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jcstack6

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  1. jcstack6

    About Me

    By jcstack6,

    I grew up in a large family with 6 siblings. As a triplet and having four older siblings,  I have never really been on my own in any activity. My family is extremely close and most of the activities that I do outside of school, such as soccer, singing, playing the tuba, and acting, I do with at least one of my siblings. I am a captain on the varsity soccer team in high school and soccer is one of my greatest passions. I am studying physics this year because I loved what I learned last year and I am intrigued to find out what else there is to be discovered in physics. I am super excited for physics this year as well as calculus and economics. I'm also enthusiastic about my senior year, but at the same time extremely anxious about choosing colleges to apply to, thinking about ACT and SAT scores and having all of my homework to do on top of that. Even though it will be a lot of work, I am excited for what this year will teach me.   
  2. jcstack6
    Recently in our physics class we were discussing the theory of relativity and how it works in nature. Without learning the math behind the theory yet, the theory is incredibly confusing, but it reminded me of a video we watched last year in my physics class that discussed how observers can change the way particles act. In a certain experiment, physicists shot electrons through a small slit to see the nature of an electron, whether it would act as a wave or as a particle. Incredibly, even though an electron is a particle, when the experiment was first run, it acted as a wave and diffraction occured from its passing through the small slit. The physicists desired to know more about this remarkable discovery so they ran the experiment again, except this time with an extremely accurate slow motion camera recording the electrons movement. In this trial the electrons acted as particles. The physicists were astounded, but checked again and again and realized it was the camera that changed the electrons behavior. A particle, which has no ability to think, changes its behavior based on whether or not it is being observed. I believe this is one of the most fascinating things about physics, how particles, and our planet, changes its actions based on whether or not its certain actions are being observed. Here's a short video explaining the experiment.
     
  3. jcstack6

    Basketball

    By jcstack6,

    I often play pickup basketball with my brothers, the teams usually split up as me and Paul vs Nathan and Dave. Paul is garbage, however his terrible form and his "signature move" has a lot of physics involved with it. Paul believes the greatest shot is one where he dribbles along the three point arc and chucks up a shot one handed while falling backward. He believes the best way to make this shot is by aiming for the white square on the backboard. This is surprisingly not the best tactic however. Even though every coach tells their 5 year old players to aim for the magic white box, in Paul case, they shouldn't. Since Paul is moving sideways with some velocity, the ball is also moving sideways with the same velocity. Therefore, if Paul aims for the white box, he will end up missing it because the ball will not travel straight but slightly sideways due to Paul's velocity in the horizontal direction. Therefore, Paul should aim to one side of the white box so that the ball actually hits the white box and has a chance of going in. However, playing with Paul turns into an hour of pain and frustration. 
  4. jcstack6

    Biking

    By jcstack6,

    Biking is one of the most electrifying activities out there. Picking up speed as you approach a jump, wondering how much air you'll get and then being launched into the air. Not many people, however, know all of the physics behind just simply going off a jump. It can be thought of in terms of kinematics by knowing the bikers initial velocity, but then one neglects how the biker obtained that initial velocity. Rather we can consider work and energy to talk about the correlation between the force of the bike, the distance the biker accelerates, their final velocity and the height they get off of the jump. Since work is equal to the bikes force multiplied by the distance the force is acting for, and since work equals the change in kinetic energy, the greater the force or the greater the distance, the greater the bikers kinetic energy. When looking at kinetic energy of the biker, we can look at linear and rotational, but for simplicity we'll just focus on linear. Since linear kinetic energy is a function of speed and mass, the speed of the biker increases, because the bikers kinetic energy increases and the bikers mass is constant. Finally, if the biker has no potential energy before the ramp, and no kinetic energy at his maximum height, we can set kinetic energy equal to potential energy, a function of height, mass and the acceleration due to gravity. Therefore, the height a biker gets is dependent on the bikers speed, but since his speed is dependent on the bikes force and distance that the force acts, the height the biker ultimately attains is dependent on the bikes force and distance that the force acts. 
  5. jcstack6

