Semester 1

I have learned a lot about chemistry this summer. If I had to choose one activity that was my favorite I would have to pick the Air Rocket Lab. It was amazing that the rockets could go so high just using air pressure. I also like how Mr. Blake gives us time to ask questions if we do not understand something. Units 1-4 were really straight forward and I found them to be really easy. Units 5 and 6 are hard for me because sometimes I have trouble making the diagrams and I also feel that Unit 6 was kind of rushed. Overall this semester has been great and I am looking forward to another solid one.

Unit 1 -  Introduction to Physics
Pendulum Lab
Graphing relationships and functions, no relationship y=b, liner/direct y=x, inverse y=1/x, squared y= x^2, square root y=√x
Independent and Dependent variables, x = independent,  y = dependent (in most cases)
Scientific Notation, 525,000 = 5.25 x 10^5
Accuracy vs. Precision, accuracy = closeness, precision = consistency
Units of Measurements,
Dimensional Analysis (converting) 6.4 hrs = 23,040 secs

Unit 2 - Kinematics: The Study of Motion
Describing graphs, Motion maps,
Velocity, V(m/s) = D/T
Displacement, distance
Instantaneous speed,
Physics Olympics,
Kinematics,
Position vs. Time, slope = velocity (graphing rule #1)
Velocity vs. Time, slope = acceleration (graphing rule #2)
The area under the curve of a VT graph is displacement (graphing rule #3)

Unit 3 - Uniform Acceleration
Instantaneous velocity,
Average Velocity,
Constant acceleration,
Gravity = 9.8 m/s^2 ≈ 10 m/s^2
DAT, d = 1/2 at^2 + vot
VAT, v = vo + at
VAD, v^2 = vo^2 + 2 ad

Unit 4 - Projectiles
Axes are independent
Vegas rule- what happens on the x-axis stays to the x-axis and
what happens on the y-axis stays on the y-axis
T charts and put Unit 3 equations to use

Unit 5 - Forces in Equilibrium
SOH CAH TOA
Trig- Sin, cos, tan
Frictional Force (Ff)
Force = Push or pul
Force Diagrams, Normal force
Newton's Laws

Unit 6 - Forces in Motion
Fnet = mg (mass x gravity)
Friction = coefficient of friction (weird M) x Normal Force

Unit 6

Today in class we started to learn about Unit 6 - Forces that accelerate. Newton's second law is really important in this Unit because it is the Law of acceleration. The Law of Acceleration states that the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force of an object an the acceleration of an object is inversely proportional to the object's mass. If the object is lighter it accelerates faster. If the heavier it accelerates slower. Today we also learned more about force diagrams. One example Mr. Blake told us about was an elevator. For this problem we had to draw a diagram and use equations. Another thing I learned today is that we are and have been ignoring friction because it makes physics really complicated.

This is a picture of one of the problems we did in class today.

Unit 5.

In class today we learned about the rest of Newton's Laws. We learned about the Law of Acceleration and the Action Reaction Law. Law of Acceleration - The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force of an object while the acceleration of an object is inversely proportional to the object's mass. Action Reaction Law - For every force there is an equal and opposite force. Equal in magnitude but opposite in direction. Today in class we also furthered our learning about friction by doing an activity with air pucks. When the puck ignored the friction of the ground it could go on forever until it was disturbed by an outside unbalanced force.

This is a picture of the notes I took for Newton's Laws

Unit 5

Today in class we learned more about trig and how we can use it to find the values when we have a triangle. We also learned new techniques to go from two vectors to one vector and to go from one vector to two vectors. We also started to learn about Newton's law of motion. Objects in motion (at rest) tend to stay in motion (at rest) unless acted upon by a unbalanced force. We also did a lab where we put a pen on a paper and tried to race with the papers to other side of the table without the pen falling. We also put a pen on a paper and tried to pull the paper from under the pen without the pen falling.  

Unit 4 Projectile Motion

On friday we furthered our learning about projectiles. We did a rocket launch lab using four different caps to make the rockets go different heights. There was low, medium, high, and super. We did three trials for each cap and then we averaged all the times. Then Mr. Blake gave us an angle and we needed to use to trig to figure out what numbers to use to plug into the formulas. We used the data from the super cap because it was the most consistent. After plugging in numbers we found and estimated distance of about 61 meters. In actuality our rocket only shot around 48 meters. I think our rocket wasn't launched as far as it could of because of the wind and also our rocket was slightly broken. I found this lab to be one of the most fun things we have done so far this summer in physics.

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Unit 4

Today in class we learned about projectiles. We did a lab that involved launching a ball and figuring out its velocity based on what we knew which was how far the ball was shot, the height it was shot from and the initial/original velocity. We used the information and plugged it into the formulas that we learned in the previous unit (DAT, VAT, VAD). We also learned a new rule that tells us that the axes are independent. This rule is also called the vegas rule because what happens on the x axis stays on the x axis, and what happens on the y axis stays on the y axis. We also went to the pool today and we took videos of people jumping in the pool and we uploaded the videos to logger pro and made a graph for the video and the movement of the different jumps into the pool.

