror is equal to the angle at which it reflects off of the mirror due to the law of reflection. And no matter what angle we use, this will always be constant! Now if something is ugly enough and the mirror happens to shatter, hypothetically speaking of course, the gravity in the shards of glass falling and the force with which they hit the floor are components of physics too! :D

  16. In my previous blog post, I discussed the overall interface you'll be using in Kerbal Space Program. If you don't know what you're doing, I recommend reading that first before continuing on with this post.

    Before I even start with actual designs of rockets, I'm going to teach you how to build quickly and efficiently.

    To start, you'll need to place down a part. Keep in mind that the first part you place down is the part you're going to have to build off of. Whenever you pick up this part, you will pick up your entire rocket. Whenever you pick up a part connected to this part, it will pick up every part placed on that part, excluding the first part. Now that you understand that, you're going to need to know how to move around effectively.

    By holding right-click, you can rotate around a certain point on the center axis of your rocket. By using the scroll wheel, you can move vertically up and down. By holding Shift and using the scroll wheel, you will move closer to and farther from the center axis of your rocket (Alternatively, you could do this by holding down the middle-mouse button and moving your mouse up/down).

    When building a ship, 

    Now we can get into some design basics.

    There's a lot of things to take into account when designing a rocket, even in a video game.

    Always remember to take aerodynamics into account. You can't just launch anything through the atmosphere at well over the speed of sound and expect it to be fine. Take the following, for example.

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    This is a simple landing can with some batteries, retractable solar panels, RCS fuel tanks, and an antenna. If you launched this through the atmosphere, something could very easily break, especially if you used the unprotected versions of the solar panels, or, lord forbid, you extended them. But then how would you get this into space? Well, there's many solutions, such as trying to fit it all inside of a cargo container, or you could make a column of octagonal struts and strap the bits onto that.

    There is also one other thing in the game you can use, and it's quite stylish. First, you'd have to disconnect the entire top piece from the landing capsule, and place an "Airstream Protective Shell" on top of the capsule. When you first place it, it'll start dragging a frame with your cursor, but just right-click to temporarily remove it. Then, re-place the top piece on top of the Protective Shell part. Here's where things get interesting. Right click on the Protective Shell part, and click "Build Fairing" as shown below, then drag the frame up along your top piece, and click when you want to start to drag it in. You can use the other picture below as reference.

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    This fairing can be ejected as part of a stage when you leave the atmosphere, so the craft on the left will look like the craft on the right. Just be careful with your design for when you do eject it, because it shoots sideways.

    Here's another aerodynamics example:

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    This rocket will fly. But after a little bit, it will start to flip out of control, and plummet into the ground. But why? If you build a ship like this and deviate from being normal to the ground by even the slightest amount, air resistance kicks in, and your rocket will flip upside-down. So how do you avoid this? Simple: Add some wings. Two could work, but you should add more, just to be safe.

    Another thing commonly done in KSP is when people add tons of fuel to their spacecraft, and then is surprised when they can barely get into orbit. Keep in mind that adding more fuel does let you burn longer, but also increases the weight of your rocket. Your thrusters will always put out a certain amount of force, and if you just add more fuel to your craft, you might end up with less delta-v than you started out with. We all took Mechanics, so you should know that net force is equal to mass times acceleration, so if mass goes up but force stays constant, acceleration must go down.

    Some other things to think about include:

    - Do you need extra power?

    - Do you need power generation?

    - Do you need heat reduction?

    - Do you need a ladder for your Kerbal?

    - Do you have a heat shield?

    - Does it look nice?

    - Is it powerful enough to get you where you need to go?

    - Does it weigh too much?

    - Do you have enough parachutes?

    - Should you add high-altitude parachutes?

    And, most importantly, something forgotten in the following picture.

    image.thumb.png.5d6b0ea2d2aa131a3c75a705aabdf76e.png

    Yes, there are no wings, and it is hideous, but those aren't the biggest faults with the spacecraft.

    If you look on the bottom left, it shows the staging. Every time you press the spacebar, you begin the next stage. In this case, the first stage would start the first thruster, but would also trigger the decoupler, disconnecting the main booster from the rest of the rocket. Now look at the final stage. When triggering the last decoupler to expose the heat shield for re-entry, it would also trigger the parachute, rendering it useless, and dooming poor Jebediah to crash into the planet.

    Even if your design is perfect, one simple mistake in the staging could ruin everything when you least expect it, so always remember to check it before you wreck it.

    In my next blog post, I'm going to discuss simple flight controls and methods.

  17. it is obvious that our winters are not like those in miami. We can have some very harsh weather and it is important to be prepared when driving from place to place in the ice and snow. To be safe, car maufacrures must consider the elements of friction. This is why many cars have for wheel drive: for better traction on the ice. A car going down the road would qualify as kinetic friction and since the ice has little friction so the nature of the ice must be balanced. Another way to prevent accidents on an icy road would be by putting salt on the road to change the nature of the ice and create a greater frictional force.

