Sunday, October 28, 2012

Week 7 reflection

This week we learned all about how forces act on an object and spring strength.  I know that forces can include earths gravity, the upward push of a table, or even strings that are holding an object up.  I also learned that if something is holding an object up it has to be able hold the same amount or more newtons to hold that object up.  I learned that spring strength can be measured by the amount of force applied and how far it stretches.  This shows the spring strength or constancy. 

This week we did a lab that helped us learn how to measure spring strength.  This lab asked us to use special devices that measured how much force was being applied to it's hook that held the spring.  Each group got different springs and pulled on them to get a measurment of the force.  Then, with a meter stick, we measured how far it strectched from its starting point to its endpoint.  Our group put these measurments in the form of a graph and it showed how strong our spring was. 

To learn how forces acted upon objects, we drew force diagrams.  These diagrams would show an object, represented as a point, and have arrows pointing in whichever direction the force was coming from.  So if we want to show the upward force of a table on an object, we would make an arrow from the start pointing up.  When we want to show that two forces are equal we would put hashmarks on each of the arrows.

Personally, I think that I get these concepts pretty well.  I still think that I need to work on the force diagrams because when I was doing them I was getting the arrows wrong.  I think that my participation in class was pretty good.  I answered and participated in discussions and labs. 

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Week 6 Reflection

This week we began a new unit and learned about inertia, and the difference between mass and weight.  Inertia is the tendency for an object to continue to do what it's already doing.  So if it is a basketball just sitting there on the court, it's going to stay like that until someone picks it up and shoots it.  Since a force was applied to the ball it would move in the direction that it was thrown if we did not have gravity and the air making it stop its motion.  This is inertia.  The difference between mass and weight is that weight is the gravitys effect on our mass.  We would have the same mass if we were on a different planet but not the same weight.

I know that we watched a movie that showed us how inertia worked.  They used a rock and they taught us how the heavier the object the more force is needed to move it.  They also showed how while the rock is traveling through the air it is repeatedly having to break through air barriers that eventually slow it down enough to stop it.  This little clip also showed us that if the rock were kicked in space, there is nothing that is stopping it so it would stay at the same rate of movement that it was kicked with. 

This movie really helped me understand what inertia was because I didn't really get it when it was first explained to me but having a visual to go along with the explanation really helped me learn it. 

This is what I remember from this week.  The beginning of the week is a little hazy because of the excitement of spirit week but the most important part was that we learned some new material for a new unit.

I don't really have any questions about inertia, mass or weight because I get what they are.  I think that I still need to learn more about the forces acting on an object for the test but other than that I think I get all of the material pretty well.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Week 5 Reflection

This week we continued to learn about time vs. displacement/distance/position.  We continued to see how each one could be plotted on a graph and read to know how fast something was going.  Distance is a measure of speed and displacement is a measure of velocity.  It is very important to know this difference because they are two seperate measurements and each of them are used to describe something in specific situations.  Also, if you didn't know the difference you would have gotten many questions of the assesment that we had this week wrong.

The assesment tested our knowledge of velocity and speed and also reading graphs and interpreting them.  Personally, I thought this assesment was pretty challenging.  It asked questions that really tested us in putting our knowledge of these concepts into certain problems or situations.  Yet, even though it was a harder test, if you paid attention and if you actively participated (whether that be actively listening or participating in the discussion) in class, most of this stuff should easy to apply to test questions.

During this week we did the T-bone challenge where we tried to make one car hit another car right in the middle.  I know that we ran out of time, but this was a good experiment to apply speeds, distance and position to a real situation.  I remember that the trickiest part was trying to come up with how far away the car should be released from the starting point and how many seconds should elapse in between the release of the two cars.

I do wish we could have finished that experiment because I did like trying to find out all of the measurments and times and everything.  But this also raised a question which was: there some sort of equation that we could have done to find out the precise time and distance to let each car go to do the t-bone crash? 

This week I think that I had good participation in the dicussions and in the experiments and class demonstrations.  I do understand the difference between velocity and speed and also the difference between position, displacement and distance.  I do think that I still need work on interpreting graphs and applying my knowledge in situations that I'm givin.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Week 4 Blog Reflection

This week we went more in depth on graphing distance and displacement.  I know that on friday we were out in the hall with bean bags and meter sticks and we were demonstrating the difference between distance and displacement.  I also know that we made graphs that demonstrated distance and displacement but honestly I can't really remember what we did when Mr. Rogers was a sub for the class.  I think it was a day for graphing but I forgot what it was that we were graphing.  Just telling the truth.

The main ideas of this week were displacement and distance and how to graph them.  The difference between them is that distance is how far something traveled from the starting point.  Displacement is how far away something is from the starting point.  I also know now that we can get the relative speed of an object from its graph.  We reinforced the fact that the graph can be represented by an equation.

I don't have any questions about the actual topics at the moment but what I do want to ask is if we are going to apply these into real life events or situations.  Like if we could apply physics to sports or physical movements like jumping and running. 

Overall I think I understand the content that we are learning pretty well.  I understand the difference between displacement and distance and how to draw a graph based on an objects movement.  These concepts came pretty easily to me because I paid attention in class and the visual aspects of the demonstrations also helped me grasp it even more.  The combination of these two allows me to really grasp and learn topics fast since hearing about is not always enough for me to learn it.

I believe that I participated very well this week.  I was a contributor to my group when we were supposed to graph and make equations and do the activities together.  I tried to participate in class discussions and if I didn't have a question to answer I thought that I listened intently to what was being said.  As far as things to work on go, I think I need to work on doing better on my assesments and writing these blogs.