Blogs
Our community blogs
-
- 9
entries - 17
comments - 2767
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Physics in Going Super Saiyan
In Dragon Ball Z, whenever a character transforms into a powered up state, their hair becomes golden and they're referred to as "Super Saiyans". There a few different forms of Super Saiyan, but in the clip, I've linked, Gohan goes SS2. When a character transforms, they begin to produce a powerful aura that destroys and lifts the ground around it, causing debris to fly up and float around the character, and for the earth to shatter underneath them. This means that the aura itself is so powerful that the force of it alone is enough to break the ground and launch it through the air. That is absolutely insane, I can't even pick up the ground with my arms.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
- 9
-
- 3
entries - 4
comments - 1388
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Video: Test Trial of Catapult
In this video my group and I were test trying out our catapult at an approximate angle of 45 degrees which we hoped would of increased our distance. Projectile displacement is also present in this video, but also the force of gravity which then brings down the softball.
- 3
-
Latest Entry
Physics in falling
So, the other day I was walking down my driveway after it had just rained. I was in a rush to get to school because I have physics everyday, which I just love so much. While on the way to my car I slipped and fell. I fell due to the low amount of friction my shoes against the slippery driveway had, or in this case didn't have. The smoother something is, the less friction it has. This is called the nature of the surface. Kinetic friction is what friction while sliding is called and static friction is not sliding.
-
Latest Entry
Catapults
So, recently for physics we were assigned a project of constructing a catapult to help us better understand the concept of projectile motion. This project taught me a lot. On the day of the launch, we got a certain distance that the softball we shot went, we had a certain initial velocity and final velocity and also a certain time it took to go x distance. The acceleration was constant. This helped us relate to what we were learning in class about projectile motion because it was a first hand experience of it.
-
Latest Entry
Physics Everywhere
A few years ago, it was fall and my dad was making my neighbor clean the leaves out of our gutters. My neighbor had to climb a distance of 30 feet to get on top of the roof. While he was up there, he accidentally slipped. He fell with a constant acceleration of 9.81 m/s ^2 due to gravity. And his speed was .5 meters per second for the whole two seconds it took him to reach the ground. He was very upset after he fell, but he was alright.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
-
Latest Entry
The Race
My sister and I were leaving the store and we decided to have a race back to the car. I told her that I could get there first and she claimed that she could. My initial velocity was 3 m/s and hers was 2 m/s. The distance was a mere 20 feet. I got to the car within 10 seconds and she got there in thirteen seconds. I, of course, won the race. Due to my starting velocity being greater than hers, although both accelerations were constant.
-
- 6
entries - 3
comments - 1540
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Guitar physics
A guitar string has a number of frequencies at which it will naturally vibrate. These natural frequencies are known as harmonics. The frequency at which an object vibrates at depends upon the tension of the string, the linear density of the string and the length of the string. Each of these natural frequencies or harmonics is associated with a standing wave pattern. Also, the length of strong required to produce a natural frequency could be predicted by using the wave equation (v= frquency x wavelength).
- 6
-
- 6
entries - 3
comments - 2123
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Physics On A Bike
I was biking down a hill once on my way to Herremma's Market and I slipped of the sidewalk and into the grass. Since the grass has more friction than the pavement, i fell off my bike and onto the grass because gravity pulled me down.
- 6
-
Latest Entry
Kayaking
I go camping on the lake a lot with my family, and one of my favorite things to do is to go kayaking. Kayaking uses Newtons third law, because as I push the water back, the water exerts the same force back onto my paddle, pushing the kayak to move forward in the water.
-
- 4
entries - 1
comment - 1991
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
The Physics of Riding an Evelator
Today I rode about 3 billion elevators over the course of 8 hours. Acceleration plays an important role in elevators. When an elevator goes up a floor, acceleration is going down and when the elevator is going down a floor, acceleration goes up.
