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  1. Last weekend I crossed the border into Toronto, Canada for a "girls weekend" with my mom and sister. Our main purpose of going there was for a yoga convention for all the yogies of the world. While at this convention, we of course experienced tons of physics! When doing different yoga poses, we experienced the great phenomenon-gravity- at work. When "ohming" or saying "namaste" we experienced sound waves, and the vibration they produced so that we could here them. But when we weren't doing yoga, we somehow still experienced physics! By dropping tons of money at the 3-story mall, The Eaton Centre, we experienced the force that our heavy shopping bags created on our arms. When taking the elevator to a new floor of designer stores, we experienced physics there and how we felt heavier when going up, but lighter when going down due to acceleration. We lastly saw physics when we hit the pool/hot tub in our wonderful hotel. The jets pushed water out creating different waves or bubbles. We also created waves by jumping into the pool. Depending on the type of jump or how hard it was, the amplitude changed all the while carrying the energy we put forth by jumping in. This weekend adventure was full of physics just like everything else!
    3 points
  2. The Space Race between both the USSR and the United States is by far one of my favorite eras of history to study. They say competition is the perfect motivation, and I truly believe, from a technological standpoint, this is era is a prime example of that motto in its purest form. Some of the biggest strides in human history were made in a time where computers were still the size of rooms all due to fear, curiosity, and drive. Public Service Broadcasting’s album, “The Race For Space”, tries to capture all of these emotions, during a handful of critical points, along this journey in order to show how important this period was for Humanity as a whole. (I will cover the tracks in event order not track order) Track 2: Sputnik The year is 1957, and, as tensions of the Cold War are ever increasing with no end in sight, humanity has its eyes on the one place neither power has even traveled: space. The Soviets, ever fearful of the United States launching into orbit, rushed through their plans to launch a 3,000 pound satellite equipped with various scientific instruments. They ended up downsizing dramatically to a 184 pound payload with a 58 centimeter diameter without any instruments. On October 4th of that year it was launched on a R-7 rocket with four stages. It nearly suffered a catastrophic launch failure, but the a combination of engine thrust and wing movement saved it last second. Well what did it do? It beeped. And that beep was the beep heard all around the world. Well at least for 22 days… its batteries actually exceeded the expectation of 14 days. For the first time in all of human history something was able to orbit the earth. It wasn’t the first man-made object in space, but it was the first which was in continual free fall around the earth. So, yes, the Soviets to prove themselves put a beeping piece of metal into orbit because that is all they needed to do to stir so much amazement and fear. The device whose name directly translates to “travelling companion”, would be the spark which set the both countries ablaze and straight into the most heated technological race in all of human history. Track 3: Gagarin It is now April 12th, 1961. Multiple years have passed since Sputnik, but no shortage of tests and animals had been launched into space, including the famous cosmonaut dog Laika on Sputnik 2. Now it was time to push the barrier forward onto man's reach into space. Enter Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin. A 27 year old Senior Lieutenant Gagarin was chosen out of over 200 Russian Air Force fighter pilots by peers and project heads due to his exceptionally quick thinking and attention to detail. At 9:07 A.M. Vostok 1 took off carrying Gagarin on board. Due to the feared consequences of free fall, the Russian mission control was totally in control of the craft the entire time. Yuri was the first human ever in space, a true high water mark achieved by humanity. His trip lasted one obit, a total of 108 minutes. While the United States press showed fear of losing the space race, he was seen in many places as a hero for humanity, going on a global world tour to be paraded around countries including England, Canada, and, of course, across the USSR. This stance of him being a pioneer, regardless of national affiliation, is what PBSB was aiming for in their upbeat track. Looking back now it is easy to say he was a true pioneer for all of humanity and his efforts will forever go down in history as that of a hero. Track 1: “The Race for Space” The date is now September 12th 1962. President Kennedy is making a speech to 40,000 people in Rice Stadium. At this point, the United States is far behind in the space race launching the first American, John Glenn, nearly a year after Gagarin. Kennedy knew he needed to rouse the American spirit, and, in effect, his speech became a defining speech in American history. A link to the full speech can be found here: https://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/ricetalk.html. Perhaps one of the most ambitious technological proposals made by a president, Kennedy promised that by the end of the decade America would put a man on the moon. Keep in mind no spacewalks had been taken, lunar modules had been made, no docking sequences had even been practiced, and here was the nation’s leader saying we could make it in 8 years or less. The National Defense Education Act had been passed due to Sputnik and had been in effect since October 4th 1957. Now its efforts of acting as a booster for the mathematics and science related fields was beginning to see results. Young engineers and scientists began coming out of Universities in order to rapidly increase the nation’s technological investments to bound ahead. This key moment not only left the nation space crazed, but made getting to space a budgeted objective at the front of the nation's interest. This vow and critical commitment is what would pave the way for the American Space program to come, as now Americans all over had their eyes on the skies. Track 7: “Valentina” Fast forward to June 16th, 1963, Vostok 6 is launched. It is the last in the man orbital missions launched by the USSR starting with Gagarin. Well what made this so different? This time the passenger was Valentina Tereshkova. Yes, the first woman in space. Her mission lasted 3 days and she kept two way radio communications with Voltok 5 which was orbiting with her. In this time she made 48 orbits, which was quite a large feat at the time. Her personal background was that of an avid skydiver and textile factory worker making her the first civilian in space as well. The space suit she wore was the MK-2 which was very similar to the MK-1 that Gagarin wore. These suits were only meant to be pressurized in an emergency, such as if the cabin was punctured. It would take a better space suit in order to do an EVA which is the coming up milestone. Up until this point, humans have remained within their pressurized cabin in order to take a safe trip, but now we move onward and upward by finally getting out of the restrictive hull. Track 5: “E.V.A” On the 18th of March 1965, the Voskhod 2 mission was launched. Two cosmonauts were abroad: Pavel I. Belyayev and Alexey A. Leonov. Belyayev was the primary pilot while Leonov was the secondary, but he had a far more important mission. He was to perform the first E.V.A trialing the first space suit with a life support system in the backpack. The flight lasted 26 hours and made 16 orbits. During this time the first spacewalk lasted approximately 20 minutes with Leonov claiming the experience gave him a sense of complete euphoria and tension at the same time. The mission, being reported as a major success, acted as a dramatic blow to the United States government. At the same time, many catastrophic failures occurred while in space, but were never reported on the ground. A few moments after Leonov stepped out of the shuttle he realized his suit had inflated to the point he could not get back in. He needed to decompress, and as he let out oxygen he began feeling the initial symptoms of decompression sickness. He began pulling rapidly on the cord thrusting himself in with a moment to spare, but at his current temp he was at risk of heat stroke. His perspiration blocked his view so he had to maneuver around the airlock blind. He eventually did it and made it back in to the safety of the shuttle. This was only the start of the problems though. Due to this maneuver the oxygen content of the shuttle soared, meaning any single spark would have it blow up as quick as a flash. They managed to lower the oxygen concentration back to a safe levels. The ultimate test occured when they had to manually re-enter the atmosphere due to engine problems. They were exposed to high G forces along with high temperatures only to land off course in Siberia. They were eventually recovered and hailed as heroes. This was yet another large step to making it to the moon with the United States still lagging behind. And they were soon to have one of their largest hardships to date. Track 4: “Fire in the Cockpit” On the 27th of January 1967, an event which would live in national infamy occurred. The Apollo 1 space crew, comprised of Virgil Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee, all entered their command module to undergo a simulation for their up and coming launch. The first problem arose when Grissom complained of a “sour smell” in the spacesuit loop, but decided to continue the test. This was followed by high oxygen flows triggering on and off the alarm. This wasn't resolved as the communications were experiencing problems resulting in the line being only between pilot Grissom and mission control. At 6:31, oxygen levels quickly rose as Chaffee casually says he smells fire, but within two seconds, White proclaims, “Fire in the cockpit.” Escape procedure was supposed to take ninety seconds, but ultimately that time frame was too long. In the highly oxygenated environment, the fire spread too quickly, followed by the command module rupturing forcing black smoke across the landing pad. An eventual investigation found that the fire was started by a faulty bundle of wires located behind their heads. It took firemen three minutes to quell the fire and to open the doors, but it was too late all three perished. It was a day of national remembrance and an overall low in the American Space program up until that point. Their sacrifices were distinguished with the highest regard as the nation mourned and tremendous loss. Track 8: “Go!” Apollo 11 is by far the most known aspect of the space race. It is the moment where scholars say the United States sealed their place as the winners of the space race. It inspired kids for years to come to become astronauts. The Apollo 11 mission’s ultimate goal was to land the first man on the moon fulfilling Kennedy's earlier promise and legacy. Apollo 11 launched on July 16th, 1969 with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin. It took 75 hours to reach lunar orbit. This is where the focus of the song is. It includes a systems check as the lander makes it's landing maneuver and lands on the surface. The utter tension at mission control was palpable. This was the most critical part of the mission, and when they landed, from the utter joy heard over the radio, the public knew they had finally done it. Tee descent began at 102:33 with the ultimate touchdown resulting at 102:45. After a period of set up and a postponed rest period, Armstrong made his exit onto the surface at 109:24:19 to utter those famous words. Aldrin soon followed behind with the whole thing being broadcasted to the American Public. This moment, the moment where America gathered around their television screens to watch them be the farthest away from anyone else that any human has ever been, was the height of the space race. They made their return launch starting at 124:22 and plunged back into the Pacific Ocean on July 24th. These pioneers set the standard of human exploration in the space age and acted as role models for new explorers for years to come. Track 9: “Tomorrow” The last track of the album is of course the most inspirational. It focuses around Apollo 17, which was the last manned mission to the moon. it was launched on December 7th, 1972 with crew members Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt. It's main objectives were to put a Rover on the moon, conduct testing, and take samples such as moon rocks and photographs. In total over 16 hours of EVA were conducted, 30.5 kilometers we're traversed by the rover, and 243 pounds of samples were collected. The mission was a success but extremely bitter sweet being the last mission in the Apollo chapter. It ultimately completed the era of the Space Race. It has much more sentimental value in this aspect, as the track takes the time to reflect on the previous decade and a half of progress and how far the human race has come. Ultimately the space race was a period of history where nations gathered behind the scientific progress they conducted. Yes, there was always the fear of mutual destruction, but the sense of shared awe at what humanity achieved far overshadows that factor when looking back at history. There are not many periods of history where technology progressed at such breakneck speeds, and may not be for a long time. There is plenty more to read about the period, and I encourage you to do so if this interested you at all. As always it had been a pleasure! This is ThePeculiarParticle, signing out. Informal Bibliography Esa. “The Flight of Vostok 1.” European Space Agency, European Space Agency, www.esa.int/About_Us/Welcome_to_ESA/ESA_history/50_years_of_humans_in_space/The_flight_of_Vostok_1. “The First Spacewalk.” BBC, BBC, 2014, www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/2014/newsspec_9035/index.html. Larimer, Sarah. “'We Have a Fire in the Cockpit!' The Apollo 1 Disaster 50 Years Later.