Elastic vs. Inelastic

Physics homework for 5/12/15:

Flexibility! 

          Today we took some notes on elastic and inelastic collisions and afterwards we did a lab involving smashing toy carts into each other because science YO :D.

Wait, wait...What the hell's an elastic and an inelastic collision though? Well, time to get the ol' science vocabulary out...

An elastic collision is when two items "bounce" off each other when they collide and an inelastic collision is when two items stick together when they collide. The main difference between  an elastic and an inelastic condition is what happens as the items collide. Either the items "bounce" off or either they stick together and the items either bounce or stick depending on momentum and a variety of other factors.

One time I saw an elastic collision when I was playing at a pool table. What happened was when I used the pool stick to hit the white ball with the stub of the pool stick, the ball did NOT stick together with the stick as they collided. Instead of sticking, the ball rolled away from the stick after they collided and the ball usually rolls away pretty fast until it hits the other balls. Even more elastic collisions occur as soon as the white ball hits the other balls and all of the other balls roll off in different directions.

I have also seen an inelastic collision when I collide with my bureau to move it. I usually run into it so that it will move a bit and instead of bouncing off, both the bureau and I stick together and slide one way. I have also had to move these huge blocks during gym class and I would usually run into them to move them and as soon as the block and I collided we stuck together and move forward!--So inspirational *tear*...

Have a good day everybody! :3

Phase Change

Physics homework 4/30/15:

'Cause You're Hot Then You're Cold

Today we learned about phase changes and took notes on phase changes :D.

          So today, like on many days, I was eating chocolate! I had a chocolate chip cookie as soon as I got home because I am fat and while I was eating it my fingers got all sticky because the chocolate had begun to melt off. Basically, it was me eating for a few minutes and then noticing liquid chocolate on my fingers. I did not see the melting, but I did notice the sticky chocolate afterwards. But why does this very inconvenient situation occur whenever we eat chocolate? 

The reason why our fingers get melted chocolate all over whenever we eat chocolate is because of phase changes and thermal energy. When you are holding the chocolate, the chocolate is most likely colder than you are and since objects like to be at equilibrium the chocolate and your body will try and match up in terms of heat. Also, heat always goes to the colder objects so your body heat transferred some of its energy to the chocolate. But the chocolate does not just take the heat and remain nice and thick, it begins to slowly melt off because of its temperature. Once the chocolate hits its melting point it'll begin to melt off. 

Of course heat energy was added to the chocolate and part of the chocolate changed from a solid to a liquid. This transition is called "melting" and it occurs when an object hits the melting point. 

But yes, chocolate! Make sure to eat veggies too if you don't already!! :DDD

Bye bye :3

Too Hot/Too Cold

Physics homework for 4/28/15:

It's Getting Hot in Here...♫

Today we took some notes about the three different temperature scales (Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Kelvin) and then we did a lab involving different temperatures of water for the rest of class :).

Water, milk, and chocolate all heat up at different rates - whether you use a stove, a microwave, or the sun to heat them up, they all heat up at different rates. Water is easy to heat, milk takes a while longer than water, and chocolate is the easiest of all of them to melt. Water takes ten minutes or so to boil on the stove and heats up at a steady rate, milk takes maybe fifteen minutes on the stove and is not as steady as water but not relatively bad, and chocolate usually begins to melt as soon as you throw it in the pan and heats up as well as melts away in a matter of minutes. But why do some substances heat up faster than others and why do some heat up at different rates? 

The physical state of the substances (gas, liquid, solid, plasma - usually just the first three) can affect the rate at which something heats up as not all substances have particles closely packed near each other. A solid probably heats up faster than a gas because the particles can transfer energy quickly as they are packed right next to each other, but a gas needs to take its time to find another gas particle to transfer energy to. It is like passing a ball to a group of people in a line, the people can quickly pass the ball because of how they are aligned. But if the people were scattered around on a field more energy is required to pass the ball and you have to throw the ball or run over to pass it to someone. So chocolate might melt faster and heat up quicker because it is a solid unlike milk and water. 

