Post #13 - Semester Review

 This quarter I learned a great amount of knowledge and information about physics.
Unit 1 covered graphs, relationships, scientific notations, and dimensional analysis. Unit 2 covered kinematics (study of motion), movement in one dimension, motion maps, and graphing. Unit 3 covered uniform acceleration, stacking curves, and free fall. Unit 4 covered projectiles and we did the rocket lab to help better our understanding. Unit 5 covered forces in equilibrium, vectors, and newton's laws. Unit 6 covered forces in motion, friction, and full body diagrams.

I really liked doing the labs outside "field trips" because it was more interactive than inside labs. I really enjoyed doing the rocket lab because we got to shoot rockets high into the sky.

Some things I found challenging this semester were understanding concepts. There were some concepts like the full body diagrams and stacking curves were a little difficult. Practice helped me understand these concepts and in the end I had a better understanding about them. 

Post #12 - Newton's Second Law of Motion

In unit 6 the main focus is on Newton's second law of motion. Newton's second law of motion states that the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the new force of an object while the acceleration of an object is inversely proportional to an objects mass. In the picture I am pushing my backpack. This is an example of Newton's second law of motion because there are forces occurring in the situation. I can draw a free body diagram for this motion. Fnet = m*a or N - m*g = m*a, is the equation that represents the second law. In this situation of me pushing my backpack, I would need to weigh my backpack to find the mass. Then I would just need to calculate the acceleration I am pushing at and then I can plug and chug to find N (force). 

Post #11 - Action/Reaction

I took a picture of my baseball bat and baseball because we learned about Newton's 3rd law, action - reaction. This law states that for every force there is an equal and opposite force. Accelerations are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. A baseball bat hitting a ball is a great example of action/reaction. The bat hits the ball and pushes it. The ball hits the bat and pulls it. I found it interesting that the forces could be equal even though the masses are very different. When a windshield hits a bug, the forces are equal. This concept helped me understand the law better because the masses are really different. This law was challenging for me but now I have a better understanding of it when relating to real life situations.

Post #10 - Forces

The picture on the left is a picture of a piece of paper underneath my wallet. Today in class we learned about forces. Newton's Law aka law of inertia states that objects at rest will tend to stay at rest, unless acted upon by an outside force. In other words, an object staying still will continue to stay still unless outside force is acted upon it. I can show that this law is true because I pulled the paper back really fast and the wallet stayed in its initial position.

 

In the picture above, I rolled a baseball to prove the law of inertia. Objects in motion will tend to stay in motion, unless acted upon by an outside force. In this case the force is normal force. Normal force is the supporting force that is perpendicular to the surface the object is on. The normal force causes the ball to slow down and eventually come to a complete stop. 

We also went over vector readings and applying trigonometry to solving the vectors.

Post #9 - Air Rocket

On Friday we did an air rocket lab. This lab helped us better our understanding of projectile motion. We did two different experiments. The first one was just shooting the rocket straight up. And the second one was at an angle.
In the first experiment we had three different cap heights: low, medium, high, and super. Even though our data for medium was a little off we concluded that the cap height affects the time it takes to go up and come back down. The low should have had the lowest time, but medium did. Super had the greatest time.
Once we collected all of our data, we were given a launch angle of 40°. We needed to find our most consistent data which was high and calculate the distance for the angle of 40°. Trigonometry was used. Mr. Blake stood at our distance and was not going to move. Sadly, we were not close to hitting him. Errors that could have played a role in our experiment were calculation errors, wind, and the consistency of pumping. 

Post #8 - Unit 4

     Today we learned about objects that move up and down and also side to side at the same time. The main concept we learned was that axes are independent. What happens on the x-axis, stays on the x-axis. What happens on the y-axis, stays on the y-axis. This means that the axes have their own equation when solving for a value.
     Today we saw an example of a parabolic motion when our classmates dove into the pool. We used the video of the dive and plotted points to find the parabolic motion of the dive. It was really cool being able to get data from a video.
     I used a picture of me throwing a baseball because the motion of the ball moves up and down and to the side at the same time (parabolic motion). The ball goes fast, slow, stop, slow, fast (y-axis) and the velocity side to side (x-axis) is constant.

Post #7 - Unit 1, 2, 3 Summery

Unit 1- Introduction to physics
In this unit we covered accuracy vs. precision, the different types of graphs, scientific notation, dimensional analysis, linearizing data, and qualitative and quantitative observations. We covered a lot of topics in about two days. 


Unit 2 - Kinematics
In this unit we covered kinematics (study of motion), motion maps, position vs. time graphs, velocity vs. time graphs, and scalar and vector quantities. The main topic for this unit was determining the difference between scalar and vector quantities. In this unit we were able to convert position vs. time graphs to velocity vs. time graphs.


Unit 3 - Uniform Acceleration
In this unit we covered acceleration vs. time graphs, stacking curves, free falling, gravity's acceleration, and formulas for kinematics. In this unit we were able to convert position vs. time graphs to velocity vs. time graphs to acceleration vs. time graphs.