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 26 Jan. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/01/26/50-years-ago-three-astronauts-died-in-the-apollo-1-fire/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.7d4feb08cec3. “NASA.” NASA, NASA, www.nasa.gov/. “National Air and Space Museum.” The Wright Brothers | The Wright Company, airandspace.si.edu/. RFE/RL. “Kennedy's Famous 'Moon' Speech Still Stirs.” RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, 13 Sept. 2012, www.rferl.org/a/kennedy-moon-speech-rice-university-50th-anniversary/24706222.html. “Space.com.” Space.com, Space.com, www.space.com/. “Sputnik Spurs Passage of the National Defense Education Act.” U.S. Senate: Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, 9 Mar. 2018, www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Sputnik_Spurs_Passage_of_National_Defense_Education_Act.htm. (Disclaimer the websites were used many times for different articles)
    2 points
  3. ...(But probably not.) In light of the holiday season, I bring to you a Christmas-themed blog post, with a pinch of love and some hints of gravitation. I came home from school today and stepped into the living room, astutely noticing that the Christmas tree had fallen. Obviously, the first thing that ran through my mind was that gravity did this. I mean, gravity's everywhere - it's a pretty likely culprit. You may or may not notice the lamp just above where the tree fell, but I believe it to be of great importance in this investigation. I have deduced that, at any time from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM on Tuesday, December 16, the gravitational attraction between the tree and lamp created a gravitational orbit that forced the tree out of its holder, and onto the cold ground. Let's take a look. First off, the tree had to begin in static equilibrium - it was still at first. Due to Newton's first law, an outside force had to act upon this tree, and I do believe that the placement of the lamp near this tree provided an IMMENSE GRAVITATIONAL FORCE. So let's dive in. We know that the magnitude of this force is given by GMm/r^2, where G is a constant, M is the tree, m is the lamp, and r is the distance between the two. G = 6.67E-11 Nm^2/kg^2, we know this. The average mass in kilograms for a Christmas tree is about 70 pounds at this height of tree, or 31.75 kg. The mass of the lamp is about 8 pounds, or 3.63 kg. I can already see this force is about to be massive. And the distance between the center of mass of the tree and lamp? About 5.5 feet, or 1.68 meters. Time to calculate. F = [(6.67E-11 Nm^2/kg^2)(31.75 kg)(3.63kg)]/((1.68m)^2) Therefore, the force due to gravity is a whopping 2.72 NANONEWTONS. This incredibly large force undoubtedly caused the displacement of the tree; therefore, gravity ruined Christmas. You may be subconsciously pointing out the holes in my story, like how did a gravitational orbit just occur if the lamp was there the whole time, or perhaps just pointing out the fact that two objects on Earth will likely only apply negligible forces to each other. Fair enough, but keep in mind that there is absolutely no other worldly explanation for this phenomenon. So it's either gravity, or ghosts. You decide. Or maybe the cat just knocked it over.
    2 points
  4. Physics is involved in pretty much everything in life. Throughout my school day I experience all kinds of physics. First period I have Italian where I sit down (along with the rest of my classes) and I am applying a force to the chair and the chair is applying a force to me because of Newtons third law. Second period when I get my math test score back I hit my head against the desk which is also applying a force to the desk and the desk applies one right back. Third period is art class where I gravity is pushing my eyelids down while I struggle to stay awake. Fourth period is APUSH which could be compared to a black hole. Black holes have tons to do with physics. A black hole is a point in space with so much gravity that not even light can escape and that is most definitely APUSH... Fifth and 6th periods are the best of the day because I do not have classes these periods so I can do my homework. Seventh period is English where I push down on my pencil and it leaves a mark on the many papers I have to write. Gravity also pushes down on that pencil. Eighth period could be the first period of a double for physics or if I am lucky its gym. In gym there is so much physics. A ball is thrown and is a projectile motion. Gravity acts on the ball at all times. If were running in gym we push down on the ground with our legs and the ground pushes us back allowing us to run. And then ninth period, well there is too much physics in a physics class to list. Tons of gravity throughout the day and tons of newtons laws. Crazy..
    2 points
  5. So if you haven't heard, a rocket that was supposed to bring supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) exploded on October 28. Here's a short article and video talking about it: http://www.wired.com/2014/10/antares-rocket-explosion/. Obviously, this kind of sucks. The rocket cost about $200 million and now most of the supplies won't make it to the ISS. However, explosions are still really fun to watch, especially one that big and I don't feel bad saying that since the rocket was unmanned. Also interesting is that the rocket was made by Orbital Science, under contract of NASA. This shows that the space industry is slowly because more of a private industry with Orbital Science and SpaceX leading the way at the moment. They aren't sure exactly what caused the rocket to fail, but the actual explosion was caused by the self-destruct being purposefully activated. The real problem was right when it fired its first stage - you can kind of see this in the video. As soon as this problem was noticed, it was decided to destroy the rocket before it reached a populated area and could potentially cause damage. Any number of factors can mess up a rocket launch; there are a lot of variables. Wind speed and direction, an area clear of people, weather, calculations, etc. I think the biggest things I learned from this are that those errors we usually don't account for in our physics labs (FRICTION!!) matter a lot in the real world, and that we still have not perfected going to space. I'm excited for space tourism anyway.
    2 points
  6. 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 with classmates on the site ] 4.) Independent Units [As uncomfortable as I was at first, independent units forced me to manage my time, work harder than usual to learn the topic, and was great preparation for college. I feel like everyone sould experience this kind of a unit before graduating] 3.) Assigned practice problems from the readings [Assigned problems were REALLY helpful. I would've struggled a lot more than I did had I skipped doing the sample problems] 2.) Units with Lecture & book follow-up [This is my favorite way to learn things! The read-then-lecture method] 1.) VIDEOS <3 [Hands down the most helpful resource in Physics] Top 5 Worsts: ...I think this is my biggest beef. I really don't have 5 things to complain about. 1.) Readings weren't assigned [When life gets busy in the middle of the year, especially with a number of APs, sports, etc., readings are the first thing to get cut out for me if they're not assigned. Confession: when the going got tough, I would often skim or not read. I reccomend assigning readings in the future. Kids will complain, but they'll thank you when they see better grades and their AP score.] Overall, this was a successful year. A note to future students: This is by far the hardest AP course I've taken throughout high school. If you want to succeed, you must: A.) Read the textbook and do some practice problems B.) WATCH THE VIDEOS. Whether you're confused or simply want review, these are soooo outrageously helpful. It's like being in class a second time, except in 15 minutes or less instead of 42. Plus, you can skip over any sections that you feel you know solid. C.) REVIEW THE EQUATIONS AND FREE RESPONSE BEFORE THE AP. I went through most of the E&M free response questions as well as both E&M and mechanics equations before the exam. KNOW THE EQUATIONS! I swear equations and key concepts are the majority of the test when it comes to the multiple choice Qs. Any favorite parts of the year? Things you wanted to change? Post below with your opinion! ...I can't believe we only have 1 more day of physics
    2 points
  7. PCX is a workout area that I participate at weekly with my volleyball team. We go on tuesday nights to exercise as a team. I realized while watching videos that i recorded of the exercise's how much physics was applied into each activity. The vertamax that we use for jump training is full of physics. When you use the vertamax you put on a belt with two clips on either side of your hips. You then stand ontop of the vertamax (a square flat surface) and then attach the clips to different color resistance bands. With the vertamax at PCX you can either choose to use it for jump training or leg strength by making the bands go parallel to the floor instead of perpendicular. Once cliped into the machine we are told to jump and go for maximun height. The force of the resistance bands pulls us toward the ground and makes us work harder to get higher into the air. Once we are done useing the clips we unclip the bands and then jump without resistance and analyze the height difference. The jacobs ladder is another machine that we utalize on a weekly basis. Similar to the vertamax you belt yourself into this machine and then "climb the ladder." You can control the speed of the machine with how much force you put into it. If you are working hard and pushing yourself and the machine then the output on the machine will mirror your work and move faster to challenge you. The machine is inclined at a angle so as to simulate climbing up a ladder type object The angle that it is inclined to makes it more difficult to climb. The Pull up bar is also full of physics. With three reps of eight pull ups my team is challenged to bring their entire bodies up into the air transitioning from potential energy into kinetic. We are given band to put our feet into for extra support. The rubberband like bands expand and retract to help differ our weight. The sled is yet another item that we use to work out. Notice this is not your typical snow sled. This sled is a black device that you put weights on inorder to work your legs and arms. Having the sled on the turf surface creates more surface tention and therefore more work to be done by my teamates. There are two different holds that we can choose from when using the sled. The two different holds are all about angles. The higher of the two is easier because you are able to use the machine against itself to push it across the turf. The lower of the holds means that the players body is parallel to the ground and very close to it. The force that it takes to push your legs and arms together to get the seld across the turf is increased from the higher angle hold. Basically every tuesday i have extra amounts of physics added to my day!
