Relative Motion

This week’s focus for the blog is relative motion. All motion is relative, but relative to what? Motion may have a different appearance when viewed from different perspectives. For example, I will have a different view of the motion of a car than another person on the road. This depending on the speed each car is going, and the direction that each car is traveling. In this picture it is an elevator. I myself am not moving when riding the elevator, but the elevator is. The motion that is relative to the elevator is the motion that is inside the elevator. In relation to the elevator nothing is moving.

Projectile Motion- 2D Kinematics

This week in Physics we talked about 2D Kinematics, and projectile motion. Projectile motion directly relates to the Vegas rule. “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” This rule tells us that the axes are independent. What happens on either axis stays on that axis. Solving 2D kinematic problems is generally the same as 1D kinematics, except you must solve for variables on the x and on the y. We use the same equations provided for us form the “equation board not bored.”

For example, in the following video I rolled the ball off the table, which is 1 meter high. The ball was rolled with an initial velocity of 3m/s. How far from the table did the ball land?

The ball landed 1.92 m away from the table.

Running Football Routes- Vectors

In unit 3 we have started our discussions with vectors. A vector is an object that has both direction and magnitude. In class we also talked about resultant vectors. A resultant vector is measured from the tail of the first vector to the tip of the last vector. When adding vectors you add them from the tail of the second vector to the tip of the first vector. In class we did an activity with running football routes. We would have our receiver run a certain route, and have the quarter back throw the ball to the. Then we would determine how far the ball was thrown by measuring the distance between the position that the quarterback threw the ball, and the position that the receiver caught the ball. That is a vector.

Final Blog Post

To start off our first quarter in physics we learned about qualitative observations, quantitative observations, accuracy, precision, and standards of measurement. A qualitative observation deals with the qualities of objects. A quantitative observation deals with the number of objects. Accuracy is when something is free from error. Precision is when you get the same value multiple times, or when your numbers are gathered closely. Standards of measurement are when everybody is on the same page with things. We have standards so that they will be followed, and everything is the same. Next we talked about motion. “All motion is relative! Relative to what?” Motion deals with acceleration, velocity, distance, time, and displacement. When graphing things in motion there are three graphing rules. The first is, “The slope of a position vs time graph is velocity. The second rule is, “The slope of a velocity vs. time graph is acceleration. The last is, “The area under the curve of a velocity vs time graph is displacement. These things are overall the big concepts we have learned about during this first quarter.