My Weekend Encounter With PHYSICS

On Friday, Student Government hosted our second annual glow dance, CDGLOW 2.0. When setting up the dance, we had to go to the DOME to get our  gallon buckets of glow paint. These buckets are very heavy. We decided to put them on a rolling cart to make the journey to the gym faster. There was one point when we had to push the cart stacked with paint up an incline. In order to accelerate the cart, we needed to apply a force on it, to get it to move up the ramp. The minimum force we needed to apply to get the cart up the ramp had to counter the component of the weight of the car and paint acting along the ramp along with the force of friction.

After the dance was over, we only had a few gallons of paint left over, so the cart was much lighter and easier to push. When we went down the incline, we did not need to apply as great of a force as we did earlier in the night. Physics is everywhere, even at high school homecoming dances.

Physics Concepts Demonstrated in Real Life

This weekend, I observed many different accounts of physics at work!

At the football game vs. Ironwood Ridge I observed the concepts of position,velocity, and acceleration.

At one point the ball started on the 30 yd. The quarterback handed off the ball to a running back who then scored a touchdown. This represents initial and final position. The player started on the 30 yd. line and ended past the 0 yd line. A great example of acceleration during the game was when one of our defensive players ran to catch a nighthawk player before he crossed the end zone for a touchdown. Everyone in the stands thought that Ironwood was for sure going to score a touchdown when one of their players made a break. But our player had a faster acceleration, or change in velocity. Our player started on the line with a velocity of zero, then when Ironwood made the break he accelerated from this initial position and caught the player right in time around the 4 yd line. The ironwood player had a negative acceleration. After the ball was passed to him he speed up hoping to catch a break and run the field, but as time went on he became tired and his velocity slowed down; which ultimately helped our player catch him. Velocity was also demonstrated during one of the punts during the game. When the ball left the punter's foot, it was moving with a given velocity depending upon the force at which he kicked the ball at. If I had recorded how far the ball traveled and how long it was in the air for we could preform calculations on initial and final velocity and acceleration. The football game was a great example of physics concepts at work.

PHYSICS 101

What is Physics?

Physics is the study of objects and their interactions. Physics demonstrates the concepts that make up our world- and what kinds of forces are acting upon the matter in our world. Physics defines our world, and is studied in order to understand how the universe behaves. From the diagram below it is clear to see that physics affects almost every aspect of our lives. Dealing with matter, energy, electricity, magnetism, properties, and so much more! 

How is Physics different from other sciences?
Physics is the study of matter and its motion through space and time, along with related concepts such as energy and force.
Biology is the study of life and living organisms. This includes structures, functions, growth, and evolution.
Chemistry is the study of composition, structure, properties, and changer of matter.
Astronomy is the study of celestial objects and the phenomena that originates outside of earth's atmosphere.
Biochemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. 

Where does Physics apply in my life?
Physics is everywhere in our lives. From walking to driving to riding a bicycle the concepts of physics apply. In addition, while playing sports the laws of motion are applicable. For example, when I play basketball the concepts of velocity, acceleration, friction ,gravity, momentum, and many more come into play.Walking up the stairs to Physics class demonstrates the concepts of force and gravity. Why is is so much harder to walk up the staircase than down? Even driving through the round-about, every day, on the way to school demonstrates the concept of centripetal force. Physics is EVERYWHERE.