- 4
-
Latest Entry
Biking
Mountain Biking has an endless list of things that are physics, from the static friction of rolling tire to kinetic friction of a tire skidding to the force applied by your feet on the pedals or the force applied by your fingers on the brake levers. I bike a lot in summer and even sometimes in the winter, but the best story I have of biking pertaining to physics took place on a rainy summer day. My friend and I were biking and we got to a board walk and both had the same idea, that wet board walk is going to be really slippery lets go screw around on it. Well I dart over to the board walk and rather cautiously proceeded on it, then I had the great idea to kick out the back tire on the slippery surface little did I know the Kinetic co-efficient was much lower than the static co-efficient on this surface, and when I kick out the back tire it came around so fast I was on the ground with my friend laughing at me before I knew what had happened. My friend also clearly having no idea whatsoever of the physics in play, calls me another word for an idiot and rides onto the board walk and kicks out the back and ends up laying on his back on the ground just as fast as I did and never has being insulted been more satisfying.
Biking also has tons to do with air resistance and gravity for example the fastest speed I can hit normally on some of the biggest hills around my neighborhood is about 32mph this is the speed where the force of gravity can no longer overcome the drag that is created by myself and my bike and when this happens equilibrium is reached and I continue at a near-constant speed until the hill subsides.
-
- 4
entries - 0
comments - 1841
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Batman's Cape
Batman, being one of the few comic book heroes without actual powers, has connected with thousands of people over the years because of this fact. Instead of using Super-strength or Super-speed he relies on his superior intellect and gadgets to defeat his enemies. Most notable of his gadgets is his cape. His cape has gone through several changes over the years. From being just plain cloth, to fireproof and bulletproof cloth , to being given a flexible skeleton to use as a glider. The latter can exist in the real world because it acts just as a hang glider works. By increasing the surface area of his falling self there is more drag due to air friction thus slowing his decent to a gentle glide. So, if given the technological means, gliding vigilantes could exist in this world.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
- 4
-
- 3
entries - 1
comment - 1659
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Hitting a wall
Today I want to tell you why punching a wall is always a bad idea, sometimes when we are mad and don't think clearly we hit a wall to release said anger without harming anyone, I guess thinking the wall will brake under the force. I'm here to tell you it won't harm anyone....but yourself. Admittedly our train of thought is clouded when we are mad but we must never forget that all forces come in pair of equal magnitude and opposite direction. This is VERY important because although most would think the wall is a static object and cant apply a force it does the exact opposite it will apply the same force you apply to it. So if you have the bright idea of pouncing a wall with say the force of 1000 newton's that wall will apply a 1000 newton force to you and most likely brake your hand. So next time you're mad remember newton's 3rd law and be civilized use a hammer to break down that wall.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
- 3
-
Latest Entry
physics on me
when I walk gravity is always acting on me. all day long physics is acting on my body. when you fall you experience this because you are always being tied to the earth by gravity. when you jump in the air your being effected by gravity because you don't just keep going up into space. gravity is constantly bringing you back down to earth. also when you are falling you are constantly falling at a rate of 9.81 m/s2 down once you reach terminal velocity however you can no longer accelerate. however you will most likely not survive the fall at this point.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
-
Latest Entry
Welcome to the Play; Vectors applied
I recall standing near one of two doors to the auditorium on a Sunday Afternoon, waiting on people to arrive. it was not until 1:45 until people started to swarm in. Ripping up tickets and providing programs, I was busy at work making sure that people would feel welcome inside the dark chamber. The performance itself was based off of a child's book, reimagined, and transformed into the musical known as Frog and Toad. yet all that mattered to me at the time was dealing with ticketwork and getting the viewers in.
Yet at the same time, i wasn't responsible for every single viewer. No, instead some funneled in through the alternative door, while others seated themselves onto the balcony on the second floor. So if i didn't have to manage every ticket, how could i predict where people would enter? That's where physics comes in.
As it is known, Vectors are quantities of both magnitude and direction. Near my door, i could figure which people would check through me through the direction in which they took to reach the auditorium. If they entered through the main entrance and through the commons (presumably eastward), it would have been unlikely that they would have entered through my door, since it was more situated towards an entranceon the left of the building. Should they have entered through that entrance ( which was southward), they would have more likely checked in with me. Another thing i noticed was the magnitude of their movement. I noticed that generally people were more rushed the closer it was to show time; a sign that they moved faster.
