LAST PHYSICS BLOG

As the AP Test nears us, so too does the end of our year in physics. Boy, I have learned from all the many Doc!'s around the world of how much physics impacts our daily lives. This past weekend, instead of taking the APUSH exam, I spent the past couple days on Kona, Hawaii at the HHSAA Tennis State Championships. Although knocked off in the quarterfinals, I enjoyed myself as much as possible. During one period, there was a day-long rain delay, leaving us stuck in our condos with nothing to do. After washing the dishes and taking out the trash, DOC! spoke to us on the phone and told Braxton how to create fire! At that instant, I too had a revelation (on my own without any DOC! this time). Instead of staying cramped up in the condos, we got the spare trash bags and slid on the grass outside our condo. Because of the reduced coefficient of friction produced by the rain, as well as putting on the trash bags, we utilized the ever constant acceleration of gravity as well as our own initial velocity to slide down the grassy hills. Oh boy did we have fun as well as learn a lot about physics. Lesson of the year: After a year of physics, revelations just come naturally without any Doc! appearing before you. Good luck to all in the AP Physics B exam! High FIVES to all!

Physics Ph-ountain!

Ahh... the joys of going to school on the weekends. As the AP Physics B Exam looms in front of us, the days of preparation are key to getting that high-5. On Sunday, as I sat infront of the Seto Hall fountain waiting for Doc! to arrive for my multiple choice exam, I could not help but notice all the physics that must be involved in all of that. But this time, as I pondered, waiting for the epiphany, not any Doc! showed up to me, but rather the REAL DOC! approached me this week. He didnt' say much to be except to ask if I was ready. Haha. It was more of a self-revelation this week. The fountain in front of Weinberg, properly titled "Autumn Leaves" probably utilizes Bernoulli's princple of fluid mechanics as well as the the Continuity equation to create such projectile motions with the water. By utilizing pressure and density, the water is able to be velocitized out to create the fountain. As it is pumped up from the bottom, the pressure and decrease in area of the pipe increased the velocity. Wow. And better yet, the water follows kinematics in a projectile motion where the x and y velocities are independent of each other. The madness! I can only hope that all of this will help me on the exam. Happy Studying to all taking APs and good luck! Lesson of the week: Study hard, get a 5!

Orchestra Frenzie!

Ahh. Another weekend has gone by so fast. On Saturday, Orchestras V and IV had their final concert of the year. As with tradition, the final song was played simultaneously while each senior's name was said to thank them for their many years of contribution to the performing arts. Who better to have read these names then DOC! himself!. When Doc! was introduced, it got me thinking of how much physics is related to playing a string instrument. AHA! There was no epiphany this time, just good ol' DOC! staring right back at me, giving me the same look he does when I ask him stupid questions. Playing a string instrument utilizes physics and creating frequencies through various tensions on the string. On a string, when tension on the string is increased, while mass and stays the same and length is shortened, the velocity of the sound wave increased. Because velocity increased, frequency increased as well. AMAZING! Hence, when you put a finger down when playing the violin, the length of the string decreased, allowing velocity to increase. This allows a musician to play various notes. Knowing physics, we can successfully play our pieces with precision as well as beauty and grace. What a way to end the orchestra season, and how fitting it is to have DOC! read off the senior's names. Because without physics, we wouldn't know what to do with our violins. Lesson of the week: Physics can turn you into Yo-Yo Ma.

Go for the Gold!

During the family fair week, there was definitely a lot to do and many attractions to see. As I took a stroll around the fair grounds, the hailed Futsal Tournament caught my attention. I took a while to observe how the game was play. It was essentially soccer, but at a feverent, quick pace on a much small playing feeling. I was surpised at how much physics was involved in the game of Futsal. That's when Futsal DOC! came to me and told me about how soccer utilizes collisions. In theses inelastic collision, energy is transfered from the foot to the ball, allowing it to create a projectile motion and kick into the goal. It was amazing how talented these players where with their collisions and how precisely they were able to handle the ball. Knowing about collisions must allow you to know how hard to kick the ball. Conservation of momentum was also involved whre the velocity of the foot was transfered in the collision into the momentum of the ball! Lesson of the Week: Physics allows you to truly Go for the Gold!

