November 22, 2008

Football!


This weekend, as part of FCA I went to the UH vs. Idaho football game. It was surprisingly really interesting and fun! Since my family doesn't have a TV, I don't really ever watch football and so I didn't know what to expect; but with Coach Dom's help I understood more than I usually do. Anyway, as I was watching, I was reminded of the homework problem we did about the football players who got tackled. However, instead of just reading about it, I got to watch and see it in real life! A physics problem come to life! I was able to see an actual sticky collision and envision that the two football player's momentums were conserved throughout the tackle. As one football player ran into a second football player, the (initial velocity of the first football)(first football player's mass) + (the initial velocity of the second football player)(second football player's mass) = (first football player's mass + second football player's mass)(final velocity). This law could also be applied to when a football player caught a ball. If the football player is standing still, when he catches the ball, the final velocity of the ball + football player is from the initial velocity of the ball. In all, I thought it was really cool to be able to watch physics come to life and try to figure out all the different ways physics could be applied throughout the game.

November 1, 2008

Physics in Toys


This afternoon, I was at my friend's house because we were supposed to be working on a Psychology project. While there, I saw this toy in her room and it reminded me about what we are learning in Physics. This toy follows the law of conservation of energy because the first ball bearing starts off with all the energy of the system while all the other ball bearings are at rest. However, as the ball comes into contact with the ball next to it, it transfers some of its energy to the second ball. This pattern continues as the second ball comes into contact with the third ball, once again transfering some of its energy. As a result, when the last ball is hit, there is still the same amount of energy in the system from the beginning. Even though the first ball no longer holds the same amount of energy as it did in the beginning, the total amount of energy within the system of all five balls, is the same. No energy is lost, and no energy is gained. This picture that I took of the action shows this law taking place!