When I was in the 8th grade, I always dreamt of taking physics in high school. Unfortunately, my motives at the time were somewhat naive; I used to think that a physics background would allow me to never miss-throw a baseball again. With a handy protractor, I believed that I could throw a baseball any distance I desired with little effort as long as I threw it at the perfect angle. Physics has since crushed this dream: the ball will only have a finite amount of time in the air, based on the comp
Super Mario Bros defies many different forms of physics. Assuming his round belly carries some weight, I would be nice to give him a weight around 200 pounds. Since he can jump over 5 times his body weight, his legs would need to lift at least a tonne to come close to the approximate strength to perform such a feat. In addition, kicking the koopa shells would create an equal and opposite force back onto his feet. He would not be that agile if he were wearing steel-toed boots, so it should hurt a
Here are my top 5 tips to performing the best possible:
5) TARGET THE UNITS IN WHICH YOU PERFORMED POORLY ON TESTS. If you aced that rotational motion test or blew through the early dynamics tests, odds are you don't need to prioritize your study sessions around them. Focus on the tough stuff that you know you could use the extra points for. Getting those extra points that few students usually get will boost a 3 to a 4 and a 4 to a 5
4) DO EVERY PRACTICE QUESTION POSSIBLE. Each released AP
Now that I finally understand how to control the Kerbins, it's just about time to stop! I am always excited to got to phyics now so that I can take my crack at doing a new mission at Kerbal Space Program. Our missions have gotten increasingly competitive lately, since recently charlie and I were able to orbit
Duna, and another group was actually able to land, dock, and return home from Duna! I am amazed by the scope of this program, as there seems to be a new twist, turn, and addition to the pl
Allow me to give my first impressions on Kerbal Space Program. It seems pretty confusing as a software, just because it is unfamiliar. After my first flight had an interesting crash straight into the ground, I am very impressed by the physics engine. Taking the fact that we are flying 3-foot tall Kerbins into planets that are pretty colors into consideration, the Physics engine and cost system makes the game surprisingly realistic. I am excited to work with my team, Charlie and Devon, on winning
From a very young age, my dream was to become a scientist. I didn't know that I wanted to discover the god particle or find a cure for cancer or synthesize a new element. I had no idea how broad the term "scientist" was and how many denominations it had, either. The only thing I knew is that it would be pretty awesome to be the guy who mixed two chemicals in a beaker and watch it explode, just like in the cartoons.
As soon as school became more serious than learning how to write, I already p
The other day, my dad and I were moving a couch for my uncle. For arbitration, let's say the couch weighs 100 N. Because my dad stands 6 cm (.06 m) inches taller than me, it can be assumed that the couch will be offset as well. If the couch is about 4 meters, the angle is about arcsin(.06/4) = .015 degrees from the normal or 89.985 degrees from the x axis. Therefore, if each us lifted an equal amount, we would lift the couch with 50 N each. However, we would be generating a torque equal to the F
Friction is a pain in the butt when we look at kinematics problems. It is the main non-conservative force, meaning that it changes the total energy in the system. When fining net force or total energy, friction is always a tricky negative sitting in the dark to take points away from innocent physics students. The statement "if friction is negligible" yields an instantaneous sigh of relief, since our job just became that much easier. So why should the universe have friction at all? Well, with no
There are two categories of snowboarding: Freestyle and Freeride.
I fit more into the freestyle category, but i wasn't always. Two years ago, i started snowboarding recreationally. Seeing all of the kids doing impressive tricks on their boards, I wanted to try my hand at the sport. However, I found rotation to be very difficult for me, and i could see why: with my big feet, I could only rent a large board. In any case, angular momentum is conserved, but with a really large moment of inertia
The other form of snowboarding is called Freeride. It focuses on going fast and carving your own trails out of a mountain. Although I upgraded my board to increase my rotational velocity, I sacrificed my ability to carve at speed. The edges of a snowboard are metal, and allow the snowboarder to apply a resistive force using their legs and friction to slow down their body. In this case, a longer snowboard would provide for a more stable ride because the force is applied over a larger area. This r
It has come to my memory that equation dumps are a staple to our physics careers. So, as taken from an old sheet from last year, I figured I might as well start memorizing early! The better recall now the better recall later! (Please excuse the really poor table making)
[TABLE="width: 749, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD][TABLE="width: 748"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 226"]
[/TD]
[TD="width: 290"]x = x 0 + v 0 t + 1/2at2[/TD]
[TD="width: 185"]Vƒ = Vo + at[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]f max = μ
Brace yourselves, pull up your britches, and put your thinking caps on, ladies and gentlemen, because here comes Induction! Last year, induction was one of the most difficult concepts to grasp. And as a result, we suffered a significant loss in points on our tests! Thankfully, this unit will not be independent like the last one, because I fear that with the addition of the tweaks and calculus incorporation, I am anticipating that I will need a copious amount of time spent staring at equations un
I remember the first time we saw the integral was in physics C. It was extremely intimidating because we struggled to make sense of the differential equations, let alone evaluating the integral itself. The very first problem we got, we were spoon-fed the fact that the integral of (du/u) was equal to ln(u)+C, and that made absolutely no sense to me. Now, into the third quarter and after attending the calculus school of hard knocks both 2nd and 3rd period every day, i think its is safe to say that
I know all of us have a habit of just getting by in physics, especially on Wednesdays I mean, I'm not going to lie and say I dedicate the full time during these independent units, and sometimes it is honestly difficult to grasp the concept using strictly the materials given. One website that Mr. Fullerton gave us towards the beginning of the year that really helps me get quick and concise information. HyperPhysics allows you to search for specific topic and gives you the facts and diagrams you
1.) Gauss's Law/Ampere's Law - the AP writers love to give problems that ask to find the electric field or the magnetic field about an enclosed current or charge. Knowing how to use these equations will pick you up valueable points in the free response.
2.)Right Hand Rules- if you cannot use the right hand rules correctly, you might as well throw away a couple questions on the test and hurt your chances at a 5 on the AP test.
3.) Kinematics equations with angular translation- I can't even
