...YOU ARE THE MUSIC IN ME!

Boy oh boy has another Sunday just flown by. After doing my homework briskly and then watching the Steelers fall at the mighty hands of the patriots. I was quiet sullen throughout the rest of the afternoon. I need of some cheering up, I found no better way to put a smile on then to explore my secret passion of singing loudly in my room. Closing my door, I put on my noise-canceling headphones and began to belt out some songs from High School Musical. "AHHHHHHH!", a scream came from someone. Why, it was that weekly epiphany. Bose DOC! was trying to speak to me, telling me to stop singing for the sake of his own eardrums. "But Bose DOC!" I exclaimed, "When I sing with my noise canceling headphones on, I imagine I'm the best singer alive!". That's when Bose DOC! explained to me that, I merely thought I was the best singing, but because my headphones were noise canceling, I could not hear my own horrid voice. He explained that the headphones work by detecting unwanted noise from the environment. A circuit then creates a sound wave that is an inverted version of the noise wave, with peaks where the noise has troughs, and vice-versa. When this wave is played through the headphones, it destructively interferes with the unwanted ambient noise. WOW! Bose DOC!, I never realized how terrible I was at singing. All this time I thought I was a rock-star. Thanks to Bose DOC!, I not only learned how my headphones cancel out unwanted noise, I also realized that I should never try out for American Idol. Lesson of the week: Never Let Tom Brady sit in the pocket, or he'll find someone to throw too. DOC! if you're reading this, I would like my $1 in a hundred pennies.
DOC! Voted Sexiest Man Alive! by People Magazine

CLOCKS....CATS....IS THIS ALICE IN WONDERLAND?!?!

AHHH! As procrastination has clearly taken over my Sunday, I feverishly attempted to finish all my homework assignments at the last moment. However, never wavering from my musical studies, I decided to take a musical study break to practice some of my orchestra music by the piano (studies have shown that Mozart makes you smarter--hasn't worked for me yet but I can still try) As I was practicing, I wonder what time it was to make sure that I wasn't falling behind on time and could successfully finish all my assignments. MY GOSH! The clock said it was 11 at night, but thats when that physics epiphany happened again! Meow-Mix DOC! was trying to speak to me at such a late hour. This Cat Clock not only tells time, it shows simple harmonic motion and wave motion with its spring. Playing around with the spring, Meow-Mix DOC! showed me that it demonstrated longitudinal waves as well as transverse waves. At the same time, when I held the Cat Clock upside-down, Meow-Mix DOC! showed me that the spring stretched so that spring force was equivalent to the weight of the clock. WOW! It's like Meow-Mix DOC! and my physics teacher are one in the same. Even when procrastinating, I was still learning and accomplishing my physics homework. Thanks Meow-Mix DOC! for your help with my procrastination and for making such good cat for over the years. Lesson of the week: Let's all procrastinate....tomorrow because you can accomplish stuff. DOC! if you're reading this, I bet you a dollar that you're wearing a shirt with a tie and long pants at this very instance.

WHY?! CAUSE IT'S THAT LARGE!

DUH DUH DUH DUUUUUUUH...DUH DUH. DUH DUH DUH DUH DUH DAHHHHH! (Monday Night Football theme) Boy oh boy was I stoked for this weekend. Sadly it has come and gone like the wind beneath my wings (Doc! is the wind beneath my wings because he's my hero). After a fun-filled weekend of shopping, watching football, going to see August Rush with the coolest cellist in the world (LOL!), and eating turkey, I decided to water the yard. Seeing as how brown the grass was I decided to take some care in the nature of my own backyard. But wait, how in the world would I be able to reach all areas of such an expansive area of grass?! AHA, thats when that weekly epiphany came. The Home Depot DOC! was clearly trying to speak to me about proper home and gardening care. Use an advance sprinkler head in order to increase the velocity of the water coming out. Because AV=AV, as the water flows out of the hose and into the sprinkler device, the cross-sectional area of the sprinkler is smaller than that of the hose, so that velocity coming out of the sprinkler is much greater than that of the water inside the hose. Due to projectile motion, the greater the horizontal velocity, the farther distance away the water could reach. Sadly, I forgot how fast the water sprays and when I turned on the water, I forgot to get out of the way. (Fatal error) AHA! Why use a sprinkler?! CAUSE THE HOSE IS THAT LARGE! Thanks to Home Depot DOC! I could successfully water all of the grass in my backyard with as little effort as possible. THANKS Home Depot DOC!, if it weren't for you expertise and advice in Gardening, I would've never been able to see Devin Hester run back that punt return for a TD.