    Bowling

    By jcstack6,

    When looking at the sport of bowling, one can easily say the velocity at which the ball is thrown and its mass are the factors in whether or not the pins fall down, but which one matters more, or do they have the same amount of importance? When looking at this question, momentum has to be focused on. The momentum of the ball as it is thrown is what causes the pins to fall down. As momentum is conserved as each pin hits another, the initial momentum of the ball is what matters most. But what is momentum? Momentum is defined by an objects mass multiplied by its velocity. Therefore, the balls mass and the velocity at which the ball is thrown have equal amounts of importance in knocking down the pins. Therefore it's best for a bowler to pick a ball that is heavy, but not so heavy that the bowler cannot throw it with a sufficient velocity. 
  6. jcstack6
    Most people today have iPhone's that have an immensely complex system of wires in them to allow them to function properly. They are filled with wires, small batteries and capacitors to allow for the story of data and basic functions on your phone. But this complex system presents a problem when faced with a magnet. If a magnet is brought closer to a phone it will cause a changing  magnetic field around the phone's wires. The change in the magnetic field will cause current to move in the direction opposing the change in the magnetic field. But doesn't the complexity of iPhone's help prevent this problem? Actually it makes it easier to destroy an iPhone with a magnet. Since magnetic fields can only affect current perpendicular to their direction, the complexity of an iPhone's circuits provide ample opportunity for the changing magnetic field to align properly with a coil of wire thereby inducing a current in your iPhone and destroying it. So next time you're near a magnet don't rub your phone up against it!
     
  7. jcstack6

    Cereal

    By jcstack6,

    You may have wondered why it seems that all of your cereal clumps together in the middle of the bowl, even when you only have a few bits left to eat. The fact that cereal accumulates toward the center is due to something scientists have called "The Cheerios Effect." In 2005, the effect was mathematically proven. The surface tension between the milk and the bowl causes the milks surface to cave in slightly toward the middle of the bowl. Similar to the cohesive and adhesive properties of water, these properties in milk cause a concave surface of the milk. Clearly once one understands that the surface of the milk is caved toward the middle of  the bowl, it is clear that there is a component of the force of gravity pushing the cheerios together into the middle of the milk's surface as the friction between the milk and the cheerio isn't enough to counteract the component of the force of gravity. 
  8. jcstack6
    The speed of light is known as 300,000 km/s and we leave it at that. But this speed is only the speed of light through a vacuum and light doesn't always travel in a vacuum. The slowest recorded speed of light is actually 17 m/s, a speed easily attainable by a car. So what happens then if particles can travel faster than light? Well in many nuclear reactors, this is what happens. Particles travel at a speed greater than the speed of light in that specific atmosphere. When this happens an emission of blue light emerges. This is called Cherenkov Radiation and it can be compared to a sonic boom, which happens when an object is travelling faster than the speed of sound, but with light. It is interesting the concrete ideas we have about physics and specifically light, but all of these concrete "facts" can be manipulated and produce unforeseen outcomes.
  9. jcstack6

    Drifting

    By jcstack6,

    By far the coolest thing you could do with a car is drift, but most people don't know the specifics behind drifting and how much physics is embedded in drifting. When someone drifts, they turn the car abruptly and then turn the wheel in the opposite direction they want to turn. This action, however, however seems counterproductive. Why would turning the opposite direction move the car in the intended direction? To answer this question, you need to know the nature of friction and Newton's laws. When the car begins to move sideways, the only force acting on the car is the force of friction from the pavement on the wheels of the car. This force makes the car slow down, since net force is equal to mass x acceleration, and the force of friction is the only force acting on the car.  But why would friction change the direction of the car? The answer to this lies in the concept of centripetal forces. Centripetal forces are forces that are center seeking and cause an object to move in a circle around a point. Therefore, when the wheel is turned in one direction, this causes the force of friction applied on the wheels of the car to become a centripetal force, causing the car to move in the intended direction rather than the direction that the wheel is turned in. All of this considered, drifting in a grass field is definitely a thrilling activity, even if you don't know all the physics behind the movement of your car. 
  10. jcstack6

    Fall

    By jcstack6,

    Fall is by far the best season. It's not too hot, not too cold and the leaves falling all around create beautiful views any way you turn. Physics is also all around during fall. To pick one example, falling leaves illustrate many principles of physics. One could pretend air resistance doesn't exist and see a leaf fall 9.8 m/s^2 in a straight line to the ground, but that would take away from the beauty of the leaf falling. One would have to include air resistance, measured by either bv or cv^2, where b and c are constants and v represents velocity of the leaf. Even the inclusion of air resistance, however, wouldn't totally explain the nature of the leaf falling. It would describe the leaf speeding up as it falls, eventually reaching a terminal velocity until it stops on the ground. The irregular shape of the leaf is what needs to be taken into account to truly define the nature of the falling leaf with physics. The irregular shape is what makes the leaf move side to side, accelerating at different rate throughout its fall. If we were to consider a ball falling, air resistance would be easy to calculate, but due to the irregularity of the leaf, the nature of its fall is difficult to explain in terms of physics. It is amazing how complex the physics is behind an object as simple as a falling leaf. 
  11. jcstack6