Here is a picture of one of my classmates doing a backflip into the pool. The blue dots are his hip positions throughout the jump.

Quarter 1 Review

During the first quarter we learned a ton of physics. We learned about moving objects and how to determine how fast they are going. Here is a summary of what we have learned so far throughout the first three units.

Unit 1 -  Introduction to Physics
Pendulum Lab
Graphing relationships and functions, no relationship y=b, liner/direct y=x, inverse y=1/x, squared y= x^2, square root y=√x
Independent and Dependent variables, x = independent,  y = dependent (in most cases)
Scientific Notation, 525,000 = 5.25 x 10^5
Accuracy vs. Precision, accuracy = closeness, precision = consistency
Units of Measurements,
Dimensional Analysis (converting) 6.4 hrs = 23,040 secs

Unit 2 - Kinematics: The Study of Motion
Describing graphs, Motion maps,
Velocity, V(m/s) = D/T
Displacement, distance
Instantaneous speed,
Physics Olympics,
Kinematics,
Position vs. Time, slope = velocity (graphing rule #1)
Velocity vs. Time, slope = acceleration (graphing rule #2)
The area under the curve of a VT graph is displacement (graphing rule #3)

Unit 3 - Uniform Acceleration
Instantaneous velocity,
Average Velocity,
Constant acceleration,
Gravity = 9.8 m/s^2 ≈ 10 m/s^2
DAT, d = 1/2 at^2 + vot
VAT, v = vo + at
VAD, v^2 = vo^2 + 2 ad

Unit 3.

This is a picture of the two balls we used to test out whether or not the size of the ball affects which ball will hit the ground first if we drop both balls from the same height. We all predicted which ball we think would be faster or if we thought that both balls would have the same speed. After a couple of trials we figured out that even though one of the balls was bigger they still had the same speed. Today we also learned that the gravity of the earth is about 9.8 m/s^2 or 10 m/s^2 downward and this is the reason why the two balls had the same speed while dropping to the ground.

Unit 3

In Unit 3 we are learning about acceleration. We did a lab today to further our learning about acceleration. We used this long board as shown above and a danger board for the lab and we timed how long it takes from each 5m increments. We tested each board two times and got the average time from each distance and graphed it on the Distance Vs. Time graph. The data for the skateboard has a steeper slope than the data for the danger board. This means that the velocity of the skateboard is higher. The graph showed a curved line for both data sets. When there is a curved line on a Distance vs. Time graph it represent acceleration of the object.

Unit 2 Kinematics

My picture represent what we are learning in Unit 2 about converting Position vs. Time graphs into Velocity vs. Time graphs. At first when we learned this doing the activity with the sensor it is was pretty confusing. I started to understand more when Mr. Blake explained it more and when I worked on this worksheet and the packet. I learned that for the Velocity vs. Time graph the starting position does not matter and has nothing to do with the graph. Only the velocity and time matter. The slope for a Velocity vs. Time graph is acceleration and it shows how fast you or the object is going at certain times. I found the Velocity vs. Time graph to be kind of weird because of the vertical lines on the graph that connect the velocities and different times.

Unit 2

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This is a photo of our Physics Olympics when Candace and I did the bunny hop event. From doing this activity we learned about velocity and instantaneous speed. We learned that velocity is the average speed that has direction and to find velocity by using the formula Velocity = Distance Traveled (m) / How long it takes to happen (secs), also velocity is the slope of a Position vs. Time graph. We learned that Instantaneous speed is the speed you are going at any given time. An example of instantaneous speed is when a police officer uses his radar gun to clock what speed you are going. From the Physics Olympics I learned that velocity is the average speed and instantaneous speed can be higher or lower than the velocity.

Unit 1

This is a drawing of a grandfather clock. This represents Unit 1 because we are learning about pendulums and grandfather clocks have a pendulum in them. Most grandfather clocks are the same size because the length of the pendulum needs to be a certain length in order for it to be accurate. The weight can change and it will still be accurate as we learned in the pendulum lab because the mass does not affect the time of the period. Also it does not matter at what angle the pendulum swings because  that too does not affect the time of the period as we tested in the lab. This is why we see many grandfather clocks are the same size but there are the occasional small or large clocks with a proportional pendulum.

#1 Introduction

My name is Justin Smith, I live in Mililani, I'm sixteen years old and I'm going to be a junior. I have been going to Punahou since kindergarten. I enjoy playing all sports but my main sport is currently lacrosse and I also enjoy going to the beach. My progress in science thus far has been Biology and Chemistry. Next year I will be taking Algebra 2/Trigonometry and I have already taken Algebra 1 and Geometry. In the course I hope to learn what physics is and how it relates to everyday life and I also hope to have a lot of fun.

Heres a picture of me cruising at my friend Cade's house after school writing in my physics blog.