Whether the substance is pure or not is also a property that could affect heating rates. If I have pure water it will probably heat up fine, but salt water or water with some other solvent or whatever might take longer because the materials in the water can affect its melting/freezing point. Once that is affected, then heating rates change too. Plus, the salt and what not gets in the way of heating. So milk might heat up the slowest out of all of them because it is not pure like water, milk DEFINITELY is more than just milk - milk at least consists of water and other substances. 

Water is pure so it generally will heat up fine, but again, it is not a solid so it will have trouble passing energy from one particle to another. 

This is what I generally think, but I hope this is fine! Have a good day! :D Eat lots of choco--VEGETABLES not chocolate...

no but really eat chocolate <3 

ALL IN A DAY'S WORK BATMAN

Doppler Radar

Physics homework for 4/9/15:

Doppler Weather Forecast

         Physics and science is super important - as we all know! - and today we learned a bit about the Doppler effect and what not! But how does the Doppler effect relate to the weather and what do Doppler radars do? Well, simply put, Doppler radars ("radar" being short for RAdio Detection And Ranging)  tell us about the precipitation in the area and helps us prepare for the upcoming weather! Now, how does this work? Doppler radars work by using their transmitters and receivers. The transmitter emits pulses of waves (specifically microwaves or radio waves) out in a circular pattern like with other waves. The precipitation then scatters these waves and that in turn sends energy back to the transmitter where it is then detected by the radar's receiver. The strength of the signal that ends up being received (AKA a "radar echo") determines the intensity of the precipitation. Measuring the time it takes for the wave to leave and return tells the meteorologists how far away the storm is, and the direction the radar points locates the storm. In brief, waves are used to locate and detect intensity and what not by sending them off and receiving them back. The energy could affect the frequency/wave length of the wave which helps the radar see what the storm will be like. Additionally, the storm is like the observer who interacts with a source's waves because as the waves approach the storm and as the storm moves where ever (which is an example of the Doppler effect!) the waves start to probably compress and/or get affected by everything else in the way. Case in point, though, this is how the radars work! :D

Bye bye!~ :3

Interference

Physics homework for 4/2/15:

Interferences

          Today we watched videos, made flashcards, took a few notes, and just generally discusses more about waves. 

          We learned about interferences today and about the two types of interferences: constructive and destructive. Firstly, what is an interference? Simply put, an interference is the reaction that occurs when more than one wave travels through a medium and an interference can either have a constructive reaction or a destructive one. In a constructive interference, two waves will "hit" each other and the troughs or the crests will be positioned with each other to make a bigger wave/amplitude; though, this only occurs for a moment and one the waves pass by each other they will go back to their original amplitude. This also applies to destructive interferences except with destructive ones the crest and trough of two waves will be super positioned to make the wave's amplitude smaller. When the waves hits the wave will become smaller for a moment before the waves pass by and act as if nothing happened. To find the amplitude of the interference you would add the nets of the waves. Is there a difference to these waves though? Yes! Absolutely! The main difference being that one type will make the amplitude bigger while the other will decrease the amplitude, but also with the constructive interference you can have the troughs and crests positioned and with the destructive can have the trough and crest positioned. A constructive type can only have that and the destructive type can only have that; in fact, the troughs and crests define which interference it is! 

       Moving along, just as waves have interferences our daily life also has interferences! Some we may enjoy or not, it depends. This first example I like and partially dislike, when my mom comes into my room to talk that is an interference as usually I am always doing something like homework or chores. Technically this would be a destructive interference because it reduces my progress as I usually talk to my mom for a while and I like it because I don't get to spend enough time with my family but I also slightly dislike it because sometimes I get less done or feel demotivated after because I lost track of what I was doing. A constructive interference would be the bridge opening up near my house because more and more cars would be waiting due to the interference of the bridge. Can't say any one enjoys this one, but hey, it is "constructive" in a sense.

