Introduction

Aloha! My name is Mahea Pescaia. I am a junior in high school, and I play volleyball. Thus far I have taken a biology course, and a chemistry course. Right now I am currently taking Physics, and the math course I am taking is Algebra 2b. I’ve been told that physics is the most fundamental of sciences. Physics so far has been challenging at times. However, I find that I am always able to apply the things that I am learning into real life situations. A lot of things going on in my life outside of my physics class can be applied to physics and the things that we are learning. This picture is of me playing volleyball. I only started playing volleyball the summer before I entered 7^th grade. My 6^th grade teacher had asked me to come and play for her club volleyball team that she was putting together. She trained me as a setter, and that is the position I have been playing ever since. Volleyball is my life. I love every aspect of the game.

Motion

All motion is relative. Acceleration is defined as the rate at which an object changes velocity; an object is accelerating if it is changing its velocity.  The average acceleration is determined over a long period of time; the velocity at the beginning of this interval is called the initial velocity and the velocity at the end is called the final velocity. In my example I am standing on a moving sidewalk. This makes my velocity constant because the sidewalk moves at the same speed all the time. Therefore, there is no acceleration. In order for there to be an acceleration in the positive or negative direction I would have to walk forward or backward on the moving sidewalk.

Kinematics

Talking more about kinematics we also use velocity. Velocity is the speed of something in a given direction. If ever looking at a graph showing the velocity of something vs time the slope of the graph is acceleration. However, things that are moving constantly are not accelerating. The example to go with my picture is speed limits. When driving a car the speed limit is constantly changing depending on how far you may be going. For example when in a school zone the speed limit is 20 mph, so you are moving constantly at that speed. Once out of the school zone you accelerate until you get to the new speed, which usually is about 35 mph. Then you start to move at your constant speed again. Acceleration is not constant. It takes you from one speed to another, but it is not the factor that keeps you at a certain speed.

Kinematics

Gaining further knowledge on kinematics we talked about position, distance, and displacement. First position is defined as a relative place in space and time. Distance can be defined as how far a person or a thing goes between positions. Lastly displacement is how far you go and in what direction. For instance, relative to your starting point, where you end up gives you your displacement. My example is the football boys. They run on and off the field multiple times. However, this does not mean that they have a high displacement number. By the end of the game the distance that they traveled will be very long, but not necessarily their displacement. Lets say that the position number 40 is in was his starting position. He goes in to the game, and comes out after just one play and stands in the same place as his starting position. This makes his displacement zero. If he came off and stood 3 meters away from his starting position that makes his displacement 3 meters.

Motion

All motion is relative. The question related to that is "Relative to what?" In this picture I am showing motion through the movement of the car. The motion of the car is relative to all the things around it. This includes the trees, the houses, the people, and the other cars. The picture is expressing the car in relation to everything around it, or everything around the car in relation to the car. When sitting in the car, everything around it seems to be moving, but in reality only the car is moving. The car in relation to other cars it may seem that the other cars may or may not be moving depending how fast they're going. The speed of the other cars affects the relationship they have with the car you are in.