In all, by observing this, I was able to take something as absurd as being a volunteer, and use physics to make the job easier. with the assistance of vectors, i could keep myself reminded that not every person would be checking in with me.
-
Latest Entry
Karate Physics 2
Another example of how physics applies to karate is in take-downs. This is when you use your opponent's bodyweight against them (which I know is more Judo inspired than actual karate, so just bear with me). But what I observed is with minimal brute force a person with little mass can take down an opponent with much bigger mass. This is done with speed. And as the formula for force goes, it is equal to the mass of the fist times the acceleration of the acceleration of the punch. So, short people of the world don't worry, with enough speed you can beat a much bigger opponent.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
-
- 6
entries - 0
comments - 1879
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
showers
Taking a shower also involves physics in many different ways. The only way the water can get out of the faucet and turn on is using some kind of force that exerts the water upwards to take a shower. Also, the different temperatures are important too so when you are turning it to warm or cold that involves friction making it not too easy to turn it so you don't make it too hot or cold.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
- 6
-
- 30
entries - 9
comments - 4579
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Electrical Super Powers
Lots of people have heard the word “superconductor.” But, not too many people really know what they are or how they’re made.
A superconductor is an occurrence of exactly 0 internal resistance to electrical charges and the removal of interior magnetic fields, known as the Meissner Effect. During this change, all magnetic flux within the material is transferred to the outside, greatly multiplying the outside field. Super conductance was discovered in 1911 by Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes. And, it’s actually a phenomenon of quantum mechanics.
Superconductors are made when a material is cooled to below that material’s critical temperature. And, they can break down once the magnetic field around them grows too great as well. There are currently two classes of superconductor based on how they break down. Type I superconductors abruptly stop conducting in this way if the field breaches a certain threshold value. Type II superconductors begin to accept magnetic flux back into the material above the threshold point, but retain their 0 resistivity. It is because of these quirky effects that superconductors cannot simply be seen as perfect, or ideal, conductors, but rather entirely separate phenomena.
Scientists still study superconductors and their applications in depth today. In 1986 ceramic materials were shown to have very high critical temperatures, ones that were theoretically impossible, and were dubbed high-temperature superconductors.
Nowadays superconductors are used in particle accelerators and mass spectrometers due to their incredible power as electromagnets. However, they have all kinds of fascinating circuitry and quantum mechanics applications. Feel free to investigate yourself, but for now, enjoy a video of a superconductor floating above a magnet, known as quantum levitation.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
- 30
-
Latest Entry
Workplace Physics
This is a story about my work and physics.
I am not telling you where I work, but I just know I am a busser, and I am very good at it. So a few of the people I work with know I love science and math and physics. One of them actually majored in science so we discuss it a lot. I'll call them S. So S was carrying a tray at just the right position where it was almost straight up and down. (Perpendicular to the floor) Someone asked how the heck he can do that and I answered saying that it was static friction and that since the forces on the plate were just so, the plate would not move unless he tilted his hand more. Which he did and it fell and everyone told me I was smart.
More will probably come because I work with some really cool people who like to talk about physics with me.
-
- 17
entries - 12
comments - 2510
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
no more cracks
As of last week, I upgraded from a cracked, partially missing screen on my Iphone 5c to the Iphone 6s. I was super excited to actually read my screen!! When I was at the store, I was strongly advised (probably from the looks of my old phone) to purchase a glass screen protector. The salesman said the glass was designed to take all the force if one were to drop their phone. He said the glass was similar to that of what the military uses (for what, I do not know). I am curious what properties of glass alter it's durability. Or other questions come to mind as well: if any glass is layered on top of the phone, will it protect it just as well? I also wonder how the force protects the actual screen from cracking. I hope the screen does it's job because with my track record, I'll have my phone shattered in a few months. On the plus side, even though the screen costed me $40, there is a lifetime warranty!
