rotating radi

Well, last week I talked about some examples of centripetal force. This week I got some more, but they show some stuff that has to do with radi. The first was that rotating plate in the microwave, since I made popcorn today (Doc's favorite food?). If I put the popcorn in the middle of the plate, it doesn't move that much. But if I put it on the edge, it spins 'round and 'round. Another thing like that is the "lazy susan" in my house, which is like a circular, rotating, cuboard. If I put something in the middle of the susan, I'll always have to reach into the middle to grab it, as opposed to putting it on the outside and rotating it in front of me. What does this have to do with Physics? Good question, and the answer is everything. But I was just thinking aobut how the radi affects everything in rotational motion. If the radi is huge, compared to small, the item will have to move much faster to make the same angular displacement. This alos reminds me of my second physics post about marching in the parade. The week before the parade we marched outside and practiced going around turns. The thing was that if we wanted to keep a straight line, the people on the outside had to quicken step, and the people inside had to slow down. It's all about the radi to the center of rotation. Go Steelers! Also, that picture of the lazy susan needs to be rotated...it's sideways

Examples of Centrifugal force

Last Friday, Doc told our class to look for examples of centrifugal force, so I did that. I just walked around my house and took pictures of stuff I thought displayed centrifugal force. Lets see.. Got a drying machine, since it spins around. A fan, since that also spins around. A toilet paper roll (it spins around too). My spinning chair, a planetary mobile, and one of those spinning ball thingys...just look at the pictures. Anyways, Doc also said to look for the inward force in such cases. It is hard for me to see these things. In the dryer, the inward force is the walls? The fan has the individual blades connected to the rotating center. I could go on and on, but the point is that all these things have some sort of inward force. Even if I still don't know what it is...go steelers!

Collisions and cats

Well, yesterday my mother and I went to the humane society to look for my lost cat. She was gone since last thursday. We didn't find her, so i guess she's gone. bummer. but anyways, as we drove to the humane society, there was a guy right outside the place who was riding a moped and got hit by a HECO car. His moped was all smashed up, like the back and seat were all crumpled. I'm not sure what happened during the collision, but I'm guessing the car and moped were both moving, and the car having the larger mass, exterted more energy on the moped. That is why the guy flew to the ground and his moped was all crushed. Transfer of energy.

My cat also made we think about how cats land from high heights. On impact they bend their legs, so that the time of contact is more and force on their legs is less. That is why even if the impulse is high, cats can jump from a great height and not break their legs. PHSYICS!!!! go steelers!

pictured is my cat

and some examples of a collision

Digital Short: On the Ground

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

best post ever?

The video is in the post after this, but read this first...

Alright, I know I talked about football last week, but I got to say that this week was much better. I had a run! yay me! Unfotunately, my mass and velocity were too small, so my collision with the defender ending up in my momentum being redirected back.

Okay, on to the real part of my blog. The awesomest example of physics I've seen in the past month was in this video from Saturday Night Live. Basically this dude is throwing things on the ground, and smashing them. When the object gets thrown on the ground, the conservation of energy means that all the peices of the smashed object and the energy lost to the collision and flying peices remains constant. The same holds true for momnetum, but since the ground doesn't move, the peices just fly back with the same momentum. Lots of physics happens in throwing stuff on the ground. Also, this video hasa some language, but nothing you wouldn't here in Doc's class. Go steelers!

oh, and you can't trust the system.

Physics and Football

Alright, first thing, I only speak the truth on this blog. I ain't going to sugarcoat anything, or lie about anything. That being said, the Iolani Raiders lost to Saint Louis this Friday. It was not enjoyable, but football is where a ton of physics goes down. There is projectile motion in throwing of the football, kicking, punting, and even the throwing of penalty flags (Which Saint Louis had a lot of). There is also a lot of force and accleration in football, especially when hitting. Not to mention inertia. The linemen have to stop huge blizters from getting to the QB and the recievers have to accelerate faster than their defenders to get down feild. Since we were playing at the stadium, that reminded me of that lab we did about work and that guysgetting to his top-level seats. After that game on Friday, I'm really looking to this long three-day weekend to not do work...just kidding, I need to catch up on my homeworks. (go Steelers!) Here is some FB pics

Next week my post will be sick...

Table Tennis & Physics

This past Wednesday at lunch, the second annual Iolani Ping Pong tournament was going down at the upper gym. I was playing in it, but I lost in the second round to "The Rubasch." There were a lot of people there, and they all played differently, like some people held it Chinese style, some people put lots of spin on the ball, and whatever. You may find yourself asking "How does all this relate to Physics?" and "How the heck did you lose to the Rubasch?" Well, physics has everything to do with ping pong. It's all about force and angles. See, if you hit the ball with a low trajectory, then it will bounce off the table at a low angle, making it harder for the other guys to get good hits. If you hit it at too high of an angle, the ball will go straight up and the other guy can SLAM IT!!!! Force plays a big role too, you don't want to hit it too soft, or the ball won't make it over the net. Not to hard either, or else it won't even hit the table. I'm sure we will learn about objects bouncing and trajectory later in the year. Good thing, so next year I can use my immense knowledge of Physics to beat the Rubasch. RUBASCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!