Bye guys! Happy early Good Friday! :D

(Because Obama)




Plus, a Japanese UTAU singing this song called "iNERTia" : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpeOWk2-mP4

Standing Waves

Physics homework for 4/1/15:

Standing Waves

        Today we did a lab involving standing waves. A standing wave is a set of waves that look like they are not moving or are stationary. The lab involved us using Super Slinky at the front of the classroom. Super Slinky was tied to one side near the desk and Miss Reid held the other end about 6 meters away. For the lab we did around a few trials (maybe five or six?) where we timed Miss Reid shaking the slinky for ten seconds to see how many waves were done in that time. Each time Miss Reid shook the slinky a different way, the first time she shook it relatively slowly and the slinky had one crest but by the end she was manically flailing just to create five bumps! Poor lady :(. We did this to see how wavelength and frequency were related and to see if either of these things affected the wave speed, which it didn't. We also took down the data during the lab and calculated the speed and all. Since the velocities were the same no matter the frequency and what not we concluded that neither frequency nor wavelength really affected the velocity at which a wave travels.

      What did I get from it though? I learned that if, say, wavelength goes down then the frequency goes up and vice versa but that in the end the only thing that can affect wave speed is the medium the energy travels through. I also learned that there are parts where waves are stationary which I really never noticed before, and these are called nodes. Also, I learned how the crest, trough, etc. are related and how it all makes up a wavelength. It also showed me how different the transverse wave was in comparison to the standing wave because with the transverse wave we did trials where timed how long it took for a wave to travel back and forth whereas with this lab we timed how many waves Miss Reid could do in 10 seconds. Finally, I learned that wavelengths are measured a certain way and that they look different from a diagram of a wave. A "S" shaped wave means it is one wave length but a "U" shaped one is half of a wave length.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNZ1C_BWEAM 

Plus an appropriate Japanese song called "WAVE" :D!!~~~

~~vuv *dances her way out of the blog post*~~

No Effect

Physics homework for 3/31/15:

Ripple Effect

           Today we learned about waves and we did a wave lab using slinkies and what not. We also checked our data and what have you. 

           The amount of a solvent does not change the density of it or the buoyancy of other objects. For example, if you dropped a beach ball in the ocean and in a sink it would still float because the amount of whatever does not affect it. We know density is only affected by mass and by volume because the formula for density is D = m/V. Thus in turn buoyancy is not affected by the amount of a solvent because buoyancy depends on density. Plus, I have tested this before and as an example when I leave a plastic bowl in a slightly filled sink it floats and when the sink is a bit fuller it still floats. I feel like the amount should affect it though because it is really annoying having all those bowls float around in your sink and the whole purpose of me filling the sink is usually so that the bowls soak all together. Instead I have to manually fill each bowl and what have you. Adding on, usually people add more solvent to make things sink but things like ice and what not unfortunately still float. I guess it would just be more practical some how. And while quantity can be a part of density everything is proportional to volume so it just remains the same. It is like having a 10 kg tub of water take up 2 m or whatever be the same as a 20 kg tub of water take up 4 m of space because in the end the density is still 5 and the buoyancy of the object remains the same. 

Bye guys :33~

Simple Harmonic Motion

Physics homework for 3/30/15:

              

Simply Motion and Gravity

                Today we finished our pendulum lab and we also compared our data. Additionally, we took some notes on what affects pendulums and what not.

