End of the Year

 

http://geology.com/articles/what-is-earth-science.shtml

             

          Well, it’s been a fun year in physics. We got a lot done, especially in 4^th quarter. So, about this project… Honestly, I thought we did very well. We did our best to solve the problem that we had identified, and we did all that we could in the time given to us. Yes, there were some bumps along the way, but we definitely got things done. Overall, I think our teamwork was good and our ability to get things done. If something needed to be done for the project, someone would always step up to the plate. There were also some unforeseen complications, however, which hindered our efforts. On some days, the weather restricted us from hiking and therefore, working on our project. Another complication was that some group members were quite busy this semester, and could not make every group meeting. These complications weren’t too bad, but there was really no working around them. Personally, I learned a lot from this project. I learned about water flow, the watershed, and the history of our campus. Along with this, I learned team skill, cooperation, and time management. Hopefully, later on people will be able to continue this project, as I know I will during my senior year here at Kamehameha. There will need to be adjustments, like resource acquisition, garnering of support, etc., but there’s nothing major to change, well, maybe focusing on one part of the stream rather than the whole. In short, I believe that this was an excellent project and one of the best ways to do science: hands on!

Electricity

This week in Physics, we learned about electricity. Many things in our daily life are based on the use of electric energy. Our homes, cars, and our lives to a certain extent, are powered by electricity. The picture above shows a common household item (at least, for a teenager). This is an Xbox 360 controller, which  uses electricity to run. The controller is hooked up to the Xbox to charge, however, it runs on a series circuit of two AA batteries.

Electric Charges and Forces

This week in physics, we learned about electric charges and forces. This means that there are differing amounts of electrons and such in a given particle, which makes up its charge. Positively charged things will naturally attract to negatively charged things, bringing them together. These particles will stick and hold together, and be hard to force apart. One such example is the picture above, which shows some magnets on my fridge. These magnets are attracted to the fridge through a charge, which makes them stick.

What I Learned In Physics, First Semester...

This first semester, I learned many things in Physics. I learned about Kinematics, which is the science of movement. We did a fun pendulum lab, and I also learned that spam musubi’s are kicked and thrown very often, in the name of science. I also learned about momentum and collisions, which was fun because we got to crash cars together on a track. We also found out that using water balloons in Physics is actually quite fun. We heard the story of the rebels who fired their cannon straight up into the air while on a moving cart, and the tale of the amazon who was chased by the piranha people. Energy was quite fun to learn about also, as it gave me an idea as to how much actual “work” doing anything takes. I learned that a myriad of forces affects everything we do, even when still. There are also rules to how these forces work, and for every force, there is an opposing, opposite one. Also, Isaac Newton was a boss. He actually discovered amazing things about how our world works, so much so that his Laws are a large part of what Physics is based on. So, if Isaac Newton can do it, why can’t everyone? I think that the most important thing that Physics has taught me is that you can achieve anything…as long as you take into account the Force you are using, the friction of the surface you’re on, the acceleration of gravity, velocity, mass, yaddayadda….oh…and MASS IS NOT WEEEEIIIIGHT!!!! Thank you Physics!

Blog #13: Momentum/Impulse/Collisions

In this post, I'll be explaining more about momentum, and also about impulse and collisions. In the picture above, we can see why the car from last week was suddenly braking. It appears as though it and a brown car have had a collision. A collision is when two moving bodies exert forces upon each other for a relatively short amount of time. So when the two cars' momentum carries them towards each other, they eventually collide. Along with that, comes impulses. An impulse is anything that changes the momentum of an object, which in this picture is the other car.

Blog #12: The Definition of Momentum

Hey everyone, in this post, I'll be talking about the definition of momentum. Momentum can be defined as the quantity of motion of a moving object. This can be calculated by using the equation P=mv, where "m" is the mass of the object, and "v" is the velocity. The picture above is one that I drew to demonstrate momentum. In the picture, the car is braking suddenly, but continues forward because of momentum. And yes, thank you, it IS a masterpiece... :3

Blog #11: Forces 3

Back again. Today, I'm going to be posting once more about force. This is the last one, I promise, hehe... :3 Anyways, the picture above has my lanyard swinging like a pendulum. Because it is swinging, the forces acting upon it are unbalanced. Firstly, the force of gravity is attempting to pull the lanyard downwards, creating tension in the lanyard itself. This means that the mass will be gradually pulled towards the center of the swing-arc. Along with that, there is the force of wight that allows my lanyard to swing back and forth.