Blog 9: Sound, Dancing Water

Here's a great example of resonance in action!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RBwj3HUOi0&feature=related

The movement of the person's hands creates vibrations which eventually match up with the resonance of the bow. This means that each successive time the resonance is correct, the intensity of that driving force has a greater effect on the bowl and the water in it. When this effect is strong enough, we can see the water rippling and "dancing".

Blog 8: fluids and buoyancy, I love ravioli ^-^

     So a few nights ago my parents decided to go to a bar to watch the UH football game. This left me at home and dinnerless. It was okay though because I was saved by one of my favorite dinners: (spinach and cheese) ravioli!!! 
     I heated the water (but I didn't watch it the whole time, sorry dad) and put the delicious, but cold from the refrigerator, pieces into the water. Then all I had to do was wait until they were ready. (For anyone who doesn't know, you can tell when pasta things are ready when they float.) It was then that I wondered why this was so.

<-----   Sinking pasta

Floating pasta    ------->

(sorry, I know they kinda look the same but trust me, they aren't)
  
     Then I realized that maybe the water had changed. Since the ravioli was cold at first, maybe it made the water cold. Cold water is less dense than hot water so the density of the ravioli at first, would have been more than the density of the water. Then, when the water was hot, it had a higher density so the ravioli could have floated.
     My other theory about this was that the ravioli had at first been more dense because they had just came out of the refrigerator. Then, as time went on, they could have absorbed some water and expanded. By doing this, the ravioli's volume would have increased and its density would have gone down. (density = mass/volume)
     Well, either way I'm not so sure what this had to do with my dinner being done, but it worked and I had a nice dinner.

Blog 7: Gravity, Orbits, The Universe!

      This chapter, we're learning about gravity and orbits. This stuff is really exciting because it affects not only our everyday life, but also accounts for those wondrous sights in the space around us! I could tell you about all this, but I'd rather show you.
      I found this cool page where you can take a tour of the universe with the interactive universe. It shows all the planets (even poor Pluto) and some of the many other things out there like black holes (which we've been learning a bit about) and even Halley's comet. Don't forget to turn on your sound for some spacey music!

Now that you're done exploring, time for the physics.

The first thing that caught my eye about this tour of the universe was the fact that it showed Halley's comet because we've been learning about it a bit to learn about orbits. The force of gravity affects the comet all the way around its orbit (and causes the orbit). Also, the comet's PE is greatest when it is at its perihelion distance and its KE is greatest at its aphelion distance. So since we're around Halley's aphelion distance, a place where KE, and therefore speed, is great, it means the comet is going really fast when it comes near Earth!

The second thing that I noticed was the other comet, Comet Hale-Bopp. If you thought 74 years was a long time to wait, think again. Comet Hale Bopp only comes every 2038 years - an actual once in a lifetime experience (or maybe more than one lifetime). Just look at the size of its orbit! It passes nicely by earth but its whole orbit doesn't even fit in the picture! Also, Hale-Bopp was visible for 19months to the naked eye. This very long time makes sense, as we are near Hale-Bopp's perihelion, the distance at which PE is the greatest and velocity is the lowest.

Cavendish!

I thought that name sounded familiar. This isn't the same Cavendish from physics, but i think this video is pretty cool.

click "Video: Two Days in the Studio with Nellie McKay" to play the video!
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89287187

Blog 6: Circular Motion, Oh Lauren

          These past two chapters have been about circular motion. In one lab, we learned about how some water (and a duck) could stay in a bucket even when that bucket was twirled over one's head. That was the big scale version. You can also recreate this lab with an uncapped water bottle. I think this is much more entertaining, but mostly because it's Lauren who's doing it (that's real propel in that bottle!).

          The propel stays in the bottle, even when the bottle is completely turned over, because the liquid has enough inertia to want to go in a straight line instead of falling with gravity. Its straight line motion is stopped by the sides of the bottle, making the propel go in a circle along with its container. And, as you can see, none of it spilled out.

          Thanks to Reece for recording this with his iphone!. And for the record, she was laughing about what kind of facial expression she would make while turning the bottle (what a good one :] ). Also, the bottle on the right was Jamie, who would have probably spilled her water had not the cap been on. :]

another one

This time there were three cars! How exciting.

 The back car tried to move off to the shoulder, but then they'd have to go through the on ramp lane and Earlyn kept screaming because they kept almost getting hit.

 Talking. That's the guy who owned the mercedes (right car).

 See any damage?

 Ambulance came!

But it's ok. Nobody got taken away.

 Three police cars!

This is what the whole thing looked like.

NEWS: Convertible this time!

 Guess what! There was another accident today!








Look at that nice convertible. As dad said: Iss probably some haole turasss.

 It went under the truck! No bumper action there.

This camera has such good zoom.

Ok you car fanatics. What kind of car is this. I know you know.

People got all backed up. This is the H-1 and i'm sorry if you got stuck in this.

Blog 5: Momentum, Katoosh!

This past weekend I went to the UH football game to look for momentum. I realized that whenever there was a colission between two things, there will be momentum. As i was watching, camera ready to capture the blocks and tackles, I saw Steven.

He didn't look at me so i had to go over to his seat to take his picture.

Too bad I didn't get any good tackle pictures. But it's a good thing my uncle is a UH football fanatic and sent me a picture of a really brutal tackle!
In this picture, you can see Meatoga colliding with the opposing line. He and the other Colorado player meet head on but do not move after their collision. Also, the Colorado player seems a bit more massive. What does this mean for momentum? Since momentum is always conserved, their total momentum before has to equal their total momentum after (0). Therefore, the momentum of the Colorado player before equals the momentum of the UH player before. Then, since the Corado player has a greater mass, that means that Meatoga has to have had more velocity than him in order to hold the line!

