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Waves of a sporting event

During a sporting event, the players are the ones expected to perform physical activities. However, within the game and the stadium, there are many other types of physics. A few examples are waves. Waves range from the stadium fans, to the sounds of the players, to the light waves lighting up the stadium. One of the most common waves is performed by the fans, but must be done with a lot of concentration and coordination. A stadium wave has most, if not all of the crowd performing a transverse wa

Mikephysics

Mikephysics

Nikola Tesla

One of my most favorite people in history, is Nikola Tesla. Mainly for who he was as a person rather than what he did, but he did have huge contributions in the Physics world. Unfortunately, he is often overlooked by the average person, because of what the American, Thomas Edison, did with Tesla's ideas. Perhaps, Nikola Tesla's most well-known invention is the Tesla Coil. The Tesla Coil could produce high voltage, high frequency electricity. These coils create large electric fields that then can

Mikephysics

Mikephysics

The Northern Lights

One of the greatest natural wonders of the world are the Northern Lights, which unfortunately for us in Rochester, are usually only visible in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. After having been introduced to them in the magnetism unit, I became interested in finding out more about them. Their official name is Aurora Borealis and there is a ton of physics involved. The lights are created due to the interaction of the Sun's solar wind with the Earth's magnetosphere. From the solar wind comes char

Mikephysics

Mikephysics

Track and Field

Now that spring is almost upon us, spring sports will be starting up again soon. One spring sport that involves a lot of physics is track and field. From the throwers, to the hurdlers, to the runners, everyone has some kind of physics they need to perform and improve on. The sprinters focus on acceleration, velocity, and time. If we know that the runner has to sprint 100 meters, his time is 12 seconds and his final velocity was 8.3 m/s we can find his acceleration. We use the formula a=(Vf-Vi)/t

Mikephysics

Mikephysics

Rugby

Although an uncommon sport in America, rugby is a huge sport in the British Isles and southern countries like Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The great thing about rugby is how much power and work it takes to play. One of the main occurences in rugby that cause for so much work and power is a scrum. Scrums involve eight players from each team trying to work together in a pack to push the other pack backwards and get the ball from the middle. On average it is believed that a single scru

Mikephysics

Mikephysics

Work in Weightlifting

In most sports like football, basketball, and volleyball, being tall is usually very advantageous for the athletes. However, in weightlifting the complete opposite is true and people that are short have a much bigger advantage. That is because short people have a lot less work to do than tall people. Work is defined by the formula W=Force x Displacement. That's why it's so much easier for short people, they have a lot less distance when needing to lift something. To prove it I'm going to give an

Mikephysics

Mikephysics

Physics of a Plane

As I was trying to see where potential and kinetic energy are found, I realized that both show up within the liftoff and landing of planes. Starting from rest, the plane then gets onto a runway and starts to speed up rapidly. The speed of the plane and the huge mass of it lead it to have a lot of kinetic energy. As it sarts to lift off the ground and fly, the kinetic energy starts to turn into potential energy. Let's say that the plane which we'll measure at 1000 kg, gets up to a height of 1500

Mikephysics

Mikephysics

Train Physics

Over the holiday break I traveled on a train to and from the city of Chicago. The rides were very long so I started to think as to how physics applies to trains. What I noticed is that the train was beng acted upon by Gravity going down towards the Earth while the Normal Force was pushing up with the exact same force in Newtons. Our initial and final velocity changed frequently from around 35 meters/second to 0 meters/second because of the constant train stops and start-ups again. Our trains cou

Mikephysics

Mikephysics

Helicopter Blades

After discussing circular motion and how it works, I started checking where circular motion happnens in the world. One place that appeared interesting was on a helicopter's blades. When I started checking pictures, I noticed that at the centers of those spinning blades was a rotor that had a lot of mechanisms. That would make sense since the rotor would have to be able to handle a large amount of centripetal force. What is really unique about the circular motion in the blades is that they are st

Mikephysics

Mikephysics

Quantum Physics

First thing's first, if you have not watched the series of Quantum Leap, I highly recommend it and it's even available on Netflix for all you Netflix lovers. After watching the series I realized I was never actually educated in what Quantum Phisics is. The show makes several references to string theory, and the main plot of the story, which is time travel, but I never had a good understanding of the important details. That being said, now that I am taking physics I am hoping that we might learn

Mikephysics

Mikephysics

Punching Bag Forces

Now that we have started learning about forces in class, I have been able to relate that to an everyday activity of mine, which is working out on a punching bag. I have a stand-up punching bag which is affected by both the force of gravity as well as the normal force of the floor. Once I add an applied force of any type of strike, it will move in that direction at the same velocity of my strike. However, I realize that no matter how hard I hit the bag it will always offer an equal reaction to my

Mikephysics

Mikephysics

Blog #3

Throughout the fall and winter seasons, I watch a lot of football games. I think physics is applied to football in many ways like, when the football is thrown, acceleration of players from rest to when the play is going on, and also in kicks which have similar characteristics to throws. Kicks and throws both have the football moving in a parabolic path to its target with an initial velocity and with gravity forcing the ball back down to the ground. The players themselves constantly go from rest

Mikephysics

Mikephysics

Blog #2

Over the last few weeks I have learned a lot about physics. I learned that speed and distance are scalars and velocity and displacement are vectors. A scalar has only magnitude, while a vector has both magnitude and direction. Speed is the rate at which distance is traveled, whereas velocity is the rate at which displacement changes. Distance is a change in position, while displacement is a straight line vector from start point to end point. While taking physics I have struggled mainly with the

Mikephysics

Mikephysics

Mike V's First Physics Blog

An activity I perform where physics is applied is martial arts. I think physics applies to martial arts because all the movements are meant to be efficient and quick based on how your body can perform those moves. the goal is to always find the most effective way of completing movements which requires knowledge of some physics. (Distance from target, speed, power, etc.) I am taking physics this year because i thought it would be the most interesting science class that I could take in high school

Mikephysics

Mikephysics

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