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crazycrochet20

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  1. crazycrochet20

    The Incredibles

    By crazycrochet20,

    Last night, my sister brought up the sequel to The Incredibles  which got me thinking about another topic for a blog post.
    The movie has a lot of physics examples in it; however, there are several examples of where some laws of physics are broken. Each family member has a superpower that makes them unique but they break laws of physics that could not actually be broken in real life. Mr. Incredible has super strength which allows him to pick up cars and stop trains. When he stops the train from falling off of the broken track, he has to put a force on the train equal to the force it is traveling at in order to stop it from falling off. Although this part of it is true, I think that everyone knows that a human could not simply stop a train in the way the Mr. Incredible did in the movie. Next is Dash, the son that can run at extreme speeds which allows him to get away with putting tacks on the teacher's chair without him noticing. In his time to shine, Dash managed to run so fast that he ran across the water. If he were running this fast, why would he have to worry about getting shot at by the bad guys because their machines should not have been able to move as fast as he did. Again, I think we all know that no human can actually run across water like Dash did in the movie.
    This movie makes me wish that I could have a superpower, too. I think I would want to have super strength or the ability to fly (or both). Since that will never happen, I am just going to keep on dreaming!
    Until next time,
    RK
  2. crazycrochet20

    Cell Phones

    By crazycrochet20,

    Something I have always wondered is the way in which a cell phone works. Everyone has them in today's world so now I need an explanation to how they work in a physics sense.

    From what I understand, when someone talks into the phone, their voice is converted into a signal that is transmitted through waves and then back into sound on the other end. Essentially it sounds like a two way radio. The signal is a type of radio wave that in the end can be dangerous to humans resulting in various health issues in the long run. Are cell phones really worth it if we are exposed to even more radiation that we need to be?
    Until next time, 
    RK
  3. crazycrochet20

    Hurricanes

    By crazycrochet20,

    Physics is everywhere in real life! Most people don't think about it, but weather is an aspect of physics. After all of the major hurricanes this year, I think looking at the physics behind the hurricane is a good idea. Hurricanes are formed when high air pressure intrudes in cold air pressure space which then rises and starts swirling and forming extremely high winds and destructive storms in a matter of days. The picture below shows why these storms are formed in the tropical regions and are able to create so much damage once it reaches land.

    The major physics aspect that I took from hurricanes is the Coriolis Force. This force follows Newton's Second Law but it has a rotating reference frame. When the force is applied to the Earth, it is often times called the Coriolis Effect. In most cases, the rotating object is the earth which helps account for some of the motion of objects on the earth. Looking from above, the object appears to move straight out, yet when looked at from a different angle, the object seems to have a curved path outwards.

    When hurricanes start to form, the air that is brought in is deflected perpendicular which also creates the spiral motion. This force also initiates the movement of the hurricane often towards land due to the rotation of the air. Once a hurricane reaches land, destruction will soon follow and remain.
    Until next time,
    RK
  4. crazycrochet20

    Flying Birds

    By crazycrochet20,

    We all know that birds fly except penguins but they waddle which is better than flying. To fly, a bird must flap its wings to give it lift that is greater than its weight in order to get up off the ground. If the lift is not greater than the weight, the bird will sit there flapping its wings and look like a crazy bird. Another aspect that remains in the mix for all flying birds is the drag forces that go along with their flight. To fly to their destination quickly, a bird wants to minimize drag forces if possible. Drag forces can be a burden for all flying birds sometimes, but on the other hand, when slowing down to land, a bird likes the drag forces because they will help the bird land quickly and without injury.
     
    The statements above apply to all large and small flying birds. For larger birds, they often soar throughout the sky to save energy. This happens because they have larger wing spans that allow them to flap less to get the same amount of lift as a smaller bird.
     
    Now as for the penguins that waddle, they use their feet to shuffle along and stay on the ground.

    Until next time, 
    RK
  5. crazycrochet20
    Most people know what a monorail is but what is a Maglev Monorail? Maglev means the transportation system levitates and moves using extremely strong magnets. Maglev Monorails operate using the strong magnets to move the train that has no wheels. The whole concept that the magnets repel their like sides and attract to their opposites help to push the monorail to top speeds. In the United States there is a Maglev Monorail in California at General Atomics in San Francisco. 

