I can see the light

This past weekend was Presidents Day weekend and i went to a beachouse so i didnt do any homework. I came up with this idea for my blog because i turn on and off lights everyday and i understand now that it is physics. Lightbulbs are made out of glass on the outside and on the inside are wires and metal that are attached to the bottom and side of the bulb base. These two wires at the bottom and side carry a flow of electrons from a power source like a battery. In the middle of the bulb is a filament made out of tungsten which is coiled super tight and then coiled against for a long and small space for the electrons to go. While the electrons flow across the filament they bump into each other and create heat which is so intense that it burns a bright light. This is the light that we see when we turn on lights and also why lightbulbs are very hot to the touch after they have been on for a while. The majority of the heat stays inside the bulb because glass is very resistant to heat so it holds it within. I never knew that so much stuff in life could be related to physics.

In class on Friday we learned about voltage and a little about electrical sockets and how they carry voltage. Voltage is a ratio of potential energy to charge measured in volts. Potential energy is measured in joules and charge in coulombs. Although different objects may have relatively similar voltage, the way people feel the shock is dependent on how many coulombs of electrons are carrying the charge of the voltage. An example of this could be a Van de Graaff and power lines. We learned that power lines have a voltage of around 500,000 volts and a Van de Graaff has a voltage of around 400,000 volts. The feeling that we feel from the two are completely different because of the number of coulombs carrying the energy. In a Van de Graaff there are about a millionth of a coulomb while power lines have an infinite amount of coulombs. So in the Van de Graaff you only feel around half a joule of energy while you feel a whole lot more from power lines. The same goes for electric sockets in comparison to the Van de Graaff where there are not as many coulombs carrying the joules so you dont feel a killer shock.

Static Electricity

I know that this is a lame picture but it was the only thing physics related on my computer. This is a picture of carpet. As we learned in class static electricity can be generated from shuffling our feet across it with socks on. When we shuffle our feet we are charging by friction. In charging by friction, when two materials rub against each other one of the materials will want electrons more than the other. In the case of our feet and the carpet, the carpet wants electrons more than our feet and so we become positively charged. After we are charged and we touch something like a doorknob or someone else sometimes we get shocked. This is due to a want for our bodies to become neutral again so some electrons from the doorknob or person flows to us resulting in a shock and affter we get shocked we become neutral again.

Torque

Last week Friday in class we learned about torque. Torque is a measure of angular acceleration and the change in angular velocity. Using the formula T=rf someone could find the torque that a center object has when it is rotated. In this equation t is the torque, r is the distance from axis to force and f is the force exerted. Torque can be found everywhere in life including in this picture of an engine. This engine is part of my dads "project" to build a quarter mile race car and it depends largely on torque in order to go fast. The unit for torque is Newton-meters but pound-feet in America. In the torque of a car, the engine is the source of the force exerted and the axis of rotation is the turning crankshaft which cannot be seen in the photo because it is underneath the engine. Torque in cars is slightly different from regular torque in everyday life because the location of the force and axis of rotation are in different locations. But the concept is still the same in that there is some force exerted which causes an object to rotate therefore creating torque.

Potential Energy

Today as i was walking into the a room i knocked a book off the ledge onto the landing. As i watched this i realized that i was watching physics in action. Before i hit the book it had three types of potential energy. It had a zero potential energy with the ledge, a potential energy with the second floor and a potential energy with the landing. When i hit the book i transferred some kinetic energy of mine into kinetic energy for the book. As the book fell it transferred its potential energy into kinetic energy and the moment right before it hit the landing it transferred completely all of its potential energy into kinetic energy. When it hit the ground all the kinetic energy was turned back into potential energy where it lay until i picked it up and put it back in the ledge.

Physics Evaluation

So far physics has been pretty rough for me. I think it is a really interesting subject with lots of information to be learned. The ideas and information in physics are difficult to understand sometimes for me but after a while i begin to understand it. The labs and class discussions are always a part of physics that i enjoy. I think that i am slowly getting the ropes of physics as time goes on and hopefully i can improve in it. The rest of school is just as intense as well as there is a LOT more homework now then there was last year. But just like in physics, hopefully i can adjust and get used to these new stresses. This picture shows my feelings about physics because although it is a challenge, i know that i can be successful in the class.

Baseball

Today was a pretty boring day. While i was watching tv i happened to turn to the Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim game when it was in the 11th inning. As i watched the game i realized that there is a lot of physics involved in baseball whether it be pitching the ball which creates a projectile, or hitting the ball which uses many physics properties like newton's laws and which also creates a projectile. The game was very intense but in the end the Angels won which forced a game 4 of the ALDS. THe game lasted more than 4 hours and ended around 1:45 a.m. Eastern time. This gave me the idea for my physics blog and i found these pictures of a game i played a couple years ago. Before i slid into home plate, i was at third base and i started accelerating to home and right before i got there i slid which caused me to slow down until i came to a complete stop and then i jumped up. In the action of sliding there are many uses of physics. The first of which is Newton's first law of motion. Newton's first law states that an object at rest stays at rest and an object at motion stays in motion unless acted upon by a net force. In this case i am the object in motion and the net force is the ground. Another physics use in sliding is acceleration. Before i slid into home i was at third base where i began to accelerate to home plate. I continued to accelerate until i started to slide where i became a projectile of sorts. As i began to slide into home i was in mid-air where i then fell at -9.8 m/s/s . I continued to fall at this rate until i hit the ground where my vertical acceleration was 0 m/s/s. I had no idea there was so much physics in baseball.