It snowed a little again today, which put me in the mood for some winter-related physics. :snowman: Some of you may be familiar with the movie "National Lampoons Christmas Vacation," a very silly yet amusing film about the holiday antics of the Griswold family. During one scene, Clark Griswold takes his brother and the children to go sledding. He decided to spray the bottom of his sled with a kitchen lubricant, significantly decreasing the friction between his sled and the snow.
For those o
For those of you who don't know, there is a video section of the Aplus site that features videos of physics-y origin. You can get there by clicking the word "videos" on the top blue bar of the site.
http://aplusphysics.com/community/index.php/videos/view-340-vector-despicable-me/
When I first saw this video, it was floating among intense brain-teasing physics vids and real life examples of the science. I thought it deserved some defense for its place on the site, so let me explain what thi
Family Guy isn't exactly school appropriate in most cases, but it is, however, physics appropriate. In one episode, Brian (the dog) educates Peter (the tubby man) on his weight issue. Brian claims that Peter has his own gravitational pull, and continues to demonstrate this by placing an apple nearby his stomach. The fruit then assumes orbit directed around Peter's abdomen.
...For those of you who are not familliar with the episode, here is a not-so-legally posted, poor quality youtube video f
Soooo, because this is my last blog post for this year ( ), I thought it would be fitting to do a course reflection on the AP-C physics class this year. I thought I'd do it in a "bests-vs-worsts" top 5 format, kind of like you could find on collegeprowler.com when viewing different schools.
Top 5 Bests:
5.) Blog Posting [i thought this was really fun! I've never done anything like this before for a class. It brought up interesting physics applications and I thought it was fun to converse w
Having trouble on the 4 minute drill? Need to consolidate your thoughts for the Mechanics part of the AP-C exam? Have no fear! I've sifted through my notes to find a good portion of the mechanics equations. If you find anything missing/incorrect, PLEASE give feedback in the comments section! I'll edit the changes in ASAP. Thank you
MECHANICS
Vectors etc.
A B = lAl lBl cos Ө
A x B = - (B x A)
lA x Bl = lAl lBl sin Ө
Kinematics
V= Vo+ at
Δx = Vo t + (1/2) a t2
V2 = Vo2 +2aΔx
In an episode of Tom and Jerry from 1948, Tom once again has his face smashed in from a falling object. This time, the offender was a half-ounce canary wielding circular cage parts. The bird unfastened the cage bottom and let it drop onto the unsuspecting feline below, making Tom's face into a pancake. How much force does this pan actually make? Could it really damage a cat's face?
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First, we must find the velocity of the pan when it hits Tom's face. We know tha
Many of you are familiar with the children’s movie happy feet, about a whimsical penguin chick that just can’t stop dancing. Why don’t these birds fly instead of dance, you ask? Let’s use physics to figure out why Mumble is aerially challenged:
There are four main forces involved in avian air travel: lift, weight, drag, and thrust.
As shown by the diagram of a blue jay in flight (credit to http://www.lcse.umn.edu), lift opposes weight and thrust opposes drag. A bird is able to fly when lift
{I added a second cookie Q to buy you guys more time. Hopefully Charlie won't answer both before someone else in the class answers one..}
You are a Kerbal physicist for Kow Jumperd Over the Mun, a company that excels in anything spacey or astronaut-y. After ending an argument between two colleagues, you decide to take a lunch break. The cafeteria guy, Louie Eeloo, has a thing for riddles, which started out amusing and grew annoying as the years passed. You were hoping that the line would be l
Just thought we could benefit from some review on moment of inertia, because it was a pretty extensive topic and wasn't really mentioned in physics B. Not to mention that the variable is a different expression for each object.
The general form of the equation is I = ∑i miri² = ∫r² dm .
Below are the moment of inertia equations for a few different objects. If you have another object in mind to share, please do add it in the comments!
Isolid disc = 1/2 mr2 Icylinder about its axis = 1/2 m
You are a Kerbal physicist for Kow Jumped Over the Mun, a company that excels in anything spacey or astronaut-y. Your co-worker, Kirby McKerbin, is arguing with the desk clerk Moony Muni. Because you clearly have nothing better to do until next launch, you decide to listen in. Kirby is absolutely convinced that if he were to oscillate a pendulum on Kerbin, move it to Mun, and repeat the same occilation, the period of the pendulum on Mun would be roughly 3.5 times that of the period of the pendul
How to become an autodidact (defn: self-directed learner) :einstein)
Monday, we were given a few packets of work, some written directions and a "finish this before the test next week." Weird. A class with no teacher? A few groups popped up to grab a computer, others buried their noses in the textbook, and some started chatting leisurely with friends. It's not that we don't have a teacher, it's just that for the next few days, we're our own teachers.
For a few of us (including myself), th
Infrasound is sound with a frequency lower than 20 Hz. Human hearing registers sounds from roughly 20 to Hz 20,000, though under certain circumstances the body will hear/feel sound at a lower frequency than 20Hz. Though the human ear does not normally register infrasound, these inaudible waves effect our everyday lives.