Doc! if you're reading this, because you never responded to my formal request to play mini golf, and due to other requirements of another agreement, I would like to formally ask you if you would like to be my date for Winterball. :)

SUPER SOAK THAT (Person)...Physics Style

My oh my has the week just flown by. Of course I was sitting at home, watching the Patriots totally obliterate the Bills. Man was it hot (temperature-wise) in my living room, and thats when I changed the channel to MTV. It just so happened that the song "Crank Dat" was playing and the lyrics happened to be talking about Super Soaking someone. Of course after hearing that I decided that was exactly what I needed, to use my SUPERSOAKER 50©(from 1996) and spray my dogs (for the LOLs). That's when that ever so weekly epiphany hit me! AHA! Not only is Clay Ozaki-Train a beast of nature, but the KB Toys®DOC! was trying to speak to me. How exactly do supersoakers super soak people who want to be supersoaked? That really is the question of the week. Well, KB Toys®DOC! explain that the SUPERSOAKER 50©(from 1996) worked because of Bernoulli's Principle. If pressure inside the water vessel was greater than the pressure at the nozzle, then velocity at the nozzle would be far greater than velocity in the vessel. AHA! That's why the harder you pump the SUPERSOAKER 50©(from 1996), the farther the water flies from the SUPERSOAKER 50©(from 1996) allowing you to supersoak people from a far greater range. Using simple kinematics to figure out the projectile motion (that is found on every test except the last one), I was successful in sneak attacking my dogs. Ahh, what satisfaction of wetting my sleeping, lazy dogs. Thanks KB Toys®DOC! without you, I would never be able to have this much fun on a sunday. Lesson of the week: Fish have an attention span of 8 seconds. DOC! I formally declare a supersoaking war on you effective 11/19/07. BEWARE!

BOB THE BALANCING BOY WONDER!

Boy has another Sunday come and past in a flash! BAM! Instead of studying for that physics test on sunday, I decided to indulge myself by fooling around and exploring the world beyond the textbook. We all know that Thanksgiving is approaching fast. Boy do I enjoy the food and company of family members, but most people don't see the preparation that comes beforehand. My mom, being the eager beaver she is, decided to start cleaning 2 weeks in advance. Sadly for me, I was forced to help hang up some new curtains. That's when it hit me (that weekly epiphany): the Great Pottery-Barn DOC! was trying to tell me not just to hang up the curtains, but to have fun with it at the same time! I decided to create a circus act and hang on the curtains (to test its durability of course!). Exploring the elements of balance I noticed that when I tried to hang on the curtains on the far left side, the bar would start to tip towards me rotating about the left hook. O MY! I could've fallen off my chair! Pottery-Barn DOC! told me that it was because I was changing net torque from 0 to some greater number! I was adding torque to the left side which already had curtains, which was greater than the weight of the curtains on the right side. O my. I guess hanging on the curtains was a bad idea after all! AHA! Then I decided that if I wanted to hang on the curtains, I would add equal torque to both sides of the rotating point, allowing me to keep net torque at 0 and have fun at the same time. "SUCCESS!" cried out Pottery-Barn DOC!. I felt proud. No only was I able to accomplish my chores while having fun, I was able to successfully advertise Pottery-Barn and its curtains in this blog! Lesson of the week: Always Have Fun with Curtains. DOC! I still formally challenge you to pool, you must take this offer soon before it disappears!


TORQUE FTW!