                First of all, what is simple harmonic motion? Simple harmonic motion is basically when something carries out a repetitive back and forth or up and down motion. So for example, a pendulum swinging on its own from a string has simple harmonic motion. You can tell when something has simple harmonic motion if it only takes gravity for an object to constantly go back and forth or up and down and also if an object is just constantly making that repetitive up/down and left/right motion.
                In my own day, I have witnessed simple harmonic motion from a metronome. Metronomes (the old fashioned ones) only require you to pull the dial back once and once you let go the musical timing device will go back and forth on its own for however long it may go.
                I also play the guitar so when I play I notice that when I strum the strings the strings vibrate up and down repetitively for a long time unless you stop the strings. This may be more of vibration but technically all you need to do is touch/pluck the string and the string will move on its own after like with a pendulum or a metronome. Drum cymbals can also vibrate/go up and down after they are hit.
               Finally, when I am washing up at home sometimes if there is a basin of water in the sink or whatever and I leave an object in the water that floats it bobs up and down. All I need to do is leave a less dense object in the water and gravity helps the object go up and down and up and down... It is different from the other examples but it has the same principle. I think Cartesian divers are better examples of objects bobbing or one of those things out at sea but generally it is all quite similar.

Bungee jumping may count too! I mean technically once you are left to go on your own you bounce up then down and then up and down due to gravity :D. But I don't bungee jump every day xD.



:D <3 Bye bye! 

Electricity Generator

Physics homework for 3/18/15:

The Power of the Sun

               Today we finished our generator notes and we continued working on our projects.

               I am personally most interested in the solar power generator because of the renewable resource of the sun being its power source and because of how much it could help the environment and stuff. It is interesting because of how it needs no moving parts and because of how it eliminates the burning a resource that heats water process that other generators go through. Adding on, the way the sun generates power for these generators is cool too as it basically just involves radiation and what have you. 

               Solar power works by using sun rays to excite electrons in solar panels (the material used for those panels is called a "photovoltaic" material). These cells convert sunlight into electricity and once electricity is created the electrons can flow through wires to the devices that need energy or they can flow through some kind of circuit. With solar power there are these things called inverters and meters that help the electricity flow through out the house. An inverter converts the electricity for household use whilst the meter connects the system and monitors the electricity. The meter turns backwards when it needs to switch off I believe. 

               Sun power seems better because in comparison to the other generators this one requires less burning and water, it requires a few things that don't need to move, it is clean, renewable, it can't hurt anyone, etc. While not as efficient as say hydroelectric or nuclear power it may be worth the money, planning, and time and maybe we can soon make it more efficient? Since our Earth is already in danger and has its problems because humans can be selfish sometimes this may be what we need. The only drawback is it is not on demand and it takes up space. Plus, if you got it from the government it would be funded by tax money which is not necessarily great as someone else earned that to pay for you, you know? But taking some extra steps can be worth it if it means more building and planning and even more expenses. Taking care of the Earth will not be easy and it is not 100% easy but we can do it and it is worth it. Also, having electricity for a while will not kill us and it may teach us to do more than stay glued to our technology. It could help us regulate our lives and what not differently even if we had to change as a whole for it. The money could cause economic troubles but I feel like if everyone was willing enough to come up with a solution and strengthen the economy that would not be as much of a problem but it all depends. Not everyone is willing and not everyone cares, but it is not impossible and it would really generally help having solar power even with its inefficiency.

Note: Solar power is inefficient because it cannot light up too much, but maybe we can innovate something? Obstacle have never stopped us before and we lived pretty well even without our Bookfaces and Smartefones.

>:3 Good bye! :3 <3

D: Don't wanna be this...(OmgitissotruethoughIamsosorryMrSun).

B) Same.

Appliances

Physics homework for 3/10/15:

Electric Appliances: Electricity is Love, Electricity is Life

Today we mainly took notes and we worked on solving various V=IR problems. :D

        

                  I will give the information involving voltage, current, etc. from my Lenovo laptop's battery, from my Apple iPod, and from my Kenmore heater. Since I do not have a phone to take photos with I cannot post any quality photos but I do have my crappy webcam so that will do. I am going to write the information and post the pictures as well.

Kenmore heater:

Input: 120 V = V and 800 W = P

Lenovo battery:

I believe this one converts energy from 100-240 V = V 1.5 A = I (input) to 20 V = V an 3.25 A = I (output)

Apple iPod:

Input: 5-30 V = V and 1 A = I

EXTRA: 

Lenovo laptop:
I cannot take a picture of this appliance because it is my laptop itself and my webcam is not that flexible, but the sticker underneath the laptop says that the input is 20 V = V and 3.25 A = I  just like the battery!

