Water Bottle Rocket

As we begin researching different water bottle designs, I came upon this website. (http://lanceorloff.s5.com/rocket.html) The design of this water bottle rocket is very simple. However, there is useful information that we can all benefit from. This design tells us that fins are required for stable take off. Fins help the bottle rocket to spin in a straight line. Also, the website shares with us that there should be a counterweight in the front part of the rocket. This will also help keep the rocket balanced as it takes off. What the website doesn't have any information about, is the parachute. So we will have to come up with our own design about it.

Blogpost #23

This past week in Science, we continued to learn about the concepts of electrical energy. In particular, we studied the flow of energy through a parallel circuit and a series circuit. Many household appliances are built with a series circuit. A series circuit is more conducive for household appliances because it is space efficient. A parallel circuit is more conducive for other electric items such as Christmas lights. Before, Christmas lights were wired with a series circuit. This type of circuit made it difficult to change lights because when one light went out, the entire string of lights would go out as well. Nowadays, Christmas lights are wired with a parallel circuit, so if one light goes out, the others continue to shine.

Blogpost #22

This past week in Science, we continued to learn about electrical currents. On Friday, we were able to set up a circuit involving a battery, a multi-meter, alligator clamps, and couple resistors. We measured the amount of resistance, volts, and milliamps of the circuit. Many of our results varied because all of the batteries had a certain amount of power within them. The circuit offered us a way to understand how many electronic utilities are manufactured and how many homes are wired. The average cost of electricity in Hawai’i is roughly $.25 per kilowatthour. Some households use more electricity than others, depending on how many people live in the house and how many appliances need a constant source of electricity.

Blogpost

This is a picture of my iPhone Charger. This charger is able to convert AC power into DC power. The difference between AC (Alternating Current) and DC (Direct Current) power is that AC is power that can move in either direction, and DC is power that can only move in one direction. This charger, like many other household appliances, has a voltage of 120 volts. Voltage, otherwise known as electric potential difference, is the potential difference between two points. Amperes is the SI unit of electric current that is equal to the amount joules per one coulomb. Voltage and Amperes are found on many utilities around the world. Many countries have different amount of voltage per household.

#20

As we continue to learn about charge and voltage, I am able understand the principles and concepts in this unit. A neat experiment that caught my attention was the Millikan’s Apparatus Experiment. Robert Millikan and Harvey Fletcher found the single charge of an electron. This charge is 1.5924(17)×10⁻¹⁹ C. They proved this theory by being able to suspend oil droplets in mid air due to the pull of electrons and a positive plate. They sprayed oil droplets between two plates of very high voltage. As they looked through their microscope, they saw droplets fall to the bottom plate, and many droplets were pulled to the top plate, but few were completely suspended in mid air.

Voltage

This past week we learned about voltage and charge. Voltage is the amount of joules per coulombs. Voltage and charge are related because the more “charged” something is, the voltage becomes stronger. For example, when a balloon is rubbed on someone’s head it becomes negatively charged. The amount of electrical potential energy is high, however the charge is relatively low. That's why you do not get shocked when you touch someone else with a charged balloon. Compared to the balloon, an outlet has a high amount of electrical potential energy, but also has a high amount of charge. This means that you will get shocked if you touch the inside of the outlet.

Blogpost: Charge

The world is made up of different and complex matter. This “matter” is made up of trillions of atoms, and each atom has protons, neutrons, and electrons orbiting around the atom. By knowing how many electrons an atom has, scientist can find out what the specific charge is of the atom. This charge is known as an electrical charge or force. These electrical forces vary in charges; positive, negative, and neutral. These charges have similar principles to the charges of a magnet. Like charges repel each other, unlike charges attract each other, and neutral charges attract both positive and negative charges.

Charge

This past week we learned about charge. There are different forms of charge such as electrical and static. A common charge that many people are familiar with is static charge, or static electricity. Most people are familiar with this charge when they play with balloons. When a balloon is rubbed up against hair or carpet, the balloon picks up electrons from the hair or carpet. This makes the balloon negatively charged. That is why when you put a charged balloon beside hair; your hair will be attracted to the balloon. Another form of this charge is when you rub your feet against the ground. Your body becomes negatively charged, and when you touch someone else who is neutrally charged, you both feel a zap. 

Blogpost, 200 words

I have learned many new things as the first semester of physics has flown by. I have learned momentum, energy, Newtons, speed, velocity, acceleration, and inertia. These are only a few and basic principles that I have been able to learn about and apply them to real life situations. Many labs helped my thinking process of these principles, and helped me fully understand what's really happening. My favorite lab that we did was the egg drop lab. This lab forced us to think outside of the box, and to use the principles of momentum, contact time, cushion, and velocity. Fortunately, with a tacky yet effect design, our egg survived. Another lab that helped me understand the laws of physics was the Momentum cart lab. This lab showed us how the law of conservation of momentum was applied to the carts. The carts rolled along the track and bumped into each other. The momentum of the moving cart, transferred it's energy into the other cart. Also, we had very accurate quantitative data being recorded which helped us see the physics involved while the carts bumped into each other. I am happy but sad that the first semester is ending. We are half way through the year, and as a senior I want to fulfill every opportunity I can while in school. I am looking forward to learning much more material in Physics.

Blogpost #13

This week we are understanding the law of energy. There are many types of energy such as heat, light, and joules. We are focusing more on joules, and the affect it has on objects. Joules is measured by the height of an object times it's mass times by gravitational pull. Also, while understanding Joules, we are understanding kinetic and potential energy. These two energies are found when objects are in motion or at rest. Potential energy is energy that is found at rest and kinetic energy is found in motion. 

