physics blog "steering wheels"

While I was in the car today, I noticed that steering wheels have progressively become smaller.  In older model cars, like cars from the 50’s, steering wheels used to be huge, but steering wheels today are much smaller.  I attributed the smallness of modern steering wheels to the fact that power steering was invented.  Older model cars didn’t have power steering, so they needed bigger steering wheels which caused a lot of torque, to be able to steer the car.  With a bigger the steering wheel and larger torque, the car would be easier to steer.  Because a small steering wheel has a small lever arm, the torque of that wheel is small.  If the car didn’t have power steering and on top of that a small steering wheel, the driver would have a hard time maneuvering the car, and might not want to drive at all.  If the modern car is out of power steering liquid, the car feels heavier and is harder to turn.  So thank goodness for power steering, because a big cargo truck would need a huge steering wheel. :D

Physics Blog 6 "The Fan & The Keys"

Today, I tried to throw the house keys over one of the blades of the ceiling fan.  As the keys came down, they managed to hit the fan blade (...the fan was off...). 


When I threw the keys up into the air, they had an acceleration of -9.8 m/s^2.  As the keys slowed down, and peaked, the keys still had an acceleration of -9.8 m/s^2, but the velocity at the peak was 0.  On they way down, they keys again had an acceleratin of -9/8 m/s^2 until the keys came into contact with the fan blade.  The keys had momentum, while the fan blade and 0 momentum.  Because the keys "bounced" off the fan blade, the type of collision would be.... (drum roll please)...bouncy. :D The impulse (change in momentum) seemed to be big from where I was standing because the keys only bounced a little off the fan and the velocity after the collision also seemed very small compared to before. 


On the bright side, I managed to catch the keys before they hit the floor...so it wasn't a total fail.  And...a physics blog came out of the situation. :P

Physics Blog 5 "Energy Backstage"

Saturday was the last day The Crucible was performed by IDP.  I was running around backstage trying to get the boys make-up done and trying to get myself ready before I had to be onstage.  Off stage right, there is a tall staircase leading up to the senior girls dressing rooms.  The first time i went up those stairs, I didn't realize the physics going on.  As i stood at the bottom of the staircase, I had zero potential energy with respect to the ground and zero kinetic energy because I wasn't moving.  Once I started my ascent up to the dressing room, i started to gain not only kinetic, but also potential energy.  After reaching the top, I noticed that I had a lot of potential energy because it was very high off the ground.  It's a good thing I'm not afraid of heights. 


On a side note, a lot of people kept falling down stairs.  Maybe subconciously they all wanted their PE to be zero, or maybe we were all just tired.  :D


For those of y'all who saw the show, I hope you enjoyed it. 

Physics Blog 4 "Smooth Sailing"

While returning from Kaneohe on a Sunday afternoon, I saw clear roads! OMG! Clear roads, no joke, but after all, it is Sunday.  During the week, the major highways are packed with people, and it got me thinking, what if there was no friction? If there was no kinetic friction, peoples cars wouldn’t slow down, there would be no stopping, and people would save money on gas.  But, we live in a world where friction is present.  When people are driving down the road along side you, and then suddenly start to fall behind, that is most like kinetic friction acting upon them.  They stopped pressing the accelerator and now no forward force is present.  I say most likely because they could possibly be braking, but for now we will assume they weren't.  When I was driving today, I also felt the force of kinetic friction acting upon the car.  I stopped pressing the accelerator, and the car didn’t seem to have that certain “umph” so it slowed to a stop.  As mentioned above, a person would save money on gas because they would only have to accelerate once to get the car moving and wouldn’t have to keep pressing the gas to keep from slowing down.  Maybe if kinetic friction was not present the roads would be smooth sailing.  

Physics Blog 3 "Penguin Slide"

Today I was walking on the third floor of Weinberg, only wearing socks causing my friction to be lowered.  While sliding across the floor, a very random thought occurred to me.  What if a person was to penguin slide across the floor?  If someone started running and then penguin slid across the hallway, four forces would be acting on the person sliding.  In the forward direction, would be the force the person started with, and in the opposing direction would be the force of friction.  The force bearing down on the person would be the weight of the person, and the force that kept the person from falling through the floor was the normal force.  Towards the end of the hallway, the person would slow down because the force of friction was greater than the forward force.  Then later, while on the way home, I thought about the same situation, except the person was trying to penguin slide on concrete.  The same forces would be acting on the object, but the force of friction would be greater because the concrete is not smooth.  

Physics Blog 2 "No Break From School"

When I start talking outside of class about a topic that was discussed in class, it has officially become ingrained in my mind. Last Thursday, my friend and I were walking back to school after going to pick up lunch. Amazingly we started talking about physics and how we had to write blogs for class. :D While we continued to talk, I was watching the cars on the road speeding by. As the cars sped by, I could hear their engines, which interestingly reminded me about acceleration. The cars passing us by all had different accelerations. I noticed that some cars moved forward faster than others and the gap between the slow cars and the fast cars became bigger and bigger. The cars that created the big gaps between themselves and the slower cars had larger accelerations, while the cars that were left behind had smaller accelerations. If the acceleration of the faster cars were represented by a graph, it would look like a constant positive horizontal line. Although it would be hard for a driver to accelerate at a constant rate, the cars that passed us on the road seemed to have a constant acceleration.

Physics Blog 1 "My Intriguing Morning"

One morning, I arrived at school and sat down at senior benches. I did some homework and then when the bell rang, I got up and went to homeroom. As I walked to homeroom, my velocity for the most part was constant, but then I arrived in homeroom. My velocity for the entire 5 minutes of homeroom was zero. Then when homeroom finished, I walked to class but this time, my velocity was slower because I did not have to walk very far for my next class. After finishing class, I walked back to senior benches and sat down. This is when I realized that even though I took different paths from and to senior benches my displacement was zero. I ended up in the same exact place I sat down in earlier that morning. If displacement instead of distance were used to describe how far I traveled in a day, it would seem as if I did not go to school and instead slept in. :D