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In Nature:
Infrasound is produced naturally by severe weather and other forms of nature. Storms, thunder, volcanic activity, earthquakes,
...With all of this electricity and magnetism boggling our minds, it's nice to be reminded of the importance of mechanics once in a while. And by that I mean the force of friction: Ff = (normal force)(mu). Believe it or not, this commonly viewed as weak force can add up. Take the above myth busters clip for example, when the friction in between the sheets of a phone book in between the pages of a second phone book make them extremely difficult to separate. Try 8,000lb of force and two tank's wor
Hi everybody!
I haven't done a cookie problem in a while, so here it goes! The problem is related to the current unit. First correct answer gets a cookie. I think Charlie is the only one who answers these things, but I enjoy writing them and he likes cookies, so... It all works out :glee:
Slinky the dog is bored (since Andy is off at college and all), so he decides to watch Walter Lewin's video Lecture 15. Slink thinks the solenoid example is really cool and decides to try it out himse
Often times, values in physics are abbreviated using metric prefixes, or SI prefixes. I found this table the other night and thought it would be helpful to post, in that I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets these mixed up sometimes.
Thanks to wiki for this table:
[TABLE="class: wikitable, width: 0"]
[TR]
[TH="bgcolor: #CCCCFF, colspan: 2"]Metric prefixes[/TH]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][TABLE]
[TR]
[TH="bgcolor: #EEDDFF"]Prefix[/TH]
[TH="bgcolor: #EEDDFF"]Symbol[/TH]
[TH="bgcolor: #EEDDFF"]
SO, because everyone else decided to take a break, my brain also decided to go off on holiday for a while. In that case, I've decided to make this blog post 100% fun (yet still on topic), and what's more fun and physics related than comics? Hope these tickle your funny bone, have a great break everyone!!!
...And finally, a comic that Mr. Fullerton would enjoy:
Have a great break! Make sure to relax (and pretend that midterms aren't coming up)!
--Alphageek
A friend returned from training for the air force and told me about some of the crazy things that he and his comrades would do to pass the time. Some of these included taping each other to the ceiling and human-drawn chariot races, but one of the most messy and fun instances he described was a hallway slip n' slide. True story: he and his hall mates put towels to the bottom of their sleeping quarter doorways, filled the hall with soap and water and proceeded to slide down the hallway as though i
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So. I was thinking of what to carve on my pumpkin earlier and thought, "What's something that'll scare the pants off of anyone, even high schoolers?" Bingo, air resistance. Many of us were shaking in our boots when Mr. Fullerton derived a few drag-related equations, but looking back they're not too bad right?
Here's a little review. That long page really boils down to a few key equations:
Air resistance = Fdrag = bv = cv2 , where b
As Goalkeeper0 and Mr. Fullerton suggested, I decided to give the soap-and-water approach to understanding flux a shot. If you'd like to try this experiment but can't find one of those ancient metal coat hangers, here's a different approach:
>>>Credit to Goalkeeper0<<<
I bent a coat hanger into a solenoid with 5(ish) loops and filled the dish basin in our sink with soapy water. I'm not sure if it's because here wasn't enough soap in the water or a different factor, but the
PRESSURE'S ON: First person to answer this correctly gets a cookie. :eagerness:
You're at the playground with a girl you babysit, little Tori McTorque. Being 9 years old and devious, Tori took you wallet and threatened to spend your babysitting money on ice cream and root beer. Kids these days! You chased her over to the see saw, where she and her friend (Lil' Newton) sat happily on one side. You have to think of a way out of this! You don't want all of your hard-earned cash to go to waste, d
Recently, a friend has confessed to me that he has been diagnosed with stage one senioritis. We've all heard of this virus: common symptoms include drowsiness, in-class headaches, increased social tendencies, and worst of all, characteristic decreases in effort and GPA. Though some have better immune systems than others, this sickness is in fact contagious and most seniors contract a mild case. Because knowledge is the number one prevention factor, I intend to explain--using science and graphica
So. I was reading my Biology textbook the other day and encountered something called "water potential." A simple summary of this term is water's potential energy , or it's capacity to perform work when free water moves from high water potential to low water potential. What? Physics in biology you say? Of course! :eagerness: Physics is everywhere.
Let's define water potential in depth. Water potential is given by the equation water potential (symbol = Greek letter psi) = potential due to solu
Ever wonder why studying hard or taking multiple AP tests in a row makes you exhausted, or even hungry? This is because when you think, your brain has to work hard to send "messages" through the neurons to different parts of the brain and body. Cellular respiration turns your food (glucose) into adenoside triphosphate, or ATP. This is the molecule that many body functions require to do work, such as facilitated diffusion, muscle movement, and yep, you guessed it-- thinking. The sodium ion pump t
Anybody else having trouble with orbiting other planets? Docking? Space planes even? I was on youtube the other night and came across a user who developed a number of Kerbal Space Program tutorials. They're long, but are thorough and walk you through processes step by step. He trouble shoots often, so you can clearn from his mistakes to address your own issues. Plus, he has an accent. Strangely enough that makes him fun to listen to.
Here's the link to his Kerbal Space Program Playlist:
...Or in coloquial terms, "My stars, is that ctenophore exhibiting bioluminescence?"
You might think that's all glow, but there's more to this jelly's luster. Bioluminescence occurs when a living organism's cells emit light. Common examples include fireflies and angler fish, who use light to find mates and attract prey respectively. These organisms convert chemical energy into light energy, just as a human body would convert chemical energy (like glucose) into mechanical or heat energy.