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
- 17
-
- 30
entries - 17
comments - 4735
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Laundry Mishap
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.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
- 30
-
- 30
entries - 10
comments - 3907
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Stage Curtains
If you have ever went to see a concert, play, musical or any other performance on a stage, it is very likely that there were curtains involved. Tonight, i was partly responsible for the curtains at the IHS Talent show. The contraption that allows the curtains to move across the stage is a simple pulley system using two pulleys and a rope in-between. When the rope is pulled in one direction, it creates a torque on the pulley and causes it to spin. This spinning either opens or closes the curtain (depending the direction pulled). This contraption is also very common with close-able curtains in your home. And this is a very simple example but i realized thats some of the most simple things help the most!
- 30
-
- 30
entries - 13
comments - 5587
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Calculus Pup
I just returned from a calc group session at school with my friends and our calculus teacher. My friend, in an attempt to make Taylor Polynomials and series less of a burden, brought along her little dog. Ironically, as I was sitting there, the pup inspired what I am afraid will be my final blog post of my AP Physics C year. Well, my friend had gotten up from her seat, and the dog, which was tied by a leash to the chair, wanted a change of scenery. As a result, she attempted to jump onto the very chair which she was tied onto. However, as soon as her paws came in contact with the chair, she skid across the surface of the chair and nearly fell off the opposite side. So, what did the little doggy fail to consider in her take off towards the chair? Well, there are a few factors. First off, when the dog took off from her hind legs, she made an angle with the floor; she had both horizontal and vertical components to her velocity. As a result, when she hit the peak of her trajectory path, hence landing on the chair, her vertical velocity was zero, but her body continued to move in the horizontal direction due to the horizontal component of her velocity. In addition, because the surface of the chair is slicker than most surfaces, resulting in a lower coefficient of friction, there was little frictional net force present in order to decelerate her horizontal velocity. Ideally, in order to prevent any skidding, the dog would simply have jumped completely vertical and landed on the chair, hence having zero horizontal velocity (this application is not ideal, however, because it would involve the dog jumping through the solid seat of the chair, which is impossible and would hurt, to say the least). However, a large angle with the horizontal would increase the sine component of her velocity and minimize her horizontal velocity, and therefore skidding.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
- 30
-
- 33
entries - 8
comments - 2855
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Sunflower Seeds
As I'm sure many of you know eating sunflower seeds is a very popular task and one that is full of physics. Such as when you are biting down on the seed to crack it you are putting a force down onto the seed that is needed to crack but did you know that the seed is putting a force onto you. Indeed the seed is putting a force onto you called the normal force. This helps allow you split the shell. Now when you spit out the sunflower seed you are doing a kinetic equation that will affect the distance that you are able to spit the seed. Such as if you want to spit the seed farther you have to give it an initial velocity. Then this in turn will give it a larger displacement and will result in a final velocity of zero because the seed will have landed on the ground. This is the physics involved in spitting out sunflower seeds.
- Read more...
-
- 0 comments
- 33
-
- 30
entries - 17
comments - 4274
views
Recent Entries
Latest Entry
Really Tall Things
Mankind likes big things. We like gigantic iPhones, Venti Lattes, and skyscrapers. The pyramids of Egypt represent perhaps man's earliest obsessions with making big things. As children, we stack wooden blocks until they topple and injure the cat. We are a species obsessed with bigness. But how big could we build? The current tallest building in the world is pretty big, but it's miniscule compared to the towering peak of Mt. Everest. The world's tallest buildings keep getting bigger, but eventually there comes a point when it is impossible to keep building upward. Or is there? In 1895, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky proposed a structure known as a space elevator. Such a structure would begin on Earth and stretch all the way out into outer space. But wouldn't it crumble under its own weight? Normally yes, but this isn't your average game of Jenga. A structure in orbit experiences an apparent centrifugal force that increases the farther out in space an object gets. How and why demands a separate blog post, but given that parameter, a structure as tall as a space elevator would be able to support its own weight because the top section would experience a net force outward that cancels out the gravity that would cause the structure to topple. Therefore, it would theoretically be possible to create a space elevator. Unfortunately, there would still be a ton of forces involved, making most materials useless. However, scientists have postulated that carbon nanotubes might be strong enough to be used in such a project. Even so, the space elevator is a long ways away, but should it come to fruition, it would make transporting packages into space immensely less expensive. Plus, it would probably look awesome.
- 30
-
Recently Browsing 0 members
- No registered users viewing this page.
