Grandma Loves Bob and Physics

LAST PHYSICS BLOG

2008-05-11T23:19:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-05-04T18:20:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-04-27T23:18:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-04-21T22:40:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-13T23:46:00.000-07:00

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

2008-04-06T01:10:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-03-16T22:53:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-09T11:33:00.000-07:00

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

2008-03-02T22:15:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-02-24T23:17:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-11T00:45:00.000-08:00

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

2008-02-03T22:43:00.000-08:00

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....

2008-01-27T22:15:00.000-08:00

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!"

2008-01-21T22:54:00.000-08:00

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

2008-01-13T22:20:00.001-08:00

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

2008-01-06T22:51:00.000-08:00

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.

...YOU ARE THE MUSIC IN ME!

2007-12-09T09:00:00.001-08:00

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?!?!

2007-12-02T23:30:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-11-25T22:30:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-18T22:15:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-11-11T15:20:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-04T22:07:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-10-28T01:14:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-10-21T23:49:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-10-14T09:58:00.000-07:00

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?!

2007-10-07T22:23:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-30T22:15:00.000-07:00

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)

2007-09-23T21:42:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-09T22:07:00.000-07:00

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!