Momentum and Impulse

This past week we have learned about the relationship between momentum and impulse. Momentum is the mass of an object multiplied by the velocity. Force also affects the momentum of an object. More force more momentum, vice versa. Impulse is the change of momentum divided by the change in time. For the most part, impulse stays the same. However, the momentum can vary. If you were to drop an ege, an egg would break upon impact on a cement ground. But take the same impulse and drop the egg on a cushion. The egg will not break because the contact time at which the egg is touching the cushion is greater than the contact of the egg and the cement ground. The millisecond difference of the contact time is the difference between a broken and a solid egg. This principle is applicable in many real world situations. Take for example a car. When a car gets into an accident, the car crumples like a can. Cars are designed to crumple to increase the contact time. Like the egg, the person driving the car will have the same impulse, but less momentum.

Blogpost #12

This week we have been experimenting with momentum. Momentum is mass times the velocity of an object. We have experimented with two air carts to see how the change of their mass affects their momentum. I have concluded that a cart with a heavier mass will have more momentum than a cart with less mass. We have also learned about how impulse and momentum are related. A cushion or Styrofoam does not affect the momentum, it affects the time at which the momentum is in contact with another object. That is why many companies wrap their product in styrofoam and bubble wrap when they ship their products to the customers.

Blog Post Momentum

What I define as “Momentum” is the ability for an object to easily increase its acceleration. What I mean is that when objects have a running start to their direction of motion, they can accelerate faster. For example, baseball players gain momentum when they want to steal a base when they start to take one or two steps before the pitcher pitches the ball to home plate. Because they took their one or two steps before they started to sprint to second base, they usually arrive at second base safely. The law or rule of momentum applies to everything on this earth.

Blogpost #11

This is a picture of our lab that involves the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration. For this lab, we have to see how a carts mass affects the force of its movement and vice versa. This lab will not only show how force, mass, and acceleration are related, but how these forces can be applied into real life. For example, instead of measuring how much force of a 100g cart can create, we can measure how much force a bullet train makes. With using these same principles and applying them to real life situations, we can find out the "hows" and "whys" about our planet.

Blog post #8

This is a picture of an arrow. This arrow is a vector. A vector is a quantity of magnitude and direction. I chose an arrow to represent a vector because it's the most basic form of a vector. There are many vectors that surround us daily. Cars, planes, bikes are few examples of the vectors on earth. Vectors are important because they relate to acceleration and velocity. Anything that moves has acceleration and velocity. In class we have been studying how certain vectors can have the same length, but different direction. Also, we have been studying how three vectors can create a triangle.

blog post #5

Blog post #5

This is a picture of an accelerating Porsche. Like many of our P.A. problems, the Porsche’s acceleration and velocity are quite fast. If we wanted to find how fast the Porsche would go in a certain distance or time, we would use the D=1/2at²+V_ot, or d.a.t. equation. By using this equation, you can find the distance, acceleration, or time. This equation is not limited to objects that only move on the road, but falling and rising objects. There are other equations that are used to find velocity, acceleration, and time. This equation will help us find the velocity of our next lab, the falling ball lab.

Blog post #4

Blog post #4

This is a picture of position vs. time graph. I chose this picture because we are learning about how objects increase their distance over a period of time. This graph relates to the Olympics lab. As each “runner” ran, hopped, and sprinted, their distance increased as time increased. Each “run” had a different distance covered in a certain time, thus creating different slopes. The slope of the sprint was much steeper than the slope of the hop. This graph also relates to the acceleration and velocity of the moving object. As the object covers more distance in less time, the acceleration increases. 

Physics in life

This is a picture of someone playing a guitar. I chose this picture because it shows how vibrations of string can produce sound. Depending on how fast or slow the guitarist strums and where he decides to press his fingers on the frets, he is able to control the tempo and musical notes of the guitar. This picture also shows how a strum is much like a period of a pendulum. When the guitarist plays short periods, he plays a faster tempo, and vice versa; if the guitarist plays a slower period, he plays a slower tempo. Also, this picture can relate to myself because I enjoy playing guitar too. 

Physics in life

This is a picture of a golfer swinging their club. This relates to our physics unit because the golfer has to accelerate the club and hit the golf ball. Much like the pendulum, the golf club and the golfer's hands represent the string of the pendulum. If the golfer wants to hit the ball with less force, his period or backswing is shorter. If the golfer wants to hit the ball with more force, his period or backswing will be longer. This picture can represent how wind can affect the flight of the ball. Much like the string and weight of the pendulum, after the golf ball is hit, the wind may affect the flight of the ball.

Physicsally Challenged: Welcome to Physics - Physics Blogging

Physicsally Challenged: Welcome to Physics - Physics Blogging: "You will be using this medium for a weekly assignment that will help you to be able to observe, document and report on physics that you see ..."

Letter of Introduction:

My name is Joseph Yokoi. I’m Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Portuguese. I’m finally a senior at Kamehameha, and I’m proud to say that I enjoyed being at Kamehameha for 12 years. I’ve played for the Kamehameha Baseball since 7^th and hopefully we’ll end this year’s baseball season with a bang.

Science has been one of my favored classes mainly because of the neat labs we’ve done in Biology and Chemistry. As for physics, I’m looking forward to learning are the “how’s and why’s” about everyday life. How does gravity affect the bounce on a ball? Why does heat rise up and not down? I’m excited to learn about the reasons why things happen.

Math has been another favored class of mine, and currently I’m in Pre-Calculus.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/05/yosemite-climbing/jenkins-text

This is a picture of a Yosemite Climber. This picture represents me as a person because I’m determined and daring.