Blog #10

          In physics we are continuing  learning more about Newtons Laws and the forces of physics. So I made a video to show an example of physics happening right before our eyes. In this video there is a volleyball rolling across the grass. Now this volleyball has 2 different forces acting upon it. One is the weight of the ball (mass x gravity) and the second one is the normal force. (If you don't understand these forces then look at my previous blog). According to Newtons first law, this ball should theoretically roll forever because an object in motion wants to stay in motion unless there is an unbalanced force. In this example the unbalanced force is friction. The friction between the grass and the ball will be great enough to slow it down and eventually stop it.

Blog #9

This week in physics we learned more about forces and how to draw them on free body diagrams. The free body diagrams help us to understand where the forces are acting upon something by looking at it. The ball, for example, has 2 different forces acting upon it so that it may stay at rest. Gravity (is not a force) and the mass of the ball create the force known as weight (mg). The second force acting upon it is known as force normal. It comes form Newton's third law, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The weight of the ball has an equal reaction from the surface it sits on. These 2 forces cause the ball to be balanced and stay in one spot.

Blog #8

                    We have recently started a new section in physics. It is Unit 4- Forces & Newton's Laws. Issac Newton's first law of motion states that objects in motion will tend to stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside, unbalanced force. This means that if a ball were to roll across the floor it would theoretically roll forever, but it has too many unbalanced forces; like friction. So, the words "in motion" can be switched with "at rest". When a ball is at rest then it will stay at rest unless something pulls or pushes it. The picture is of a water polo ball that is at rest. It is at rest because it has two balanced forces acting upon it. The two forces that act upon it are the balls weight and the equal and opposite force from the surface it is on known as the normal force; but this information can be saved for my next blog.

Blog #6

           In physics, we have recently started to learn a new unit. This unit is about two-dimensional physics. We learned that a vector is equivalent to another if it is drawn to scale and maintains the same direction. Basically it means that in order for a pair of vectors to be equivalent that must be the same size and go in the same direction. For example, if two cars are driving on the Likelike, town bound, at the same speed then they have equivalent vectors. If one car was to heading away from town and the other heading toward town at the same speed then they would not be equivalent because they are going in different directions.

Blog #7

Once again we are learning more about Vectors. This week we learned more about solving 2-D vectors and how to use the ancient art of BEREKU. We learned how to break up the 2 vectors so that we can solve for their magnitude by using SOH, CAH, TOA. I would have liked to post a video of the song that Mr. Blake and the Science teachers sung about how to solve for different sides and angles of triangles. Instead I will post a picture of my BEREKU technique. BUT for the moment I don't know where my physics notebook is so i will repost it later when i find my book.