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zach_m

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Everything posted by zach_m

  1. When I sit on my couch and watch television (Netflix), there is a lot of physics involved. For example, I do not do any work, because I stay in the same place for hours. Sometimes I get up to go to the kitchen for food, but then I go back to the couch, so my displacement is zero. Also, sound waves, which are mechanical and longitudinal, travel from the television to my ears, which are about ten feet away from each other.
  2. Video on breaking glass with voice
  3. zach_m

    Auditoriums

    The IHS auditorium is used for many events, including the talent show which is in a few days. This will involve a lot of singing and music. The auditorium is designed so that sound waves, which are mechanical and longitudinal, meaning that they require a medium to travel through and move parallel to wave velocity, only travel to people's ears. Normally, sound waves bounce off of the walls, which is where echoes come from, but auditoriums are set up to keep them from doing that.
  4. zach_m

    Insurgent

    Over break, I went to see Insurgent. There was almost too much fighting, climbing, swinging and jumping around, and a lot of it was most likely physically impossible, due to the law of gravity. In one scene, the main character runs around the sides of a rotating house, and even though it's a fake simulation, it's still highly unlikely that anyone, especially the main character, could pull off those kinds of stunts. Two people also managed to fight off around thirty other people, and one girl somehow dodged hundreds of bullets. I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
  5. zach_m

    Snowmobiling

    I went snowmobiling last weekend, and at one point I made too sharp of a turn and almost flew off. The physics behind this, is that the snowmobile was going at a certain velocity in one direction, and while I turned the snowmobile, my body continued in that direction and at that velocity. Therefore, sharp turns are a bad idea.
  6. zach_m

    Mythbusters

    This clip from "Mythbusters" explores the physics involved in car crashes. For example, they talk about how doubling the speed of a car before crashing it into a wall will quadruple the damage done to the car, and they prove it by creating different scenarios.
  7. I was driving by my uncle's farm last weekend, and I went down a really steep hill which has a stop sign at the bottom. Since the road was pretty icy, I got a little nervous, but I stopped, and all was well. Clearly, the physics involved is that I was going down an incline with little friction, which made it harder to stop the car. The coefficient of friction for rubber on ice is 0.15, which is very small, even though the road wasn't all ice. My cousin also decided to do donuts in his icy driveway, which involves a lot of physics too, but that's not something you think about when you might be about to die.
  8. zach_m

    Sledding

    I always enjoyed sledding, and now I can see how physics applies to the activity. For example, you can calculate the velocity of both the person and the sled after they are "one object" if you know the momentum of both before the person jumps onto the sled. If I weigh 63 kg, and I jump onto a stationary sled that weighs 5 kg at a velocity of 8 m/s, then I can add up the masses to get 68 kg times the velocity of both me and the sled. I can set 504 (kg x m/s) equal to (68kg)(v), because the momentum is the same before and after, and then divide 504 by 68, to find a velocity of 7.4 m/s for both objects.
  9. I think I may have been on your team for like a year...
  10. You noted that your brain analyzed aspects of the movie... I noted that my brain thinks you ruined the movie
  11. I did Odyssey of the Mind for a year, and I never realized how much physics was involved in it. One of the requirements of Odyssey is to create a play that "solves" the problem that your team chooses. We had to make our own costumes, sets, and props, so we had to make sure that everything stayed in its place, and that everything moved/worked properly, which could be quite challenging at times. At the time, I didn't know how physics would apply to all of this, and having a deeper understanding of physics probably allows a team to be more creative with their sets. Also, there is often building involved in the spontaneous problems. Physics applies to everything in our world, but we often don't realize how having a deeper understanding of it can really change the way we approach problems.
  12. zach_m

    Aerosol Cans

    The other day, while I was dusting my bookshelf, I realized that aerosol cans are used for so many products, and are used so frequently in our everyday lives. I wanted to better understand the physics behind these cans, so I did some research. I found out that a fluid called the product, which boils well above room temperature, is first poured into the can. Then, a fluid that boils below room temperature, called the propellant, is pumped into the can in its gaseous form at high-pressure, so that when the plastic head is pushed down, the propellant is pushed down with enough force to squeeze/spray out the product.
  13. zach_m

    Catapult

    After finding out that I had to somehow build a catapult, I felt a bit nauseous, because I am not experienced in woodwork, and neither are the people that were in my group. Somehow we managed to pull it off, even though it's pretty wimpy. If I could go back and rebuild it though, I would probably have done more calculations to make sure it launched at an angle of 45 degrees, and that there was a stronger launch force. I really enjoyed seeing everyone launch their catapults because many of them were extremely impressive. It was also interesting to do the calculations after launching the catapult because we were able to apply the equations and skills we learned in class to a real "machine" of our own creation.
  14. zach_m

    Soccer

    I played soccer for about 7 years, and never understood that physics applies to all aspects of the sport, as it does to every sport. For example, kicking the ball into the air is an example of projectile motion. The ball is launched at a certain angle above the ground, or the horizontal, and lands back on the ground. During this entire time, the ball is being acted upon by gravity, causing the acceleration to be 9.81 m/s^2. Also, when the ball reaches it's maximum height, its velocity is 0 m/s. Lastly, Newton's 1st Law states that an object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion in a straight line at constant velocity, unless acted upon by a net force. This law applies to soccer, because when a ball is kicked but does not leave the ground, its velocity decreases as the time and distance increase, because it is being acted upon by friction, a net force.
  15. The lab involving the groups jumping has a very high percent error due to uncontrollable factors. For one, it is difficult to record the exact time a person is in the air for. Timers may be off, or a person’s reaction time to hit the timer is not exact. This makes for inaccuracies within the experiment. Another factor that increases the percent error is if the person takes a step on accident, this may give them a much different result than those people who are standing still. If this lab could be redesigned, a more accurate form of timing would be very helpful. One such way to do this is using a timing app on your phone which can record the time you’re your immediate jump, to the time you land. by: Annie, Erika, Jaclyn, Ian, Zach
  16. Breaking news High School Students Find the Acceleration due to Gravity: Recently, students at Irondequoit High School have performed an experiment that led them to discover the acceleration due to gravity. The students conducted this test in room 3033, using merely a foam ball, a meter stick, and a stop watch. The students had one group member stand on a desk, holding the ball in the air. Another student then measured the distance from the floor to the bottom of the ball. After having discovered the distance, the student holding a ball, as well as two other students, timed how long it took for the ball to hit the ground. The students performed four trials to get the most accurate results. Next, the students used a kinematic equation to discover the acceleration of the ball. After having found the acceleration, the students subtracted the accepted acceleration value (9.81m/s^2) from their own experimental value and then divided by the accepted value to find the percent error. The percent error for the group ultimately came out to be 30%. The intelligence level in this school is astounding! Irondequoit High School is producing physicists in the making! by: Annie, Erika, Jaclyn, Ian, Zach
  17. Marvin, it's true you's a bit strange... Respond to my intro bc I'm a loner and nobody likes me
  18. I wish I could see goats from my backyard... good luck with your music
  19. Hi everyone, my name is Zach and I am a junior in high school. I played soccer from the age of 7 to 13, and now I run track in the spring. I participate in a little club called Masterminds, which is basically jeopardy, and compete against other schools (boring I know). I also love to travel. The best place I've been in the United States is Los Angeles, CA. In my free time I like to read and listen to music. I am taking physics because it seems like one of the most interesting science classes. It is also the study of everything, which is pretty interesting. I hope to learn more about how the world works, and possibly gain some life skills. I am also taking physics because I want to have experience in plenty of subjects, as I'm not quite sure what I want to do with my life, so this class may open or close a door for the future.
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