Masterful Projectile

As another Sunday past quickly, I spent the early part of the morning watching the PGA's most coveted and treasured tradition of the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia. Seeking the green jacket, I watched as Tiger Woods attempted to push for the lead, but in the end Trevor Immelman held on to capture the title. Throughout the entire broadcast I was amazed at how well these people could play golf. Then it hit me, all golf takes is simple knowledge of Physics and you're set. That's when Augusta DOC! came to me and told me that when you drive the golf ball, you just need to know simple kinematics in order to predict where it will land. Wow, the projectile of these balls flying in the air were just simple kinematics. From the amount of energy that you store in your swing, due to the conservation of momentum and energy, when the club hits the ball, energy and momentum is transfered to the ball which allows it to fly. The flight of the ball is a projectile motion. Of course Augusta DOC! pointed out that the this is a lot more complicated than it looks, and that the projectile becomes difficult to figure out as you add in factors of wind and spin on the ball. But all in all, physics is all around the game of golf. No wonder Tiger Woods is so dominant in the golf world, he's a smart dude who must know a thing or two about golf. Lesson of the week: Physics can make you a PGA pro one day.

DOC! = EINSTEIN

As the fourth quarter begins, I cannot help but realize how much we have learned in physics over the year. Another sunday has passed again, but all I can think about is that time we saw the statue of DOC! in Washington DC! amazing. Near the memorials is a statue commemorating the great german scientist Einstein. As we sat in friendly Einstein lap to take a picture with such a famous dude, an electron, seemingly coming out of the photoelectric effect cam and spoke to me. No, it wasn't DOC! this time, it was The Ghost of Einstein!. He explained how back in the day, DOC! taught him all he knew about physics. Just like on the statue, Einstein helped with the theory of relativity with the mass energy equivalence equation E=mc^2. Einstein was also noted for the photoelectric effect. Wow. Such a cool dude was right here in Washington DC. A great product of DOC!'s teaching, the Einstein statue had a tablet with all of his famous equations as well as a floor surrounding him is a star map. Lesson of this week: People who are statues must be pretty darn famous.

iTUNES!

Ahh what a sunday it has been. After spending most of the weekend out and about, I finally found some time to relax, put on my headphones, and listen to some of my favorite tunes. GAH! But this times iTunes wasn't working, I had to resort to the use of good old CDs. How in the world do these things work, they're not digitalized like my iPod. Suddenly out of no where, Diffraction DOC! appeared and poof!. Using his diffraction magic, he explained to me the simple physics of how such old school CD's work. Each CD contains man lands and pits. The CD player uses a laser to read the different land and pits. When the laser beams are all on the pits or the lands, constructive interference occurs, however when some of the beam is on a pit and other part is on a land, then the constructive interference occurs. The laser then reads these 1s and 0s and reads it as the music that you hear. WOW. Diffraction DOC! really does know his tunes. DVDs work the same way, except the lands and pits are closer together and more tightly fit, allowing it to store much more information. THIS IS AMAZING. It's a shame all of this outdated now that APPLE as revolutionized music listening. Lesson of the week: CDs are rocking, but a little outdated.

The Mystic Mirage by Opti-Gone

Ah! Another joyous Sunday has gone by very quickly. After that surpise sudo-quiz on Friday, I decided to explore the true physics of how Doc!'s magical product was able to produce a hologram. It was truly breath taking and jaw dropping. Using the o so useful google search, I discovered many things. However it was not until Opti-Gone DOC! appeared out of nowhere to explain to me how the object really worked. The product works by utilizing the optics of two opposing parabolic mirrors with a small circular opening at the top. The opening allows in light rays. The light rays from the object placed in the Mirage are at the focal point of the top mirror. Because it its located exactly at the focal point, all the rays emanating from the object are reflected in the mirror parallel. These reflected parallel rays from the top mirror then hit the bottom mirror and because they are all parallel, the light rays are all reflected to the focal point of the bottom mirror. This allows a virtual image to appear at the focal point, which is conveniently located where the circular opening is. WOW! How awesome is that. The physics of mirros created such a cool and neat thing. Best of all, the product was discovered when some guy was cleaning out stuff and discovered that two mirrors produced an object that wasn't there! AMAZING! Lesson of the week: Physics can make you famous and rich by accident!

