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isaacgagarinas

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  1. When I was in Jacksonville I went to a go kart place called the Autobahn Indoor Speedway. These weren't your typical go karts however. At the Autobahn the cars reached speeds up to 50 mph! Drivers have to wear helmets for safety and the speed made for some pretty intense races. There was a lot of physics involved in driving the cars. One of the most important parts of learning how to be as fast as possible was getting used to knowing how much and when to brake around turns. Braking too much will slow you down and can cause wrecks, however not braking enough can cause you to slam your car into the wall, also slowing you down and putting you at risk of wrecks. The only way to do this was through friction. By stopping the rotation of the wheels the tires then grinded against the concrete ground creating friction which is what would slow down your car. Also many forces were exerted with the bumping of cars and from running into walls. If my car ever rammed into another, the force exerted from my car onto his was the same amount of force his exerted onto mine. A lot of centripetal acceleration also takes place at all 4 of my wheels. Even if my car is moving at a constant velocity, the wheels are constantly changing direction as they spin and therefore accelerating inward. Finally the force of gravity is always constant on me and my car. Gravity exerts a force of 9.81 m/s^2, which is what keeps me and my car from flying off of the track. The Autobahn Indoor Speedway was a pretty intense go karting place and I had a lot of fun racing!
  2. Over spring break I was able to go down to Jacksonville, Florida to visit my friend Aaron. While I was there we decided to go clay shooting at a shooting range with his dad's shotgun. It was both helpful and interesting to understand a little bit about how the physics if the bullets when they shot. First off, it is helpful to know that the velocity of the bullets once shot out, always stay the same horizontally. Neglecting air resistance, the velocity should stay exactly the same. However gravity also pulls down on the bullet at 9.81 m/s, so after a certain distance, the bullet will eventually hit the ground. One interesting discovery that has been made because of this reality, is that if you were to shoot a bullet and drop a bullet from the same height at the same time, theoretically they should hit the ground at the same time. Even though one is shot fast horizontally strait, they still have the same amount of force pulling the downwards so they should hit the ground instantaneously. There is also a lot of physics involved in the fun part, which is shooting the clay the disks or pigeons. If you are able to aim well enough and hit the pigeon you can see it explode in the air. This happens because the bullets exert an extremely strong force on the disk, which it then exerted back causing it to break. Shooting was a lot of fun and I definitely would like to try it again. Being able to understand the physics made it more understandable and much more fun!
  3. I have a dog named Bailey and she's 3 years old. She's a golden retriever Rottweiler mix, so her and I often play tug of war! She'll grab on to one end of her rope and I'll whip her around with the other end. I realized that there s actually a lot of physics involved in this! Both me and Bailey are pulling on the rope and creating tension. If both Bailey and I pull on the rope and the ball doesn't move, keeping it in the same position despite our pulling, that means that the amount of force in each direction we are exerting is equal. That would then mean that the rope is at equilibrium because there is no acceleration in either direction. Also i notice that Bailey bites down very hard on her end of the rope where there is usually a knot. The amount of force Bailey puts on the rope from biting down, is the exact same amount of force, the rope exerts onto her mouth. This would be the reason her mouth might be sore from biting down so hard. Because of the force of the rope pushing back. Me and Bailey have a lot of fun playing and turns out there's actually a lot of physics involved!
  4. This spring break I'm getting to flying down to Florida to visit my friend Aaron! Aaron is a big surfer so while I'm down there I'm going to get to learn to surf along with him. With break now approaching, i figured it would be a good opportunity to look into a little bit of the physics of surfing! First there is a lot of basic application such as the fact that the force that the board exerts on the water, is exactly equal to the force the water exerts onto the board. However as a researched more I found there is more complexity to it than I had realized. One major principle that plays in buoyancy. Buoyancy is the ability to float which is due to the density of the board. Another reason that board is able to so easily glide across the water is due to the surface tension. If you've ever gone skiing or tubing, you may recall that when you fall off the water is seemingly hard. Well the reason for this, is because the molecules that make up water are attracted to each other, therefore their bonds are very strong at the surface. Finally, some of the basic forces play into surfing. Gravity is what keeps the surfer on the water and it pulls it down, just as the normal force, equal in strength pushes back up from the water. Then there is also the frictional force from the water between it and the board. However this is attempted to be kept at a minimum, which is why surfers wax their board to create a very smooth surface, decreasing the amount of friction. Obviously there is a lot of physics involved in surfing and I can't wait to give it a try next week!
  5. This past Sunday I was able to play dodgeball in the Dodge For Josh tournament. With our team being American themed, we were The Star Spangled Ballerz. It was very fun and after I played I realized that there was a lot of physics involved in our dodgeball games! The first thing I noticed is how the ball would dropped whenever I would throw it. Part of this is due to air resistance that slowed the ball down, but most of is from gravity pulling the ball down. Neglecting air resistance, gravity should have pulled the dodgeballs we threw down at an acceleration of 9.81 m/s^2. Something else I noticed was the forces exerted when the dodgeballs I threw hit our opponents. As a ball i threw hit the leg of someone on the other team, the ball exerted a force on them the same magnitude as them pushing back on the ball. However the balls were also very squishy which made it so they did not hurt very much. The reason for this is because they could be squished, the force absorbed took a longer amount of time therefore spreading out the force. Similar to an airbag in a car, it decreased the amount of damage done by absorbing some of the force and spreading it out over a longer period of time. Overall I had a very fun time playing dodgeball and I enjoyed connecting it back to physics.
