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    A couple of days prior to this post I was at a friends house which I had rode to on my bike, however during the time that I was at my friends place it had started to rain. During my ride home I reached a fairly tall and steep, due to the slicked rode I sped up and was unable to control it very well. I was able to control it enough to not land head first on the concrete however I did land head first into a bush. Soon after that we had a lesson and corresponding video on friction which helped show as to why I wiped out hilariously. Because of the water the friction between the bike tires and the ground decreased leading to a much more slick situation. maybe next time I will just call for a ride

  1. I just wrote an entire blog entry and it deleted randomly............ oops....... anger.........

    Anyway! Let's talk about the new Hobbit movies. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote the book as an entertaining action book for his kids. Peter Jackson - whose adaptation of the Lord of the Rings was already controversial - took this thin children's book of between 300 and 400 pages and turned it into a trilogy spanning about 9 hours of new characters, added scenes, invented drama, and life-or-death situations that had not been in the book. The movie is a great action film; it is a bad Middle Earth film. And it is a horror movie for physics enthusiasts. Take a look at the scene in which Gandalf and the dwarves - 10 points to Gryffindor if you can name them all without looking them up! - escape from the mountain of the Goblin King. Gandalf is a powerful wizard, yes. However, his mere presence would not have been able to account for all the impossible things that happened in that scene. The already highly implausible rope and wood bridges and ladders and platforms are questionable. Then take all the dwarves and Gandalf - a combined weight that I do not even want to add up - and put them on one platform. And then throw this raft down the side of a cavern. Every single person stays on the platform for the entire ride down. They land in a heap with groans and sassy remarks. If there had been even a hint of realism in this scene, then every single dwarf would had lost his life. And if Gandalf has not lost his, too, he would not have been able to walk away very soon. And right after that scene, we witness quite an impressive feat. Dwarves are made for mines, and as Gimli so enlightened us to in the original trilogy, they are natural sprinters. I did not know that they could fling themselves up into tall pines so quickly, though! Apparently the call of a Warg gives these heavy humanoids supernatural climbing and jumping abilities.

    I like Peter Jackson, don't get me wrong. And fun fact, his birthday was on October 31! It is just that he took a children's book and made a 9 hour trilogy full of life-or-death that was not in the writing! And he also decided that he is cool enough to neglect physics. I understand that Middle Earth is different from our Earth, but I like to think that some of the same physics apply. I suppose that is something only J.R.R. Tolkien could have answered.

    Until next time.

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    james000345
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    Over the week end me and my youth group made a slingshoot out of some ristbands left over by the youth rally. We tride to shoot a hotdog acrost black creek. We falled and it just below up and made a mess.phiysics apply to this because as we aplide preser on the slingshot it made more potential energy yhat when released it made kinetic energy and pushed the hotdog forword till it fell apart. Im taking physics to understand the ws us of motion so we can make better slingshots.im exited to lurn how the world works in a new way but im anzious that I dont have much time with all the school work this year.

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    JessByrnes717
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    Hi I'm Lucy and I keep track of the amount of treats I eat with my Ti calculator

    blogentry-3466-0-20069200-1410825092_thu

  2. gdaunton
    Latest Entry

    blog-0282305001410276478.jpgWhat's this? New AP-C students?

    Welp a new dawn has... dawned and I have made the short stroll of 18 miles to RIT. So what has changed? Not much.

    Right now you AP-C'ers are taking, I assume, mostly college level courses and believe it or not they are actual college level classes, like no joke. With Calculus, Physics and other classes I was (and you are) taking the equivalent of a Freshman year in college. If it sounds intimidating its because it is, taking that big of a step a year early is very tough and will, at points, seem like the worst decision of your life.

    Don't get me wrong senior year is lots of fun, but remember, if a class like Calc or Physics is getting you down, hold on. At some point or another you will have to realize that not all knowledge is easy to learn and high school is the best place for that. Mr. Fullerton is amazing and he, unlike a college professor, will help you through every step if he needs to.

    Enjoy yourself and

    make it a great year!

    Oh yeah, READ THE TEXTBOOK (I have to pay for mine, use it while it's free)

    Have fun and stay classy,

    Shwiby

  3. Did I just get hit with a dump truck or did I just take the AP Physics C exams? Turns out, I took the exams.

    Yes, they're over....and with a massive sigh of relief, I can move on with my life and enjoy the rest of my senior year.

    But I must be honest...they were the hardest exams I have ever laid my eyes on, and it came as a wake up call to me that, yes, maybe I DO have to work harder in future physics courses.

    This year in physics, although rough academically, taught me that one cannot simply understand a concept with ease at this level (with a few exceptions...)

    So as I move on with life, I will take physics at RIT at least knowning what to expect, and I'll have a working knowledge of the basics.

    But seriously, those exams hit me like a truck. And the truck had spikes and chainsaws in the front. Yes, it was pretty violent.

