ClarkK

It seems like just yesterday I was beginning regents physics class, and now it's almost over. It's been a struggle, but somehow, I got through it. Since this is my last blog post ever, I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on this year in regents physics, so here it goes. When I first started this class, I knew right away I was going to have a hard time in it. I have never been very good at science, but I figured since physics involves a lot of math, it would not be too bad. I was mistaken. Usually in the beginning of a difficult class, I never understand anything at first. But one day, all of a sudden, I will just automatically understand it. That never happened for this class unfortunately. Though this class was extremely hard for me, I did manage to learn a couple of things. There are some units I kind of enjoyed, and the catapult project was fun. A lot of the demonstrations were pretty cool too. The most valuable thing I learned this year was that your attitude can completely make a situation either better, or much, much worse. When I walked into class with a negative attitude, I never learned anything. But when I walked in with a semi-positive attitude, I actually picked up on a thing or two. Though I will most likely never take a physics class again, I have to say that in a way, I'm glad I stuck with it throughout this year. Dropping did occur to me a few times, but if I had, then I knew whatever work I had put into this class would have been for nothing. In life, everyone has to go through things they might not want to, but in the end, things turn out to be not so bad. As many times as I might have said I hated this class, I guess it really wasn't so bad after all. And taking this class really made me admire anyone who goes into this field, because it is not easy. To conclude my last blog post ever, I just want to thank Mr. Fullerton for putting up with my horrible test grades and negativity all year. Taking regents physics class was definitely an experience I will never forget, and I haven't really decided if that's a good or bad thing yet. Just kidding! Maybe.

wow what a great topic to write about! i will keep this is mind next time i go swimming, thank you so much for enlightening me on another interesting topic once again!

Like most people, I really love music. I listen to it all the time, and then last night, it hit me: I could right about the physics of singing for my next blog post! To start off with some general knowledge, sound is the sensation you experience when your auditory nerves are stimulated by vibrating air molecules. A sound can be represented as a waveform. The height of the waveform represents the amplitude or loudness. The distance between two successive peaks in a waveform is called the period. The number of peaks or cycles that occur in one second is called the frequency or pitch. Frequency is often measured in hertz, kilohertz (kHz) or cycles per second (cps). The frequency of a waveform is equal to 1/periods per second. The pitch of a sound is the psychological impression of the highness or lowness of the sound. Pitch is often used synonymously with frequency; the higher the pitch, the higher the frequency. The voice organ consists of three aspects, actuator (lungs), vibrator (vocal folds) and resonator (vocal tract) to produce sound waves in a variety of complex patterns. Each complex sound is produced by the chopping of the airstream by the vocal folds is comprised of a fundamental frequency or pitch and a large number of overtones. Every sound we make gives us an overwhelming amount of acoustical data that can be recorded and analyzed. Each musical sound possesses three distinct properties: frequency (pitch), amplitude (loudness) and timbre (tone quality or color). Frequency: If we sing a4, our vocal folds are vibrating at 440 cps, or cycle per second, or c6 at 1046.502260 cycles per second. Cycles per second can also be called the number of periods, one complete compression and rarefaction of the simple sine wave of the vocal sound produced. Amplitude: Amplitude or loudness is the degree of displacement of the vibrator. It can also be defined as the magnitude of movement of a vibrating object. When we sing forte, more of the vocal folds should vibrate. When we sing falsetto, only the fringes of the vocal folds vibrate. Loudness is measured in decibels. A sound of a jet plane taking off is usually around 120 DB, and a soprano singing C6 at 1046 cps is around 100-105 DB. A Bruckner symphony ranges from around 90DB in a fortissimo passage to a 40-50 DB range for pianissimo So there you go, those are the basics of the physics of singing!

It is so interesting to think of all the science that is behind something like shooting stars. Thanks for enlightening me!

This is so cool! I have always wondered about the science of lightning, and now I finally understand it

