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isaacgagarinas

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Blog Entries posted by isaacgagarinas

  1. isaacgagarinas
    Recently on Wednesday I was a able to drive quite a lot which used a lot of physics. One example, is when I merged onto 104 I needed to increase my speed so I did so by acceleration. I accelerated increasing my velocity in the far right lane until I finally reached about 55 mph so I could merge on in between cars. Increasing and decreasing speed or velocity is a very important aspect of driving. Another aspect is the force exerted between the car and the road. All of the cars mass is exerted onto the road by the tires as the road pushes up with the exact same force. This keeps the forces balanced or keeps a net force of 0 so that the car doesn't go flying off of the road. These forces are the force of gravity pulling the car down and then the normal force of the ground pushing up. There is a lot of physics involved in driving.
  2. isaacgagarinas
    This past Sunday I was able to play dodgeball in the Dodge For Josh tournament. With our team being American themed, we were The Star Spangled Ballerz. It was very fun and after I played I realized that there was a lot of physics involved in our dodgeball games! The first thing I noticed is how the ball would dropped whenever I would throw it. Part of this is due to air resistance that slowed the ball down, but most of is from gravity pulling the ball down. Neglecting air resistance, gravity should have pulled the dodgeballs we threw down at an acceleration of 9.81 m/s^2. Something else I noticed was the forces exerted when the dodgeballs I threw hit our opponents. As a ball i threw hit the leg of someone on the other team, the ball exerted a force on them the same magnitude as them pushing back on the ball. However the balls were also very squishy which made it so they did not hurt very much. The reason for this is because they could be squished, the force absorbed took a longer amount of time therefore spreading out the force. Similar to an airbag in a car, it decreased the amount of damage done by absorbing some of the force and spreading it out over a longer period of time. Overall I had a very fun time playing dodgeball and I enjoyed connecting it back to physics.
  3. isaacgagarinas
    One activity that i do in order to stay in shape when not in wrestling season is lift weights. Lifting actually involves quite a bit of physics. For example when you use the bench press you need to apply a force on the bar to push up the bar and the weights that are on it. The amount of force you exert on the bar is the same amount the bar exerts on you. Also, the reason for why the weights feel heavy is from gravitational force pulling the weights downward at an acceleration of 9.81 m/s^2. In all essence all bench pressing is, is exerting a force on the bar and it exerting that same force on you. Another example of physics in lifting can be seen when you dead lift. When you squat while holding the bar, gravity is pulling you down. The opposite force to make this balance is the normal force which the ground exerts on you and the extra weight you are holding. The normal force balances it so the net force is 0, keeping us in place while we lift. Overall you can find physics in any type of lifting exercise you do and these two good examples.
  4. isaacgagarinas
    Over the summer I was playing basketball with some of my friends. We had decided to take a break so I was walking around and looking at my phone. While I was walking my friend took a shot and air balled, knocking my phone out of my hand causing it to fall and smash the screen on the driveway. There was a lot of physics involved in this sad occurrence.

    First when my friend shot the ball, once it was in the air gravity started pushing down on the ball with an acceleration of 9.81 m/s^2. This is what caused the ball to come falling down and hit my hand knocking away my phone. Because of the momentum the ball had applied to my hand and phone, that is what resulted in my phone getting sent downward. Then my phone flew down flat on the driveway applying a force on the pavement. What smashed my phone's screen was the force applied back up from the ground to the screen. Obviously there was a lot of physics involved in breaking my phone.
  5. isaacgagarinas
    For many years as a kid I would often go to Seabreeze Park and I enjoyed going on rides. This summer I also was able to work at Seabreeze. One of my favorite rides there has been the Whirl Wind. There is a lot of physics behind how this roller coaster works. First off as ride reaches the top of the first hill it begins to accelerate down the hill. It starts with a slower velocity and then gains speed as it goes down the hill. The twist in the ride(see what I did there) is that as the cart goes, it also spins as it travels. This now means not only is the car accelerating as it travels up and down hills, but it also has a centripetal acceleration. By squaring the velocity of the cart spinning and by dividing it be the radius of the cart, you can also determine how fast it's centripetal acceleration would be. Also, the force that the cart applies down on the tracts is equal to the force the tracks apply back onto to cart. The Whirlwind was a very fun part of childhood and it is cool to now know all of the physics involved in it!