    2 points
  8. My childhood, like many others, was spent watching many Disney Movies. One of my all time favorites was the Lion King- I never grew tired of it. One scene that always sticks in my mind is that once music number of young Simba and Nala and, of course, the scene of Mufasa's Death. (0:49-1:20) It can usually bring tears to even the toughest of teens, yes? As a child, this scene really never bothered me and, now, this sad scene seems to bother me so much more. Mufasa died a heroic, and untimedly, death by saving his only son. However, we should move onto the Physics now. How accurate is Mufasa's death, exactly? Could a fall from that height really kill an adult male lion? How far did he fall, anyway? It's very hard to tell but, after reviewing this scene many times I feel I can give a good shot at answering these questions. From what I can tell, Mufasa's fall lasted roughly 5 seconds (1:07-1:12ish), and started from rest before... Scar decided to be a jerk and condemn Mufasa to death. So, using the equation d=vit+(1/2)at2, knowing his falling time was 5 seconds, he started from rest, and acceleration due to gravity is 9.81m/s2; It can be estimated that Simba's father fell about 123 meters. While he seemes to be fairly high before he fell, I highly doubt that the the distance (vaguely seen at 0:50) was taller than the Statue of Liberty. Obviously, it makes sense why a Disney movie would over exaggerate the death of a character, and not care about making the Physics of a children's movie accurate. While real Lions are tough and resiliant, a fall like Mufasa's (even if less than 123meters) would still kill or severely injure an adult lion- not taking into account the stampeeding wildebeasts trampling. So, as expected, Disney's The Lion King takes little care in being realistic... It was still interesting to think about, however! And imagine how cool (at least, I think so) it would be if a childhood classic was actually completely accurate- in a physics sense (because animal's can't talk).
    2 points
  9. I have a very large interest in bees, so for my first blog post I've decided to research how bees see colors differently compared to humans. Through my research I have discovered that the color spectrum of bees is shifted when compared to the color spectrum of humans. Visible light is part of a larger spectrum of energy. Bees can see ultraviolet – a color humans can only imagine – at the short-wavelength end of the spectrum. So it’s true that bees can see ‘colors’ we can’t. Many flowers have ultraviolet patterns on their petals, so bees can see these patterns. They use them as visual guides – like a map painted on the flower – directing them to the flower’s store of nectar. Some flowers that appear non-descript to us have strong ultraviolet patterns. Being a bee doesn’t necessarily mean you live in a more colorful world. Bees can’t see red – at the longer wavelength end of the spectrum – while humans can. To a bee, red looks black. Humans see light in wavelengths from approximately 390 to 750 nanometers (nm). These wavelengths represent the spectrum of colors we can see. Bees, see from approximately 300 to 650 nm. That means they can’t see the color red, but they can see in the ultraviolet spectrum (which humans cannot). Bees can also easily distinguish between dark and light – making them very good at seeing edges. This helps them identify different shapes, though they can have trouble distinguishing between similar shapes that have smooth lines – such as circles and ovals. Vision is important to bees, because they feed on nectar and pollen – and that means they have to find flowers. Bees can use odor cues to find a perfect flower, but that only works when they’re already pretty close. Vision is essential to help the bees find flowers at a distance. A bees Vision in responce to different colors: Red -> black Yellow -> yellow-green Orange -> yellow-green (darker) Green -> green Blue -> blue plus ultraviolet blue Violet -> blue plus ultra violet Purple -> blue White -> blue green Black -> black In conclusion, bees have a very unique color vision.
    2 points
  10. As advised by Mr. Fullerton, I did the Coat-hanger bubbles experiment to further understand flux! Pre-experiment preparation: First, in my closet I found a nice metal coat-hanger suitable for the trial. After attempting to reshape the coat-hanger, I learned that my hangers are very strong, or that I lack strength; so, I went to my brother's toolbox and grabbed pliers to help bend the wire into a slinky-like shape. My coil ended up having four turns. I then ventured into my kitchen to fill the sink with soapy water. With the bubbly solution complete, I was ready to start the experiment. The experiment: I dipped my wire coil into the water, and slowly pulled it out. I found that the bubbles didn't form well to the structure. So, I compressed the coil by pushing the turns closer together. When I tried again with the compressed coil, the bubbles formed nicely between each turn and along the outside of the coil. The formation of the bubbles between each turn demonstrated how the number of turns matter when calculating flux. Therefore, the more turns, the greater the flux. Hence, the equation for magnetic flux is: N=number of turns A=area within one loop B=magnetic field =angle between magnetic field and positive normal direction Everyone should try this experiment before the test on Wednesday!
    2 points
  11. While I was pouring ice cold lemonade for myself, I wondered-- "What would happen over time if I waited for a cup filled completely to the brim with ice to melt? Would the water spill over the cup as the ice melted? Or would the ice just melt leaving the cup still completely filled to the brim with no spills?" Huh. I had to test this out. I decided to use a cup filled with ice, and slowly poured water to the exact brim of the cup, and left a napkin under to see if the water would spill over after the ice melted. This was not enough for me. What if the cup were filled with ice and grape juice? Or ice cube grape juice filled with water? Or ginger ale? Or milk? I was curious. I tested these all out, only to find I was wrong in my original hypothesis. I was sure I'd come back to my kitchen a pooling mess of water, milk, grape juice, and ginger ale, but I was very wrong. I had three cups of perfectly filled glasses completely filled to the very very tippy top, like no other cup has even been. It was amazing. I realized something was up with water. These things called hydrogen bonds really mess with us chemist and physicists. Why? Because they can. In liquids, molecules slip, side, bond, break and reform. However when the water turns to ice, the molecules are rigidly bonded. This creates more empty space between the molecules when the hydrogen atoms bond together so rigidly and thus frozen water occupies more room. It is also less dense than liquid H2O because of this space. This is why ice floats in your Sodas. Or why in the winter-- better known as the constant weather in Rochester-- lakes and ponds freeze at the top and not on the bottom. Because ice is less dense due to H2O's molecular structure of Hydrogen bonding (positive to negative --oppositely charged ends of the water molecules-- creating space). Solid ice takes up more space than the liquid state of H2O. You would think that water would behave like every other substance from liquid to solid-- that the molecules would become denser and more compacted-- but no, it does the exact opposite. Because water is tricky, and that's why we drink it. You may be wondering why the milk and grape juice? Those are mostly water based as well, that is why. Due to the change in thermal energy, we all know that the water transferred energy from the high temperature (water) to the low temperature (ice). This is the second law of thermodynamics. It is also considered an energy heat flow. As we know, this happens so that this water glass can reach a happily balanced equilibrium. This is why ice melts. Even milk ice. The energy in the glass is never destroyed; the first law of thermodynamics tells us energy is conserved. Here are some cool links (pun intended) on ice and why it is less dense than its liquid state of H2O. (Also why it would not spill over a glass even when filled to the brim and left alone for an hour or so.) Not all science experiments have to be messy. http://www.word-detective.com/howcome/waterexpand.html
    2 points
  12. Most people dont realize that there is science through playing a sport. Watching or playing volleyball is a great way to grasp the principles of physics. Understanding physics can be tricky if you just look at the mind boggling equations and such, but by connecting physics to other things, such as volleyball, physics can help you learn in an easier way. Gravity Gravitational force impacts every aspect of volleyball; whether you are serving, passing, or hitting. Gravity will effect every contact with the volleyball. When some one is going to serve, the server uses upward and forward force on the volleyball, while gravity is using a downward force. Because of the downward force of gravity, the volleyball will make it over the net onto the other side. There are different types of serves that can make it harder for the opponent to pass it on the other side. One type of serve is called the jump-float. This particular type of serve has no spin to it, when the player contacts the ball they try to hit the ball with the plam of thier hand without snapping their wrist. When people are performing the jump float serve, they stand back a couple of feet. This is because, the player wants to ensure that the volleyball is cutting through as much air as possible. The longer the volleyball is in the air the more the volleyball is exposed to the air stream. The jump float serve is very similar to a knuckle ball in baseball; it is very hard to time. When being served by a server using the jump float, it seems like the ball is actually floatng in the air. Another type of serve is called the top spin. Top spin serves is quicker than the jump float. When performing a top spin serve the player snaps their wrist, which causes the force on the ball to accelerate quicker to the ground. A top spin serve brings the ball down because the seems on the volleyball are rolling forward.This causes the air velocity to be faster on the top of the ball rather than on the bottom of the ball; this pushes the ball into a downward motion. When a passer is passing a ball an upward and forward force is exerted on to the ball while gravity is pushing the ball down. To ensure that the volleyball will meet at the target spot, the passer will have to follow through with their arms in the direction of the target. When a volleyball player goes up to hit or spike the ball, they try to use as much force as they can so they can get a kill and grant their team a point. When spiking the volleyball the player exerts a downward force on the ball, crushing it to the other side of the net. When spiking the ball, gravity is now working in the players favor. Players dont have to hit the ball as hard because gravitational force is acting on the ball in the same downward direction. Acceleration and Velocity As gravity pulls the ball down, the ball is accelerating. When a player is spiking the volleyball to the other side of the net, the balls velocity has increased showing acceleration .Throughout the game of volleyball, the ball is constantly accelerating and decelerating as well as the player is; this all depends on the forces that the players put on the ball and how quick or low the player moves to get to the ball. A player on one side could pass an easy free ball to the other side, when very quickly a player on the opposing side can spike the ball back with a high amount of force; this is showing the balls acceleration. Through volleyball, you can calculate the velocity of the volleyball. To calculate this you would need to use an equation. In this case, you could use the equation v=d/t. This stands for velocity equals distance divided by time. For example, if the server was behind the service line 25 feet away from the net ad it took 2 seconds for the ball to pass the net to the other side, the velocity would be 12.5 feet per second. The higher the velocity is, the harder it is for the passer on the opposing side to deliever a good three option pass, which is a good thing. More Here is a video explaining even more physics on volleyball. Have fun watching this video and thanks for reading! Just remember that physics isnt a tricky thing to learn if you connect it with cool things like sports!
    1 point
  13. Last weekend at an honors interview at Roberts, I got to take a look in some of their physics labs. they had some fun things set up for us to check out. One thing was in a section called "physics and music". Sounds perfect for me, right? They had a bunch of wine glasses filled with different amounts of water. When you dipped your finger in some water and rubbed it around the edge of the glass, a specific note could be heard. However, if your finger isn't wet, it doesn't work. Why? Turns out, it is because there is too much friction between the finger and the glass when the finger is dry. When the finger is wet, there is minimal friction, which allows the glass to vibrate, which produces the note. The amount of water in the glass determines how high or low pitched the note is. If you try this experiment, try placing a ping pong ball in the glass. The ping pong ball will make the vibrations visible because it will move on top of the water as the glass vibrates.