For many, shopping for clothes and deciding what to wear each day are both enjoyable activities. Buying and planning out outfits takes a decent amount of thought, and it depends on various factors. For example, if it's hot out you would be smart to dress in light clothes, and if it's colder out, you would be smart to dress in warmer clothes. However, surprisingly enough, physics can also play a huge role in effecting what you wear every day. To start off, the electromagnetic spectrum has a lot to do with what you wear. If you go shopping through the different seasons, you will notice that there are many differences between the types of clothing for each. For example, if you go shopping in the fall or winter, you will see clothes that are darker colored, but if you go shopping in the spring or summer, you will see clothes that are lighter colored. To explain this, you must understand one simple fact: dark colors, such as black, absorb all of the colors in the visible light spectrum. Therefore, the color black absorbs a lot more energy, which keeps your body warmer. However, light colors, such as white, emit all of the colors in the visible light spectrum, which means that there is less energy to keep you warm. That is why if you wear all black on an 80 degree day, you will probably feel way more hot than a person who is wearing all white. Not only do the colors of clothing change throughout the seasons, the style of the clothing do also. For example, in fall and winter, stores will sell a lot of pants and sweaters, and also shoes with lining in them. This is because materials such as those are able to keep in more heat and thermal energy, so our bodies can stay warm in the cold temperatures. But in the spring and summer, stores will sell capris, shorts, t-shirts, tank-tops, and sandals. This is because our bodies do not need as much heat and thermal energy to stay warm because the temperature is already so hot. It never ceases to amaze me how much physics can come into play with even the simplest of daily activities, like picking out clothes.

That is so cool! I would have never thought to apply physics to this topic

I learned sooooooo much about softball through your post! I know I will keep this knowledge with me for the rest of my life for sure!

Last night I was at an awesome concert, but as I looked around, I realized how much physics can truly relate to everything going on around me. First of all, if you are at a concert, you expect to hear some music. That must mean that sound waves have to be traveling through the air for everyone to hear it. As I was sitting there enjoying the concert, I realized that the speed of sound in air at STP is 3.31x10^2 m/s! This made me extremely happy to have some background information on sound waves that most people don't have because they didn't take regents physics. I also knew that the closer I got to the stage, the higher the frequency and amplitude would be, and if I started heading towards the door, the amplitude and frequency would decrease, which illustrates the Doppler Effect. Also, there were some pretty awesome lights shining all over the stage and occasionally over the crowd. I was watching the colorful lights, when all of a sudden the electromagnetic spectrum came to mind. I thought about how out of the whole spectrum, there is only a small part that is made up of visible light. I also thought how all the colors can come together and if they are reflected, that creates white, and if they are absorbed, that creates black. I also realized how fast light must be traveling, at a speed of 3.00x10^8 m/s! This information gave the concert a whole new meaning. As I was looking around at the crowd, I noticed that a lot of people seemed to be crowd surfing, but many of them fell to the ground, which looked pretty painful. I then wondered what their final velocity would be when they hit the ground, so I decided to use one of my kinematics equations to figure it out. First of all, a person's initial velocity would be 0 m/s, because they are just lying on top of the crowd right before they fall. They would probably fall a distance of 2.5 meters, and their acceleration would be 9.81 m/s^2. I then could use the equation vf^2=vi^2+2ad, and once I plugged in all of my known values, I figured out that their final velocity would be about 7 m/s.

I am going to explain a little bit about how physics can relate to me walking to and sitting in my physics class everyday. First of all, the total displacement from the class I have before this to my physics class is approximately 100 meters. It takes me about 180 seconds to get to my class, because I stop in the hallways and stuff. Using the equation v=d/t, I can them determine that my average velocity is .56 m/s. However, as I get closer to the classroom, my average velocity decreases significantly because I do not want to walk into the class. When I see the classroom, there is about 10 meters left. I try to take at least 30 slow seconds to walk into class, so that would leave me at an average velocity of .33 m/s as I approach the door. Sometimes when I am sitting in class I wonder what it would be like to throw myself out the window to end the suffering. Then, I wonder if I would survive the fall. To figure this out, I could use one of the kinematics equations. My inital velocity would be zero, because I would be sitting in my chair. I wouldn't know my my final velocity. My acceleration would be 9.81 m/s since I am on Earth, and the total distance from the window to the ground would be about 12m. To find my final velocity, I could use the equation vf^2=vi^2+2ad. Once I plugged in all of my numbers, I determined that my final velocity would be 15.34 m/s. I think I would manage to survive with a few broken bones at least. So there you go, I hope this just proved even more that physics really can relate to everything!

i think you did such a great job explaining the physics of volleyball!

Wow, I never realized how much physics can truly relate to everything. I hope you have recovered from your loss of sleep over coming up with an idea for this blog!

I'm Tori, and I'm a senior in high school. I don't really do any extracurricular activities, but I have a job so that's good enough for me. I love being around my family and friends, but I also like to be by myself sometimes. Once I graduate, I want to go to college and most likely get into criminal justice. Oh I love traveling too, I would love to go so many places, but I don't really feel like naming them right now because it's a long list. I'm taking physics because I figured if I could survive chemistry, this couldn't be too bad. Also, I figured it would look good if I took a science this year because its not required. I hope to learn at least one useful thing this year because I haven't from any of the other science classes.