Of course, once the district started blocking access to everything that wasn’t actually generated inside the building, and half of the things that were, it just became too much trouble to keep doing this. 

I have not found the right position yet.  I have interviewed for several, I have a couple of offers that I am kind of keeping on hold right now while I wait for the right one (I know it is out there, I just have to wait for it to happen!).  

I appreciate the invitation to return one more time to Melissa for the big Fourth of July Celebration.  I hope to see you all there.

If this works, I have attached the song that I have been working on (it is just a practice run, recorded on an mp3 player, so don’t expect a professional mix from my good equipment!).

page 1 SANY0001.jpg

page 2 SANY0002.jpg

page 3 SANY0003.jpg

page 4 SANY0004.jpgI

page 5 SANY0005.jpg

Anyway, back to the blog with the first project of the spring semester  - The Battle of the Bands!

Each person is to build a musical instrument that plays a minumum of three notes.  A powerpoint explaining the building process and the physics of the instrument will be included.  Each group must then present their instruments to the class and perform a song on their new creations.  It is a fun project every year, as students always over- and underwhelm me with their creativity and ability.

Physics - If you aren’t having fun, you aren’t doing it right!

Also this week - “The flaming sound pipe of death demo of physics!”

Given only a stopwatch, a tape measure, a speedometer, and a standard bathroom scale, determine the weight of my pickup in Newtons.

Update: we ended up using my daughter’s car, instead, but the overall performance on this lab was great!  For the first time, there was actually a group that hit right on the actual answer.  Great work!

What do the units mean for the slope?  Be prepared to discuss this on Wednesday.

A few of you predicted a mess, but most of you realized that the eggs had a greater mass than the tubes, and would therefore resist change enough to fall into the beakers below.

We will be looking at falling objects this week, culminating in our Bomb’s Away lab, which will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

And finally, here’s the podcast on the Law of Falling Bodies.

When acceleration is constant, there is a set of equations that we can use to solve a wide array of problems.

Here are two podcasts (featured on TeacherTube - it seems to be easier that way) that you should find useful in completing the previously posted assignment.

Constant Acceleration Equations

Free Fall Acceleration

A post including notes on acceleration will follow this one.

(edit: it was supposed to follow a little closer, but I had some difficulty uploading things from home.)

Space travel at speeds approaching or even exceeding the speed of light is a staple of science fiction.  While this problem will not deal with any of the many reasons why this is not possible, it will give you an idea of some of the difficulties involved.

A spaceship is traveling at a constant velocity of 1.5E8 m/s (or roughly 1/2 the speed of light) when the pilot fires the reverse thrusters (consider this moment to be t=0) and the ship begins to accelerate at -100 m/s^2. 

a) Fully define constant velocity.

b) How long will it take the ship to come to a stop?

c) Draw a position-time graph for this problem, with tfinal being the point when the ship returns to its initial speed.

d) Draw a velocity-time graph for this problem, with tfinal being the point when the ship returns to its initial speed.

e) Draw an acceleration-time graph for this problem, with tfinal being the point when the ship returns to its initial speed.

f) Express the acceleration of the ship in terms of g.  How many “gees” can the human body reasonably tolerate?

Most of you did quite well with this one.

You need to find the perpendicular components of the vectors.  Since 52 paces, W is already horizontal, call it -52x.  The horizontal (x) component of 42 paces, 150 degrees is 42cos150, or -36.4x. Combining our x values gives us -88.4 paces, or 88.4 paces, West.

The 25 paces North can be given a value of +25y.  The vertical (y) component of 42 paces, 150 degrees is 42sin150, or +21y.  Our total y value is 46 paces, North.

Use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the resultant, and the inverse tangent to find the angle. 

R^2=  88.4^2 + 46^2 

R= 99.7 paces

Here’s an easy one to try for tomorrow.

The following triple jump takes place on a checkerboard.  Assuming each square to be 4 cm on each side, what is the displacement of the checker which moves from the center of square A to the center of square B?

Here is the first VIDEO podcast, ON ADDING VECTORS! (moved to TeacherTube)

Well, that’s pretty much all we talk about, now that I think of it.

But anyway…

Avast!  Talk Like a Pirate Day is tomorrow!  Pyrate Lab V is planned and ready to go. 

The Pyrate Lab be onlye two days hence.  Are ye skylled enough to gain back yer stolen treasure?  Or will ye join the lykes of last year’s scurvy crewe in Davy Jones’ locker?