Tuesday, May 18, 2010

CRAZY CIRCUITS






This first image is calles a series cricuit. There is one current going throughout  the whole enitre circuit. The voltage remains the same in the whole series circuit. The volatge is the same because there are no resistors.

The second image is called a parallel circuit. In this circuit, the voltage is the same between the two light bulbs. The current is also the same in the circuit. The current (I) is equal to the voltage (V) divided by the risistance (R). Since the voltage and resitance of both light bulbs are the same that means that the current is also the same.







The last image is a complex circuit. In this complex circuit, there is a parallel circuit, and a series circuit. The voltage (V) is not the same in this circuit. The light bulb, that is in series, is brighter than the other two light bulbs that are in the parallel circuit. This is because it has more voltage (V). The two light bulbs ,in the parallel circuit, equal each other in voltage. The current in the parallel circuit is not the same as the current in the series circuit because it has more resistors (light bulbs).

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Reflection



As I was walking along the pot and pan isle of Wal-Mart, I notice that the light gray tiles were reflecting the overhead lighting. Not only did I recognized the tiles reflecting the light coming from the light bulbs but I also acknowledged the natural coming from the sky light. The rays coming from the sky light, the incident ray comes in from the ceiling hitting the light gray speckled floor, or the “reflecting surface”, then crosses the normal line. The image I see on the Wal-Mart floor is the reflected ray. When standing close to the reflected image, I perceived that the degree of the angle of incidence is small because the incident ray comes in straight down causing a small incidence ray. Since the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection that too must be a minuscule degree as well. This observation can be seen in the picture that I took.



Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Einstien Quote

11. In the quote, "I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination.” I think Einstein is trying to say that your imagination is the most important thing that you have. Your imagination is a thing that should be cherished. Other factors like knowledge, people and etc. should not influence your mind. Instead you should be an artist and draw, dream, create what ever it is in your imagination because maybe one day your imagination will cross over into reality. Einstein too, had to first imagine all the things before he constructed them.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Ice Hockey

Team One, Kellye, Jonny, and I , showed the relationship between Ice Hockey and momentum by utilizing digital tools such as the glogster and animoto. We hope this enhances your understanding of momentum and other realated topics.

Click HERE to view the glogster

Click HERE to view the animoto

Monday, February 22, 2010

Energy!!!

Part A:
 This is what i have learned about energy:



There are many different types of energy. Some of them are potential energy, elastic potential energy and kinetic energy. Potential energy is the stored energy of position obtained by an object. What that means is that an object gets stored energy by where the object is placed. For example, the wrecking ball has stored energy when it is held up at an elevated height. The equation is PE= mgh. The units are in Joules (J). Elastic Potential Energy has to do with elastic materials. An example of elastic potential energy would be a bungee jumper jump of a cliff. This type of energy happens when elastic materials are stretched or compressed together. The equation would be PEe=1/2kx^2. Lastly, an object that has motion will also have kinetic energy. The equation for Kinetic Energy would be KE= 1/2mv^2. This equation means that the kinetic energy of an object is directly proportional to the square of its speed.

What I have found difficult about energy is the conservation of mechanical energy. I would say that this topic is hard because I was sick and missed the lesson and the notes about it. I have some questions and there are certain concepts that I do not understand fully.

I feel like my problem solving skills are still strong. However, there will always be weaknesses in my problem solving skills. Sometimes there are certain equations that do not give the answer straight forward so you have to figure out which equations to use.

Part B:

While I am driving down the highway 635, along with other drivers, the kinetic energy equation can help me figure out how much kinetic energy my car obtains. For example, A 900-kg compact car moving at 60 mi/hr has approximately 320 000 Joules of kinetic energy. Estimate its new kinetic energy if it is moving at 30 mi/hr. The KE is directly related to the square of the speed. If the speed is reduced by a factor of 2 (as in from 60 mi/hr to 30 mi/hr) then the KE will be reduced by a factor of 4. Thus, the new KE is (320 000 J)/4 or 80 000 J.




car in motion



Monday, February 1, 2010

The Physics of Rollerblading and Friction

Have you ever wondered…what caused a person wearing rollerblades to start forward when they are at rest or how does the friction occur between the skates and the ground??? Well in order for the in-line skater to begin moving, he or she must experience a force in the direction of motion which causes her to accelerate from rest to some velocity. An inline skater at rest is only exerting a force down upon the ground (gravity) and the ground is exerting an opposite but equal force up on the skater. All four wheels of the rollerblade are in contact with the surface. The wheels begin to rotate due to the frictional force (static friction) between the wheels and the surface. The static friction exerts torques on the wheels which makes them spin. In order to eliminate any sliding friction, the rollerblade wheels rotate using a ball bearing system. To get a full grasp on the friction and rollerblading click on the link below.

Rollerblading and Friction Fun!!!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Circular Motion and Gravitation

What I learned about Circular Motion and Gravitation...:



When I went back over my UCM quiz I learned a number of things that I either forgot or facts that I did not know. This is a bad thing because the test is THURSDAY!!(but good too!!) I learned that in circular motion the acceleration of the object is called the centripetal acceleration. This acceleration is always pointed towards the center of the circle. This is not the centrifugal force because that word means that the acceleration is point outward not inward. I also noticed that instead of saying ma you use mv^2/r because we are dealing with centripetal forces.



What I have found difficult about Circular Motion and Gravitation....:


What I have found difficult about this topic is to not give up so effortlessly. For example, in some problems it may not look like you are given enough information to solve for a variable but if you keep putting in variables that you do know into the equation then you can ,eventually, get the equation that you need to use,

My problem-solving skills...:


They are excellent, it’s just the keep moving forward part (explained above) that I seemed to have trouble with. Also, sometimes I do not press the right buttons on my calculator which ends up with me getting the wrong answer.