Strategizing At the Cross Country State Championships

On November 2, I decided to indulge myself and running a lovely 3-mile race on a hilly golf course in Kapalua, Maui. The course was full of rolling hills, steep-grade downhills and winding turns. The previous day, after waking up extremely early to take my physics test before the flight, we had flown in to review the course. In part of the course, we had to make a hairpin turn after coming off of a long downhill. Our coach asked us what we should do on the turn so that we would not have to slow down while also not "sliding out of the turn". AHA! Then it hit me. That oh so weekly physics epiphany. This time the running-guru-DOC! spoke to me by means of 8th Grade science teacher Mr. Heimerdinger. Instead of slowing down, use the slanted edge of the cart path to continue your speed through the turn. Why, by doing so, I would be able to maintain my speed through the curve. This is because a slant would increase my friction force and also allow the centripetal force to allow me to continue my acceleration through the turn without sliding out or having to slow down my speed. WOW! With the help of running-guru-DOC! I was able to go full-speed through the turn and pass several runners during the actual race. Even though my chest was burning and I was completely out of breath, I was able to let out a laugh at them for not using their physics knowledge to gain a better position of the race. Lesson of the week: Use physics to gain an advantage over your adversaries. DOC! if you read this, I'd like to personally thank you for helping out the cross country team at states (allow us to get 3rd place).

VELOCIT-ATING DOGS!

Boy oh boy. After recently getting released from the hospital for passing out at my cross country meet, I was confined to the walls of my home for the entire weekend. Surely, there would be something to do around the house. Seeing that my dogs were clearly overweight (so overweight that one might say Joey can shake his belly like a bowl full of jelly), I decided to walk Joey. Attached to the leash, dog was enticed by my father's bowl of salad and attempted to run towards him. AHAH, but that's when the mini DOC! on my shoulders laughed at Joey. HAH! Instead of being able to run away, Joey started moving around in a circle. Surely there is a reason for this madness! The mini DOC! on my shoulders (dressed in a yellow shirt and white pants because Doc! and I always match clothes) exclaim, "HAH! There's a constant force towards the center (me) called centripetal force." Instead of Joey moving at a constant velocity towards my salad eating father, he moved in a circular motion with constant speed. Intelligently (because any forms of DOC! that approach me are intelligent), mini DOC! on my shoulders told me its not constant velocity because joey is changing positions. Consequently, lesson on week: Always eat a full meal before cross country races. Haha. DOC! if you're reading this (in whatever form you're in (I assumed High Holy DOC! above), I still challenge you to a game of interactive physics mini golf or pool. RAIDER IT UP THIS WEEK!!!!

CAUTION: Chihuahuas at Play!

O my! Another lazy Sunday has come and gone in a flash. Several days after lamenting the loss of not achieving NASAL immortality (thee Great Clay Ozaki-Train has constantly reminded me of this), it seems as if the world continues to punish me as a mortal. I woke up early today, to hopefully watch the Patriots explosive offensive obliterate the Dolphins, only to find Time-Warner Cable was down in my neighborhood until noon! NO THE MADNESS (like in Sparta!)! Instead, my mother brought out the bucket and told me to clean and wax the kitchen floor till it "sparkled". OH MY! Several painstaking minutes after I completed the task, I put my dogs in the kitchen for their meal. They exuberantly chased each other around, only to find that the greatly reduced friction of the floor (frictionless I'd say, since I did such a good job) caused them to be unable to stop themselves. After a couple of LOLs and ROFLs, I had that weekly AP physics B epiphany from the high holy DOC above!
My dogs were clearly showing examples of the conservation of momentum. In one instance, I was enticing Joey (the brown one) with a carrot.Jealous of his attention Missy (the white one) took charge at Joey (who was at rest). Because Missy is significantly heavier (due to over feeding and lack of exercise), her mass and velocity caused Joey to slide across the floor after the collision while Missy continued to slide in the same direction. WOW! Angry, and clearly antagonized, Joey took charge back and in a head on collision, Joey and Missy jousted with each other. Again because of the frictionless floor due to my impeccable floor work), after the collision, Missy and Joey headed opposite directions. The bright light shown upon me: Clearly the HIGH HOLY DOC! above was trying to send me a message. When dogs collide with each other in contention for delicious carrots, momentum is conserved. Another proof that the momentum is theoretically conserved in both elastic and inelastic collisions. AHA! Lesson of the day: Clean the kitchen floors weekly for LOLs and ROFLs. Doc if you're reading this, I still formally challenge you to a game of Billiards (interactive physics style). DOC IT UP!

^AHH ATTACK OF THE JOEY (he's hungry!) RAWR!

GREAT BALLS OF MOMENTUM!