    Hawking Radiation

    By jcstack6,

    Black holes are often thought of as dark holes sucking matter in towards them by there massive amount of gravitational force. Interestingly enough, however, black holes are anything but black. Black holes might be dark, but they glow. It is well known that black holes decay until they don't have enough energy to sustain their mass, thereby not allowing them to exist any longer. But what does this loss of energy turn into? The slight glow in black holes. This slight glow is due to "Hawking Radiation". It is the slight decay of energy into radiation from black holes over the time of their existence. It is intriguing all the unknown facts about the universe and how much more is left to be discovered!
  12. jcstack6
    As an experienced tubist, I have been practicing bettering the quality of my higher range for years now, but it is still a challenge. The challenging aspect of playing clear high notes through a tuba can be attributed to physics. The higher the pitch, the higher the frequency of the sound waves. To increase the frequency of the sound waves, one must increase the speed of the air through the tuba. To do so, you increase the pressure of the air in the mouthpiece by pressing your lips close together to generate a fast stream of air. This seems simple enough, so what's the challenge. As frequency is proportional to velocity, it is inversely proportional to length. Therefore, even though the speed of the air is increasing, the tuba is 16 feet of brass tubing, one of the longest instruments ever made. This makes generating a higher pitch by increasing the frequency extremely hard. The pressure in the mouthpiece need to increase an incredible amount due to the length of the instrument. So I suppose I'll just have to give up on the tuba because I can never defy physics.  
  13. jcstack6

    Homer Simpson

    By jcstack6,

    In the greatest comedic film ever created, Homer Simpson attempts to ride a motorcycle around the inside of a dome. He accomplishes this feat in order to throw a bomb out of the inside of the dome. Not only is this the coolest stunt ever pulled in any movie in the history of film, the physics behind this accomplishment is elegant. In previous attempts when Homer failed, he drove too slowly and so he would fall when he got to the top of the dome. Lisa knew about physics, however, and told Homer to speed up when he got to the top. When he did this he was able to get to the top of the dome without falling off. He was able to do this because his increase in speed increased his momentum. Since momentum, p, equals mass multiplied by velocity, Homer's momentum would increase when he sped up toward the top of the dome. Therefore, he was able to clear the dome because the force of gravity opposing him stayed the same and his momentum increased, causing him to go all the way to the top of the dome without falling, after, of course, multiple failed efforts. 
  14. jcstack6

    Ice Skating

    By jcstack6,

    When a skater goes into a spin, they usually start it with their arms out wide, spinning at a slow pace. Then the skater pulls their arms in and the speed at which their rotating increases and finally as the spin comes to an end, their arms extend again and they slow down. Many people understand that physics is incorporated in skating, but they don't understand how much goes into a simple spin in terms of physics. Rotational momentum is defined by the objects moment of inertia multiplied by their angular velocity. An object's moment of inertia is defined by their mass multiplied by their radius squared, multiplied by a constant determined by the shape of the object. Therefore, as a skater pulls in their arms, their radius decreases, decreasing their moment of inertia. Since rotational momentum is conserved during the skaters spin, their rotational velocity increases as their moment of inertia decreases. It is astonishing how simple something so mesmerizing can be after the physics behind it is understood. 
  15. jcstack6
    From the earliest discoveries of gravity and when students first learn about gravity, they are told it's a force. The force of gravity is equal to mass times the acceleration due to gravity or Fg=(m1m2/r^2. That is just a fact. Or is it? Gravitational forces are actually much more interesting than just the relationship between one mass and another. Gravity is the act of changing space-time. Gravity causes space-time to curve into a bowl like shape pulling masses into the center of it. As a planet is a massive object, its core pulls the space-time surrounding it toward itself, pulling the atoms of the planet toward its core as well as holding surrounding objects on the surface. As one goes onto the outer edges of the bowl, however, the force pulling them in decreases, because the slope of space-time is less. For this reason, Einstein's theory of relativity makes sense. As masses change the shape of space and time according to their size and mass, time and distance on one planet would differ from that of another. 
  16. jcstack6
    Launch Time: 10:37 am
    Team Members Present: Jason Stack, Marcus Nicholas and Michael Kennedy were all present for this launch.
    Play-by-Play: Initially the rocket was created using the parts listed in the pre-flight briefing. The rocket was launched from Kerbin and angled in order to successfully travel outside of Kerbin's atmosphere. The rocket was then directed into orbit around Kerbin. Kerbin was orbited a few times. The rocket was then returned back to Kerbin by using a maneuver that brought the rocket back into Kerbin's atmosphere. The bottom engines were released, then the second engines, leaving only the pod left. The pod descended to 1,000 meters above Kerbin and then the parachute was deployed. The pod landed safely on Kerbin. 
     