    1 point
  14. A common underestimation of our forebears in their histories and scientific achievements is that it was common in many archaic cosmological models that the Earth was a flat, disc-like plane. Without a doubt, there are people that persist to this very space-age day that trust in a flat Earth but it was in no way exclusively an ancient phenomenon or a common one. Even with few scientific instruments, the elder humans, unequipped with the internet and latest edition of The AP Physics C Companion: Mechanics (full color edition) by Dan Fullerton for only $19.99 on Amazon and free shipping with Amazon Prime, saw how boats would disappear over the horizon and observed that the stars would seem to swirl about an axis which also was an idea supported by the Christian church. The idea that people did not know the Earth was round stems from several fabrications made to support a popular thesis at one point that religion and science could not co-exist. Which brings me to this point: the resurgence of the Flat Earth Society. It is caused solely by social media's way of spreading disinformation and allowing people to assemble into a Facebook group of over thirty thousand apparently sincere believers of a flat Earth model. So I leave off with question: should you even believe in this post because it is social media?
    1 point
  15. The first point of sectional finals, we have serve. Ace. A couple more aces and a big serving run and we are now up 18-3. We end up winning the first set 25-6. 25-6. 25-6, in sectional finals, against Pittsford Sutherland. It is clear now who has the momentum moving forward. The momentum from the first set carried us in the next two sets and we end up winning the match and sectional finals. In a sport, when a team has the "momentum" in the game, it means that they are the ones on the move and will be hard to slow down and stop. In physics, momentum is the product of mass and velocity, and the equation is p=mv. Therefore, as mass or velocity increases, so does momentum. Momentum is also a vector quantity, so it has a direction to go along with the magnitude. A change in momentum is the impulse which uses the equation J=Ft. It would take a large amount of force in a large time to create a big impulse or change in momentum. Last night, Sutherland started to create an impulse in the second and third set, but it wasn't enough to sway the momentum in their direction. Here's a video of the final point of the match last night!
    1 point
  16. As I was scrolling through Instagram, I came across a post by Nasa that said today, October 14th, 2017, is the 70th anniversary of supersonic flight. Supersonic flight is when something is traveling faster than the speed of sound, which is 343 m/s. Of course for the past 70 years this has only been done by noncommercial planes. Well, Nasa is currently working on making supersonic flight a reality for commercial planes. That would mean that you can travel from New York to Los Angeles in 2 hours. Now it takes over 6 hours. Nasa has been researching shock waves, cruise efficiency, and the effect of sonic booms on the environment. Sonic booms are loud boom sounds caused by the waves of sound. It occurs when an object travels at supersonic speed. If Nasa is able to make this a reality in will revolutionize modern travel.
    1 point
  17. In the spirit of Halloween, I created a spooky story that links together a couple of multiple choice problems from the Work, Energy, and Power exam that we took on Wednesday 10/25 last week. I hope you enjoy and Happy Halloween! A person pushes a box across a horizontal surface, but there is so much more to the story. The boy pushing the box across the creaking floorboards of a desolate hallway looks over his shoulder, fearing for his life. Someone had blackmailed him into bringing the 40 kilogram package to room number 207 in the haunted hotel on Mansfield Street, so he put all 20 bottles into a box and went to the hotel precisely at 10 o’clock. Despite the fact that his bones were shaking, he continued to push the box at a constant speed of 0.5 meters per second. The box slides along the dusty floor with a coefficient of friction of 0.25 and creaks with every step he takes closer towards room 207. He reaches the door and slowly enters. The first thing he notices is a massive grandfather clock covered in cob webs that stands directly in the center of the room. Its frictionless pendulum has a length of 3m long and swings with an amplitude of 10°. He stares long and hard at the clock as its pendulum swings from its maximum displacement where it has a potential energy of 10J, to its lowest point at vertical position where it has 10 J of kinetic energy. But he knows that somewhere along its path it has an even amount of both kinetic and potential energy of 5 J. He is so mesmerized by the massive clock that he doesn't hear a 2000 kg car accelerating from rest at 3 m/s^2 down the street. Lucky for the boy, the car goes by the hotel at a speed of 20 m/s. With his eyes still transfixed on the clock, moving in sync with the clocks pendulum, he begins to feel like he is floating in a void of black space. The clock is the only thing in sight besides darkness. Suddenly he is blinded by a flash of bright lights and the sound of loud screaming fills his ears. As he snaps back to reality and his eyes begin to adjust to the light, he realizes that he is surrounded by a large group of grotesque zombies that are slowly closing in on him. He grabs on tightly to the massive grandfather clock and squeezes his eyes shut. A cold hand touches his shoulder and he lets out an ear piercing scream. Just when he thinks he has reached the end, he hears laughter. Upon opening his eyes, he recognizes the faces of the zombies. They are his friends! And they have thrown him a surprise birthday party inspired by his favorite TV show, The Walking Dead! Good thing that he brought the soda! Happy Halloween y'all!
    1 point
  18. I watched a cool lab video on a professor giving a visual representation of gravity. The idea of gravity has always been pretty easy for me to understand and easy to use in equations but where I begin to lose that understanding is when we leave earth and look at how it holds everything together. How space is constantly expanding but these planets, moons and stars are constantly effecting each other. In this video you get to see how gravity really makes these things work together to make space what it is. The part I found coolest was when he explained and showed why all the planets are going around the sun the same way. In this case it is clockwise and anything going the opposite way around the sun was or would be eliminated. This was due to collisions and as he says, those going counter clock wise were not heading in the 'preferable direction'.
    1 point
  19. Thinking about what we have been learning in physics, on the topic of energy, it makes it more clear to see some of the physics that goes into taking a shot in hockey. I mean they go so fast but getting there was a little hard for me until this unite that we are in now. Looking at elastic potential energy you can clearly see that in the picture below. It's crazy to see how that potential energy is turned into kinetic energy in fractions of a second and the puck is sent flying at ridiculous speeds.
    1 point
  20. One sport other than soccer that I feel I have a skill set in is badminton. It may look somewhat easy to a first-timer but there is a lot of strategy involved as well as skill obviously. Badminton is one of the fastest sports there is, faster than soccer, tennis, and even baseball. Usually it is played indoors, if played as an official sport, since the birdie can be very easily manipulated by the weather conditions. There are four basic shots: A smash, clear, drop, or drive - all of which should be used in distinct scenarios. This shuttle, or birdie, is very unique because it is designed to slow down after being used by using feathers from a goose/duck; this leads to a more predictable flight path and more control on each shot. If you ever find yourself in a match and want to make it more interesting, try tucking the feathers in slightly in order to achieve a much faster shot due to lesss air resistance. It also will always travel nose first since the center of mass lies there. Badminton players (professionals of course) can hit a birdie, 200 mph or even faster. However this is because they hit it at an optimum angle of about 72 degrees, which they usually jump to obtain. This angle and technique helps to transfer as mechanical energy possible to the shuttle when being hit, and ultimately the most velocity. Usually it is played indoors, if played as an official sport, since the birdie can be very easily manipulated by the weather conditions. There are four basic shots: A smash, clear, drop, or drive - all of which should be used in distinct scenarios. Because of all these reasons, badminton may be one of my favorite sports other than soccer.
    1 point
  21. Some people might say that snow or rain or other forms of bad weather would be the easiest way to cause people to drive slower and safer, but in reality a police officer sitting on the side of the road is the easiest way to make everyone slow down. You will never see a more drastic change in people's driving behavior. A person could be going upwards of 80 mph but the second they realize their is a police officer, they immediately slow down usually to below the speed limit to guarantee they don't get pulled over for speeding. The radar guns police use, uses physics to help find out if the driver is going too fast. As the police officer aims the radar gun at cars passing by, the gun sends out radio waves toward the car. Then, the radio waves hit the car and bounce back toward the gun. The gun then measures the frequency of the returning waves, so the faster you are going toward the police radar gun, the higher frequency the waves will be. This concept uses a lot of physics including radio waves, frequency and also the Doppler effect. Since the car is moving toward the gun, the frequency of the returning radio waves will be much higher.
    1 point
  22. Prior to the beginning of overtime in last weekend's Packers v. Cardinals game, referee Clete Blakeman (definitely sounds like a fake name) attempted to flip the coin. Except he didn't. The coin did not flip at all. This prompted an outburst from Packers quarterback and insurance salesman Aaron Rodgers, who demanded a reflip. Blakeman obliged and the Packers subsequently lost. But how does a professional who has likely flipped hundreds of coins in his lifetime manage to screw up like this? Excluding potential sabotage, the only explanation for the lack of a flip is physics. A coin is flipped by exerting torque on one side of the coin and creating rotational acceleration. This allows the coin to spin through the air like some sort of spinning thing going through some other kind of thing. However, if the force is applied directly at the center of the coin, there will be no torque as the distance from the axis of rotation is zero. Therefore, the coin will not flip and everyone will be upset. But there is another factor as well. The coin used was comically over-sized and, based on the NFL's wealth, made of Lil' Wayne's melted-down teeth. This gave the coin a much higher mass and radius and therefore moment of inertia. An object with a high moment of inertia is more difficult to accelerate. This allowed Blakeman to be just a little off from the center of the coin and still have the torque be negligible. Clearly, Blakeman is both a physicist and a Cardinals fan.
    1 point
  23. Now that I've reached the last blog for this quarter, I thought I'd take it full circle back to music. Specifically the drum set. Drums are known for being loud and helping other members in a band keep the beat of a song. This is due to how they are built. Let's talk specifically about the bass drum. This is the largest drum, seen on the bottom of the drum kit and normally played with a foot pedal. The reason that it's the biggest drum is so that it can make those loud, deep sounds. The foot pedal strikes the skin of the drum, causing it to vibrate. This vibration sends the sound waves out through the drum, where they bounce around the inside of the drum. Having such a wide radius and depth, the drum allows the sound to reverberate within the drum before heading out to greet the audience's ears. This keeps it at a low frequency and allows the sound to build up and strengthen, becoming louder and reaching farther before dissipating.
