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.