Blog 7: Centripetal Force

I remember playing a racing game in Jungle Fun at Ala Moana and after the most recent chapter, I realized that it had to do with physics! In the game, you would be driving a Ferrari, trying to go as fast as possible and to beat whoever you are racing, in my case it was Troy. Of course I destroyed Troy in the game because I'm super fast, but only now I realized that the game had some principles of physics in it. In the game, there were many sharp, round turns. These turns were sharp because the radius of the circular motion was relatively small. When making the turn, I would have to slow down or else I would go off the road and flip over. This is where I realized that there is physics. We have to slow down in order to reduce the velocity of our Ferrari because the radius of the circular motion was so small. Because the radius was so small, the centripetal force that was required to keep the Ferrari moving in the tight circular motion was very high. In order to keep the centripetal force requirement low enough for the centripetal force, friction, to keep the Ferrari moving in the circular motion. When the velocity was too high, the centripetal force of friction was not enough to keep the Ferrari moving in a circular motion because a higher velocity increases the requirment of the centripetal force. Because the velocity was too high, the car would either go off the road and crash into the wall, or flip over entirely.http://img.slidetoplay.com/screenshots/Ferrari_GT_007.PNG

Blog #6

I was watching the San Diego Chargers and Indianapolis Colts football game on TV this past Sunday, and I saw how our recent topic of momentum related to the game. The Colts were getting destroyed by the Chargers on both sides of the ball, but the performance of Chargers running-back, Mike Tolbert, reminded me of the topic of momentum. Tolbert is a hefty man at 5' 9", 243 pounds; therefore his mass is great. Although Tolbert cannot reach a great velocity, he still reaches a velocity that, when combined with his mass, gives him a very high momentum in comparison to the Colts defensive players. Because Tolbert's momentum was much greater than that of the Colts' defensive players' momentum, Tolbert was able to run into the tacklers, have them grab onto him, and still be able to continue forward, therefore gaining more yardage. Tolbert sometimes ran through tacklers, bouncing them off of him and knocking them to the ground while keeping a forward momentum. These two examples are examples of sticky and bouncy collisions, but Tolbert's momentum was always greater that that of the Colts' defensive players an he was able to continue moving even after colliding with the defense in one of these ways, dominating the Colts' terrible defense.

Blog 5

Again, I recently realized that football implements another aspect of physics.  When I was on the kickoff team I would run down the field, once the ball was kicked, as fast as I could trying to tackle the ball carrier.  While I was accelerating, my kinetic energy increased until I reached my maximum velocity.  Then, running full speed, I would hit the ball carrier, who also had his own kinetic energy in the opposite direction as my own.  Of course, because of my muscular body, I had a greater mass than the ball carrier and I also had a higher velocity because I had more time to accelerate.  Therefore, my kinectic energy was greater than the ball carrier's kinetic energy.  Because my kinetic energy was greater than the ball carrier' when I tackled him, I stopped him and pounded him to the ground because his kinetic energy could not completely resist my own.

Blog 4. Newton's Law and Friction

Last summer I tried something new when I went to the beach, skimboarding.  I didn't think about it back then, but now I realize that skimboarding implements physics as well.  One way to skimboard is to leave the board on the sand, near where the water would come up to.  When a wave washes up to where the board is, leaving the beach with a thin layer of water on it, you would run and jump onto the board and the board would slide over the water.  I realized that this part implements physics.  The board begins at rest when we lay it upon the sand.  But when the water comes and we run onto it, we apply a force to it, causing it to slide over the water.  In addition, because there is a thin layer of water, the friction between the board and the ground is less, allowing the board to slide over the ground.

Blog 3

I was recently watching a Major League Baseball game, and I realized that physics is involved in the game in more than just throwing.  As a baseball player, I was able to recognize that when a player is hitting, they are using physics again.  Newton's 3rd law states that "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction."  While I was watching a Phillies game, Ryan Howard was up to bat.  He ended up hitting a home run during that bat, but what I was most interested in was the slow motion replay.  Through that replay, I realized how Newton's 3rd law works while batting.  When Howard was swinging the bat at the ball, he gave his bat a force going forward.  The pitcher threw the ball, giving the ball a force going towards the bat.  When the bat hit the ball, the ball responded to the force of the bat by pushing the bat back as the bat pushed the ball forward.  The "action" was Howard's bat hitting the ball, and the "reaction" was the ball pushing the bat back.  The bat, however, has a larger mass, so it didn't move too much.  On the other hand, the ball's mass was relatively small so it was shot 400 feet away into the stands.

Blog 2

I was watching a NFL football game the other day, the Philadelphia Eagles were playing the Detroit Lions.  Michael Vick is the quarterback, and as I watched him play, I realized how much physics is involved in the game of football.  Whenever Vick dropped back to pass, he would stand in the pocket with the ball in his hands, with a velocity of zero.  But when Vick sees an open DeSean Jackson 40 yards down the field, Vick quickly throws the ball, giving it a high velocity in order to reach DeSean Jackson.  As Vick releases the ball, the football becomes a projectile, with gravity being the only force acting upon it.  He threw the ball at about a 42 degree angle to the horizantal ground in order to make a good pass to DeSean to score a touchdown.  I figured that Vick must be a genius when it comes to physics because he went on to throw 3 more touchdowns in that game, destroying the weak Lions.  Hopefully Vick will be able to keep using his knowledge of Physics throughout the entire season!

Physics of Baseball Fielding

I was watching a baseball game soon after receiving this assignment, and I realized, being a baseball player myself, that there was a lot of physics involved in the play of the sport.  I play in the outfield, which means a lot of running around, and I realized that the way I play in that position relates to our recent topics of displacement, velocity, and acceleration.  While waiting for the pitch to be thrown and the ball to be hit, I stand still waiting, my velocity at 0 m/s.  When I see that the ball is a line drive hit in front of me, I run in, accelerating as fast as I can toward the ball, until I reach my peak velocity. I catch the ball while I am running in, maintaining a constant velocity, then take a small hop to slow my velocity a little before I throw: some negative acceleration.  After I gun the ball in to the catcher and get the runner tagged out, I stutter my feet so I have even more negative acceleration until my velocity is zero.  When the play is finished, I run back, with a negative velocity, until I am at my original position.  At this point, my displacement has become zero.  Even in a play as common as the one I just described, physics is a major factor that contributes to the overall action.