    1 point
  24. Fast and Furious, in my opinion, is one of the greatest film series of all time. This weekend, I decided to re-watch the 6th movie for probably the 4th time. Although the movie is highly entertaining, a lot of the stunts in the movie are clearly not possible in real life due to some basic physics concepts. For example, one of the biggest scenes in the movie is when Dom jumps from his car (moving at over 60 mph) and dives across the air to catch Letty in midair, and then the two of them land on a parked car's windshield on the other side of the road, yet the windshield does not shatter. On the bright side, the high momentum of Dom's leap from a high speed car does change the direction of Letty's fall in midair as they keep going in the direction Dom was originally going together, which makes sense in the physics world. The part that doesn't make sense (besides the perfect timing and impossible nature of the stunt) is that the windshield doesn't break, even though Dom was traveling at over 60 mph when he "hit" Letty in midair and then both of them landed on the windshield. The windshield should have definitely shattered from such a large impact force over a short period of time, especially since their momentum was completely perpendicular to the plane of the windshield. (See Scene 1 Below) Also, from an impact that large, both Letty and Dom would have sustained injuries, and probably a concussion (read Zach's post for more information). In the same scene, Owen Shaw is driving a tank down the highway at speeds of over 60 mph (he is able to go a lot faster than normal highway traffic), but the fastest tank in real life cannot travel speeds over 60 mph. The physics behind this is that the treads on the tank would start to have too much friction with the ground, and not spin as fast as the motor is trying to spin them. Especially with such a heavy tank, the frictional force would be extremely large, causing the frictional force to overcome the motor's attempt to spin the tread. This would strip the tread off of the motor track, and essentially break the tank. Clearly, this wasn't the most realistic scene, not to mention the fact that the mustang colliding with the bridge supports caused the tank to flip over. Link to scene below Fast & Furious 6 (Dom saves Letty).mp4
    1 point
  25. Before I finish off my Shrek series I had a few more thoughts on adhesives. One being, the fzx behind Post-it® notes. I recreationally collect sassy Post-it® notes. You'd be surprised...but they are always applicable. Imagine having the printed phrase, "If ignorance is bliss, why aren't more people happy?" on hand every second of the day. It's exhilarating. Or something like, "Why yes, I am overqualified." And maybe, "I think you heard me the first time." They're so so so useful, and I highly suggest investing. Anyways, I've only had a mere use, not quite a reason. WHY do post-it notes work? I did some research from a website that described life on Earth as, and I quote, "[A] bit like being a giant living Post-it® note—only with legs!" so I think my information is fairly reliable. With my collected data, I learned that: A.) The back of a sticky note contains a continuous film of adhesive as well as microscopic glue bubbles. [These can only be seen with an electron microscope]. B.) These glue bubbles are called microcapsules and they are about ten to one hundred times bigger, but much weaker, than the glue particles on the average and conventional Scotch Tape®. C.) When pushing a sticky note into place, som of the larger microcapsules cling; just enough to support the weight of the tiny slice of cute yellow paper...hopefully decorated with a sassy phrase. Well. There you have it folks. Just a quick and simple lesson on one of my quirks as well as as the fzx behind it. One piece of advice I'd like you to take home with you tonight: Just remember, that every time you attach and peel off a Post-it® note, dust and dirt attach to the adhesive capsules. Therefore, the notes prgressively and gradually lose their stickiness. Sure, it WILL go on sticking for awhile. Alas, Post-it® notes are a thing to be valued. So don't waste their magic. I mean fzx.
    1 point
  26. I am really good about managing my time and blogging, as you can see... But I figured I would talk about the physics behind... BOMBS!!! I mean, nuclear warfare (at least in theory) has become every-so-popular after the Manhattan Project in the United States for World War II. I figured it is only fair to address it for all the physics glory it deserves. Now, nuclear bombs can be split into two categories: bombs based on nuclear fission, and bombs based on nuclear fusion. However, both involve some sort of nuclear fission reaction at some point in the progress of the chain reaction (since that is all bombs are... one big, fun chain reaction!). First, lets address nuclear fission bombs. Nuclear fission bombs can also be split into two subcategories: uranium bombs and plutonium bombs. While U-238 is the most commonly occurring isotope of Uranium (92 protons, 146 neutrons), U-235 is the most valuable for nuclear weapons. On average, the fission of U-235 produces about 2.5 neutrons. A complete chain reaction of the fission of 50 kg of U-235, the approximate amount of Uranium in the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, could yield 500 kilotons of fissioned material. However, only 3% of that yield was achieved, given that most of the U-235 was dispersed in such a way that was spread to thin to continue the reaction. In order for the chain reaction to begin, the U-235 must reach a critical mass density. This is done by splitting such a critical mass of U-235 in half and placing each half on one end of the bomb. Then, when the bomb is ignited, half of the Uranium is shot like a bullet toward the other, creating a chain reaction, and therefore a nuclear explosion! A plutonium fission bomb works in a similar manner, using Pu-239 instead. However, a plutonium bomb is harder to ignite. The plutonium is modelled like a spherical core, the "plutonium pit", and placed in a shell of high explosives. When the explosives all detonate at the precise time, it forms a spherical shock wave, which creates such an extreme pressure that the plutonium core is compressed to critical mass density and begins its chain reaction. Plutonium bombs are preferred, once mastered, since only 10 kg of plutonium is necessary for a reaction. For fusion bombs, the hydrogen bomb is the name of the game. In order to begin the fusion reaction in a hydrogen bomb, a fission bomb needs to take place first in order to generate the high energy needed for hydrogen fusion. While normal hydrogen contains one proton, Deuterium is hydrogen which contains one proton and one neutron, and is preferred for a hydrogen fusion reaction. In a fusion reaction, deuterium and tritium, hydrogen with 1 proton and 2 neutrons, combine to create helium, a neutron, and energy. This causes lithium, also in the bomb, to combine with that neutron and create helium and more tritium and energy. This creates a chain reaction of creation and massive amounts of energy. When the warhead, a plutonium core fission bomb, is ignited in a fusion bomb, the fission emits x-rays, which reflects along the inside of the casing around the material for the fusion reaction, turning polystyrene foam into plasma, sparking another plutonium fission reaction. As the lithium deuteride is heated and compressed, it reaches the energy necessary for fusion, creating a massive explosion. This explosion is much more powerful than fission, creating massive amount of energy. It's crazy that even as far back as World War II, scientists were investigating the physics around these nuclear phenomena and harnessing it for weaponry! What an amazing feat combining physics, chemistry, and technology! Until next time, Fizzix Community, until next time.
    1 point
  27. Over Thanksgiving break, I had the absolute pleasure of getting the opportunity to meet Brother Guy Consolmagno of the Vatican. Brother Guy is the curator of the Vatican's Metorite Collection...or in simpler terms: the pope's astronomer. Sophie DiCarlo, of Irondequoit High School, God bless her soul, knows Brother Guy as her cousin; and knowing how interested I am in astronomy was able to set me up with the chance to meet and talk with him about his job as well as attend a lecture he gave to the parents of her younger brother's Boy Scout troop at the United Church of Christ this evening. Wow. That was a mouth full. While in the probable, four total hours I have ever spent in his presence, I learned innumerable random things about fzx and astronomy from Brother Guy that I simply haven't the time to go over in it's entirety in one blog, so I'm going to focus on the most amazing thing he physically set before us at his lecture earlier today. It was a rock. Well, there were multiple rocks. Some of them were LITERALLY 4.566 billion years old and let me say they looked real great for their age. There were these tiny little pebbly ones in a glass tube that has been parts of asteroids and another two that were pieces of metorites; however, ONE was super dark, compact and solid, while the OTHER was light gray, powdery and airy...if you can use the word airy to describe a rock. He called them 'rare.' I was so surprised...a RARE rock? Are you kidding. Rocks are not rare, welcome to Earth. BUT THEY WERE RARE ROCKS and I think that's absolutely astonishing. We weren't even allowed to touch any of these rocks because they we so rare. He said they had been on display. These were MUSEUM QUALITY rocks. I was just enthralled that there IS an existing rock that legitimate people would be actually mad if I threw it into a lake. Honestly, all this hype about rocks sounds pretty lame, but I am actually very excited about it...these little baby rocks are the T. J. Eckleburg glasses of the universe! I can't believe I was so close to them. Currently my cellphone is farther away from me than those rocks were not an hour ago. And 4.566 billion years ago those rocks were lost in space farther than I could ever imagine. Finally, he came upon a black rock. It looked like something a thug would kick around at a dump. It was awesome. He started discussing elements and what rocks are made of, typically silicon and iron, basic chemistry. And then explained that while there aren't a lot of air elements found in rocks, oxygen was in ALL of these rocks. But the 16-17-18 ratios were different because these rocks were formed in different parts of the UNIVERSE! The chemistry of these rocks was literally tampered with by the solar system...YES --> okay so important thing number 2: this black, dumpster rock he was talking about had CARBON in it...and everyone was like WHAT! And he was like yeah! Carbon? That's different than all the others! This one was also only 0.9 billion years old. Which, I mean, is a good life. But not nearly as long as the pebbles have lived. Point C => He then told us that in the largest sample of this rock, there was a stream of GLASS hardened down the middle. That means, that the surface of this planet must've carried LAVA. And in the glass strip, were BUBBLES which means there is proof of at one point: WATER. Also...it's rusted... Someone from the back of the room goes, "IT'S FROM MARS! Is it from Mars?" Brother Guy laughs and goes, "I'll tell you exactly why this sample cannot possibly be from Mars. You see...when we examine the size of the craters on the moon, we can evaluate how far they can launch debris. We can do that with Mars. And the craters on Mars are not NEARLY large enough to launch this chunk of rock to us." I was very impressed. I was convinced! Then Brother Guy goes, "Alas, from the data we have collected, the elements present and the comparisons we have made, this rock must be from a planet with the same exact, IDENTICAL, atmosphere as Mars." Someone else, "So it's from somewhere even farther away that we don't know about?" Brother Guy responded, "The thing is. How likely is it that there is another planet with the EXACT same atmosphere as Mars, that we do not know about, that is still close enough to have gotten remains onto Earth's surface? What are the odds? No chance. If there's one thing that I've learned about fzx, it's that if it happened, it's possible." If it happened, it's possible. I love that. I love that so much, I will never get over the fact that he said that. I think that's so clever. And true! He continued for just a second more: "So yes, this is indeed a sample from the planet Mars." And I was 11cm. away from it.
