UNIT 1: Blog Reflection

PART A:

In this unit I learned six different lessons about movement:

In this lesson of the unit, I learned that Inertia was a property of motion that is NOT a force. This law states that an object in motion will stay in motion and an object at rest will stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. We did experiments such as a ball popping out of a cart and seeing if it would land in front of, behind, or inside of the cart. The ball landed inside the cart which proved Newton's law about motion. When we experimented about rest we were able to prove his law when a tablecloth was pulled from under dishes on a table and the dishes stayed in place.

 A major lab we did to prove what I had learned in class was the Hovercraft Inertia Lab. This lab was a hands on lab that showed us Newton's Law.

Along with Newton's First Law, net force is a key point to learning about objects in motion and at rest. But first, we had to learn what force was. Force is, in simple terms, a push or a pull. Force is measured in Newtons. A Newton is basically a quarter of a pound. After learning what a force was, I learned that a net force was the overall force on an object when all forces are added together. .

This is an example of net force.

In the picture shown above, there is a tug of war going on. Although many may not think of this game in the physics aspect, there is a force being put on both sides of the rope. For example, if the children on the left are pulling the rope with 60N and the kids on the right side are pulling the rope with 60N as well, one must subtract the forces from the left and the right. This would look like this: 60N - 60N = 0N. The answer will be the total net force. This would be an example of something that has forces acting on it but does not have a net force because (as you saw above) the net force is zero.

Something with a net force, is for example, two people pushing a box in the same direction. In the picture shown below, the person on the left is pushing with a force of 400N and the person on the right is pulling it with a force of 300N to the right. Add these two forces together, because they are going in the same direction, and you will get a net force of 700N.

I also learned that something can move and not have a force acting on it (ie: a rock in space). 

Equilibrium is a state of balance which means that there is no net force on the object. This occurs anytime a net force on anything adds up to zero Newtons. Two example of this happening is when objects are moving at a constant velocity or when they are at rest. 
When an object DOES NOT have a constant velocity and is not at rest it is called acceleration. 

This leads into the next topic, about speed, velocity, and acceleration. 
Speed is the rate that an object moves at. Speed is measured in:

• miles/hour
• meters/hour
• kilometers/hour
• centimeters/second
• etc etc etc

Velocity, on the other hand, is the speed of an object in a certain direction.
Notice how, speed and velocity can be confused to be the same thing but the difference is that velocity requires a certain direction. Velocity can be shown by arrows also called vectors (shown to the right). These arrows show direction and magnitude. Velocity can change when there is a change in direction or when it is speeding up or slowing down.
Something I learned about constant speed and velocity is that an object can have constant speed but cannot have constant velocity at the same time. 

I also learned about acceleration in this unit. 
Acceleration is: the change in velocity / time interval.
The unit used for acceleration is meters/seconds^2.
I also learned that when a ball is rolling on a horizontal slope velocity is constant, and there is no acceleration. When a ball is falling down or being thrown in the air, the acceleration is ALWAYS 10m/s^2.
Some examples we learned about during this lesson, was just seeing a marble roll down a straight table or an inclined table. 

I learned two very important formulas during unit one. These two formulas are:

• the how fast formula: velocity=(acceleration)(time)
• this formula is basically used for any time the question is asking how fast something went. one must plug in the numbers for the known, and find the unknown.
• how fast describes velocity
• the how far formula: 
• distance=1/2(acceleration)(time^2)
• how far describes distance

To have a hands-on experience of this lesson we did a lab on constant velocity versus constant acceleration.

This led into our next lesson of slopes, lines, and equations.
First we reviewed what a slope was. Slope is rise/run. 
Then we learned about the equation of a line. The equation was y=mx+b. This was basically a review from 8th grade math. 
We know that in this equation, y=mx+b stands for something.

• y stands for units
• m=the slope
• x=
• b is where the line crosses the x axis.

I learned that in physics, the b part of the formula will almost never be used, therefore we just leave it out. 

That changes to y=mx.

Something really cool about this equation is that we can use it in physics with a different equation. The equation d=1/2(a)(t^2) fits directly into this equation. This is shown below.

How the equations fit into each other. Taken from Joey Kreigler. 

On a graph we learned that time^2 belongs on the x axis and distance belongs on the y axis of a graph.

What I found difficult about what we studied was acceleration and when it was constant, increasing, or decreasing. I overcame this difficulty by reviewing Ms. Lawrence's video on acceleration which you can find here. 

The thing that made the lightbulb click was seeing the diagrams in class with the slopes. 

**My problem solving skills, effort, and learning**

In this unit, I feel like I demonstrated full effort towards learning the material. I completed all of my homework for this unit and wrote down things I did not understand plus asking questions in class. In the class activities, such as labs and group projects, I added input and showed up to class on time. With the blog posts, I always posted them before the class periods and I found helpful videos while also commenting on Joey's blog.

1. Collaborating with my group members: I would say that I was very responsible in getting my podcast group to meet on a certain day outside of class. I contributed by bringing my camera and filming. 
2. Self confidence in physics: I am pretty confident in my abilities and will not stop asking questions or looking over my notes until I feel it has proven me wrong. I do not usually just take someone else's answer without questioning it first. 
3. Creativity: Creativity has always been something I lacked, but I have never given up on trying to be creative to do things. If you watch our podcast (shown all the way at the bottom), or look at my previous blog posts, or see the pictures included here, I would argue that I took a long time to add a creative aspect instead of just making these things simple. 

GOALS

My goals for the next unit is to come to conference period more by going and asking questions. Also I hope to correct my quizzes during study hall just to make sure I understand what I am doing wrong. 

