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etracey99

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  1. etracey99

    The Physics Midterm

    By etracey99,

    What I thought was going to be the hardest midterm I had this year, actually turned out to be not too bad!
    For the entire first half of the year, I have now found that practicing physics at the level we have been working on has prepared us very well for the midterm and the AP. As a person who struggled through a lot of the review packet and put in a lot of studying for the weeks leading up to the test, I think it is safe to say that practicing physics and learning it so far this year has been difficult, but rewarding. For the rest of the year, I think that my studies can get even better and efficient, and reviewing the mechanics part of the class will progressively get better and better. For the E&M section, I am going to have to continue pushing through the difficult learning curve and remain confident in myself so when the AP's come around, I am ready to conquer them.
    Stay confident and be proud!
  2. etracey99

    Let's Waterski!

    By etracey99,

    Have you ever waterskiied? If you have, I'm sure that you would agree that it is very fun and thrilling!
    I have been waterskiing for about 9 years, and I have always been fascinated by how it works. When I was taught to waterski when I was 9, my Dad and Grandpa told me that it was just like getting pulled up out of a chair and standing up. So untl I was older, that is all that it ever was to me.   Well, it turns out that the physics behind waterskiing is actually very simple! But first, I will show you how waterskiing is done: (These are pictures of me from 2011)   First you sit in the water with the rope in your hand, and your skiis out of the water:   Then you let the boat pull you and you gradually stand up and give a little resistance to the skiiis (look at those super big muscles):   You continue standing up until you are out of the water until you are nearly straight up, it is important to lean back!:   After you're up, you can ski around! I like to go in and out of the wake of the boat so I can go fast and corner quickly! I also enjoy dropping one of the skiis, and I go on only one:   Anyway, the physics side of things is not too bad: We know that Newton's Third Law of Motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. When the boat is pulling you, you will create an equal and opposite force back. When you lean back, you're countering enough force of the boat so that you do not fall over frontwards, and you will skid along the top of the water. This is all demonstrated in this graphic: Needless to say, waterskiing is a very interesting sport and just like everything, can be explained with a little bit of simple physics! I hope that one day, if you get the chance, that you will try waterskiing since it is so fun!   
  3. etracey99

    Let's Make a Top

    By etracey99,

    This past week, we did a small partner lab. Our mission was to make a top out of the following materials: 2 paper plates, a plain wood pencil, 6 pennies, and tape. The top also had to be able to spin for more than only a few seconds. However, there were no instructions other than to make a top. Immediately, each student in the room with his or her partner immediately began undergoing the engineering process, whether they knew it or not.
    The engineering process has steps to be done in this order -- Define the problem, do background research, specify requirements, brainstorm solutions, choose the best solution, do development work, build a prototype, test and redesign. We already knew the problem, and we were presented with a top to look at in the back of the room, so we already defined the problem and did a little research on tops. The requirements were to make the top with the materials provided, and the top must spin for more than only a few seconds. We brainstormed quickly and then talked about our ideas on how to make the top. We then chose to mix our ideas together to get the best solution possible and we discussed who was to make it and walked through it together. Soon, we had a prototype and we were able to test that design. If it did not work that well, we tried something new. This lab, in a nutshell, was a little simulation of the engineering process!
    This lab also shows a relationship between tops, angular momentum and moment of inertia. As the top spins, the angular momentum generated points straight up into the air, and if there were no friction, the top would spin forever because the momentum that holds the top up is forever conserved unless acted on by an outside force. The moment of inertia of the top is the rotational analog of the mass of the top. The angular momentum discussed above is the result of the top's moment of inertia times the rotational velocity.

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