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Turf vs. Grass In Soccer

The newest thing these days in the world of sports is artificial grass--or turf. Many professional teams, and even high schools like our own, are installing turf in order to reduce the maitnence  required to maintain a sports field. There are two main differences between grass and turf: bounce and friction. First id bounce; Compared to grass, turf has a higher coefficient of restitution which means that, off the bounce, the ball will retain more of its speed ultimately speeding up the game as a

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The physics of a saxophone

As an avid saxophonist myself, i have never really thought about how and why a saxophone worked as it does. However, after great thought and research, i have found that the sound produced is due to three main parts of the saxophone: the mouthpiece, the holes along the body of the saxophone and the bell. The most important part of creating a great sound is the mouthpiece. When the musician blows air into the mouthpiece, it causes the reed to oscillate between the mouthpiece being open and closed.

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The Physics of Billiards

Billiards (aka pool) is a common sport in which the competitors try to knock their balls (either stripes or solids) into cups around the outside of the table. They use a Pool Cue to hit the Cue ball into other balls which will cause them to move in certain directions and ultimately into the cup. This sport is different than others because it SCREAMS physics: collisions, angels of incidence and reflection, friction and many other concepts are what this sport revolves around. First off, when the c

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The Physics of Roller Coasters

At any amusement park, there is always at least one roller coaster; its make makes the park. However when people ride it they don't actually think about how it works and the physics behind it. First of all, the first hill is the biggest in order to accumulate enough energy to get through the whole thing. And after that, gravity and the conversation of energy take the lead. Although present, the friction between the cart and the track is very little and doesn't change much. Because of this, at an

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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

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The Physics of Skydiving

On thing that i would love to do in my life time is go skydiving. Fro what i understand there are three main parts to a skydive: free-fall, decent by parachute and touchdown. During free-fall, you re acceleration toward the earth at a rate of 9.81 meters per second per second.  This just means that every second, you increase your velocity by 9.81 meters per second. However, due to air resistance, there is a maximum velocity that you reach because once you reach that velocity the drag force is eq

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The Physics of "Sweat"

Many people may be familiar with FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football) and possibly the FIFA video game put out by EA Sports also. To the average person, the video game FIFA may seem dumb or boring, however, as an avid FIFA player myself, i experience a very exciting roller coaster of emotions when i play. There are many techniques to play FIFA that will all lead to success; but the technique that is the most effective and efficient is called "Sweat". The goal (pun completely intended) of

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Shaking trees

Have you ever looked out of the window on a windy day and noticed that only the tops of the trees are shaking? The answer is most likely yes but you probably haven't thought of why this happens. The wind in general applies a force on the tree witch is what causes the tree to move, however, the tree can withstand some force and keep sturdy. As the force of the wind is applied further and further up the tree, the torque in being increased because the length of the "lever arm" is being increased. T

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The Importance of a Quarterback

As i watch the Denver Broncos play the New England Patriots in the semi-finals of the road to the Super Bowl, I have realized at how important the position of the quarterback is. Inorder to be successful, the quarterback must have keen senses and know the basics of physics. When looking deep to an open receiver, the quarterback is able to subconsciously analye three main components to the throw...the angle, speed and timing (a classic example of projectile motion). The quarterback must know exac

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Water Skiing

Similar to tubing, another aquatic sport that i love to participate in is waterskiing. Something about gliding across the water gives me a sense of freedom that nothing else really does. Water skiing is a great example of physics too. Firstly are the turns. When a water skier decides to turn, they must angle their skis in such a way that makes them go where they want. Two main factors effect the turn: the angle and the force. The more of and angle the skier tilts the skis at the bigger and sharp

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The Physics of shocking someone

Everyone inter life has shocked someone by rubbing their feet on the ground and then touching the other person. It is a classic trick often pulled in the winter. However many people don't know why or how this happens. Well the first step is rubbing your shocks, preferably wool, on the carpet. This causes your socks to "steal" electrons from the carpet and make your socks negatively charged. This is obviously not the state that the electrons want to be in so at any chance they can get they will j

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Tubing

As this year comes to a close, the activities of summer are finding their way into my head more and more each day. One of my favorite things to do is go tubing. Besides an exciting water ride, tubing is a great example of physics is the real world. The boat pulling the tuber is an example of Newton's Third law: for ever action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The propellers on the boat push on the water which pushes back on the boat to propel it forward. The rope that connects the tuber

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Pressure in Bottle

I saw this video recently and thought it was a very cool experiment and not a normal application of physics. When the hot air in the bootle begins to cool down, it create a vacuum in the bottle and applies a force on the water up through the straw. This force gradually goes to zero and the pressure inside and outside the bottle begin to equal each other. Maybe you should try this at home!   

