First Time Driving on the Highway
Having turned 16 on August 29th of 2014, I got my permit from the local DMV. After having driven for about a month, I took on the challenge of driving on the highway/thru-way to a dentist appointment. Although I was undeniably freaking out the entire ride, we safely made it to the dentists where they proceeded to do their thing. Now, post traumatic highway experience, I can see that there is a lot of physics not only involved in the car itself, but driving as a whole concept as well. For example, there are a variety of forces acting on the vehicle as it is in motion and not. In both circumstances, there is the force of gravity that pulls the car down as well as the normal force, or the ground "pushing back" on the car. There is also the force of friction that acts on the car both when it's moving and when it's static or not moving. Also having gone from neighborhood streets to the highway(s), the speed limits have changed. This means an increase in velocity and more acceleration (especially when first getting onto the highway...scariest part). So even though in the moment when all I could think of was not crashing, looking back, it shows that physics is a huge component in the little things we do everyday.
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