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    The most renown example of waves are ocean waves, however, microwaves serve as another example and daily appliance that showcase the physics of waves. Out of all the frozen foods on the market, Pizza Rolls are my favorite dominant after school snack. When microwaves warm up your food, friction heats up the water molecules in the Pizza Rolls. In turn, this produces heat inside the apparatus. Furthermore, microwaves have a predetermined and set frequency. Microwaves are hot for physics!

    20130206-totinos-cooked2.jpg

  4. In working through the Magnetism unit, one really good question came to surface; Is it possible to have a magnet with only one pole? What would it mean to have a monopole after all?

    Monopoles are essentially a theoretical particle, an isolated magnet with only one magnetic pole. This would mean that the particle would have a net magnetic charge. What would that mean in simple terms? The notion that the magnetic field has zero divergence would be proven wrong; in fact, magnetic particles would most likely behave even more similarly to electric particles, in that not only would magnetic particles have two opposing charges, but, in the same manner negatively and positively charged particles exist, north and south pole magnetic particles would also exist; the "south pole magnets" and "north pole magnets" would not have to cancel out, a rule already accepted in physics today.

    What do you guys think? What would the discovery of a monopole (if one exists) mean for what we already understand about electromagnetism?

  5. 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

  6. username
    Latest Entry

    blog-0539677001397240367.pngThe physics of tornadoes is very interesting. It all has to do with pressure and angular momentum. When air is heated it expands causing the density to decrease. This decrease in density combined with the higher density air around it causes the heated pocket to rise. The surrounding air then rushes in to fill the void and a tornado is born. The tornado is perpetuated by its own angular momentum.

    To learn more check out http://outreach.phas.ubc.ca/phas420/p420_04/sean/

  7. A video combining the amazing lectures, clips and television shows of some of the most famous celebrities and scientists on the planet. Combine it with music and you get the best thing ever.

    http://vimeo.com/29466108

  8. When professional tennis players serve , the ball usually goes anywhere from 120 to 163.4 MPH (fastest recorded in history) which is pretty darn fast. They try to serve the ball as close to the net as they can so their opponent has a harder time of returning it. The closer to the net makes it so the angle to the incident is greater. The bigger the angle of incident is, the closer the ball is to the ground because it is measured against a right angle with the ground. If there is a small angle of incident, that means the ball bounces more vertically and is easier for the opponent to put away and possible smash into your face which is their point. That is why tennis players try to get the ball as close to the net as they can.

  9. blog-0380869001397237126.pngIt's been quite a while since I've seen a Star Wars movie, but I still remember the necessities from all the movies. It doesn't take a physics prodigy to understand that there are many physically-impossible aspects of the series, but its good to use the imagination every once in a while and ignore these impracticalities. Nonetheless, I can use my knowledge of physics thus far to analyze certain parts of the series. First of all, when the tie-fighters and x-wings explode in the movies, they make a tremendous amount of noise. However, knowing that sound cannot travel through a vacuum (in space) we know that the explosions would be silent. George Lucas, being a smart man, probably already knew this, but nobody wants to watch space ships silently explode. Furthermore, the concept of hyperspace is introduced in the fourth film. Through breakthrough special effects, the audience is encouraged to believe that the characters travel enormous distances in matter of seconds. Knowing that the speed of light, the fastest thing in the universe, (more so than the Millennium Falcon), is only 3.00 x 10^8 m/s, it seems highly unlikely that the characters could transport so fast.
  10. Physics is.. so gosh darn great

    I feel like it and I... are fate.

    With a Newton here, or a Pascal there,

    These SI units we love and share.

    Whenst look for a potential mate,

    All emotions to physics, they equate.

    If the air in the room feels perhaps electric,

    Just know that physics isn't eclectic.

    A standard mix of fun and function,

    Studying physics fills one with compunction.

    Alas, alack, it is time to go,

    I'll need to do work, that's fo' sho'.

    As Bernoulli said, just go with the flow.

    So shine like a lumen and simply glow.

  11. 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

  12. Reflection is the change in direction of a wave front at an interface between two different mediums so that the wave front returns into the medium in which it originated. Common examples of this include the reflection of light, sound and water waves. In acoustics, reflection causes echoes. This is why when you go to a school concert, there are those white barriers behind the performers. They are there to reflect the sound from coming from the instruments to the crowd. Acoustics also play an important role in understanding how waves behave because the angle in which the waves hit the acoustics walls, the angle remains the same as it bounces off the acoustics barrier.

  13. A popular sport in the world is golf especially now that the masters are on television. This is the start of a very exciting time for many people to be watching such a long storied sport. The physics in golf are plentiful. There are many kinetic equations that are involved in hitting a golf ball. There is not an initial velocity on the ball but when you swing and hit it there is a ton of displacement and a large final velocity. This is also something that deals with friction when the ball hits the grass it causes the ball to slow down and roll to a stop. This is something that is very evident in putting as the ball is always on the grass causing it to slow as it goes into the hole. This is how golf is full of physics.