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Wax: The key to snowboarding and skiing

Here in the North East, skiing and snowboarding is popular activity that many people participate in. However, most people don't think about the gobs of physics behind gliding or falling down the hill. For the more skilled skiers and snowboarders, the experience of tumbling down the slope is not very present in their time on the mountain. So, the main physics behind their ride is friction and gravity. Obviously, gravity allows them to move and accelerate down the mountain. However, what many peop

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Zip-Lines

Something i have always wanted to do is go on a zip-line in a forest or down a hill. However, what i did not think about are the many applications of physics in zip lining. The most obvious the use of gravity to propel you down the line. Gravity will act down on you at the center of you mass and accelerate you in a wild ride of fun. The zip-line actually works by putting a contraption on the line that has multiple wheels in it. The line is notched in the wheels and a low amount of friction allow

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Toy tops

The spinning top, a toy found across many of the world's cultures is a great example of a few key physics principles. The first is the conservation of angular momentum: with no outside forces present, something spinning must keep spinning. Because a top balances upon a tiny point, the is a nearly negligible amount of friction, and it continues spinning for a long time, demonstrating the law. But as friction slows the top, it becomes unstable and starts to wobble, leading to another principle cal

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First Physics Blog

As you can guess, this is my first blog for the AP Physics C year (one of about 40). In my free time I dabble in the sports of soccer, basketball and tennis and although I am not the best or star player in any of the sports, I would consider my self consistent and fairly talented in them all.  During the scarce moments in my life during which I am not playing sports, I am either doing homework, playing FIFA on Xbox, or sitting on my phone using Snapchat, Twitter and/or Instagram.  I have four si

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Schlieren Imaging

Schlieren Imaging is an optical technique which allows viewers to see physical changes in air which the human eye cannot detect. Like many other imaging techniques, Schlieren Imaging involves a few basic principles such as refraction (how light acts/bends as it changes medium), reflection (the act of light bouncing off of a reflective object such as a mirror), refractive index (the amount light bends as it passes into a certain material) and density (which affects refractive index). A Schlieren

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Strike, Spare or gutter ball?

A common activity that nearly any person ever could participate in is bowling. Whether you're a 35 year old professional, scoring 300 like its nothing or a 5 year old beginner using the bumpers, there still is one thing that always stays the same...physics. First of all, if you've ever stepped over the line while bowling, chances are you slipped and fell...why? The lane of the alley must have nearly no friction in order for the ball to maintain its initial speed, and to allow for better control

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Golf

In my eyes, the sport that uses the principles of physics most simply is Golf. Kinematics and projectile motion are the biggest components of physics that are applied in golf due to the objective of hitting a ball into a small hole. First, the angle at which each club is tilted determines the total distance the ball will fly. A club with a very low angle of tilt, such as a driver, will cause the ball to fly the farthest. But the angle isn't the only factor to distance. Comparing a driver to an i

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Popping Ears

Have you ever experienced your ears popping before? Why does this happen? Well, you ear has a small pocket of air in it that, usually, has the same pressure as the outside air.  However, when you are on the takeoff or decent of a plane ride the atmospheric pressure of the air around you is constantly changing at a fairly fast rate. Inside your ear there is a small tube which is made for equalizing the pressure of the air in your ear and the air outside your ear. This opens when you swallow and o

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Kayaking: The Basics

Almost everybody knows what kayaking and a majority of the population probably have kayaked before. However, like many other things in the world, people may have not thought of the physics of kayaking which is a perfect example of Newtons Third Law. While paddling, you are applying a force on the water by torque on the paddle. If you have ever experimented with paddling, if you hold further towards the end of the paddle, if is easier to go faster. However, if you choke up the the paddle alot you

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When Pen Meets Paper

Nearly every person in the world will, at one point in their life, use a pen to record, solve of draw something on paper. However, no one stops to think how and why this luxury occurs. How does ink come out of the pen when writing but not while just sitting there? A few main factors determine the flow rate of the ink: the pulling power of the pores of the paper, the pulling power of the pen and the surface tension of the ink. The pores of the paper act like little mini hands that grab on to the

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Snowshoes

Have you ever had to walk through feel of snow and your feet just fall right through it? Well this has happened to me more times than i can count. Although i do not own a pair, the great invention of snow shoes were intact created to solve this simple problem. The problem without snow shoes is that your weight is distributed on such a small  area that the snow cannot hold you up and you can easily comports the snow. The purpose of snow shoes is to increase the area that your weight is being dist

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Planes

A common way to spark ideas for this blog is to do cool stuff and have amazing experiences. And although flying in a plane is not such an “amazing” experience, it has sparked a couple ideas that I would like to share. As I was flying, I began to think “How exactly does a plane fly?”.  Newton’s Second Law popped in my mind thinking that we are obviously not accelerating in the y-plane so the force of the plane up must be equal to the weight of the plane (mass times the force of gravity) Although

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