Tuesday, October 21, 2008

End of 1st Quarter


This Quarter has been pretty fun overall.  I enjoy coming to physics knowing that there are hardly any dull moments in class.  Yet i still have some reservations about the class. I'm still adjusting to this whole online assignment sheet and I'm finding it a bit unnerving because i often forget to check the homework.  Also there are some other issues. I've realized that i must study for tests more diligently  and take special care on the multiple choice part.  I's also finding it rather difficult this year to balance my workload from all my classes and i haven't yet found a successful way to organize my thoughts.  Overall i enjoy most of my teachers this year and i place Physics as one of my favorite classes.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Newton's Second Law


This weekend while i was driving i had a physics epiphany.  I drove two very different cars this weekend, one was my Mom's large white Honda Odyssey van and the other was my Volkswagon Passat sedan.  I noticed that while both cars have engines with almost identical horsepower it takes much longer for the van to reach freeway speeds compared to the sedan.  i found that the reason for this was that the sedan is a much smaller car, thus weighing less.  Due to the formula F=ma the van which has significantly more mass takes more force in order to accelerate at the same rate as the smaller sedan.  This thought struck me as i was driving up the H2 freeway and noticed i had to press on the gas alot harder in the van than in the sedan.