  18. kateh516
    Latest Entry

    About a week ago, I walked down into the basement to check on my laundry only to find a large puddle of water on the floor. We had temporarily fixed the pump that brings the water from the basement up into the septic but it seemed to have broken again. We need pumps for appliances below our septic tanks because the water does not have the ability to move from low to high (high being the location of the septic tank; low, my basement) without an external system doing work on it. Because of gravity's natural pull downwards, water wants to go down. To go up the pump must create power to do the correct amount of work to push the water up into the septic. Without it, the water overflows the location of the pump and floods the basement. 

  19. blog-0949870001429214166.pngWaves in water are produced in many different scenarios. For example, when someone goes to the beach and decides to skip rocks, they produce a wave in the water. The water particles then move and continue to move creating a mechanical wave. these kinds of waves require a medium to pass through. who knew such a fun experience could experience so much physics.
  20. Mixtapes have physics behind them but you have to look at in a different perspective. Mixtapes have wave interference which is two or more waves in the same medium at the same time and same location. Mixtapes use sound waves and a lot of times artists who make mixtapes choose two waves that start at the same time to start their song. A new sound wave might interfere but they both continue as if they have never met and that represent constructive interference. If there is a destructive interference there will be a smaller amplitude which means it will be a softer sound for the mixtape.

  21. The gold foil experiment is the famous experiment conducted by Ernest Rutherford that we all learned about in chemistry class. This experiment proved that atoms are made up of mostly empty space. In fact 99.9999% of an atom was proven in this experiment to be empty space. Lets say we could eliminate all that empty space by condensing the parts of an atom together. How much weight could we fit in a small space such as a single teaspoon? Over a billion tons! 

    This idea is common when studying astronomy. At the end of a stars life, it collapses and explodes in a supernova explosion. The remaining mass that the supernova leaves over is so dense that the star begins to collapse in on itself. As a result of this, electrons fall into the nucleus and smash into protons becoming neutrons; hence the name neutron star.

    This animation shows a star going through a supernova explosion. The accuracy of this animation is highly questionable but it certainly looks cool.

    giphy.gif

    image.png

  22. jwdiehl88
    Latest Entry

    A simple snap-back mousetrap is a clever machine. With just a few parts (a wooden base, a spring, a metal bar, and a trigger mechanism) it can do its job quickly and efficiently.  When a mousetrap is set, the spring in the center is compressed, becoming a source full of potential energy. This energy is being stored, not used, but as soon as the trap is released, it is converted to kinetic energy (the energy of motion) that propels the snapper arm forward.  This is a perfect example of conservation of energy.  It takes an amount of force to set the mousetrap and when the trap is triggered, it creates a force onto the mouse that triggered it.  

    the levers of a mousetrap

  23. The shift in a wave's observed frequency is due to the relative motion between the source of the wave and an observer. As a car beeps its horn while traveling, it has a constant frequency and as the velocity increases, the sound waves from the observer have lower amplitudes and are less frequent. This is known as the Doppler effect. As sound waves come toward the observer they have higher frequencies than the sound waves moving away from the observer. Not only does frequency help explain the Doppler effect but it also explains how the police are able to find the speed of cars on a highway. A radar gun can be used to determine the speed of a car by measuring the different frequencies between emitted and reflected radar waves!

  24. IVIR
    Latest Entry

    This past weekend, I saw a giant game of Jenga at MIT. Literally. The blocks were nearly 2x4s, and the structure was taller than I am. While I did not stay to watch, it is interesting to think about a few of the different strategies that I remember from my childhood days. First of all, I used to believe that the faster you pulled the object out, the less chance a collapse would occur. While I'm not sure of my logic behind this reasoning, I most likely imagined that hopefully the structure just wouldn't have time to collapse if I pulled it fast enough (Yeah, I know). However, after the block is removed, whether quick or slow, the structure will still have the exact same properties regardless of speed. Another theory may be to reduce friction, but it is important to note that the frictional force does not rely on velocity, it relies on the normal force. The one factor that does effect the result of the turn is how straight you are able to pull the block out. By pulling the block straight out, you are minimizing the normal force, but if you tilt to one side or another, you are increasing the normal force and creating a larger frictional force. 

    Another concept of the game Jenga is torque. Since torque is F x r and the r in most jenga games is relatively small, the structure can often withstand the removal of blocks that may have seemed impossible. The middle block is at the center of the fulcrum, so the r would be 0, allowing players to theoretically remove all of the outside blocks while keeping a cross pattern in the middle. This is much easier said than done due to the friction caused by uneven pulls (an even perfect pulls as the wood has a large surface area) and the fact that even a small breeze can cause enough torque in the other direction to knock the tower down. A horizontal breeze may have a small force, but since the center point is technically the ground in this plane, the r would be as tall as the tower. 

    Hopefully, the physics of Jenga could help people improve their gameplay, but to be honest, isn't the best part watching it all fall? 

     

  25. Many people enjoy the game of ping pong such as myself. Ping pong can relate to physics such as forces and acceleration. Because the ball will always be the same mass one must use a larger force on te paddle to make the bal accelerate faster. In order to win the point, you must have a larger velocity than the initial velocity which is the velocity coming from the oponent. In order to do this you must have a larger acceleration therefore use a larger force

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