The Wiz: A Spec(trum)-tacular Show

Boy oh boy was I in for a treat this weekend when I bought a voucher for 'Iolani's Spring Musical, The Wiz. Initially, I went for extra credit, but after the show was over, I was quite amused and happy that I went. Not only was I in awe at the talent of my peers in acting as well as playing in the pit, I was amazed at the lights, sounds, and effects of the entire show. In one part of the play, the tornado is portrayed by utilizing a strobe light which created a wild effect of chaos. What was most interesting was the use of green lights and green glasses during parts where the play took place in Emerald City. During intermission (while I was patiently waiting in line to use the bathroom), I sudden realized how much these light effects utilized physics and the Electromagnetic Spectrum! But how did they make those lights so green!? That's when in the middle of the bathroom floor appeared The DOC! of Oz!! One cannot imagine how much that appearance scared me. Anyways, The Doc! of Oz! came down before me and explained that the green lights utilized light filters. Because white visible light is made up of a spectrum of colors that are each electromagnetic waves with different frequencies and wave lengths, filters can break down the light and only allow the green portion through. WOW! Thanks to physics, the production was able to utilize great effects to make the Emerald City that much more spectacular. I guess they should've added DOC! and the physics department to the list of acknowledgments. Lesson of the week: Bathrooms are great places for epiphanies. Congratulations to all those who took part in the production of The Wiz. It was fantastic.

TRANSFORMERS!

Sunday has come once again and that means exciting and new discoveries. After a long weekend of driving around to a tennis tournament and the swamp romp race in Kaneohe, my phone had be depleted of its battery power! OH THE HORROR. As I went to go charge it, the only electrical circuit source I had was the sockets in my house. But I remember Doc! saying that power plants dissipate electricity at super high voltages and even our outlets have high voltages. I didn't want to fry my phone with an energy overload, I merely wanted to charge it with a small amount of voltage. WHAT TO DO!? Then, seemingly out of the junkyard, Optimus Prime DOC! jumped into my backyard. With his huge mechanic, transformer figure, he said in a loud voice, "Have no fear, the Transformers are here!". Thank the Lord!. There was a transformer in my charger like the AllSpark. Like the AllSpark, the outlets in my house contained huge amounts of stored energy/voltage. This transformer was a step down transformer that utilized an alternating current and a ratio of loops to step down the voltage from the outlet to my phone. Finally! I was able to charge my phone without completely destroying it. Thanks to Optimus Prime DOC! and his buddy transformers, I could now continue to communicate on my cellular telephone. Lesson of the week: Transformers are real! They're all around us, protecting us from daily disasters.

Spidey DOC!, Spidey DOC!...does whatever a Spidey DOC! can

During meeting period on Tuesday, I walked into to Seto Hall completely oblivious to the wondrous world of spiders. Dr. Hayashi began her talk by explaining to us how she landed into the profession of being a spider silk researcher. She stressed the fact that throughout her experiences, she went with the flow and found that certain opportunities were presented to her. It was interesting to hear how she allowed her curiosity and desire to lead her life towards something unknown.