    Below is a video of a brief news reports on the Maglev Monorail in China when it completed its test run.
    Until next time,
    RK
  6. crazycrochet20
    When most people think about field hockey, they think about the stick that looks like a candy cane. The ball can only be played on the flat side of the stick which makes field hockey a difficult game to play.

    Newton's first law says that an object in motion will stay in motion until acted on by an outside force. When the ball is hit down the field, the reason it stops after some distance is due to the friction acting as an outside force which slows the ball and brings it to a stop. The surface that is played upon plays a role in the speed of the ball and in the end speed of the game. Grass fields are more difficult to play on with the grass because the ball does not cut through as quickly. Acceleration and changing directions also plays a huge role in the game because players have to quickly adjust speed and direction to dodge around the opposing team. Efficient dodging creates a space and cuts out the defender and makes their job a lot more difficult.
    That is all for now!
    Until next time,
    RK
  7. crazycrochet20
    We all know what a candle looks like when we burn it. The blue at the bottom is the heavier and cooler fire. Because of gravity, the blue is at the bottom while the hotter and lighter fire is towards the top. On earth, fire burns up and around and spreads because of the oxygen that it has access to. In space, because there is no gravity and a very low concentration of oxygen, fire burns in spheres and spreads quickly based on where it can get the oxygen.
     
    In the video below, fire in space is explained in further depth with baffling information about combustion as well.
    Until next time,
    RK
  8. crazycrochet20
    A Foucault pendulum is a device that has been used to prove that the earth rotates. It was discovered in 1851 by a French physicist, Leon Foucault, who wanted to prove the earth's rotation and did so with his pendulum. Ideally, a Foucault's pendulum should rotate at a fixed point on surface of the earth but unless it is located at the poles, the pendulum is rotating as the earth rotates. When gravity is the only acting force on the pendulum, the pendulum will swing and rotate back to its original point in approximately 24 hours. Although the pendulum's would eventually stop due to air resistance, there is often an electromagnetic drive that is used to keep the pendulum going as it swings.

    All around the world, there are now pendulums often in science museums and colleges. In our area, there are several within driving distance and I would love to go an see one soon.
    Until next time,
    RK
  9. crazycrochet20

    Need a Laugh?

    By crazycrochet20,

    Monday's seem to be the worse days of the week for me. I feel like my worst days always are on Monday. Since today is a Monday and it was another bad day, I thought I should do a blog post about some funny physics things that I found on Google and Pinterest. These all made my day a little bit better and I think they will make yours better too. I hope you all enjoy and let me know if you find anymore good ones! I love a good laugh!
    Until next time,
    RK








  10. crazycrochet20

    Second Quarter

    By crazycrochet20,

    These past few weeks have been some of the hardest weeks in high school. College applications were due during this quarter and once those were in, there was a sudden loss of motivation to do anything at school. In every class, I have noticed that I simply try and if I do not understand, I leave it and pray that it will not be important to know for the future. Sadly, this method has proved to be extremely unsuccessful. Midterm week has proved to me that I need to refocus myself for the rest of this school year or my grades will continue to plummet all around. I have self diagnosed myself with "Senioritis" which is curable with hard work and effort. I need to majorly fix my time management for the next semester and hopefully that will help me as well!
    Now on to studying for the rest of this week and praying that I can get a good grade on at least 2 of my next exams! Third quarter here I come!
    Until next time,
    RK
  11. crazycrochet20
    Many people know about the infamous Bermuda Triangle because of the ships, planes and people that all go missing in the triangle. The Bermuda Triangle spans from the edge of Florida to Bermuda and then down to Puerto Rico. The disappearances that come about from the triangle are unexplained and this is not something new. In 1492, Christopher Columbus made note in a journal that his compass was not pointing north but decided not to alert the already worried crew. Some evidence has proven that in the triangle, there are certain areas that a magnetic compass will point towards true north instead of magnetic north. In addition to the changing compass, the weather in The Bermuda Triangle has reportedly been another crazy factor in this equation. Because of its location, weather can dramatically change over a short period of time. These weather changes have also been known to become violent which could add to some disappearances.  