Pretty quick and easy homework :D~, good night vwv!!~



Oh boy x33...

Circuit Diagram

Physics homework for 3/4/15:

Symbolic Diagrams

            Today we focused generally on circuit diagrams and how they work and are drawn and what not :D. We also used a little free program to help us visualize these diagrams even more.

            Symbols are a great, simple, easy, and recognizable way to represent things. But why are some symbols used to represent certain things like say a line for a wire? Well, I shall attempt to explain why!

           So let's go through the basic symbols like the light bulb from the first picture. We use a little circle with loops in it connecting to parts of a wire probably because bulbs look quite like that with their spherical shape and with their little metallic pieces inside of the glass. And it is very easy to draw two loops, a circle, and lines and still make it look like a light bulb. Straight lines for wires makes sense as well because again, we can easily draw a few lines and still recognize them as wires. As for batteries (portrayed as one short line and one big line next to each other with a "plus" and "minus" sign; see picture 1 and 2) it is a little harder to decipher. It may be hard to tell what it is without physics knowledge even though almost everything else is easy to figure out even without physics, and I don't even know why batteries are represented like that but maybe because it is pretty simple and it looks like a real battery sort of? The "-" and "+" may give it away and it is probably used because batteries have those signs on them to indicated their charges. I guess the battery symbol is also made the way it is to differentiate from the capacitor symbol. Also the "ammeter" and "voltmeter" can't be drawn in detail but the circles with the "A" and "V" on them do give away that one probably deals with "amps" or "current" and that the other deals with "volts" or "voltage/energy" because in physics "a" and "v" represent those things. Plus, the circle makes it look like a connected item and not like a power source or something so we don't get confused. As for a resistor and a switch I am assuming the resistor is a squiggly line either because that is how the electrons move when they pass by the resistor, OR, because it looks like it's "messing something" up or ruining the flow so that might represent restriction. And it is not in a circle or anything to show it may be some sort of device, a resistor is a device but it is a little different from a battery and stuff. The switch is probably the way it is to help us remember open and closed circuits and maybe also because it looks like a light switch kind of? In general, these are easy to draw and physics probably uses a specific kind of symbol as say with a company it'd be easier and better to print up and make some fancy logo, but for physics we need an easy and universal way to represent schematics.

             Using symbols obviously makes it easier to represent without having to draw some elaborate sketch or without having to get lots of tools out, because if we have symbols that mean something and are as simple as lines and circles then we can draw them in a flash. But it also helps us visualize the actual circuit and understand how it works without the actual equipment. Why? Because it is a general drawing/schematic of the real thing that we could sketch out any time and personally take ourselves through. We could use it to imagine electrons and how they would flow and all that. Of course knowing the physics is important to really understand it, but sometimes without a visual people can't really understand it and things get too general. Like for me, I get energy, electrons, volts, etc. all mixed up sometimes but then I think of a circuit diagram and remember how it all works. It also makes it easier for people to share ideas about circuits and build them because they can sketch a quick plan and share it with anyone because they will recognize the symbols.

             Symbols can make it hard to use a circuit diagram and build as circuit as even though the diagrams help they are not 100% accurate in a way and when you try and build a real life circuit it can be tricky if you're only using a diagram. Plus, it makes it harder to change a circuit because you have to erase your sketch and redo things whereas it is quicker with real equipment like actual wires and stuff because you can unclip stuff and move it around. It does not make much harder for me, personally, it mainly seems to be a beneficial thing.