Blog 4: Work, Working, But Not.

This weekend, UH played LaTech at aloha stadium. Luckily, my cousin's family had an extra ticket so I actually got to do something this weekend besides clean my stupid bathroom... anyway.
I'm glad to say, I didn't have to do any work like that at the game. But sadly, the work that I DIDN'T do at the game turned out to be really tiring too.

As you can see from this very awkward and embarrassing video (lucky you, I decided to put it up), the force I used to carry my cousin was directed upwards while my displacement was horizontal. Therefore, theta was 90 degrees making cos(theta) = 0. Then, since work = F x d cos(theta), I did absolutely no work.
I think that's really sad. My cousin is 10 now and he's getting really heavy (well, 68 lbs maybe, but what can I say; He's a picky eater.) I feel like I should have gotten some recognition from the laws of physics but no. Carrying a 10 yr old kid across a semi-spectator-filled parking lot means nothing! Well, at least my uncle (who was filming) thought it was funny.

Blog 3: Newton's Laws, The Zero-G Weightless Experience

Today, while thinking about my blog, I realized that I could blog about something really cool this time!

There is actually a way to experience zero G within the limits of our own atmosphere. No, it's not some trip to the earth's core. There is a corporation called Zero G that gives riders of all ages a chance to experience weightlessness. The G-force airplane utilizes parabolic arcs to mimic the sensation of zero G. At first, the plane accelerates up into the air at 45 degrees in relation to the horizon, then falls back down.

In the moments between the rise and fall, you experience "no gravity". Why? At the points when you feel the Zero-G, what you are actually feeling is the sensation of little to no normal force on your body. You are still being acted upon by gravity, but the airplane is falling almost in sync with your body so, in relation to the plane, you are just floating.

This is brought to you by Newtons' second and third laws. In the moments before the free fall you feel a lot of G's on your body which is sensed by the amount of force the plane is pushing against your body and your body is pushing back on the plane. Conversely, during the trip down you feel no G's because the force between you is less. And thank goodness Newton's second law still applies, so you aren't suddenly smashed against the inside of the plane!

There is also physics involving vectors affecting the flight of the plane. One is the wind. Your intended flight path is not the same as your actual flight path if there are high winds. You need to compensate for the wind by flying on a slightly different path in order to achieve the correct trajectory. This is a lot like the relative motion section (haha. Remember that?).

The time on this blog is really weird. But in this screen shot you can clearly see the time is 11:43PM right before I posted my comment. It is not 2:39AM.

New Events With Shelby (NEWS) 1: Just in case you didn't believe me...

In case you didn't believe me when I get front row seats to accidents, I do. Here are some pictures from tonight!

 This is the accident. I was very happy when they moved right into the center of my vision (my window is pretty small, hard to see things) so I could shoot them (ohhh the ambiguity...).

 Then a police car came. Pretty lights!

 A police man came out and talked to the drivers. (one of them is wearing a red shirt and the other one is in his truck.)

Hi policeman!








And another bonus, my camera's slow shutter speed so you can see all the light lines the cars made. They're moving pretty fast; it is the freeway after all. But it's also sad because I was too slow to get a picture of a mail truck passing by, getting towed by a tow truck. :[ I guess you can just picture that one in your head.

Blog 2: Projectile Motion, Droppin' Nukes

Today, while watching the plane/flare videos in class,  I had a surge of inspiration for this blog! My mind flashed back to, yes, history channel shows about weaponry and battles in WWI and WWII, especially the airplanes (the photo on the right is more or less what I pictured in my head).  From the first time that I saw it, I had always wondered how the pilots in those airplanes dropped bombs exactly on the target, and now I know!
The physics is actually pretty simple. The horizontal and vertical components of projectile motion are completely independent from each other; the horizontal velocity stays constant throughout while the vertical velocity is acted upon by gravity. Then, the only variable that is a part of both is time. This means that a  flare (or a nuclear bomb) dropped from a plane will stay at the same horizontal position as that plane at any given time (that is, until the projectile hits the ground). So, a pilot needs to only calculate the correct time of release for his bomb to hit home (assuming he's going in the correct direction, of course). 
I thought it would be a lot more difficult than that. But then again, what do I know about flying bombers?


So, after my mind I had ventured off to physics blogs and WWII nukes,  I had two thoughts. One: a seriously freaky campaign ad by Lyndon Johnson that  I saw in US history last year, and two: one of the best impersonations of a nuclear explosion I have ever seen. (For those of you in Dr.T's last year with me, this is the video we didn't get to watch.)

Blog 1: Position, Velocity, and Acceleration

Side note: This blog reminded me of  Jimi Hendrix's crosstown traffic!  I figured out how to insert a music player so that song should be playing now. Sorry the player is so big/distracting but it's the only one that works... sorry!

Well, aren't I lucky to live right next to a freeway? I mean, besides the noise (I sleep through my alarm clock on a regular basis anyway) and the car crashes (front row seats!) it's pretty ok. Plus, I can get plenty of great pictures for physics.

Anyway.

Let's say when you're going towards the right, you're going in the positive direction and vice versa. The motorcycle and the blue car (bottom) need to get onto the freeway. To do that, they need to use the on ramp (the bottommost lane) which is about 500ft or 152.400m (according to google earth). To get on the on ramp, you need to turn, so their initial velocity would be maybe 5mph (2.235m/s) and, assuming they want to reach the speed limit, their final velocity would be 55mph (22.352m/s). This means that the motorcycle and blue car took 12.395s and an acceleration of 1.623m/s^2 to get onto the freeway!