When Dr. Hayashi began to talk about spiders and silks I was fascinated at how complex and special the process was. She explored in vivid detail how a spider creates the silks from a duct in their abdomen. She explained that spiders have multiple kinds of silks that they emit from their bodies used for various purposes. I found it interesting that different kinds of silks served different purposes. Besides the known silk used to build webs, some silks were made to protect the mother’s eggs, while others were uses to make droplets. As Dr. Hayashi began to talk about her research, I was intrigued at how silks were very complex, useful materials that can be helpful to humans. I found it particularly interesting when she showed that her research led to the genome of spider silks, which in turn helped her to program tomato and tobacco plants to create the silk. She explained that her research was useful and innovative because of the variety of physical properties that spider silks have. The silks are as durable as Kevlar, biodegradable, far more stretchy than elastin, and is a lightweight material that can take in a lot of force. These ideas made me ponder, along with my fellow peers in the audience, how spider silks could help to provide inventions of the future by utilizing such a strong material. Dr. Hayashi’s journey towards her spider research showed me that there is much in the world that humans have yet to discover. As she says, “with every solution, there are ten more questions that arise”. I no longer view spiders as just household pests, but rather interesting creatures that could contain lots of value to humans.

G-Men Go Big, Pats Go Home

Ahh...another Sunday passed so fleetingly from my grasp. It was mainly spent in front of a big screen TV watching high definition football. Just some ordinary game called Super Bowl XLII, nothing special. The vaunted, undefeated Patriots attempted to go after a perfect season, but the mighty Giants of New York stood in there way. O how sweet is was to see those Pats go down. Not only that, when I was watching the game in the fourth quarter, Eli Manning was driving his team down the field with less than two minutes left to play. After nearly getting sacked Eli was able to throw up the ball high enough for David Tyree to leap into the air and haul it down with his Madden Spectacular Catch Ability. AHH! That's when that weekly epiphany game. How in the world did Eli do that?! Pigskin-DOC! appeared to me out from my bowl of boiled peanuts and shouted loudly "STUPID!". Why of course, Pigskin-DOC! was correct, Eli must've been a natural-born physicist with supreme projectile motion skills. Eli had to throw the ball with enough velocity to travel a distance of about forty yards, not only that he had to battle that ever-apparent force of mg (down). Calculating kinematics quickly in his head, Eli was able to not only escape the grasp of the defensive linemen, but also calculate theta so that the football would reach Tyree at such a height that he could jump and catch it above the not-so great Rodney Harrison. Boy, were they correct to give MVP to Eli Manning. Pigskin-DOC! was correct. MVP doesn't stand for Most Valuble Player, it stands for Most Vaunted Physicist. Ahh. It was good to turn off the television with the sweet taste of victory from a fans point of view. Lesson of the week: Mastery of 2-D Kinematics can land you a starting quarterback job in the NFL.

Rain Rain Go Away....

Ahh. What's the favorite day of the week?! Sunday! Because there was an absence of NFL mania on this Sunday, by father suggested that I wash the cars. Ahh, what a good idea because there's no better way to spend a relaxing Sunday than scrubbing hubcaps with a toothbrush. I was washing the car when suddenly, I realized that as I sprayed the car with water, windshield would be covered with a layer of water that did not trickle downwards. That's when that good old physics epiphany came in. BAM! From the heaven fell RAINex DOC!. He trusted a bottle into my hands and shouted (in the classic superhero voice) "Use this on the your windshield, it's like an invisible windshield wiper. Buffing and polishing, I finished off my car was with Rainex. But the true test came that night, when I was driving to the Iolani Basketball game, my car was sprayed by an ignorant sprinkler. Sure enough, as I continued to drive, the water beaded off the windshield and went away like magic! But why?! RAINex DOC!, simply replied it was due to a decrease in friction. Before, all of the dirt particles caused the friction coefficient to increase, cause the water to have a more resistance force against the forces of gravity. When RAINex is applied, the oil mixture makes the windshield covered with a slippery substance that reduces the coefficient of friction, allowing the water to slide off as you continue to drive. AHA! Thanks RAINex DOC! for preventing a future car crash in a rain storm. Lesson of the week: Always have football on Sundays to avoid car washing chores.

"COME ON! YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!"

