Buried

A few weekends ago, I went to the beach at night with my friends.  We were playing around and they decided that they wanted to bury me in the sand.  They had to pack the sand down on my body, so that I would not be able to get up.  As I was under the sand, it felt heavier and heavier each time they packed it down.  This was because of the forces acting upon my body.  First there was the force of gravity, setting me in the ground.  Second, was the weight of the sand on my body. Third, the weight of my friend pushing down to pack the sand in. Fourth was the sand underneath me, pushing up on my body.  I never thought about it before, but fun things like being buried at the beach can be related to physics! 

Reflections on Physics

This is a picture of me at China Walls. If you can't tell by my face, I'm not very happy. I was trying to climb back up, but the sets were coming in fast, and the rocks were very slippery. After a while, I became very frustrated and waited to climb up the other rocks.  This is kind of like how I feel about Physics. It's a bit frustrating for me, as I find the tests really difficult.  There are a lot of concepts and equations, and I usually panic during the tests, resulting in not-so-good grades. Also, the homework is sometimes difficult as there are many steps to all the problems. I would like it more if we went over all the problems in depth in class, but I know that time doesn't always allow that. I like the labs a lot, and I have an easier time understanding the concepts, I'm not sure why. I think to improve in the subsequent quarters, I should do more practice problems and come in for help right when I start to get confused. This can prevent my frustration on my tests and quizzes, and ultimately would help me get a better grade.  Thankfully, physics is very interesting, and I at least am able to stay awake in class, and when I'm doing my assignments :) Hopefully, by making these adjustments, I will be able to raise my physics grade, and won't be as frustrated as I was that day at China's.

Friction and Force

This weekend, my family went to dinner at a Japanese Restaurant.  After everyone ate the food, my brother and cousins were sliding the shoyu container across the table to each other while we waited for the adults to finish talking. I then realized that this could be applied to what we we're learning in physics! The shoyu container had forces working on it while in motion. The gravitational force of its weight and the normal force pushing upward worked while the force of the hand pushing the container caused it to move.  Also, the friction from the table kept the shoyu container in equilibrium. I took this video of my brother sliding the container toward the camera, demonstrating Newton's First and Second Laws.

Basketball and Physics

Today, as I was helping my boyfriend clean out his garage, he found a basketball lying around and began tossing it up in the air and dribbling it.  Then I remembered that this could be applied to what we were learning right now in physics. He threw the ball up at a certain velocity, and then when it stopped and started heading toward the ground, the velocity changed.  At the point where the ball stopped and turned to head toward the ground, the velocity was zero.  Also, the ball was accelerating at a rate of -9.8 meters per second squared, due to gravity. When the ball made contact with his hand again, the velocity was once again zero, and the direction changed. 

Cooking with Convection

This weekend I helped barbecue for a family get together. As the vegetables were cooking on the hibachi grill, my friend pointed out to me that the process in which they were cooking was physics! He explained to me that they were cooking by convection. Convection is heat transfer, by mass motion of air or water. When the air is heated, it becomes less dense. This causes the hot air to rise, and push the colder air down. Later, as the colder air is heated by the fire, it becomes less dense, and rises. This causes the convection cycle, and eventually the food is cooked. The foil made it possible for the convection cycle to occur, as it was directly exposed to the fire, and it trapped the hot air inside.