    1 point
  28. During my junior year of high school, my 5th year playing field hockey, i made several connections with field hockey and physics, whether i wanted to or not. As center mid for my team, i am involved in almost every play, so i see in every way, shape and form how physics dictates the way the game is played. In our sectional game i had a beautiful aerial that went over everyone and straight into the circle where a teammate was and the play lead to a beautiful goal, which helped us with the game! Later i then realized that the aerial that i played was a perfect example of a projectile. Since the ball was only being impacted on by gravity it made it the perfect real life application to physics. The ball when i lifted it flew in a path of a parabolic arc due to the fact that it was sent into the air at an angle. This also means that the ball had the same speed the minute it left my stick to the moment just before it hit the ground. The fact that the ball also became a projectile the minute it left my stick means that the horizontal components and the vertical components are different, and only the time is transferable between the two. For example the acceleration of the vertical component of the ball was 9.81 m/s^2 where as the acceleration for the horizontal component of the ball was 0. This is due to the fact that the ball had no force pulling it horizontally, which meant that the horizontal speed remained constant, however, there was a force acting on the ball vertically, gravity, this then pulled at the ball with an acceleration of 9.81 m/s^2 increasing the velocity of the ball as it fell. Field Hockey is truly filled with physics, and the projectiles are just one small component of the sport.
    1 point
  29. The Bug-A-Salt sure looks like a great invention utilizing tons of physics -- notice the free body diagram at the beginning of the video!
    1 point
  30. This is mine and Michalla's catapult. We are excited to launch tomorrow although it does not throw a very far distance. Prior to building it, we did not do any calculations. We built it by eye and what we thought would launch the best. Even though it is not amazing, we are proud of how it came out because at first we never thought us two could build one. If we were to do the project again, we would keep in mine that if it was angled at 45 degrees, it would travel the farthest. Also, if we used some sort of springs we think that the velocity right after the softball leaves the lacrosse stick would be higher. Lastly, from watching lacrosse games I know that lacrosse sticks are often broken. From being in physics class, I now know that all forces come in pairs (Newtons 3rd Law). This has been starting to make me nervous because as the catapult is exerting a force on the softball, the softball is exerting the same force back onto the catapult. If the project wasn't tomorrow I would think about changing what I used to build it for this reason. It should be fun to see what happens tomorrow.
    1 point
  31. In the spectacular finale to Buzz Lightyear's famous 'flight,' he lets go of the ceiling fan to free fall onto Andy's bed. Please. Consider the following: In my previous attachments, I used practical numbers, but not that would launch Buzz up to grab ahold of a ceiling fan 7m above the ground (which is the average height of a bedroom). So bare with me as we use that as his starting position now and still consider 2.426 m/s his initial velocity. Using the rest of my long-ago decided upon heights, I will now find Buzz's final achieved velocity before he sticks the landing in front of all the other toys. Tangentially, Buzz will free fall from a 7m height to a 1m height (the bed) ergo a change in height of 6m. Y-DIMENSION: y = 6m Vo = 0 m/s Vf = 0 m/s a = 9.81 m/(s^2) t = ? X-DIMENSION: Vo = 2.426 m/s Vf = ? a = 0 m/(s^2) t = ? To find time, we use the free fall equation in the y-dimension. t = [(2y) / a] ^ (1/2) t = [(2(6)) / 9.81] ^ (1/2) t = (12 / 9.81) ^ (1/2) t = 1.223 ^ (1/2) t = 1.106s Now we have, in the x-dimension: Vo = 2.426 m/s a = 0 m/(s^2) t = 1.106s And as an equation we know that: Vf = Vo + at So plugging in...huh. Acceleration will again cancel out. So the final velocity will AGAIN equal the initial. 2.246 m/s? Or at this point - really ANY velocity you end up with, based on actual measurements, will tend to remain generally constant over the course of Buzz Lightyear's crazy journey! Yet, we can put it all together and realize that this entire journey still did only expanded over the length of one bedroom and a one minute long Pixar scene! So I guess that's more believable than not. That's distance is 'x.' x = (Vo) (t) + (1/2) (a) (t^2) x = (2.246) (1.106) + (1/2) (0) (1.106)^2 x = 2.484 + 0 x = 2.484m That's it! Four aspects of fzx in 2.484m! But more importantly, four aspects of fzx in Toy Story! And that's all that really matters. To me, anyways "I'm packing you an extra pair of shoes; and your angry eyes, just in case." ~Mrs. Potatohead Sometimes, I find fzx extremely frustrating and slightly maddening. But it always pays to walk the distance. I guess that's all I've got to say on this childhood classic. But I'm sure I'll be BRAVE enough to examine another Pixar movie, quite soon
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  32. I happen to both be a Boy Scout as well as a physics student which I believe to be probably the coolest combination ever. Sooooooo, I decided to apply my physics knowledge to my Boy Scout skillz! On a recent campout to the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon I decided to bring a hammock as a lighter alternate to a tent since I would be hiking around 10 miles. When I packed my things I decided to just grab some random rope from my garage for my hammock... which could have been a bad idea! Luckily the rope held up but I decided to find just how strong the rope had to be! Now the hammock was strung up between 2 trees with knots on each side and me in the middle. I weigh about 170 pounds or 77.1 kg which will be very important in finding tension or "T". Since the hammock is in equilibrium we can use Newton's 2nd Law to find T. The net force in the x direction on the right is equal to the net force on the left. Since both ropes were at about a 30 degree angle we can then say the Tensions are equal so -Tsin30 + Tsin30 = 0. Then since ups must equal downs we can say 2Tsin30 = mg or rewritten T = (mg)/(2sin30) which gives us T! Now lets plug in numbers T = (9.8x77.1)/(2sin30) or T = 755.8 Newton's. That was the tension in the rope of my super comfortable hammock. Maybe in a future blog post I will determine just how strong that rope was... or maybe not that could be quite challenging... The average strength of say paracord is about 250 pounds or 1107.4 Newton's and what I was using was certainly not as strong as paracord! So I guess this times I can count my lucky stars I wasn't sleeping on the ground, and maybe next time I should BE PREPARED with some stronger rope!
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  33. I'am sitting in the Basement of our house right now, thinking about what I could write as a blog post and next to me Quinn works out. It is amazing what a difference it makes for her if she uses the 25lb or the 50lb weight. I'm sure she could do 15 repetitions with the 25lb on her exercise she does right now, but if it was 50lb even 5 reps would be very hard.... So why does it make such a big difference which weight she uses? --> It is Physics! The gravity on earth pulls down her weights and as bigger the mass of the weight is as grater the force which pulls it down. Unbelievable that Physic is in every little thing we do!
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  34. Today my fellow phys-x students, I will discuss how well the game Space Engineers simulates Newtonian physics. Long story short, it simulates real world physics very closely. First of all, what is Space Engineers? Space Engineers is a sandbox game about engineering, construction and maintenance of space works. Players build space ships and space stations of various sizes and utilization (civil and military), pilot ships and perform asteroid mining. Space Engineers utilizes a realistic volumetric-based physics engine: all objects can be assembled, disassembled, damaged and destroyed. We will be looking at the destroy part of it all. The developers made the game to follow newtons laws, which means that it can represent momentum, the product of the mass and velocity of an object, as well as impulse, the integral of a force with respect to time. If you build a massive star ship, and crash a small fighter into it, the star ship is barely affected by the crash. Depending on the proportion of the masses, the star ship will respond by moving at a very slow pace. If you we to push the fighter slowly against the ship and continue to exert force, the star ship will accelerate. If you were to crash the star ship into the small fighter, well... lets just say you may not want to be in the fighter due to some...obvious reasons. Here is a cool video on the crashing of ships, and how it represents momentum. All in all, Space Engineers is a very good game, and with the use of multiplayer LAN, it would be fun to use in the classroom. *Cough Cough*. I seem to have developed a symptom with requires me to cough through text. *COUGH COUGH*
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  35. We see it everywhere in the media, real life, and sometimes it can even happen to you. The sad, terrifying act of being slapped in the face. Aside from hurting, what are the actual physics behind being unfortunate enough to get slapped? 1) Shown in slow motion, your face has incredibly present properties of intertia. If you look at the video, you can clearly see the skin and tissue stay put while the actual skeletal tissue underneath begins to move. This is because the dense bone moves, eventually dragging the rest of the tissue along with it. The force of friction applied throughout the first couple layers of your skin is not nearly as strong as the frictional force initiated deeper in your skull! 2) The Impulse applied when getting slapped can be quite massive. Impulses (Force times change in Time) delivered through a slap could be as large as 25000 J*S, assuming a Force of 50000 Newtons (yes, boxers can punch that hard) and a time of contact of .5 seconds. When your cable's on the fritz, you get angry. When you're angry, you become irritated. When you become irritated, you make rude comments. When you make rude comments, you get slapped in the face. Don't get slapped in the face. Get rid of cable. Get DIRECTV.
    1 point
  36. First of all I have to say that I'm surprised that nobody here has blogged about this yet. But in case you haven't heard yet, March 17th was a big day for science, and physics in particular. Researchers from Harvard University and the Smithsonian released evidence of distortion in the cosmic background radiation (shown to the right) caused by gravitational waves from when the universe went through inflation after the big bang. The idea is that in the 1x10-35th of a second after the big bang the universe expanded very rapidly at a speed much larger than the speed of light (and yes, that is possible since its the universe itself was moving). So what exactly does this mean? First of all, it is direct evidence that the big bang happened. There still may be a little uncertainty but the team that found this distortion has been looking at it for three years ruling out every other possibility so chances are it's exactly what they say it is. It also may have profound effects on our understanding of physics. Gravity waves were the last untested part of Einstein's theory of general relativity and with this evidence its now a complete theory. There is also a chance that it may lead to a unified theory of modern physics. As of now general relativity (the physics of very large things) and quantum mechanics (physics of very small things) don't work together but this discovery could help bridge the gap between the two. Also, most of the current theories of inflation include the existence of multiple universes and this evidence narrows down the theories a lot to the ones that include a multi-verse. The possibilities with this are endless because there is a chance that other universes will have laws of physics different than our own, which would be crazy but awesome to study. Scientific breakthroughs of this magnitude don't happen often but when they do they usually lead to a vastly improved understanding of the mechanisms of the universe.
