Floating!

This weekend me and my friends decided to go to the beach.  We went to Kahala beach and to our surprise there was a floating island in the water!  We decided to go onto it.  We wondered if it would sink if too many of us were on it, but i thought otherwise because of what i learned in Physics class this week.  i learned that the only way something will sink in the water is if its density is greater than 1000 kg/m cubed.  I figured that there was no way this was possible because the island was filled with air in the middle and air does not have a greater density than water.  My friend who is only in chemistry said otherwise and he wanted to bet me that i was wrong.  i took that bet with confidence because i knew that Mr. Heyler would never lie to me.  when all of us sat on the island it didnt sink so now i am ten dollars richer, all thanks to physics.

changing a tire

this past week when i was driving home from school i experienced a very unpleasant circumstance.  When i was only about five minutes from my home i stumbled upon a very sharp nail which punctured a hole in my front right tire.  i thought to myself, "i dont know how to change a tire...what am i going to do?"  That is when i called my dad.  He was there in no time and he showed me how to change the tire.  he explained first where to retrieve the car jack from and then he went on to explain how to use this strange contraption.  the jack consisted of a lever and the part that lifts up the car.  he went on to lift the jack but the car was very heavy and he was having some difficulty.  This is when i became the teacher, i used the knowledge i had gained during the day of school in physics class to help him.  we had learned that the perpendicular force*radius is equal to the torque so i told him that if he pushed further from the turning point then it would apply more torque and it worked.  i also told him that the same idea applied to the wrench that you use to remove the bolts holding the tire on.  We finished changing the tire in no time and by the end of it me and my dad had both learned something new that day.

tetherball

i remember back in the day when i attended Kahala Elementary school, we used to play tetherball everyday at recess.  i never really understood the whole physics behind tetherball until we learned it this past week in physics class.  all i remember was hitting the ball around the pole really hard.  this past week i learned that the ball swings in a conical pendulum the same way the airplane flew around on the string and how the pig was supposed to fly.  when the object flies in this way it is called a horizontal circle, although the circle is never completely horizontal.  i learned also that there is two types of velocity, linear and angular, both are completely separate and cannot be mistaken for the other.  

Football "punch"

This week in football and in physics i learned how to be a better football player.  Coach Cropsey always tells us to punch our opponents hard so that they will fall down.  All season I've been trying to make my punches harder and this past week i have learned how to in physics.  i took this knowledge with me to the football field at practice and it worked.  At practice my coach was asking me if i have been lifting more, but i just told him that i understand how to punch because of physics.  He asked me what i was talking about so i explained what we learned about impulse and momentum.  I told him that there was no way i could apply more force unless i magically got stronger overnight.  So the way i accomplished this almost impossible feat was by using physics.  we learned that J=Ft=delta p=mvf-mvi.  the part that i used in football was the J=Ft.  By applying the same force over more time i could increase my momentum and also my impulse on the opponent.  This will cause them to experience a greater force and will give me a better chances of winning the "battle" on the field.  My coach was so amazed at this that he applauded me and said "keep up the good work." i was very proud and i look forward to using this new technique out on the field during our upcoming homecoming game.

pushing defensive linemen

This past weekend our football team played the St. Louis Crusaders.  We ended up losing the game.  But in losing i learned a lot, not only about football, but also about physics.  What i learned about football was that sometimes even when you play your hardest you can still lose.  What i learned about physics was that f=ma.  I discovered this while i was blocking a big defesive lineman from St. Louis. My coach told me that i was moving my guy too slowly so i realized that if i want to move him faster then i will need to accelerate him more.  and since he is the same mass as before i will need to push him with more force.  this thinking can be represented by this equation F=mA, where the upper case bolded letters represent the values that must increase for me to move the lineman faster. 

Blocking

This week we played Punahou in a football game.  We ended up losing the game, but I learned a lot from the game.  I play offensive line on our team.  These are the guys who block the defenders from getting to the quarterback.  While I was blocking #90 from the other team i realized that he was bigger than i was.  This meant that when he hit me he would move less from the impact because his mass was greater than mine.  It is just the same concept in the fly and the car problem.  Both the car and the fly experience the same impact because of Newton's third law of motion: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.  The reason the car keeps moving forward and the fly is smashed is because the car has a greater mass.  When i realized this was the case when i was blocking i knew that in order to move the defender i would have to apply more force in the form of punches with my hands.  This is when i began to punch his harder and i was able to block him easier.