  6. isaacgagarinas
    When I was in Jacksonville I went to a go kart place called the Autobahn Indoor Speedway. These weren't your typical go karts however. At the Autobahn the cars reached speeds up to 50 mph! Drivers have to wear helmets for safety and the speed made for some pretty intense races. There was a lot of physics involved in driving the cars. One of the most important parts of learning how to be as fast as possible was getting used to knowing how much and when to brake around turns. Braking too much will slow you down and can cause wrecks, however not braking enough can cause you to slam your car into the wall, also slowing you down and putting you at risk of wrecks. The only way to do this was through friction. By stopping the rotation of the wheels the tires then grinded against the concrete ground creating friction which is what would slow down your car. Also many forces were exerted with the bumping of cars and from running into walls. If my car ever rammed into another, the force exerted from my car onto his was the same amount of force his exerted onto mine. A lot of centripetal acceleration also takes place at all 4 of my wheels. Even if my car is moving at a constant velocity, the wheels are constantly changing direction as they spin and therefore accelerating inward. Finally the force of gravity is always constant on me and my car. Gravity exerts a force of 9.81 m/s^2, which is what keeps me and my car from flying off of the track. The Autobahn Indoor Speedway was a pretty intense go karting place and I had a lot of fun racing!
  7. isaacgagarinas
    Creating my Catapult for class with Mike Belmont and Kelan Graham involved a lot of physics. One objective we had was to make sure our softball launched at a 45 degree angle to maximize the distance traveled. Our design was a ogre catapult so we realized to make a 45 degree angle we needed to make the distance from our pole the flinger rotated on to the front of our blocking device needed to be equal to the distance from the top of the base up to where the flinger hit our blocking device. By doing so it would create a 45-45-90 triangle, making a 45 degree launch angle. There was also a lot of physics involved in the launch. For example when we launched it based on the time it took for the ball to hit the ground and by using the given 9.81 m/s^2 along with the distance it went we were able to determine the horizontal velocity. Despite the fact that the ball was launched with a horizontal and vertical velocity, the acceleration downward from gravity would always stay constant.Through the entire catapult project there was a lot of physics involved, both in building it as well as launching it.
  8. isaacgagarinas
    I've been able to play baseball for many years of my life and was able to some over the summer in a town league. There is a lot of physics involved in the sport of baseball. For example in baseball the pitcher has to throw a pitch to the catcher while the hitter tries to swing. The ball is thrown at a very fast horizontal velocity. that stays fairly constant neglecting air resistance. The ball however still drops at an acceleration downward of 9.81 m/s^2.
    There is also a lot of physics involved in Batting. When the ball hits the bat several forces are applied. First as the ball hits, the ball exerts a force onto the bat. Then the bat exerts the exact same force back onto the ball. Then once the batter hits the ball he drops the bat which falls due to the pull of gravity at a 9.81 m/s^2 acceleration. As the batter runs to 1st base he accelerates. increasing his speed or velocity so that he can get to the base as quick as possible. Obviously there is a lot of physics in baseball between the force of the balls, bats, gloves and ground acting upon each other, as well as the increasing and decreasing velocity of the hit ball, and running players. Physics is a huge part of baseball.
  9. isaacgagarinas
    Wrestling is a very fun sport that I enjoy taking part in. It takes a lot of work, however it is completely worth it and it is very fun. There is a lot of physics taking place in wrestling. One example is when two wrestlers are in neutral or standing position. While wrestling the two wrestlers when fighting for hand control will often be banging heads or putting pressure on each others' foreheads. The force that one applies on the other will always be the same as the force that the head applies back. Another instance we see physics in wrestling is when a wrestler is in the down position and is trying to stand up. The top man is applying pressure trying to keep the bottom man down by doing moves such as a spiral ride or a chop, while the bottom man is applying pressure to try and stand up. Sometimes the bottom man will begin to stand up and the top man is forced to mat return the bottom man, lifting him up in the air and sweeping his legs to return him to the mat. Once the wrestler is in the air if the top man returning him lets him fall applying no other force, he will fall with an acceleration of 9.81 m/s^2 due to gravity. During wrestling there is a lot of forces being applied between the two wrestler and a lot of physics explain how many moves work and how they respond to them.
  10. isaacgagarinas
    One of my favorite things to do with my friends over the summer is play pickup football. There is a lot of physics that is involved in playing the game of football. First off when the quarterback throw the football to a receiver he must apply a force to the ball so that it can travel in the air to the receiver.Whatever force he applies to the ball, the ball then applies back onto his hand. Once the ball is in the air its horizontal velocity should stay about the same(neglecting air resistance). However once it is the air, gravity then begins to apply a downward acceleration of 9.81 m/s^2 on the ball so that it can only stay in the air for a certain amount of time. Another big part of football is tackling and the contact made by players. When a defensive player tackles an offensive one, whatever force is applied onto the player getting tackled is then also applied back on the player tackling him. You can determine the momentum of the players running before based upon their masses times their velocities. You can then determine the players speed and direction after the collision based upon the total momentum because it is conserved through the collision. There is obviously a lot of physics involved in football as it takes a very important role in every aspect of the game.