  14. Light is subject to a quantum theory called wave-particle duality. This theory proposes that matter exhibits both properties of a particle and properties of a wave.

    The experiment that shows light's wave-like properties is the double slit experiment. when light was shone through two slits close together, and a screen was placed behind the slits, the impact pattern didn't look the way one would expect a particle impact pattern to look like. After going though the slits, the light diffracted, creating a wave diffraction pattern on the screen, showing light's wave-like properties.

    Light's particle properties are shown in another experiment. Light is passed through "absorber" planes, which don't affect waves. however, when the light passed through the absorbers, the wave after going through the absorber was considerably weaker. This confirmed that light has some particle like properties.

    Light is neither particle nor wave and yet exhibits properties of both, which can be experimentally observed.

  15. blog-0868459001397216848.pngIn the recent installments in the captain America movies, we see the captain using his shield to knock out the Nazi's during Wii but how doesn't it kill them. as we have seen in the movies when he throws his shield hard, newton's third law states that the amount of force is equal to the thing it transfers its energy to. so as the captain throws hard, the shield should have enough force to decapitate the enemy. also when Peggy shoots cap's shield, it makes a large vibrating sound. this is because the lognioitutional waves in the combustion form a mechanical wave, which is moving left and right in terms of the wave pattern. thank you for listening in the physics in captain America
  16. Honestly, this whole E & M section of Physics C has not been going so great for me. We're supposed to have our last unit test on electromagnetism tomorrow, but I took it today because I won't be here tomorrow. We finish it the Monday after break, and it's safe to say I left about 75% of that test blank because I didn't know the answers.

    I think I struggle with concepts more than anything. I just can't visualize the problem like I could in mechanics, so none of the processes we go through to get answers seem logical to me.

    Anyway, I need to work on memorizing formulas too. I know induced current is big and necessary, but unfortunately today I forgot that equation during the test. I also need to study capacitors and inductors and how they act in circuits, as well as how to use all those equations with e in them in the RL/LC circuits .

    I think a huge contributor to my misunderstanding is how I watch the videos. I watch them and take notes, but don't always comprehend what the point(s) of the video was/were, and then I go a couple days without looking at my notes on them and I forget almost everything.

    As you can see, I have my work cut out for me over break. I know this isn't a typical blog post, but I also know that I am running out of ideas, and this helped me work out my issues which is good.

    Until next time,

    bazinga818

  17. blog-0417991001397188086.jpgIn December of 2013 physicists discovered a way to approximate the amplitude of scattering sub-atomic particles in a way that is much, much simpler than the old method. The idea is that given a set of parameters and whatnot, a geometric object, which is being called an amplituhedron, can be constructed such that it's volume equals the amplitude of a scattered particle from a quantum interaction. The old method involved using hundreds to millions of Feynman diagrams, which show possible ways the particle could scatter, and summing the probability of each situation occurring. Even a simple interaction had to be modeled by a formula several billion terms long but the amplituhedron process reduces that to just a few pages of work. For example, the diagram to the left represents an 8 gluon particle interaction. If the same calculation were to be done with the Feynman method it would involve around 500 pages of calculations. The implications of this are enormous, and this may be a big step in the direction of a functional unified field theory.
  18. Currently, we use a method called astronomical parallax to measure the distance from the Earth to various stars among our home galaxy and others. Well, we'll still be using it. Unfortunately, this post isn't about a literal tape measure from Earth to the stars.

    The usual way of measuring distance has to do with observing angles as the Earth goes around the sun, as is illustrated below

    gvpo1q3gkev1kesxztkm.jpg

    But now, we have found a way to utilize the Hubble Space Telescope for yet another purpose: spacial scanning. With this new technique, we won't have to wait the half a year it takes for the Earth to move far enough around the sun to make these measurements. Instead, we can use the famous space telescope to make measurements that are correct within 5 billionths of a degree.

    The hope is that the more precise measurements will allow us to delve deeper into the mystery of dark energy.

    Read the article here

  19. ever play with a slinky by pushing it down the stairs? well that's not all you can do with slinkys you can learn about waves with them. if two people hold each end of the slinky then move the slinky up and down then you can see a transverse wave that is a mechanical wave to because it have a medium (the metal). You can create all types of frequency's and amplitudes by either moving your hand up and down faster or slower. another wave you can see is a longitudinal wave by pulling the slinky together then letting go. you will see that the wave moves in the same way the velocity does. it doesn't move up and down it moves side to side. so next time you play with a slinky try to create some waves because you will be able to learn something's while having fun!

  20. 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!

  21. In physics there is gravitational force all around with all objects. Gxm1xm2/r squared. Gravitational force is thanked by the orbits in outsides. Without it we would be non-existing. It's so cool how the moon and earth go around the sun without any problems and give us the seasons!

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