EXTRA CREDIT: Hmm, something new that would be nice if it had symbols for it... Maybe words that are important for everyone to know no matter what they speak and no matter what country they're in? Like the words on signs for example. I know the signs are supposed to be symbolic but sometimes that is not enough like with a speed limit or like with a closed off area. Maybe a speed dial or a "no" sign would work for those things, but especially in a diverse place like America it would be helpful to have these kinds of things. Not sure, I don't have many good ideas D:.

vwv Good night! <3

Pretzel Circuit

Physics homework for 3/2/15:

Pretzel Activity

          

       Today we did an activity called the "electron shuffle" and basically this activity involved a couple of things. Firstly, it involved a different representation of circuits and it also involved teaching us about circuits. Next, it involved everyone in the class being assigned a certain role; the majority of the class were electrons (and the students represented electrons in the circuit) and around four other students took on different roles. Two students represented light bulbs and these two students specifically held buckets unlike the "electrons" and unlike the other two students (most of us also held papers that stated our roles).  As for the other two students, one kept track of the number of students passing the light bulbs I believe by using a clicker, and the other represented the "battery" of the circuit. But there is a small catch; the "battery" handed out energy that was represented by pretzels. In fact, the pretzel bag was more of the "battery" and the pretzels were the "volts" or was the "energy" given to the electrons. There was also tape used to represent "wires" and the "electrons'" paths.

       With our roles and what not in mind, we started off traveling through a series first then a parallel. In the series, every "electron" lined up on one side of the room on the "wire" (tape). The "electrons" traveled to the "battery" (pretzel bag) first and each one was given two "volts" (pretzels) each time they passed by the "battery" empty handed. And only two "volts" were given during both the series and the parallel. Next, all of the students/"electrons" traveled in a nice straight line where there was no cutting and dropped off one "volt"/pretzel to each "light bulb"/student because the "volts" were to be distributed evenly. And once they were split and all, the electrons would go back to the "battery" for more, but they HAD to have no "energy" in their hands. This all stopped once the person using the clicker got 30 "Amps" (30 people passing the "battery"). After that we made a diagram and what not and it showed us our current plus our volts. 

      Then we finally repeated this process except this time we all traveled through a parallel circuit. So the only real differences were Miss Reid chose which paths the "electrons" had to take and the electrons dropped off two "volts" to whichever "light bulb" they passed because they would only pass one "bulb" no matter which path they took so there are no other "bulbs" that the "pretzels" need to be split amongst.

Pretty fun, right? :D

<3 xDDDD

Good night!! :333

No Wires World

Physics homework for 2/24/15:

New Light

        Today we learned about circuits and we did a little lab involving steel wool, a light bulb, and a generator.

         Imagine a world where no wires are needed to help electricity flow - for a logical reason or not - and where technology would still work without the wires letting the electricity flow. This world sounds like quite an efficient one as less material for wires is needed and as we could help generate electricity faster because we do not need to focus on the wire part of it all. I would name this world "Wireless Connection" (HAHAHAHA--*SHOT*). The reason why is because electricity can sort of "connect" and interact plus help technology function without any wires. 

        One cool thing you could do with electricity that can function without wires is you can possibly harness tons of energy on your own and discharge it into whatever you need to power up. And it would power up which sounds cool! It's like you'd have super powers~. Or maybe you wouldn't need to manually turn on things to make items work. You could also maybe float if you're oppositely charged to a certain part of the ground? Maybe you could also just light a light bulb up by simply moving around as the electrons from me and the surrounding area would just go to various items like the light bulb, making them work. 

        One bad thing that could occur is people could get lightning shot at them or explosions could occur and/or fires. The reason why is because the wind could blow ions into your hair or something, charging it and thus making it static, and too much build up could cause sparks or it could cause huge fires/explosions. Lightning also will strike you if your hair is positively charged as it will be attracted to your hair and as it will want to find something to discharge into (it may go to a metal, but not always). Plus, too much build up in general can cause overheating and then a fire and it'd be much easier for that to happen a lot. A crazy thing that could happen is various light shows and sparks since the electricity can easily hit more metal and can easily light a lot up more at a variety of times. All of those charges would flow to certain objects and create sparks because of the discharge/current or the objects would light up because they'd be receiving electricity that can convert into heat and light energy whilst also powering something up.

Good night! :DD