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!