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  37. For the most part, humans have good sight. A lot of time and effort during our modern era is put into making TV and computer screens at a higher and higher resolution in order to make things look as "real" as possible - that is, to make the pixels onscreen indistinguishable from what we would normally see. But how good are our eyes really? Lets find out. Before all of this, I'll direct you to a nice, short, but informative link (https://xkcd.com/1080/), courtesy of xkcd. A good representation of how we see, it outlines the many different parts of vision very nicely. Focusing primarily, however, on the "resolution" of our field of vision, that is, how many "pixels" we can see, we can see it varies. Right in the center few degrees, in the foveal region, we can see stuff quite clearly, which makes sense, because we're looking at it. However, the blurred characteristic of the surrounding areas isn't just because we aren't focused on it, but because there simply isn't as much data provided there - much less, in fact. While our center of vision is comparable to a high-res camera, the surrounding areas are much worse quality, with the entire area outside of the center ~10 degrees containing a fraction of the data that the center area does. Our brain just fills in the gaps. So while at times our vision is quite good, other parts could use some work. And even with the high detail of our foveal region, you still might not need that new HDTV. Based on how far away you're sitting, it might not even be noticeable, so don't waste your money.
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  38. Physics is simple once you get the hang of it! At first the concepts are confusing, but practice makes perfect and it becomes much easier. By the time the test rolls around it's much easier. When I look back on my tests I wonder why I ever had trouble with the chapters. I am so glad I can say this now!
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  39. So, I am aware that you guys have been doing E&M for a while, so while this is a little late, it should still help. Now, I know that not everyone likes E&M (just ask Mr. Fullerton how much I liked it ). Well, I too am taking E&M (for the third time), and I have finally cracked the code for success (took me long enough). Now I, the girl who cannot do the right-hand rule (still), is not only understanding E&M, but solving it CORRECTLY. How you ask? Well, here are some tips: 1. Don't read the book. Seriously. People who say they read the book and found it helpful either a) didn't read the book b ) are lying or c) is Mr. Fullerton. Instead, DO THE PRACTICE PROBLEMS. The book has some really good example problems that are similar to the ones you do in class, but different enough for practice, and then you have the step by step answers. Plus, some of the examples are actually the derivations for electric fields, and trust me, it's a good idea to do those again. 2. Ask questions. Think you understand what you did in class? Think again. Very few people that I know understood E&M perfectly the first time. Mr. Fullerton doesn't bite, so ask him questions. (The worst that he will do is throw you out a window ) 3. Actually do the homework. I mean do the homework on your own, not do the homework with the answer right in front of you so you can glance at it for every step or copy someone else's procedure and plug in your numbers. You may think, Oh, I'm not going to do that. I will only look at the answer key when I need to. I know. I was you. But I stopped doing that because I realized that I was looking at the answers too frequently for it to be MY work. Now I'm not saying don't use the answers. I love answer keys (just ask Mr. Muz). But don't become so dependent on them that you can't solve the problem on your own. 4. Ask for help. The most important of them all. If you need help, you are not going to learn anything by ignoring it, hoping it goes away. In E&M, your worst nightmares never just "go away". They linger in the background and attack when you least expect it, causing you to have a mini breakdown. I know. I've been there. Two days ago. But then I went to my professors office hours and it turned out I knew more than I thought. Shocker, I know. These things have helped me to survive E&M (barely). And if I can survive, so can you. PS: Since I am taking E&M this semester, I will post helpful tips, problems, derivations, equation dumps, anything that I think might help you, the new Physics C students, to survive... As long as I have time. I do have my own homework.
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  40. What is Pavel time? Pavel time is the time right before a deadline when actual work gets done. How does this relate to physics? It relates specifically to Albert Einstein's theory of relativity. Part of the theory of relativity states that measurements of various quantities are relative to the velocities of observers. In particular, space and time can dilate. So, in real life, as an object approaches the speed of light, it gets squished and time slows down for the object. How does this relate to Pavel time? In my theory of relativity, as more work gets done more quickly, time slows down and allows me to finish whatever assignment I have before the deadline.
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  41. So It gets dark before 5 O'Clock nowadays. I state this not becuase I think you, the reader, are incable of interpreting a clock ( I assume you are because you are literate enogh to read ) but because this fact has some bearing on the phyisics of running. When I foolishly decided put off starting my training run untill four fifteen, I found myself in the middle of the woods forty minuites later with the sun sinking below the horizon and three miles of trails left to navigate. Phyisicly speaking, A couple things happened to me at that point. First, the subconience fear kicks in, the effect of too many horror movies, that I will be eaten by cyotes or kiddnaped or murdered by some deranged phycopath. This produces the aldrenaline rush, which sends me flying throgh the woods at an abnormal speed. Because every shadow is a potential lurking threat to my scared brain, I fail to look at the ground, and I forget newton's third law. Applied here, that means that when sneaker toe applies force to an unseen root, this root will push back and cause a runner to accelrate downward in a parabolic arc toward the ground, because his momentum will be stopped suddenly and unexpectedly. Thankfully, I cauhgt myself and managed to keep my fear under controll for the rest of the trip back. But a runner will stay in motion at a constant speed unless acted upon by the completion of his goal, and I ran, abiet carefully, all the way home. Moral of the story: always bring a flashlight. P.S. don't judge me on the spelling my laptop does not have a right click and I have no way to spell check that I know of. You know you all rely on it as much as I do:)
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  42. Here's something I just stumbled upon a few minutes ago. Its Olympus Mons, Mars' largest mountain. Olympus Mons is also the largest volcano in the solar system and the 2nd tallest mountain in the solar system (behind the Rheasilvia peak on the asteroid 4 Vesta). Olympus Mons is a shield volcano and was formed the same way that the Hawaiian islands were, by lava flows hardening and building up over hundreds of millions of years. The difference is that while the Hawaiian chain was formed by Earths crust moving over a hot spot in the mantle, Mars does not have mobile tectonic plates so the hotspot that releases lava is always in the center of the mountain. Olympus Mons is located near the martian equator and is 370 miles wide and 13 miles tall, with cliffs up to 5 miles tall. The base covers an area roughly the size of the state of Arizona and is 2.5 times taller than mount Everest. The atmospheric pressure at the highest point is estimated to be 0.03kPa, which is 12% of the average martian atmospheric pressure of .6kPa. What's interesting about this is that the air pressure at the summit of Olympus Mons is a much higher percentage of the surface pressure than it would be on Earth. The atmospheric pressure on Earth at an altitude of 13 miles is approximately 4.5kPa, just 4.43% of the average sea level pressure of 101.33kPa. This happens because the acceleration due to gravity on mars in 3.7m/s2, less than half of that on Earth, which increases the scale height of Mars' atmosphere, so there is relatively higher atmospheric pressure at higher altitudes. It's amazing to think that there are mountains out there on other planets that dwarf anything we have on Earth. I've always been interested in space but my interest just peaked (pun intended) as I look out at the night sky and wonder what else is out there.
    1 point
  43. Recently for Physics, we were assigned to create a catapult, which we then launched in class on Friday. This was a crazy experience to undergo! My partner and I had to create several Vi, Vf, d, a, t tables to figure out which catapult design would launch the softball producing the possible maximum distance. Unfortunetly, our plan didn't work out the best and the softball only went a distance of one meter, but that isn't the point. We figured out that if we were to launch the softball at an angle of 45 degrees, we should be able to get the maximum distance feesable from our catapult. To make sure that this theory is infact accurate, we tested out different angles in our equations like 40 and 50 degrees just to be sure that our calculations were true. The project, I felt, was very informative and taught me a lot. Not just with working with the equations but also working with tools to create a successful object using what we have learned in class!
