Cvankerkhove

Dear Mr. Kennedy, I landed on the moon in Kerbal. I am a physics god. Please don't disrespect me -Chris Vank

Ethan you're the man. Keep studying hard!

Hey Mr. Fullerton and anyone whos reading this, its been a pleasure grinding this year. Hope you enjoy this great video and maybe even chuckle a bit.

Pre-Flight Briefing #2: In this mission we will be teaming up with Nicholas Enterprises to use our shared skills and to get into orbit. We will have a more in depth pre-flight briefing to ensure a more successful launch compared to last time. We are splitting the cost 50/50, but 30% of our reward money will go to Nicholas Enterprises. Available Funds: $50,000 (StackBnimble) + $210,000 (Nicholas Enterprises). We will be splitting the costs 50/50 Vehicle Name: yuh Parts: MK16 Parachute,Mk1 Command Pod, 2 18 A Stack decouplers, 3 Fuel Tanks, 4 Hammer Boosters, 4 Radial Decouplers, 4 Fins for aero dynamics, four aerodynamic nose cones, 2 swivel engines. Total Cost: $12,920 Design Goal: Our design goal in this mission is to have a rocket, with sufficient fuel and boosters to get us into orbit, and then enough fuel to be able to get out of orbit and back into the atmosphere. The rocket is composed of decouples to get rid of dead weight, and the command pod has heat shields and a parachute for safe landing back to earth. Launch Goal: On this launch, our ultimate goal is to get into orbit, and subsequently complete the milestones for launch and manned launch to 10k,manned launch to 50k, getting into stable orbit, manned stable orbit, and doing all this to return to land safely. Also, if we are in good shape, we will do a Kerbal EVA. Pilot Plan: Our plan for our pilot, Bob, is to use the SAS system to help us stay on track in getting into orbit. Also, with the piloting skills of Marcus Nicholas, he will help us with maneuvers getting into orbit, and getting back to earth safely. All illustrations for will be presented in our post flight briefing.

Kerbal Space Program Pre-Flight Briefing #1: For our first launch we plan on just getting into the air very high, and if we can safely get into orbit we will achieve milestones, and get safely back to Earth. We will be using a simple rocket with boosters and fuel tanks to minimize cost, but maximize our success. Materials: Command Pod Mk 1: ($600) Parachute Mk16: ($422) 18A Stack Decoupler X2: ($800) Fuel Tank FL-T400 x3: ($1500) Swivel Liquid Fuel Engine x2: ($2400) Radiator Panels x2: ($300) Radial Decoupler TT-38K x4: ($2400) RT-10 Solid Fuel Booster x4: ($1600) Aerodynamic Nose Cone x4: ($960) Total Cost: ($10,982)

So we are coming to a close of the third quarter in AP physics, and therefore it is time for me to write one last blog about how this quarter went in class. We continued with the E and M course, and moved rather quickly as the AP exam would be right after the end of the quarter. Electric Potential came directly after statics, and I found this quite interesting, paticulary derivations concerning Gausses Law. Furthermore, we moved on to circuits and personally this was probably my favorite unit of the course. I really enjoyed learning about RC Circuits and how capacitors and resistors interact in a circuit; we did a lab using a bread board and Logger Pro software and this was very interesting in seeing how a capacitor discharges. Lastly, we got into magnetism, and inductance. The main thing I got out of magnetism in this course is the chicken and egg paradox with electricity and magnetism. They are one in the same as a moving electric field creates a magnetic field, and a magnetic field can induce a current. It's all about moving charges! Furthermore, I enhanced my understanding with the Bio Savart Law and the more simpler Ampers Law. All in all, this course has been my favorite out of my high school career, and I am ready to kill it on his AP exam in may. I would also like to thank Mr. Fullerton for the extension on the blog assignment.

I watched a video from the YouTube account MinutePhysics and it was very interesting about conservation of energy, and staying warm in a cold climate. This video was similar to the one I wrote about in an earlier blog about it it's better to run or walk in the rain. Anyway, the video basically explained that when a person is in a very cold situation, the surface area of they're body exerts almost a protective layer of heat around they're body, of course they will still feel cold in freezing temperatures, however they are warming than they should be. When runnning, there is a draft force and therefore air resistance on ones body, and not only does this cool air make a person cold, a person is running away from the layer of heat their body creates. It would seem obvious to stay put then to stay the warmest right? Not exactly. When humans run, approximately 80% of their energy exerted is converted into heat energy. This heat energy warms a body up, but is it enough to outway the new cold faced by the person, because he faster one runs, the greater he air resistance. Well it turns out in freezing weather a person would have to run about a 6 minute mile to stay warmer than staying put. Moral of he story, wear a parca! Here is the link to he video I saw this on

007 Night fire was my absolute favorite game of all time, except I played on the ps2. The best gun was the rocket launcher where you could shoot it and then control where the missile goes after you shoot it. Do a blog on that gun.