  6. The same thing happened to my phone! Physics really can be a bummer!
  7. For many years as a kid I would often go to Seabreeze Park and I enjoyed going on rides. This summer I also was able to work at Seabreeze. One of my favorite rides there has been the Whirl Wind. There is a lot of physics behind how this roller coaster works. First off as ride reaches the top of the first hill it begins to accelerate down the hill. It starts with a slower velocity and then gains speed as it goes down the hill. The twist in the ride(see what I did there) is that as the cart goes, it also spins as it travels. This now means not only is the car accelerating as it travels up and down hills, but it also has a centripetal acceleration. By squaring the velocity of the cart spinning and by dividing it be the radius of the cart, you can also determine how fast it's centripetal acceleration would be. Also, the force that the cart applies down on the tracts is equal to the force the tracks apply back onto to cart. The Whirlwind was a very fun part of childhood and it is cool to now know all of the physics involved in it!
  8. Over the summer I was playing basketball with some of my friends. We had decided to take a break so I was walking around and looking at my phone. While I was walking my friend took a shot and air balled, knocking my phone out of my hand causing it to fall and smash the screen on the driveway. There was a lot of physics involved in this sad occurrence. First when my friend shot the ball, once it was in the air gravity started pushing down on the ball with an acceleration of 9.81 m/s^2. This is what caused the ball to come falling down and hit my hand knocking away my phone. Because of the momentum the ball had applied to my hand and phone, that is what resulted in my phone getting sent downward. Then my phone flew down flat on the driveway applying a force on the pavement. What smashed my phone's screen was the force applied back up from the ground to the screen. Obviously there was a lot of physics involved in breaking my phone.
  9. Another sport that enjoy playing in my free time with many of my friends is basketball. There is a lot of physics involving forces in the game of basketball. One of the most important aspects of the game is dribbling. To dribble a player must push down and apply a force on the ball so that it hits the ground with another force. Next the ground pushes a force back onto the ball which causes it to bounce back up to the player. Whatever force the ball exerts on the floor as it is dribbled, is the same amount of force that the floor then applies back up on the ball. Another important aspect is making sure that you have appropriate basketball shoes so that you can keep a good grip. Players often get new shoes because there shoes will ware down and become smoother causing the force of friction to decrease. This then makes it easier for players to slip and fall which is why having good traction on your shoes is so important. Finally a lot of physics is done on a basketball when you take a shot. Once the ball is in the air it has a certain vertical and horizontal initial velocity. While neglecting air resistance the horizontal velocity should stay the same until it reaches the hoop, while the ball accelerates downwards vertically at 9.81 m/s^2 due to gravity. Obviously physics plays a very big role in basketball and it is constantly affecting the game.
  10. One of my favorite things to do with my friends over the summer is play pickup football. There is a lot of physics that is involved in playing the game of football. First off when the quarterback throw the football to a receiver he must apply a force to the ball so that it can travel in the air to the receiver.Whatever force he applies to the ball, the ball then applies back onto his hand. Once the ball is in the air its horizontal velocity should stay about the same(neglecting air resistance). However once it is the air, gravity then begins to apply a downward acceleration of 9.81 m/s^2 on the ball so that it can only stay in the air for a certain amount of time. Another big part of football is tackling and the contact made by players. When a defensive player tackles an offensive one, whatever force is applied onto the player getting tackled is then also applied back on the player tackling him. You can determine the momentum of the players running before based upon their masses times their velocities. You can then determine the players speed and direction after the collision based upon the total momentum because it is conserved through the collision. There is obviously a lot of physics involved in football as it takes a very important role in every aspect of the game.
  11. Wrestling is a very fun sport that I enjoy taking part in. It takes a lot of work, however it is completely worth it and it is very fun. There is a lot of physics taking place in wrestling. One example is when two wrestlers are in neutral or standing position. While wrestling the two wrestlers when fighting for hand control will often be banging heads or putting pressure on each others' foreheads. The force that one applies on the other will always be the same as the force that the head applies back. Another instance we see physics in wrestling is when a wrestler is in the down position and is trying to stand up. The top man is applying pressure trying to keep the bottom man down by doing moves such as a spiral ride or a chop, while the bottom man is applying pressure to try and stand up. Sometimes the bottom man will begin to stand up and the top man is forced to mat return the bottom man, lifting him up in the air and sweeping his legs to return him to the mat. Once the wrestler is in the air if the top man returning him lets him fall applying no other force, he will fall with an acceleration of 9.81 m/s^2 due to gravity. During wrestling there is a lot of forces being applied between the two wrestler and a lot of physics explain how many moves work and how they respond to them.
  12. isaacgagarinas

    catapult

    My catapult also did not go as far as I planned.
  13. Good luck in lacrosse this year! Hopefully you can use your knowledge of physics and release angles to improve your game!
  14. Very cool how you were able to connect shooting a rubber band to physics and the forces applied!
  15. Field Hockey seems like a fun activity to participate in. It is cool how you were able to connect the ball to physics with it being a projectile and the different velocities and accelerations it experiences.
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