    1 point
  44. When we think of Kelvin temperature, we think only in positives, since zero Kelvin is also absolute zero, the point at which a particle has absolutely no energy, and thus no movement or vibration. Scientists in Germany, however, managed to create the hottest temperatures ever recorded by creating a substance with a negative Kelvin temperature. How is this possible? Well, in order to understand this bizarre concept, we have to go back to our definition of temperature. In thermodynamics, we typically refer to temperature as the average temperature of the particles in a substance. However, because quantum physics deals with energies as the smallest of small scales, and because quantum physics is, from a mathematical perspective, about probabilities, it makes more sense to define temperature as the distribution of the energies of the particles in a substance. So, for example, a boiling pot of water would obviously have plenty of high energy particles buzzing around, but it would have a few low-energy particles too. We simply would pay them no mind because the average energy of the particles is consistent. To a quantum physicist, however, those few low-energy particles matter, because they form part of the energy distribution of the substance. By definition, when a substance has a positive Kelvin temperature, the particles start from a minimum temperature (absolute zero) and spread out toward higher energies. The German scientists, however, wanted to create a substance that started at a maximum temperature and spread toward lower energies. By definition, such a substance would have a negative temperature. Paradoxically, having a negative temperature makes the gas that the scientists created extremely hot. Since the particles start from a maximum temperature and spread to lower temperatures, and since energy flows from hot to cold, heat will always flow away from the negative temperature gas, making it the hottest thing we've ever observed. One of the other interesting properties of negative temperature gases is that they not only have the hottest temperatures, but negative pressures. Normally, a gas concealed in a container would spread out and apply pressure to all sides of the container. A negative temperature gas, on the other hand, causes the atoms in the container to cave inward, as if everything converges to a single point. Because dark matter is believed to have negative pressure as well, this characteristic of negative temperature gases leads scientists to think that studying them may reveal more to us about the elusive dark matter that is believed to account for a lot of "missing mass" in the universe. You can read more about the negative temperature gas and the study conducted by the German scientists here: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/347370/description/Hottest_temperature_ever_measured_is_a_negative_one
    1 point
  45. Have you ever wondered what other animals see when they can see more electromagnetic waves than we can see? Well I started with this question and found that a common electromagnetic wave that other animals can see is infrared waves. There are three different types of Infrared waves, near, mid and far. In the following You Tube video Imre describes how you can take pictures of near Infrared waves using your camera. Even though it wasn't exactly what I was looking for the pictures give you an idea of what an animal might see and since my brothers are both photographers it reminded me of them. One of the facts that I found fascinating about Infrared Waves was that the far Infrared waves actually represent thermal waves which represent heat. Thermal Heat can be felt as heat from the sun and also can be found in fast food restaurants. Far infrared waves are closest to microwave waves which can explain why they can be felt as heat. Snakes would then use far infrared waves to see since they detect what is around them by the heat sensing organs in their face. Vampire bats can also use infrared waves to sense their warm blooded prey. Bugs use their antennas to detect infrared rays one reason is to detect prey. Beetles on the other hand detect infrared waves in order to find forest fires. After finding a forest fire they lay their eggs in the burnt wood. A different example is why NASA uses infrared waves to take pictures of objects in space. They take pictures of Earth in Infrared to help people study the clouds. For example they can see different layers of clouds with different temperatures. On NASA's website you can see a picture of Earth with darker warmer colored clouds closer to the Ocean and whiter clouds inland and close to the arctic. The colors you see with visible light also are made up infrared light as well. In one of their pictures you see a tree and waves reflecting off the grass one wave is visible light, which is why we can see that the grass is green, and the other is infrared light. When you take a picture of the grass and the trees with an infrared camera or camera lens, you see that the grass is mainly red which means it is either reflecting or giving off the infrared waves hitting it. This would explain why in the video they get better pictures when it's a bright sunny day because with more of the sun's rays exposed to the Earth there is a better chance that the Infrared waves will hit the plants, and reflect off different surfaces. Also some of the infrared waves will make the objects hotter that it is reflecting against also helping the camera to detect the infrared waves. Links to websites used: http://science.hq.nasa.gov/kids/imagers/ems/infrared.html http://www.mapoflife.org/topics/topic_311_Infrared-detection-in-animals/
    1 point
  46. there has been a large amount of misconception around this topic, a major contributor being the fact that people mix cornstarch and water and call it a non-newtonian fluid, when in fact it is only a colloid. colloids are not fluids, as they are heterogeneous, consisting of liquid and fine particle mix. they have changing viscosity because the particles cant flow away as fast as the liquid, and are bunched together as a pseudo solid. this is different from a non newtonian fluid because the fluid changes viscosity because it is in a near-crystalline state, and acts like a crystalline solid as pressure is applied. some examples of this are jolly ranchers(corn starch), some types of bullet proof glass, and shampoo
    1 point
  47. Hi Everyone, As you may have noticed, progress on the AP-1 / AP-2 videos has stalled over the past few weeks… let’s just sum it up by saying that if it could have gone wrong, it did. First we had a database “miscue” with our previous web server host, in which we lost the better part of 9 months of posts from this blog. grrrrr. Then a stomach bug went through our house. And as I had all sorts of time to grumble over the increasingly poor response times of our site and the loss of the data (despite regular backups), I finally made the decision to switch hosts and get us our own virtual private server. What does all that mean, you may ask? First off, instead of sharing a bunch of computing resource power with hundreds of other websites, we’ve purchased a set amount of storage space, RAM, and CPU cores on a server that only services a couple web sites. Lots more resources devoted to our site means much more stable performance, and considerably improved loading speeds. It also adds a bit of complexity on my side, as well as a considerable increase in annual costs. I’m thinking about potential ways to offset that in the future, but in the meantime, I’m thrilled to have the site up and running the way it should be. Along with the server upgrade, we had quite a bit of “migrating” of programs, settings, and data to do. MOST of it went smoothly. One program, however, did NOT like the change at all, our Forums/Blogs software. I was already somewhat frustrated with the support and performance of our old system, so after a few days of beating my head against the wall (and getting mighty fired up at the technical support line), I bit the bullet and upgraded our system to the “Cadillac” of forum and blogging software. This, also, took a bit of time to setup, and because we’d already invested so much in all the student posts and work, I was able to hire an expert to assist in migrating all the data we could (what hadn’t been nutzed up by the previous software) into the new system. And he was gracious enough to give us a great price with amazing service due to the nature of our site (Thank you so much!!!). To help differentiate the old software from the new, and highlight some of the features of the new software, I’ve renamed the “Discussion” area on APlusPhysics “Community,” because really that’s what we’re trying to build. Not only do we now have forums (with some cool new features), and blogs (which even more cool new features), we also have a file repository where we can share electronic documents and programs with each other, we have an online chat system, we have tremendously improved calendars, the ability to better integrate “blocks” of content across the entire site, the ability to create custom pages (such as featured posts, highlighted material, etc. — I’ll turn this part on soon), the ability to incorporate e-books with direct downloads right from the site (instantaneous help!), even the ability to let members promote their good works to others across the entire site. Quite a few of these options I’ll be working on over the coming months, but as of today we have at least as much functionality as the old site, a much prettier graphic interface, and a fast, responsive, reliable site with a support team I have much more confidence in. So what’s next? Well, my first priority is finishing the “skin” of the system. It’s almost there. By the way, did you know you can adjust the color scheme of the site? See that little rainbow grid in the upper right of the community? Click on it and choose your color — whatever mood you’re in, the system can handle! Next, I have some behind-the-scenes work to do to tweak what shows up on the various pages… upcoming calendar events, latest files, users online, etc. They work currently, but I’d like to make their integration just a little more smooth. Nothing major, just have a bit of reading to do. Third, I’ve had quite a few requests to take my Powerpoint slides from the video series and make them available for teachers to use. This may be a bit more involved, as there are some licensing restrictions I’m working with the appropriate parties on, but I’m hopeful we can get something worked out in the not-too-distant future. Fourth, I’d like to get the featured content / topic pages built out. This will be an ongoing “as time allows” effort. This new system has tremendous potential to pull and organize information from a wide variety of sources, the question is “am I smart enough to make it work?” I’m hoping the answer is yes. Fifth, I’d really like to work to promote the downloads section as an area where we as physics instructors can share the best of what we put together for our students. There are both public and educator-only folders, and I think this has tremendous potential to be a great resource for us all, but I’m betting there will be quite a bit of legwork to “sell” this concept to other physics teachers across the world, so that it becomes not just a place for folks to download my work, but a place where we can all collaborate and share with each other. In this, I definitely need your help. If you would, take a minute or two and find one original lesson, worksheet, lab, hands-on activity, whatever… upload it to the “Downloads” section and share it with the rest of us. Can you imagine what a wonderful resource we’d have if each physics teacher shared just one or two amazing activities? Imagine if we then started building off of those… then again and again… we’d have the greatest teaching resource of any discipline (and we’re already well on our way!) Sixth, work hasn’t stopped on the physics videos. I have to admit I’m a touch burnt out after finish the AP Physics C series this year (both Mechanics and E&M), and completing an entire AP-1 / AP-2 sequence for Educator.com (which is currently branded as AP-B but was set up with the new courses in mind). I’m continuing to plug away on the optics section of AP-B, and have a few more pieces to fill in. Once I get through this week my hope is to complete at least one more video per week for the foreseeable future. Last, but not least — I’ve spent the past year doing pre-work for an AP-1 / AP-2 guide book for students (in the vein of Honors Physics Essentials, but specifically directed toward AP-1 / AP-2). As we get to the end of the school year, I want to focus on the BIC (butt in chair) strategy to get a first draft underway. I have tons of notes, outlines, and materials, and from past experience once you get rolling it’s not so bad, but I need to take those first few steps. I just want to make sure I have all my other “gotta get done’s” out of the way before I dive headfirst into this one for the summer. Thanks for all your support, and I look forward to seeing you on the new APlusPhysics Community (by the way, if you haven’t tried it out yet, we’d love to see you! Shoot me an e-mail if you’re a professional physics instructor and I’ll get your access upgraded so you can see into the “teacher-only” parts of the site as well)! Source
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  48. yesterday i opened the window in my room because it was particularly warm outside, and throughout the day as i entered and left my room, i would accidently slam my door, even though i was accelerating it to the same speed to close it as i usually do. as i got used to my now much easier to close door, i thought about possible explainations for this annoying phenomenon. i hypothesized that the culprit was my open window. i figured that when the window was closed, the shutting of my door was harder because while shutting, i was doing work not only on the door, but also on the gasses inside my room because the door acted like a plunger, increasing the volume of my room faster than air could enter and decreasing the pressure inside. with my window open, gas can come in both through the window and through the crack under the door, increasing the speed at which air could enter, therefore decreasing the difference between the rate of incoming air and the rate of increasing volume. with this difference smaller, the door does less work on the air inside because it doesnt need to decrease the pressure to close. with the window closed, i was used to giving more speed to the door to close it, but now that the window is open and less of the energy i give the door is used to change pressure, the speed i usually use is too much, and the door slams.
    1 point
  49. so the other day i let my rabbit have free range of my room for a few hours as i was doing my webassign, and after a while the mouse i was using for my computer stopped working. i checked the plug, and to my confusion it was still plugged in. as i attempted to diagnose the problem i looked below my desk for a moment, finding my rabbit with a mouthful of copper and plastic. tasty. unfortunately he had not only chewed through my mouse cable, but also that of my webcam, among others. i got out my soldering iron and strippers, and as i removed the insulating tubing from each wire i found something interesting. on the mouse wire i removed the insulation to find only the four wires typical of a usb cord, however as i peeled back the insulation on the webcam wire, there was a second layer of braided wire and foil around the center four wires. at first i thought this may be an other data-carrying wire, or possibly a ground, which wouldnt make sense since usb uses very low voltage. i then realized it was just a conducting shell there to block interference with the webcams image quality from outside radio noise using the faraday cage effect. i hypothesized that my mouse didnt have this extra layer because the location of a mouse pointer is somewhat arbitrary on the small scale, so blocking this small ammount of interference would not be cost effective for the company that made it. moral of the story: faraday cages can be pretty useful.
    1 point
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