    There are still no actual explanation to the vanishing boats, planes and people in The Bermuda Triangle, but one thing is for sure, something fishy happens down there.
    Until next time,
    RK
  12. crazycrochet20

    A Box of Minions

    By crazycrochet20,

    At the start, many of the yellow minions with cool goggles and a few strands of hair were captured by the evil Gru. Gru did not want them anymore so he decided to throw them all into a box to ship them off to an island in the middle of nowhere. Gru pushed the box at a constant speed along the ground that had friction. Once he got to the car, he realized that he would have to lift the box with a certain force. The work that Gru does is equal to the negative change in potential energy. He then flies the box of screaming minions to the island. Instead of just kicking them out of his vehicle, he uses a pulley system to reach a platform above him. He is standing with the box and himself on a platform and holding the rope. The power that Gru would have to use to sustain a constant velocity would equal the force times the velocity. From that point on the platform, Gru has a 1000 W electric motor that will raise the platform up a certain height. In 10 seconds, the box will raise that height as Gru runs away as fast as he can. However, Gru did not know that the minions had stolen the freeze ray and were waiting for the perfect time to use it... The minions stole the vehicle while Gru watched, frozen in place. Gru learned his lesson, never become an enemy of the minions.
    RK
     
  13. crazycrochet20
    In my previous post, I discussed the physics behind hurricanes and their formation. After the crazy lightning storm we had last night, I think writing about lightning and how it connects to physics is a good topic for this next blog post. 
    Lightning storms are an example of the electrostatic that occurs in nature. The result of the build up of the electrostatic charge in the clouds are those terrifying strikes. The lightning wants to take the path of least resistance where it branches out and grows. The negative particles in the clouds want to reach the ground which leaves the strikes coming down. Just like hurricanes, lightning is quite dangerous and everyone should avoid being outside during lightning storms. Everyone should also avoid standing outside with a large metal pole during one of these lightning storms unless you the desire to get struck by said lightning. 
    Until next time, 
    RK
  14. crazycrochet20

    Medical Physics

    By crazycrochet20,

    Have you ever noticed how physics is everywhere and in every little thing that you do? Well of course you have because gravity is great and all. Anyways, there are so many topics and ideas that physics can relate to and it is absolutely incredible! I had originally wanted to talk about physics in the human body but then I came across the topic of medical physics. MEDICAL PHYSICS IS A THING! Medical physics is exactly as it sounds, physics that is applied to the medical field. That might not sound like a cool thing to you but it is actually really cool to look into.

    Medical physicists can often be found in hospital and universities where they are either working with patients or doing research. The ones who work in hospitals often work with radiotherapy, radiology, x-ray, ultrasound and nuclear magnetic resonance. Medical physicists can often play key roles in a patient's treatment plans. One prominent example is helping to treat cancer patients. Physics can contribute to saving lives!
    Until next time,
    RK
  15. crazycrochet20

    Luge

    By crazycrochet20,

    I have never heard of the word "luge" until today when looking at events in the Winter Olympics. Luge is a sport where there is a rider on a sled that is sliding down ice feet first. The objective is to get down the track in the fastest amount of time. They often look like this while racing...

    The rider has to fight air resistance to get down the track as fast as possible. They start at the top of an ramp and then have to go around turns until they reach the finish line. Although this may not seem like a dangerous sport, riders can reach speeds of 95 mph or more. In the 2010 Winter Olympics, rider Nodar Kumaritashvili died in a practice run hours before the opening ceremony. Because of his high speed, he flew off his sled into the air and hit a metal pole. Due to his death, track designers for the 2014 Winter Olympics designed a track that went uphill in some areas which would force riders into slower speeds. 
     
    Riders rely on gravity and proper turn times to reach the finish line the fastest.
    Until next time,
    RK
  16. crazycrochet20

    So Who is Gauss?