    Photographs: 
    Time-of-Flight: 4 hours and 5 minutes
    Summary: Our flight was a great success. We planned to accomplish all initial milestones, including a successful manned orbit and a successful Kerbal EVA. All of these desired milestones were accomplished. Our spaceship and Kerbal manning the ship returned safely to Kerbin after successfully reaching orbit around Kerbin. By reaching a manned orbit around Kerbin, all the initial milestones were accomplished by this launch. 
    Opportunities / Learnings: Establishing what the launch goals are and designing the rocket accordingly is very important. Failure to do so will result in an inability to accomplish any milestones.
    Strategies / Project Timeline: After this accomplishment, our next goal is to reach orbit around the moon and land on the moon. 
    Milestone Awards Presented: 
    Launch to 10 km - $10,000 Manned launch to 10 km - $20,000 Manned launch to 50 km - $30,000 Achieving stable orbit - $40,000 Achieving stable manned orbit - $50,000 First Kerbal EVA - $60,000 Available Funds: $257,818
  17. jcstack6

    Mass CAN Change?

    By jcstack6,

    In high school physics we've always been told that test will try to trick you. They'll ask if a 10kg person goes from the earth to the moon how will their mass change. And the answer is always it doesn't. Mass doesn't change, mass doesn't change, mass doesn't change. It's been hammered into our brains. But it's a lie. So the speed of light in a vacuum is 300,000 km/s. This is the fastest speed any object in the universe can travel at. So what happens if you try to accelerate an object going the speed of light? Well picture this: a rocket accelerate to the speed of light, but the thrusters are still pushing on the rocket. You might be tempted to say that the frictional force balances with the thrust of the rocket, so there's no net force. But then how would the rocket have accelerated to the speed of light? There must be a net force. Given that there is a net force, work is being done on the rocket. Therefore, there is a change in kinetic energy, but velocity isn't increasing. That means the other component of kinetic energy must be increasing: mass. In most cases mass is a constant, but when energy cannot be transferred into speed any longer, it has to be transferred into mass instead. 
  18. jcstack6

    Pancakes

    By jcstack6,

    My sister Abby loves to make pancakes for breakfast. She makes three small pancakes at a time using one pan. How does this cook all of the pancakes evenly? This is where physics comes into the equation. The flame is concentrated in the middle of the pan, so wouldn't that be the only place where the pancakes would be able to be cooked? One would assume so, but due to energy and particle movement, the entire pan is able to cook a pancake, even though the flame is not directly under that spot. The flame heats up the molecules in the pan directly above it, causing the heat energy to be converted into kinetic energy. As the molecules then move rapidly, bouncing off one another, the collisions with other molecules in the pan transfer energy from one molecule to another, transferring energy across the whole pan. The kinetic energy in each of the molecules and collisions cause the entire pan to heat up. This is why it is possible to make three pancakes by using just one pan.  
  20. jcstack6
    Nicholas Enterprises
    Starting Funds: $60,000
     
    Vehicle Name: Mr. Rocket
     
    Vehicle Parts and Cost:
    MK16 Parachute X1, LV-909 Liquid Fuel Engine X1, FL-T800 Fuel Tank X1, TT-38K Radial Decoupler X3, RT-10 Hammer Fuel Booster X3, MK1 Command Pod X1, AV-T1 Winglet X3, TR-188 Stack Decoupler X2, Aerodynamic Nose Cone X3, FL-T400 X1, LV-
    T45 Engine X1.
    Total Cost- $12,182
    Ending Funds- $47,818
    Design Goals:
    Our rocket has been designed to successfully go into orbit around Kerbin and then return safely back to Kerbin.
    Launch Goal:
    Our goal for our launch is to go into orbit around Kerbin.
    Pilot Plan:
    The pilot should exit Kerbin’s atmosphere and then turn at the proper angle to cause the ship to go into orbit around Kerbin.
    Illustration:

  21. jcstack6

    Resolution

    By jcstack6,

    One of the most creative sounds in music is when a composer is able to resolve a chord. The chord starts out sounding as though the pitches are fighting each other, this is called dissonance. The listener hates this sound, but it makes the resolved pitches sound even better. To resolve the chord, the dissonance is ended by balancing out the wavelengths of the pitches. This is done by changing the notes in the chord such that their frequencies create regular harmonies such as a third and a fifth. The physics behind resolving a chord is extensive, but at the same time straight forward. The frequencies of the pitches that create dissonance are so close together, almost the same, that the waves created make a sound that could be compared to the notes fighting with each other, and to some extent this is true. The pitches don't want each other to change frequency, but the listener desperately does. This is the reason why resonance sounds so good. Once the pitches stop "fighting," once the pitches frequencies are in pattern with each other, the conventional chord sounds a thousand times better being played right after dissonance. 
  22. jcstack6