If you can believe it, another spectacular sunday has gone in a flash. There's no better way to spend it than by waking up early to run some errands with your parents. Forced to get up at 5 in the morning, I sleepily ate breakfast while watching some early morning Australian Open tennis. Thats when I spilled my frosted flakes all over my pants to see that Tipsarevic, a relatively unknown player, was taking Roger Federer to an epic fifth set. BLIMY! In one rally, Federer pulled Tipsy (as I like to call him) off the court, forcing Tipsy to hit a lightning fast and hard forehand shot. Trying to block the shot, Federer merely stuck his racket in from off his body, and blocked the ball back, making it zoom at an equal velocity to what Tipsy hit it with. Because Federer is beyond human, he didn't have to dodge, but merely stood there and took it like a man. The commentator yelled "How did He (important to capitalize when referring to Federer because he's God-like) do that?!". I was dumbfounded. Thats when the good old physics epiphany occured, and Aussie DOC! appeared. "Gooday Mate!" He said to me. I asked him how in the world Fed did that. Aussie DOC! merely chuckled at me, and said three words the entire day. "Newton's Third Law!". Why of course. For every action, theres another thats equal and opposite! Though Tipsy may have provided the force, all God-like Fed had to do was provide a wall, and the ball would travel with equal speed in the opposite direction. Brilliant I say. Federer must've taken physics from DOC! to know how to pull off that shot. Lesson of the week: Tennis makes you have superhuman abilities like The Fed (again, capitalization is key for his name). DOC! if you're reading this, it's probably cause I'm using the force (without contact) on you.

Brrrr...It's Cold In Here, There Must Be Some DOC! in the Atmosphere

Wow, so the Sunday before exams was spent frantically studying for all of my courses. That's when I was suddenly overcoming with an allergy spell, sneezing non-stop for what seemed like long seconds. I decided to take matters into my own hands and dust of my desk and clean all the unnecessary pencil shavings and eraser bits from my desk using the handy dandy DUST OFF! (basically pressurized air in a can). Using this, I sprayed the air to get all of the random pieces of stuff out of my keyboard when suddenly by hand felt a stinging cold coming from the can. WHAT IS THIS MADNESS?! That's when Atmospheric DOC! appeared out of 101,000 Pa pressure. He told me that the ideal gas law could explain such cold wonder. I thought that it was due to the high gusty trade winds reported on channel two news. However, Atmospheric DOC! said to analyze the can more closely. As I pressed the trigger releasing the pressurized air, the amount of air in the can lowered, as well as the pressure in the can. However, because volume stayed the same, and according to the ideal gas law, the temperature as well decreased. WOW! So it wasn't the trade winds after all. After a quick slap on the head from Atmospheric DOC! he disappeared again. Lesson of the week: Dusting creates Cold Temperatures thereby is can make snow! DOC! if you're reading this....HI!

PEFECT UNDER PRESSURE

Ahh...what a lovely Sunday afternoon to enjoy some pupus with rice. As I strolled over to the kitchen, there was one fatal error: NO RICE!. AHHH. WHAT WOULD I DO?! Then, that epiphany came again, first one all year! White-Rice Doc! came down to me and simply pointed out this highly specialized pressure cooker. However, Brown-Rice DOC! came down to refute such a foolish observation. He stated, "FAILURE!, how can that rice cooker be any better than another one?" In a calm and lilting voice, White-Rice DOC! showed me the way. This pressure cooker was no ordinary cooker, but rather a special one. When closed, the lid provided a air tight seal around it, keeping volume constant. As the cooker heats up, the temperature begins to rise, and because of PV=nRT, the pressure also begins to increase. With such an increase in pressure and temperature, the properties of water allow it to be at a temperature higher than 100C or 373 K (cause kelvin is more properly used). This allows the rice to cook at a higher temperature and therefore in less time. WOW! exclaimed Brown-Rice DOC!. He was simply amazed at the wonders of such a pressure cooker. Thanks to the ideal gas law, pressure makes the perfect rice and satisfies a sudden Sunday urge. Thanks White-Rice DOC!without your help, I would've starved to death, worst off, Brown-Rice DOC! would've made me use to slower cooker. Lesson of the week: Always have cooked Rice on hand, otherwise hungry chihuahuas might attack you.