Ahh, does Grandma enjoy Sundays or what?! Another Sunday has arrived, and again I am bored out of my mind. Usually, I would attempt to do something outrageously original and ingeniously fun that not even DOC! could think of, like popping bubble wrap, but instead I ventured to do something else. Walking aimlessly through the living room, I stumbled across a table, not any table but a Billiards table. That AP Physics B epiphany hit me again, billiards is an excellent example of physics, especially momentum and elastic collisions. Playing a small game of nine-ball with Casper (whom, undoubtedly due to my amazing trick shot skills and pool stick accuracy, I) obliterated), I realized how much pool utilized the conservation of mass. When billiard balls collide, and boy do they collide with a lot of force (my finger experienced such pain), they transfer momentum as well as kinetic energy. This collision is an example of an elastic collision because kinetic energy is neither added nor removed from the system. The mass times velocity I add to I generate with my pool stick is transfered to the cue ball which sets it in motion in a straight line, assuming my amazing accuracy sends it towards the desired ball, the cue ball transfers its momentum and kinetic energy to the desired ball which then (if hit at the right angle using my Mr. Mas geometry skills) is directed towards the pocket. Clearly DOC! would know just the right amount of velocity to use the stick to pocket all the balls. Boy, do I wish I could handle balls like the pros. Casper explained to me that friction and work is also used in a game of billiards. Chalk is used on the stick so that friction can create spin on the ball. Also, the balls travel with force over a distance. WOW. I think billiards should be renamed to "DOC!'S GAME OF PHYSIC WONDERS AND AMAZING FEATURES". But that's just me. Lesson of the week: Doc!'s probably good at billiards. Doc! if you're reading this, I would formally like to challenge you to a game of pool for funsies.

What's the FRICTION on my feet?!

My oh my has the weekend just flown by. Wow, I'm a poet and I don't even know it! After failing the NASAL Award Mission or as Clay Ozaki-Train calls it "losing my manhood", I began to see simple things that, are Not As Simple As it Looks. On Saturday the rain was pouring down the hills of the Kapalama Campus of Kamehameha Schools. After racking my brain during the SAT, it was time to sojourn on to a cross country meet, which included racing around the hilly campus. Clearly physics had to involved in such a grueling course. During warm-ups, I was simply amazed at the ease at which I was able to run on the pavement of the roads and sidewalks, but when the course entered the soggy, mud-war beaten football field, it felt as if I were running on a treadmill and going no where. Better yet, it felt like those times when you're riding a bike in first gear and you're pedaling crazy hard, but yet going super slow. Clearly, this situation was Not As Simple As it Looks. Before the race, I entered into my pre-race ritual of meditation and seeking the deeper meaning of life. During this blissful moment, I entered into a DOC!-like state and asked myself that famous question : WHAT WOULD DOC! DO?. Clearly DOC! would have an explanation for why it was so hard to run on that field. Then it hit me, the mixture of mud and water reduced the friction force that opposed our forward motion of running. There was more friction on the road because their was no mud present. FRICTION was the key to running fast. Without friction each step we take would simply slide back and we would be running in place. Ahh, now I could successfully tackle the cross country race. On the last 100 meters of the race, I used DOC!'s wisdom and sprinted towards the finish on the less muddy side of the field. This allowed more friction, allowing me to sprint past my foolish competitors who chose to run in the mud (one of which was the famous Clay Ozaki-Train) and finish with a clearly higher velocity than my opponents. Ultimately, at the end of the race, Clay told me I salvaged some of my manhood back, but also rubbed in the fact that was not immortal in the eyes of DOC!. Lesson of the day: Friction is important, but DOC! immortalization is the key to life.

