Blog 4

So, today I went to the Doris Duke Theatre to listen to the famous professional pianist, Anton Kuerti.  For his performance, Mr. Kuerti played on a Steinway Model D Grand Piano, borrowed from Edward Eu.  Now, you’re probably wondering how in the world does this relate to physics!?!?!

In physics we’re learning about friction and Newton’s Laws.  In order to get the piano to the Doris Duke Theatre, it had to be moved and pushed and pulled multiple times.  For instance, in order to move the piano to the center of the stage, the force exerted by the person pushing it must be greater than the force of friction opposing it.  Considering that grand piano’s have a HUGE mass, the normal force of the piano would also be great.  From physics, we know that friction=(miu)(normal force).  Therefore, we know that there is a lot of friction to keep the piano from moving.

Physics really is EVERYWHERE!

Blog 3

In physics we are learning about Newton's laws.  Newton's second law states that, net force=mass * acceleration.  When an object is at equlibrium, there is no acceleration, and the net force is zero.  This is the chandelier that hangs above my dinner table.  The chandelier is at equilibrium because it is at a state of no change.  Also, it is not accelerating in either direction.  The reason the chandelier is not moving is because there is a chain holding it to the ceiling.  The pulling force of the chain is known as tension.  In order for the chandelier to be at rest, the y component of the tension (of the chain) must be equal to the weight of the chandelier, so that the y components will cancel out to zero.  I'm very glad that the chain has enough tension (net force) to hold up the chandelier!  If it didn't, we wouldn't have a dinner table, or light to see!

Blog 2

In physics we're starting to learn about projectile motion.  Projectile motion is parabolic due to the force of gravity.  At first, I had the hardest time thinking of where to find an example of a parabola, when in reality, parabolas are everywhere!  I found the perfect example of a parabola at my own house.  This is a picture of the water fountain in front of my house, which forms a parabola when you turn it on.  If there wasn't such thing as gravity, the water  would've continued to rise higher and higher and never come back down.  Luckily, it did, and I got to drink some water.   If I were to place a hose at the exact same height as the water fountain, facing downward, both the fountain and the hose water would reach the ground at the same time.  This is because gravity only affects vertical velocity, not horizontal, so the water is accelerating towards the ground at the same rate.

Today I drove from home to church and back home.  From the moment I backed out of my garage, I was accelerating.  I had a low velocity because I didn't want to hit anything around me as I was in reverse.  When I drove in the residential areas I remained at a velocity of +25 mph, but when I reached Kamehameha Highway, I accelerated to reach 35 mph.  Of course, since I'm just beginning to drive, I did not accelerate at a constant rate because I kept jerking.  Each time I came to a stop sign or stop light, I gradually accelerated negatively until I came to a complete stop at the stop line.  Also, whenever I reached a turn I had to step on the brake and lower my velocity so I could remain in control of the car and turn safely.  After church was over, I drove back home and pulled into my garage.  At that point, my displacement was zero.