Physics Post 11

For this physics post I will be explaining the picture I took of my pencil on a somewhat frictionless surface. This relates to our lab last week because we were measuring how fast our cart would go according to the hanging weight, not friction. Therefore we had to remove friction from our experiment. We did this by using a nearly frictionless cart and track set that would accurately display how fast the hanging weight would make the cart accelerate. My somewhat frictionless surface is the cover of my binder. Since it is plastic, and my pencil does not stick to it, it creates an imitation of a frictionless surface. Because it is somewhat frictionless, my pencil should not stop rolling once I apply force to it. This is true except for the fact that the clip on my pencil would impede a rolling motion since it acts like a speed bump whenever the pencil rolls over it.

Physics Post 10

For this physics post I will be explaining the picture I took of my lanyard attached to my glasses case which represents what happens in a pulley system. Although I do not have a pulley, the main forces that are involved in a pulley system are still at work. The main forces here are friction and gravity. The force that the mass of the I.D. in the lanyard and the pull of gravity make is not enough to overcome the friction between the glasses case and the bed surface. If the situation was reversed, and the glasses case was the one that was hanging, there would be more than enough force to pull the I.D. off of the bed since the glasses case weighs much more than the I.D.

Physics Post 9

For this post I will be explaining a picture I took of me pulling my planner out from under my glasses case. In theory, if I pulled the planner at a fast enough velocity, it should come out from under the glasses case without displacing the glasses case. But in actuality, there are several factors which will prevent this from happening. One factor is the glasses case itself. It is not very balanced since the cleaning cloth makes it slightly heavier on one side. Another factor is the bed that this is occurring on. The bed is not a completely flat surface. Therefore, the energy that has to be applied on the planner in order to not affect the glasses case's inertia will be slightly different in terms of magnitude and direction. If this were to be occurring on something flat, like a desk, and I removed the glasses and cleaning cloth from the glasses case, then this experiment would run smoother.

Physics Post 8

For this physics post I will be explaining the picture I took of me shaking a pen. You could say that I am shaking this pen fast. But relative to what? I could be shaking the pen fast relative to a gorilla shaking a banana tree. You could also say that I am shaking this pen slow. But again, relative to what? I could be shaking the pen slow relative to a bomb shaking the molecules in the air. This can all be considered true because everything in the world is relative to something else. You could say a sloth was really fast. Relative to the speed of the growth of the tree it's climbing on. You could also say the speed of sound is slow. Relative to the speed of light.

Physics Post 7

For this post I will be explaining a picture that I took of me flicking a paper clip off the edge of my bed. This demonstrates how axes are independent because as I flick the paper clip horizontally, it will constantly go that speed on the x-axis while accelerating -9.8 meters per second from gravity on the y-axis. If I had changed the angle of my flick to aim slightly upwards, then by calculating the x and y vectors of the diagonal, I could find the initial velocity of the x and y. If you were to solve for the final velocities of the x and y, you would find that the x-velocity would have remained constant and the y-velocity would have been accelerated from gravity.

Physics Post 6

For this physics post I will be explaining this picture I took of a vector on my bed. Since there are no defined axes, a person would not know which direction or the scale of this vector. Without the axes or any other type of line to show direction, a person could not define what direction this arrow is going therefore, by definition, making this not a vector since there is no direction. As an example, a scale that you could use in this picture would be the squares on my bed. If a person took the two tan lines closest to the tail of the arrow and used those as the x and y axis, and estimated that each square was about 3 centimeters, they would find that the arrow is about 22.5 centimeters. Assuming that 1 centimeter is equal to 1 meter per second, this arrow has a magnitude of 22.5 meters per second. Also considering that the edge of my bed that is showing is facing north, then a person could guess this arrow is facing southeast, giving the vector a direction.

Physics Post 5

For this physics post I will be explaining the picture I took of a car and a deer. This picture relates to physics because when a car is about to run into a deer (this happens in the continental United States since Hawaii doesn't have roaming deer) the drivers instinct is to brake and swerve. Braking the car leads to deceleration (also known as accelerating in the opposite direction). (Not considering drivers reaction time) If this car were about to hit the deer who is 90 meters away at 30 meters per second, the driver would need to accelerate in the opposite direction 30 meters per second squared within the 90 meters. This is actually quite easy because the average person can brake at 15 feet per second squared which is equal to 5 meters per second squared (a professional race car driver can brake at about 32 feet per second so he would have less than no problem).