Blog 7

During this past week of Physics, we have learned a bit more about vectors and scalars. A vector is comprised of both a magnitude, or the "muchness", and a direction. Scalars on other hand, are just like vectors, except they only include a magnitude and not a direction. For example, in my picture, you could think of the two spearguns as two scalar quantities. You could see that the gun on the top is relatively larger than the one underneath, thus having a greater magnitude. However, you could also see these two spearguns as vector quantities as well. Since the magnitude is the length of the gun, all you have to do is add on the direction. For this example's sake, if you consider the top of the picture North, then these vector quantities are pointing West with either a larger (top gun) or a smaller (bottom gun) magnitude.

Blog 6

In this past week of Physics, we have did the ball lab. In this lab we recorded a person tossing a volleyball up as well as catching it when it comes back down. We have studied 3 graphs of this motion. A distance vs. time graph, velocity vs. time graph, and an acceleration vs. time graph. In this picture, I am basically applying the same concepts that we were experimenting with in the lab. I have learned that if you throw something up with a "x" velocity, the moment it returns to its origin it's traveling at the same speed as it's initial speed, but in the opposite direction. So as I threw my sock up into the air, when it reached the point I released it, it was traveling at the same speed. Then, it continued to accelerate faster as gravity pulled it down until it came to a complete stop when it hit the ground.

Blog 5

Speed can be defined as the distance an object traveled per unit of time. The average speed equals the total distance traveled over the total time traveled. One of the many real life examples that can demonstrate speed is a car. In this instance, I have chosen to use my dad’s Blazer. When traveling from my grandma’s house to my dad’s house it takes about 25 minutes (total time). My dad drives the car for about 20 mph for 20 minutes and about 50 mph for 5 minutes. To calculate the average speed, you would first find out the distance traveled at each speed. Then you would add them up to get the total distance traveled. From there you just divide the total time by the total distance.

Blog 4

This week, we have explored kinematics a bit more and have learned about more things than just speed. One of the things we have learned in class was about acceleration. Acceleration isn't only defined as the increase in speed, but can also be defined as the decrease in speed. Acceleration is the change in speed over time. For example, when pressing on the gas pedal of a car, you are accelerating (increasing acceleration). When pressing the brakes, you are decreasing in acceleration. I also learned that gravity has an acceleration of 9.8m/s^2, One of the ways I applied acceleration in real life other than driving a car is when I played Portuguese Horse Shoes. When I throw a ring, it starts of at it's maximum velocity but as time goes by, the drag of the wind, gravity and other factors decrease it's velocity causing it to arch and change direction. Once it changes direction and starts to move down, the gravity increases the ring's acceleration again (in the opposite direction).