    Returning a serve

    By jcstack6,

    In my limited time playing tennis for school and ping pong in my free time, I've learned how to properly return a fast serve. I would always see a quick serve coming at me and be tempted to swing hard back at it, but that would always end in the ball soaring off to either side. My coach instead told me to just hold my racket still and steady and let the ball bounce off of it. This technique has a lot of physics behind it that makes sense. Think of a ball being bounced on the floor. The floor does not swing at the ball to propel it back to your hand, rather the ball merely hits the still floor and goes back up. This can be thought of an elastic collision where all of the potential and kinetic energy of the ball is conserved causing the ball to bounce back up to one's hand. Similarly in tennis and ping pong, a fast serve met with a still racket causes the ball to go across the net with the same speed as it was served with but in a controlled manner. Therefore, even though swinging at the ball will cause its speed to increase, to get a fast AND controlled return, one should cause and elastic collision with the ball and the racket by holding the racket steady and still.
  23. jcstack6

    Rising Bread

    By jcstack6,

    My family and I were making bread the other night and my mother had to teach us how a flat piece of dough could turn into a delicious, golden brown loaf. All she knew was that heat made the dough rise, but there is so much more physics involved in making bread rise. In terms of energy, as heat from the oven goes into the dough, the heat energy is turned into mechanical energy in the molecules of the bread, mostly in the form of kinetic energy. This conversion from heat energy to kinetic energy causes the molecules to increase their speed and begin colliding with one another. As the rate of collision's increase, the molecules "look" for more room as to not collide with so many other molecules. This causes the bread to rise as the molecules push outward to avoid hitting other molecules. The conversion of energy combined with molecular movement causes the dense dough to become a fluffy loaf of bread. 
  24. jcstack6
    In a recent lab done in my physics c class, my group was experimentally determining the moment of inertia of six different objects. We set up a ramp for the objects to roll down at an angle of 3.325 degrees. We rolled the objects down the ramp, recorded the time for each object and then found each objects linear acceleration, radius, angular acceleration, mass, net torque and finally moment of inertia. When we checked our answers with our teacher they were horribly wrong, like an average of 200% error. This was because we neglected ed to include for unction in our calculations for torque. 
    This was a major mistake seeing as friction is the only force on the objects that provide a net torque. We went back and fixed our equation for net torque, which previously was the radius of the object multiplied by the x component of the force of gravity, to be the x component of the force of gravity subtracted by linear acceleration and the objects mass, this result was multiplied by the radius to get the net torque. Our lab then produced less massive percent errors, so my advice to you if you are doing a rotational motion lab is don't forget friction! 
  25. jcstack6

    Shoot Your Grade Lab

    By jcstack6,

    In a lab recently conducted by the Physics C class, Mr. Fullerton required the class to place a textbook at a location where they predicted a ball launched by a projectile would fall. The class got one test launch to observe the behavior of the projectile and then the angle that the projectile was launched at was changed and the location of the ball when it lands had to be predicted. The class failed to calculate the final location of the ball due to improper calculations, specifically not representing certain vectors with their proper direction. In the initial lab, the distance in the y direction was thought to be positive instead of negative. This threw off our calculations for the initial velocity of the ball in the y direction and therefore made our initial velocity, the combination of the x and y components of the velocity, incorrect. Since our initial velocity was incorrectly calculated based on data for the first trial, we did not have the proper initial velocity for the projectile when the angle it was launched at changed, causing us to have the wrong final answer to where the ball would land when launched from the new angle. 
    After redoing the problem and realizing what we did wrong, I came to an answer of 199.42 cm in the x direction for the distance the ball would travel in the x direction before hitting the ground. By changing the y direction value for the first trial calculation to a negative number, this corrected the initial velocity in the y direction and thereby corrected the overall initial velocity. Then when calculating the value the ball would travel in the x direction for the second trial, checking over that all vectors had the correct associated directions, the time was first calculated by utilizing the y plane using the equation dy = vt + 1/2at^2. The time found for how long the ball was in the air was .427s. The time was then used in the x plane to find the distance using the equation dx = vt. This equation yielded the final answer of 199.42 cm as the distance the ball traveled in the x direction. 

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