I recall an episode of the Simpsons where Homer and Bart go in a "Zero Gravity Ride" on a jet. In the show, the way the ride works is the jet flies very high above the altitude of Earthy, then when it reaches maximum altitude, does a nose dive towards the surface of the Earth. If we analyze the physics behind this, we can understand that because the jet is in free fall, Bart and Homer are in free fall, and therefore its like "0 Gravity." In reality, there is still a gravitational force acting on them, but it feels like there isn't because of free fall, and the jet falls at the same rate as the things inside. This is the exact same concept of a space shuttle in orbit. When astronauts are in orbit, they aren't really in a place with Zero Gravity. They are actually in constant free fall around the Earth. Furthermore, we can analyze the motion and actions Bart and Homer make when in free fall. one thing they do it float, but in order to move themselves a net force needs to act on them. By pushing their legs off the wall, a normal force is exerted on them and they can thus accelerate in the x direction until hitting the wall across them. Also, at one point they have a race by burping. Because burping releases gas from the system, an equal and opposite force pushes Homer and Bart in the opposite direction. This force is of course exaggerated for the purposes of the show, but the idea behind it is correct, similar to using a fire extinguisher on a rolling chair to move. Now indulge yourself in this comedic video of the scene.

So recently in physics class, we were talking about relativity and theoretical physics, and String Theory came up. Naturally, I was intrigued by this topic, and so I researched the topic a bit. Basically here is the run down: In physics, particles can be replaced by one dimension things called "Strings." These strings propagate through space and time to interact with each other. A string is basically a quantum particle that carries a gravitational force, and therefore is Quantum gravity. Quantum gravity uses Einstein's theory of gravity using quantum mechanics. Furthermore, I watched a video on string theory where it related the creation and fission of different universes to string theory. the video compared a universe to a bubble, and we are tiny, tiny bugs on this giant bubble. A universe could form in two different ways: through either the collision of two different universes forming a new one, or the fission of one universe into two. The forming of our universe is what we have come to know as the Big Bang. This implies that if there is a multiverse of universes, we could travel to different ones. In order to accomplish this task, theoretically, we would need to use a wormhole to take a shortcut to another universe. A great example of a wormhole is to bend a piece of paper and stick a pencil through it. A wormhole is similar in that it bends space and time to create a shortcut.

That spring must have an absolutely enormous spring constant in order to launch a nuke!

In gym class we are currently in the Floor Hockey unit, and it has me thinking about all the physics behind hockey, both ice and floor hockey. First of all, in ice hockey, skating is an important feature. The coefficient of kinetic friction between skates and the ice is very, very low, it almost acts as a friction less surface. As result, when hockey players exert a force on the ground to accelerate themselves forward, the only way to stop in time is to turn the skates sideways and let the sharp skates dig in the ice to create a strong force of friction. For similar reasons, when a puck is shot, it will not slow down unless acted on by another force (usually another player, or the wall). Finally, why do goalies where so much padding? The reason is because a goalie is expected to save shots fired at them up to 150 mph. If they stop it, it will of coarse result in a very high impulse over a short period of time and therefore deliver a strong force to the goalie. For protection, pads are worn to decrease the change in momentum of the puck.

So i was watching a YouTube video and I came across an interesting concept. This gets into theoretical physics with parallel universes and stuff. So basically the Butterfly Effect states that the smallest action, such as the flap of a butterfly's wings can change the outcome of something in the world thousands of miles away. This implies then that if a person was able to go back in time, and they make one difference, they could change the future in millions of different ways. This leads me to think that there are thousands of parallel universes, some very different from ours and some virtually the same. When a choice is said to be made, both of those choices are made, kinda similar to the Schrodinger's Cat problem. As result, there are trillions upon trillions of different combinations of choices and events, each creating a different universe. Just something to think about.

Its always awesome when you can apply stuff we learn in physics to a practical use. I remember doing that lab last year.

Recently in our APC physics class we have been doing electricity and magnetism and therefore our labs include creating circuits with wires, resistors, breadboards and batteries. I believe one of the most important things I learned from this lab was that licking a 9-volt battery gives you a shock. I thank Mr. Fullerton for teaching me this trick. When you lick a 9v battery, your tongue acts as a conductor as it is wet and therefore electrons are free to move, both ends are touching your tongue and therefore a mini circuit is created. If you feel a slight shock, that's good: your battery is all charged up!