I took a picture of me after my baseball game of me throwing up a baseball because I feel that this was stressed the most in the three units we covered. I also feel that this was the most confusing for me. The main thing that I needed to understand was that the ball accelerated down the entire time it was in flight because of the acceleration of gravity. There is always gravity because if there were no gravity, everything would float into space. You can use the three graphs position vs. time, velocity vs. time, and acceleration vs. time to graph the ball. These past three units were full of new things I did not know about and I feel I have a better idea of what physics is about.

Post #6 - Acceleration Lab

Today in class we did another lab showing how velocity increases as an object goes down a hill. This time the graph was a clearer exponential graph because the ramp was more constant than yesterday's hill.

Mass does not matter when two different objects are released at the same time at the same height because they hit the ground at the same time. If one object is released 30 cm above a second object, when they are released the distance between the two objects are 30 cm the entire time.
Below is a graph of a ball thrown up. The position vs. time graph shows that the ball was tossed into the air then it came back to its initial position. The velocity vs. time graph shows that the ball's velocity was fast as it was tossed then began to slow down as it reached its peak. At the peak the ball's velocity was 0 m/s so it was not moving. Then the ball began to return down and started off slow then picked up speed and before it was caught it returned to the same velocity as it was when it was tossed. The acceleration vs. time graph is the slope of the velocity vs. time graph. The acceleration vs. time graph shows that when the slope of the velocity vs. time graph was constant (linear), the acceleration was 0 m/s2. The only time the acceleration showed on the graph was when the ball was first tossed and before it was caught.

Post #5 - Acceleration

Today we did a lab about acceleration. Acceleration means the change in velocity per unit in time (m/s^2). Acceleration is also the change in velocity and direction. In graphs, you can tell if the graph represents acceleration if the graph is a curved dt graph. In our lab, we used a danger board and a skateboard to go down the hill. The skateboard went down the hill faster than the danger board. On the graph the graph showed as exponential. We could also see a little bump in the line because the hill was not perfectly consistent. Acceleration is the slope of a velocity vs. time graph. Since the graph is exponential the danger board and the skateboard picked up speed as it went down the hill. This is because the velocity vs. time graphs slope increase as time went on. The lab was really fun.

Post #4 - Unit 2

Today in class I learned about a position vs. time graph and a velocity vs. time graph. We did a lab involving a position vs. time graph. In a position vs. time graph you can tell if a person is going forwards or backwards by the slope. Positive slopes means that the person is moving backwards and a negative slope means the person is moving forwards. If the slope is zero, the person is staying still in one spot. In a velocity vs. time graph, you can tell how fast a person is going at a given time. Since the velocity is meters per second the position vs. time graph can be translated into a velocity vs. time graph. In the picture above, the velocity at 1-2 seconds is 2 m/s because the slope in the position vs. time graph is 2. When a person is staying still the velocity goes to 0.

We also learned about acceleration -  a change in velocity per unit in time. The slope of a velocity vs. time graph is acceleration. The area under the "curve" of a velocity vs time graph is the distance traveled (displacement).

Post #3 - Unit 2

Today in class we learned about kinematics. Kinematics is the study of motion. ALL MOTION IS RELATIVE. 

In the picture on the left, the car is going faster than our car. The car is moving forwards relative to our car.

In the middle picture, our car and the car portrayed are moving relative to the ground. But, relative to our car, the other car seems to not be moving because we are driving side by side. 

In the picture on the right, the car is going slower than our car. The car is moving backwards relative to our car.

Another situation that happens with cars is cars driving from the opposite direction. On the freeway the cars driving on the other side of the road seem to be going very fast as they past. This is because the car is also moving at a fast rate so the speed at which you past is doubled. 

We also learned about the scalar quantity and the vector quantity:

Scalar quantity - measure that has magnitude (muchness)     distance

Vector quantity - value that has direction & magnitude       displacement

The slope of a position vs. time graph is velocity.

Velocity = d/t = average speed

Instantaneous speed - the speed at which you are going at any instant time

Post #2 - Unit 1 Picture

I took a picture of my grandpa's dart board because we learned about precision and accuracy. A dart board is a great way to learning what the difference between precision and accuracy. Precision is the consistency of measurements. Accuracy is the closeness of a measurement to the actual value. On a dart board, precision (with low accuracy) would look like a cluster of darts on a value, but not near the bulls eye (target). Accuracy (with low precision) on a dart board would be out of five darts, one or two darts on the bulls eye and the rest scattered near the bulls eye. Precision and accuracy on a dart board would be all five darts on the target clustered together. Precision and accuracy are different from each other.

Post #1 - Introduction

My name is Jantzen Tamanaha. I live in Aiea. I am going to be a junior next year. I play baseball. I like to go fishing and bodyboarding.

In my freshman year, I took biology. I just completed the chemistry course this past year. I also completed alg 2/trig this past year.

After completing physics I hope to understand all the concepts I get taught and carry it into the real world.

 

I am like a clock because I feel I am patient. Most of the time I can be patient and wait things out instead of getting impatient. Baseball is a good example of me needing patience because most of the time there is no action and it can be pretty boring.