    By crazycrochet20,

    At the beginning of this past unit starting electricity, we learned about Gauss's Law and how it was going to be the start of a lot of work in the future with it. I, as do many, need to spend some more time and focus on getting this figured out soon because I have a strong feeling that this will be something I struggle with for the rest of the year if I do not understand some of it soon!
    Although this idea was named after Gauss, Joseph-Louis Lagrange started work on this law 40 years prior to Gauss. They both put contributions towards Gauss's Law which relates the distribution of electric charge to the resulting electric field. Now, this post is really going to be about the man that created the law, Carl Friedrich Gauss. Gauss was a German mathematician who huge contributions in many areas including algebra, geophysics, mechanics, electrostatics, magnetic fields and optics. Gauss was a child prodigy when it came to math and science. Growing up, he was a perfectionist and a hard worker who devoted his life to mathematics. He had two wives and six children who, in the course of his life, all died except for one of his children. Due to these tragedies, Gauss lived a depressed and miserable life until he died at 77 in 1855. 
    Gauss's work paved the way for a whole new understanding in the field of electricity and magnetism which now allows us high school physics students to somewhat understand some electricity in physics! I do not understand it now, but I am now determined to learn and focus on this!
    Until next time,
    RK
  17. crazycrochet20

    Physics in Food

    By crazycrochet20,

    At Boston University, the College of Arts and Sciences offers a class called Physics of Food/Cooking. This class combines learning physics with cooking which every person, even those who do not enjoy science, will fall in love with. The professor, Rama Bansil, teaches her students about the basic principles of thermodynamics, molecular physics with a little bit of molecular biology as well. She uses her cooking techniques with science to create treats and relate them to the curriculum.
    A perfect example of the idea of physics in food is presented in the video above with a coconut ice cream shell. They use liquid nitrogen to quickly freeze and eliminate the ice crystals that would form with a slow freeze. In doing that, they end up with a creamy coconut ice cream shell!
    I really want to take a class like this in college!
    Until next time,
    RK
  18. crazycrochet20

    Waves

    By crazycrochet20,

    Earlier this year, we learned that physics is everywhere. I think that most of us have realized that physics comes up in our daily lives on earth and also in space. One area that I have forgotten about when in comes to physics is how physics relates in the oceans. One major idea is the waves in the ocean that we can hear about. The high tides and low tides impact the shells that we can find on the beaches. Because of gravity and the moon, the tides are on a cycle for high and low tides. The waves that formed through energy moving through the matter of water onto land. The picture below shows how the waves are used in surfing (something that I will never do in my lifetime). It uses that basics of waves that we learned about last year and puts them into the water all over the earth.

    Until next time,
    RK

  19. crazycrochet20
    At the end of last quarter, I wrote a blog post about how I needed to change a few things because of the disaster that had come about in all my classes but especially physics. I feel that over the course of the past 10 weeks, I have changed the way that I learn and study. I find that I am more focused to get things done and understand them in a timely manner. I use all of the time given to me efficiently as well. Before this quarter, I found myself wasting class time and not doing the work that I needed to do in order to understand the content.
    Now that the learning is almost done for most classes and we move into the studying for exams during the last quarter, I need to remember the success that I have had during this quarter and continue it on. I know I can do it. We are now in the final stretch of high school and I am ready for it all. 
    Until next time,
    RK
  20. crazycrochet20

    Meeeeeeeeee

    By crazycrochet20,

    Hello to everyone who will ever read this! I hope you enjoy!
    For as long as I can remember, I have had a love for crafts and yarn. I love crocheting and creating blankets for family members and people in need. I am not sure if there is such a thing as a professional crocheter (I don't think that's even a word) but I would totally become one. Maybe I can do that when I retire or something when I get older. Because I am super busy most of the year, I sadly do not get very much time to enjoy crocheting. School obviously takes up a ton of time (as with most students) along with field hockey in the fall, bowling in the winter and work all year round. In the future that is quickly approaching, I want to go into college for engineering and also accounting although I have not a single clue what I could possibly do with both interest together since they are extremely different. Anyways, the reason that I am continuing with physics this year is because of my interest in engineering. I really struggled with trying to grasp onto concepts last year so I hope that I will be able to understand a decent amount of them from the basics that I somewhat understood last year. I have heard that this physics class is extremely difficult and has a ton of work with it which terrifies me, yet at the same time excites me. I love the satisfaction of solving a problem but at the same time I absolutely despise the frustration of getting stuck on something that I can't solve. Although physics will not be a breeze for me this year (or any year to be honest), I hope it will teach me lessons that will last a lifetime and beyond.
    Until next time,
    RK
     