PART B:

Physics is all about making connections to everyday life and in this unit, I definitely l

definitely learned that. For example, Newton's First Law applies to almost anything 

moving. For example, airplanes, cars, wagons etc. Net force and equillibrium can apply to

things like bikes. Acceleration can apply to a rolling soccer ball down a hill or on the 

field. 

Podcast for Unit 1 - I really hope you learn something from this and enjoy it! Good 

luck on the test!!

Constant Velocity Vs. Constant Acceleration

In class, we did a lab about comparing constant velocity to constant acceleration and learning the difference between the two. The purpose of this lab was to learn how to implement what we learned about acceleration and velocity in class, into real life examples. We also learned how to use lines to determine acceleration and use the equation of a line (y=mx+b) and solve things in physics. 

After this lab, I learned that the difference between constant velocity and constant acceleration is that constant velocity is when something is moving at a constant speed. Constant acceleration is when the object or person is moving at a constant rate. Constant velocity can relate to the hovercraft post I wrote about here. Constant acceleration can be for example: a ball rolling down a hill, at a constant rate of 4 m/s (squared) which means that it will keep doing that until it reaches its stopping point. 

The group that I was in and I, conducted this lab by using a large marble to see the constant velocity on a straight table. We measured every 1/2 second by marking the table with chalk. Then we realized that they had about equal distances; the differences were usually off my 1 or 2. 
Then we put the table at an incline and rolled the ball again. We had predicted the faster the ball went, the further apart the distances between each 1/2 second would get. We were right. These two takes of data, helped us realize the difference between constant velocity and constant acceleration. 

This picture (found on Google) is proving our project.

I found out that constant velocity and constant acceleration relate in two ways which are inversely related. If something has a constant velocity, it cannot have a constant acceleration and if something has a constant acceleration, it cannot have a constant velocity.

In this lab, we found out that there are two formulas that will help us figure out constant acceleration and constant velocity. To solve for constant velocity we used the formula v= d/t. To solve for constant acceleration we use the formula a= change in velocity/time.

The lines in a graph for constant acceleration and constant velocity compare to each other because they have a straight line and based on the time, they are most likely spread apart evenly. But for constant acceleration, they spread further apart when it is going faster.

I used the graph I created and the equation for a line (y=mx+b) to support my data because when I explain that the lines were spread equally apart, I was able to see on Excel, that they were even. Same thing for when they were spreading further apart. 

The key important things I learned in this lab that will help me in the future are:

• How to use the equation of a line
• How to graph lines
• How to use excel to prove my data
• The difference between constant velocity and constant acceleration

Fun with Velocity and Acceleration

The video you are about to see will probably be one of the most helpful things for this chapter in physics class. If you can't tell yet, I learn best by hearing music or watching animations and this has it all. You are about to see a video by They Might Be Giants that explains the difference between speed and velocity and includes a lot about acceleration in there. It shows different examples from the everyday world and is really cute!

This video relates to what we are watching in class because it shows the outside world, which will give you real-life examples. Also this may help you because the song is very catchy and it includes small details that will make a big difference, for example, direction. Hope you like it!

Hovercraft!

Today, we did a lab involving a hovercraft and we learned about Inertia.

1. Riding on a hovercraft feels like you are gliding on a balloon. It felt like this because the bottom was full of air and the hovercraft was gliding on the floor. If someone hadn't tried this before, I would tell them that it was fun and that they should expect to feel like they were floating on air. Riding on a sled, skateboard, etc. was different than riding on this hovercraft because the hovercraft does not stop unless someone else stops it for you. A skateboard or sled would stop after a while. Also, something other than a hovercraft would have increasing velocity the whole time, while a hovercraft accelerates and then maintains a constant velocity. 
2. I learned that inertia was another way to speak about Isaac Newton's first law which is: an object in motion stays in motion and an object at rest stays at rest unless it is acted upon by an outside force. I learned that net force was combination of all the forces that act on a specific object. We also learned about equilibrium which is basically when an object has a net force of zero which is in a balanced state.
3. Based on this lab, acceleration seems to depend on net force and the movement of the object. 
4. Based on this lab, I would expect to have a constant velocity when there is a constant force and no acceleration. 
5. Some members who participated in this lab were harder to stop than others because of their body mass. Because of how fast the hovercraft was moving and how heavy the person was, it made it more difficult for the hovercraft to stop. 

Newton's First Law

This video is a short music video about Newton's First Law called Inertia. It is showing scenes of people moving and staying at rest.

This Inertia video relates to our physics class because we are currently learning that "when an object is in motion it stays in motion unless it is acted upon by an outside force" and "an object at rest stays at rest unless it is acted upon by an outside force."

This video might be helpful in understanding the concept of Inertia because the song is catchy and can stay in your head, therefore it might be easy to recall information.

Intro-PHYSICK!

1. What do you expect to learn in physics this year? 
This year, I plan to learn about things that I can apply to my everyday life. Considering that usually classes don't really work that way, I am excited to know that in physics I will be able to connect to my everyday world. I expect to grasp the concepts Ms. Lawrence will teach us instead of just memorizing for the grade. Although I do not know many things about physics, I want to be able to be comfortable in the classroom and not be scared about this class.

2. Why do you think studying physics is important? 
I think studying physics is important for college, especially for the field of medicine (which I am interested in).  Also studying physics is important because we can understand why things move and work the way they do in everyday life which is pretty cool! We will be able to understand how moving things are created.

3. What questions do you have about physics?

1. What is physics? 
2. Why do things move in different speeds and how can they increase or decrease speed?
3. How can one create objects with acceleration? How do you "put" acceleration into these objects?

4. What goals do you have for physics this year?
My goals for physics this year include:

1. Maintain a good average in the class
2. Understand the material while working with others to see their viewpoint on certain topics
3. To use my resources wisely, come into conference period, and seek out any help that I may need.