For those of you who don't know, there are many cool physics channels on YouTube for those of you who want to explore subjects outside class curriculum. My favorite is Minutephysics, which covers small snippets of information at a time.
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
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
Volleyball is an interesting sport. It's very fun to play with friends with no serious competition, but once it's played for real, it is a difficult sport to master. You'd think it would be physically impossible to hit a sphere with two cylinders. Our studies of momentum have indicated that the collision would bounce off at irregular angles. Since it is easy to make passing unpredictable, I do my best to flatten my wrists by rotating them. Creating a flat platform, I am able to successfully pass
I am constantly stunned when I listen to a new guitarist make sweet music, and yet I am also always amazed by the music that bands such as Led Zeppelin made previously. So how do all of these bands make sound that is pleasing to our ears? Well, physics takes its part in melody making! Although we didn't cover it this year, sound waves were one of my favorite unit of physics (probably because I got to bring my guitar in last year to demonstrate harmonics). Guitars can be tuned so that there is a
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
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
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
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
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
In Washington DC, there is a building with very interesting sound diffraction patterns and design. Sound travels in waves in straight lines until they reflect , get absorbed by, or refract off of a medium. This room was designed with bipartisanism in mind. The desks were set up so that sound would interfere with itself so that opposite members of congress could not hear what they were saying. However, the architect overlooked basic resonance, since the arches were placed just right so that membe
Wow has this semester flown by! We breezed through the mechanics course, almost with time to spare, it seems! I believe we have a powerful class of students who like to compete for grades, and in the process push themselves and others around them. As I expected in the beginning, I love the independent units and actually found success on the tests that we took following them. I loved the refresher courses on Mechanics as well as the new material that we have learned more toward the second half. T
As I am driving my car "55" miles per hour on the highway, I throw a baseball "55" miles per hour in the opposite direction. Amazingly, the creepy man standing on the side of the highway watched the ball fall straight down. Since the velocities are equal and mass doesn't change, there is no net momentum, and therefore no net force in the x direction so the ball will only be affected by gravity acting straight down. Likewise, if I threw the ball 45 mph, the creepy guy would actually see it travel
I have a phun physics problem for you guys to try out!
A 5 kilogram ball is being lifted up. It's potential energy is increasing at a rate of 3.5 Joules per second. What is it's velocity at t = 15 seconds?
(HINT: You might find implicit differentiation helpful... Sorry non-BC kids)