  11. isaacgagarinas
    Another sport that enjoy playing in my free time with many of my friends is basketball. There is a lot of physics involving forces in the game of basketball. One of the most important aspects of the game is dribbling. To dribble a player must push down and apply a force on the ball so that it hits the ground with another force. Next the ground pushes a force back onto the ball which causes it to bounce back up to the player. Whatever force the ball exerts on the floor as it is dribbled, is the same amount of force that the floor then applies back up on the ball. Another important aspect is making sure that you have appropriate basketball shoes so that you can keep a good grip. Players often get new shoes because there shoes will ware down and become smoother causing the force of friction to decrease. This then makes it easier for players to slip and fall which is why having good traction on your shoes is so important. Finally a lot of physics is done on a basketball when you take a shot. Once the ball is in the air it has a certain vertical and horizontal initial velocity. While neglecting air resistance the horizontal velocity should stay the same until it reaches the hoop, while the ball accelerates downwards vertically at 9.81 m/s^2 due to gravity. Obviously physics plays a very big role in basketball and it is constantly affecting the game.
  12. isaacgagarinas
    This spring break I'm getting to flying down to Florida to visit my friend Aaron! Aaron is a big surfer so while I'm down there I'm going to get to learn to surf along with him. With break now approaching, i figured it would be a good opportunity to look into a little bit of the physics of surfing! First there is a lot of basic application such as the fact that the force that the board exerts on the water, is exactly equal to the force the water exerts onto the board. However as a researched more I found there is more complexity to it than I had realized. One major principle that plays in buoyancy. Buoyancy is the ability to float which is due to the density of the board. Another reason that board is able to so easily glide across the water is due to the surface tension. If you've ever gone skiing or tubing, you may recall that when you fall off the water is seemingly hard. Well the reason for this, is because the molecules that make up water are attracted to each other, therefore their bonds are very strong at the surface. Finally, some of the basic forces play into surfing. Gravity is what keeps the surfer on the water and it pulls it down, just as the normal force, equal in strength pushes back up from the water. Then there is also the frictional force from the water between it and the board. However this is attempted to be kept at a minimum, which is why surfers wax their board to create a very smooth surface, decreasing the amount of friction. Obviously there is a lot of physics involved in surfing and I can't wait to give it a try next week!
  13. isaacgagarinas
    I have a dog named Bailey and she's 3 years old. She's a golden retriever Rottweiler mix, so her and I often play tug of war! She'll grab on to one end of her rope and I'll whip her around with the other end. I realized that there s actually a lot of physics involved in this! Both me and Bailey are pulling on the rope and creating tension. If both Bailey and I pull on the rope and the ball doesn't move, keeping it in the same position despite our pulling, that means that the amount of force in each direction we are exerting is equal. That would then mean that the rope is at equilibrium because there is no acceleration in either direction. Also i notice that Bailey bites down very hard on her end of the rope where there is usually a knot. The amount of force Bailey puts on the rope from biting down, is the exact same amount of force, the rope exerts onto her mouth. This would be the reason her mouth might be sore from biting down so hard. Because of the force of the rope pushing back. Me and Bailey have a lot of fun playing and turns out there's actually a lot of physics involved!
  14. isaacgagarinas
    Over spring break I was able to go down to Jacksonville, Florida to visit my friend Aaron. While I was there we decided to go clay shooting at a shooting range with his dad's shotgun. It was both helpful and interesting to understand a little bit about how the physics if the bullets when they shot. First off, it is helpful to know that the velocity of the bullets once shot out, always stay the same horizontally. Neglecting air resistance, the velocity should stay exactly the same. However gravity also pulls down on the bullet at 9.81 m/s, so after a certain distance, the bullet will eventually hit the ground. One interesting discovery that has been made because of this reality, is that if you were to shoot a bullet and drop a bullet from the same height at the same time, theoretically they should hit the ground at the same time. Even though one is shot fast horizontally strait, they still have the same amount of force pulling the downwards so they should hit the ground instantaneously. There is also a lot of physics involved in the fun part, which is shooting the clay the disks or pigeons. If you are able to aim well enough and hit the pigeon you can see it explode in the air. This happens because the bullets exert an extremely strong force on the disk, which it then exerted back causing it to break. Shooting was a lot of fun and I definitely would like to try it again. Being able to understand the physics made it more understandable and much more fun!
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