  21. crazycrochet20

    I Drop Everything

    By crazycrochet20,

    Over the course of the past week, I have started to notice that I tend to drop everything. Anything from hair ties to binders to my phone. I am honestly surprised that most of the things that I have dropped have not broken. When we started learning about drag forces and air resistance, I began to notice how long the items take to fall. My math homework definitely seems to take longer to reach the floor compared to a small hair tie that seems to fly right to the ground. Even though we just took the test in class yesterday, I definitely need to focus a little bit more on actually learning the derivation for problems and making sure that I really know and understand it before I take the next test. I have been confused on the math of it since I read about it in the textbook but I hope that I can focus the next few days on getting it down pat.
    Until next time, 
    RK
  22. crazycrochet20

    Roller Coasters

    By crazycrochet20,

    Roller coasters are great examples the concept of conservation of energy. Using the knowledge that the initial energy should equal the final energy, we can use the equation Ui + KEi = Uf+ KEf . An example of a real life roller coaster that this equation works with is the Ride of Steel.
     
    The website gives the information that it is a 205 ft drop (62.5 m) but the total height of the ride is 208 ft (63.4). Even though the max speed of about 75 mph (33.5 m/s) is listed on the website, we want to confirm that information through the use of conservation of energy. We are looking for the max speed at the bottom of the first large hill. For this problem, we are going to say that the velocity at the top of the hill is about 0 m/s.
    mgh+(1/2)mv2=mgh+(1/2)mv2 ----mass cancels out---> gh+(1/2)v2=gh+(1/2)v2 -----plug in variables-----> (9.8 m/s2)(63.4 m)+(1/2)(0m/s)2=(9.8 m/s2)(.9 m)+(1/2)(v)2 -----solve for v-----> v=35 m/s
    Because some values were rounded to make the math easier, the velocity for the Ride of Steel does appear to be around 75 mph.
    Until next time,
    RK
  23. crazycrochet20
    Before today, I would have never known who William Rowan Hamilton was. The only reason that I now know of him is because of a fantastic singing video about him. (It's a cool video, you should watch it!) Hamilton was an Irish mathematician in the 19th century who made many contributions to optics and classic mechanics. He was crazy smart. He spent his youth learning languages and then at 15 went on to discover an error in a physics theory along with contributing to other ideas. Hamilton discovered a number system that extends the complex number system as well. (ijk=-1) Overall, he was a pretty cool guy that now has a pretty cool song.
     
    RK
  24. crazycrochet20
    So while I was avoiding homework, I went onto Instagram and started scrolling through the explore page. While doing that, I stumbled upon something that I realized I could totally use for this blog about physics. I did not know what they were called at first so I pulled up the Google and typed in "pendulum wave thingy" and now I have learned that it is called Newton's Cradle. The one that I first saw was really cool because it was glow in the dark which caught my attention right away. The video that I then found on Youtube showed that the guy must have made it himself which is really cool! If I have time in the near future, I would love to create one of these for myself. 
    Here is the video... 
    Until next time, 
    RK
  25. crazycrochet20

    Buoyancy

    By crazycrochet20,

    Buoyancy is the upward force that is exerted opposite to gravity with a liquid. In the diagram below, buoyancy is shown acting against gravity keeping up with the laws of Sir Isaac Newton. Buoyancy is the reasons some objects float on the water and some objects sink.

    Because it is spring break and I am on vacation by the ocean, I thought it was fitting to look into buoyancy. A rock sinks right to the bottom while boats and kayaks float on top of the water. The video below shows how extreme people who kayak work the waters using buoyancy. 
    Although I did not go kayaking, I watched those who did. They did not go to the extreme that the Olympic teams do, but they still had buoyancy on their side. The boats that we went on to dolphin watch were more like the one in the picture below. It still amazes me that a large amount of people can travel on a boat without the boat sinking or tipping. 

    Until next time,
    RK

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