Don't Do "Force times Displacement" on Sundays

Ahh, another lazy sunday. Again, I was sitting around, just staring at the wall visually what it would be like to have a TV in my room. Then EUREKA (again!), why not move my sister's tv in to my room. As I walked into her room, I stared down the massive TV. Why would I want to work on the weekend. FOOLISH! But the urge to watch tv in my room was just too great. I embarked on Operation: TV Displacement. Using my really, really, ridiculously huge muscles, I lifted the television, but as a sat there with the tv hoisted up, I realized I was in no position to move. Waiting there for what seemed like hours, the weight of the tv bared down on me and I applied an equal force upward to support the tv. I was sweating profusely, my arms shaking uncontrollable; how much longer could I take this. I was exerting a lot of force, and it felt as if i was doing a tremendous amount of work, but in fact, because there was no displacement, I did not do a single joule of work. After this epiphany I quickly put the TV down and realized my foolishness. I decided that instead of having to lift it and not do any work, why not drag it. Dragging it across the floor by the cord, I was doing work. The force I was exerting times cos of the angle of the cord to the ground multiplied by the displacement equaled the work. AHH, but FATAL ERROR! The darn ground had friction, causing me to exert an even greater force to overcome such friction. Perplexed once again, I asked myself WWDD (What would Doc do?). Clearly Doc! would be efficient and carry the tv. So I decided to DOC IT UP! By exerting the force in the same exact direction as the displacement and carrying it to not deal with friction from the floor, I would be doing as little work as possible, while still achieving the same objective. Thank goodness for the wise Doc!. Without this genius, I would've been working so hard on Sunday, and all good Christians know that we're not suppose to work on Sundays. Better yet, I should've followed Grandma's advice and let my dad do the work for me, because Grandma loves dad working, but hates Robert working. So remember: DOC IT UP!

The Elevator Ride (10x)

Sitting at home on a blissful Sunday, I suddenly realized something spectacular. EUREKA! Why spend time sitting on the couch, when i can go fight the traffic of Waikiki and ride the elevator to the the "Top of the I" where Sarentos is located. In no less than thirty minutes, I went from sitting at home, to having the exhilarating thrill of riding an elevator to the top of a hotel multiple times (10 to be exact). On the first ride, I merely closed my eyes and imagined the body diagram with the object in the shape of a sixteen year old boy. Going straight down, I pictured my weight (mg) and going directly opposite of that direction. Normal force! The earth was not pulling me down, but rather that tingling, irresistible sensation in my feet, was the normal force, pushing up at me. Keeping my eyes closed, I embarked on a second journey to the Top of the I. Trusting my hands out, I action-nized my body diagram. Showing that when the elevator goes from rest and starts moving to upward, there is a period of acceleration. During this period, the net force is going upwards, and since weight is the same, the normal force (that tingling sensation in my feet) was greater, making me feeling heavy. After that period, normal force became equal with weight because the acceleration of the elevator was constant. When I reached the top, the elevator had a period of deceleration, where the net force was still up wards, but in order to slow down, force normal had to be less than weight. After merely waving to the receptionist at the top, I embarked on the journey downwards. Acceleration occurred at the beginning of this journey, where net force was downward, causing normal force to be less than weight, making me feel weightless! AHH THE MADNESS! Just before reaching the lobby floor, the elevator decelerated, where force normal was greater than weight causing me to feel heavy again. All this new found knowledge made me want to express Grandma's and my joy for physics. Opening my eyes again, I realized that several tourist passed judgment on me and quickly left the elevator. I decided to ride the elevator 9 more times in search of a student. On the 10th try, the manager of Sarentos came inside the elevator. Throughout the entire 30 second elevator ride, I whizzed through a whole lesson on forces, weight, and normal force. After my explanation of that awesome feeling we had in our feet when in the elevator, the manager merely exclaimed, "Physics is cool...". Despite his lack of enthusiasm, I must say...Doc would've been proud. Ten times up and down the elevator not only took over thirty minutes, but also made me sick to my stomach. Not to mention the receptionist at the restaurant questioning me several times on why I kept reappearing every 2 minutes. I suddenly realized why Grandma hates Elevators and Sarentos; it's because the ride is just far too long! Grandma prefers the ground far more than the top of hotels.

The Beginning

Periods 1 and 2 are fun-filled minutes in a class called Physics. Over the first couple weeks I have transitioned from the lazy summer days to homework and the daily schedule of school. At first, I was intimated by the letters AP in front of the course name. I did not know what to expect. I was nervous about the course load and the increased responsibility such a course put on me. Now, I can't wait too see what we will learn throughout the year. I am excited and extremely curious about what lies ahead. It saddened me to hear that Grandma doesn't love Robert, but since Grandma loves Physics, then there has to be a ton of fun things ahead. Just like Spongebob, "I'm Ready!" to have some fun!