Physics Blogger

Reflection: On the last post, I mentioned the second set of labs that were completed and the results we got in class. This week's focus was on the results of the labs. Although we were able to derive the equations for the energy equations together as a class, I still struggled as an individual. When deriving equations, we can figure out the missing variable of equations on one side if we know the units on the other. When it comes to working on that and trying to solve for the missing variable, I still feel hazy about it. What I tried to do was cancel out the units that were present on both sides, and if that worked, I was hoping to be left with the leftover unit equating to the missing variable that I was searching for. I was able to come up with an answer, however it was incorrect. I rechecked my process and it seemed correct (in my eyes at least), but I still ended up with the same result. When the teacher guided us along, I realized that what I could have done was substitute un...

The main focus for last week's topic was energy. Some energy we began focusing on was elastic, gravitational potential, kinetic, and dissipated energy. The main things we did were doing labs focusing on elastic energy and we did energy pie charts. For the labs, the first lab was about how the length of a spring affects how much force is applied. What we did was we grabbed a slinky and started stretching it with two force-o-meters on both ends. From this, we plotted the change in length (cm) as the independant variable and then the force (Newtons) was the dependant variable. From the data, we found out that the relationship between the length and force is directly proportional and is a positive linear relationship. Each spring will have its own positive linear relationship because each spring is affected by its own ability to stretch from its material type. As for the second lab, the experiment was to apply an elastic force to a cart on a flat surface and at an upward angle. The re...

What happened: A challenge activity that we did in class was set up with a diagonal ramp connected to a horizontal ramp that was set up on a table. Beside that table was a cup that the marble needed to land in. The goal of the challenge was to find out where to release the marble on the diagonal ramp so that it ultimately ends up landing into the cup. However, we were not allowed to test drop the marble at different places on the ramp to see where it would go.  During the process, my group tried to calculate the acceleration of the marble going down the horizontal ramp and the time it takes. We did this by finding the mass of the marble, finding the angle degree of the diagonal ramp, and by test dropping the marble from the horizontal ramp (but catching the marble right when it got to the horizontal ramp) and timing it. Our group realized right when the marble gets onto the horizontal ramp, the velocity would become constant (because the marble in not moving at an angle). Howe...

What I learned & Reflection: *If I were to drop a ball with one hand and simultaneously throw a ball sideways with my other hand, both balls will take the same amount of time to land on the ground. *A force diagram with unbalanced forces (the object is accelerating) does not show the direction of travel of an object. *When it comes to the topic of objects moving in parabolic motion, I feel comfortable with the introductory material we did in class. Given the angle of trajectory and the initial velocity, we can figure out the time it takes for the object to reach its highest point, how high the highest point is, and the landing point of the object. We solve these variables using sin/cos/tan and kinematic equations that we previously figured out. Although I feel alright with this topic, I still feel iffy about moving on to more difficult questions. For example, the challenge question given from last class was that if we were given the angle of trajectory and the initial vel...

What I learned: *Ways to find friction:     ->If an object has balanced forces (it is either not moving or has a constant velocity), that means the force opposite to the force of friction is the same as the force of friction. (A car is moving constantly on the road. For the vertical forces, the downward force of the Earth and the upward force of the road are balanced. For the horizontal forces, the force of the car in the direction that it is traveling is ___Newtons. That means the force of friction in the opposite direction is the same amount of Newtons too.)     ->If an object does not have balanced forces (it is accelerating), then one can use sin/cos/tan to solve for the force of the friction. (Some variables you might need are the quantitative forces of the other vectors and/or the angle of the forces if it is diagonal.) *Surface area, speed and shape DO NOT AFFECT the force of friction *The type of material and mass AFFECT the force of friction *For...

What I have learned: *Force Earth= the force exerted by the Earth that is pulling an object vertically downward     -> Force Earth pulls down at an object at 9.8m/s^2 *Force Ground= the force exerted by the ground that is perpendicular to the ground *Force Normal= the perpendicular force to the surface     -> If the ground is horizontal= force ground is vertical, but if the ground is tilted at an angle= force ground is pointing 90 degrees perpendicular to the ground     -> It does not have to be specifically the ground. It is just the force of the surface. If I want to draw a force diagram of a cup on a table, the force of the surface is called Force Table. *Force Net= Mass x Acceleration *Newton= (Kilogram)(meters/second^2) *1 Newton is 100 grams *When finding forces, you can use sine, cosine, and tangent. Another way is to add vectors and to use trigonometry there too. *Newton's First Law: An object at rest tends to stay at rest a...

As our first lab of the year, the mission was to find the relationship of the height of water being added to a flask over time (height v. time). Since we cannot control the rate of water coming out of faucet, we just added 20mL of water to the flask to represent every second to make sure that the rate would not be an issue (however, errors do occur later on). WHAT WE LEARNED AND WHAT HAPPENED *if the flask is 500mL, we expect to pour 20mL of water 25 times. By the 25th pour, if the flask is not completely filled or it is overfilled, that can be an indication that there was errors when adding the water. *It is difficult measuring 20mL of water each time because during those 25 times, each pour could have been off from the 20mL = opportunity for error. *Measuring the height was a challenge itself. Since the flask is not straight but is curved, measuring the vertical height of the water with a ruler is difficult. Some ways to measure could have been sticking the ruler in the flask...