Unit 3 blog reflection

• In this unit I learned about........

Newton’s third law, momentum, conservation of momentum, vectors, and how every single one of these things can relate to real life experiences. Newtons third law states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. So basically if I push on and object, that object will push on me. This is interesting because you wouldn’t think that a rock, a lifeless object, would have the ability to push you back.  With all things momentum based I learned that the net momentum before a collision= the net momentum after a collision. So if two cars hit and one has a huge momentum and the other has a small, after the collision the net momentum will be the same as before the collision.

• What I have found difficult about what I have studied is.........

Vectors and explaining and proving why and how momentum is conserved. With vectors I was mostly confused with the hanging of picture and problems in that spectrum. When it comes to explaining the rules of conservation of momentum, I just get frustrated easily and cant remember the steps and formulas needed to answer the problem.

• I overcame these difficulties by…….

Working hard. I am still in the process of overcoming these difficulties, I have not yet buried them. I am a lot more comfortable with vectors. I just made up plenty of examples and took examples from the book and worked until I could do them with ease. With the conservation of momentum problems, I am making progress. I know the formulas better, but sometimes I just blank and forget how to set up my answer. The way that I will overcome this by the test is repetition. I will keep working at it until I know it like the back of my hand.

• My problem-solving skills and effort........

Have been pretty consistent. I missed out on some stuff and was delayed and confused when it came to working myself back up to where everyone else was. Due to my confusion and frustration with multiple topics  I found myself excluded and taking myself out of participating just to avoid further frustration. There were points where I didn’t want anything to do with physics because I was so mad. I was behind on a few blog post also. I made those up quickly and with good quality. My homework was consistent. I probably missed one or two but the rest were completed. I have a great sense of creativity. I enjoy coming up with ridiculous but great things in class. My self-confidence has dropped drastically this unit. I was thrown out of my comfort zone and wasn’t ready to anything thrown at me. I didn’t deal with failure well and it  

was hard to understand things. Like usual I love working with others. Ethan and i had the toughest podcast assignment, but i feel like our podcast was the best because we came together and just decided to work our hardest.

     My goal(s) for the next unit is to ………………. by doing …………………

My goal for the next unit is to stay on top of my work and understanding of the work. I had plenty of issues, but I didn’t find myself asking for the help I needed. I will be sure to ask for that help I need during the next unit.

Can I make connection? I can make an endless amount of connections to everyday life from the things I learned this unit. My afternoon activity is basketball. Due to newton’s third law, I know that when I jump to shoot when I push off the ground the ground pushes off me. Also when I shoot the ball as I push it towards the rim, it is pushing against me with equal force. 

Impulse Video Blog

This video was very straight forward and clear in explaining impulse and momentum. Other videos i found got into more difficult physics and were between 10-20 minutes long. Not only were they boring to watch but i had no idea what was going on. This video was completely understandable and short enough that i was interested the whole time. The videos states that impulses equal the force applied to an object times the amount of time that forces is applied. It also states that the impulse equals the change in momentum and that the change in momentum equals mass times the change in velocity.

Tides Video Blog

This video talks about how earth has a gravitational pull. It also says that the moon has a gravitational pull that pulls things such as the earth's water towards it. This causes tides. There are two types of tides. High tides and low tides. During high tides the water level rises and during low tides the water level drops. When the moon pulls the water, use picture as example, the top and bottom of the earth flatten out to compensate for the pull of the moon. The video also says the every six hours there is a tidal change.

Unit Blog Post

In this unit I learned a plethora of information. I learned about falling through the air, I learned about free fall, and I learned that free fall and falling through the air are two different concepts. While falling through the air your body is slowed down by the force of air resistance, but while you are in free fall there is no air resistance present. I also learned about projectile motion and how you can calculate the distance and height and object travels if you know the vertical and horizontal velocities.

At first understanding air resistance was very difficult. I couldn’t process the idea that if a parachute opened up then air resistance would become greater than the force of gravity and that it made acceleration negative (slower). When acceleration was negative, that meant that object was slowing down. I also didn’t understand that when an object was at constant velocity, velocity and acceleration were equal and opposite.

My effort towards class, blog posts, group works, and keeping the class enthusiastic is superb. I try to make people laugh every once in a while to keep the mood of the class positive. I work super hard during class, group work, and labs. I try to be as insightful and show that I understand what is happening in all of my blog post. I also think I am pretty persistent. My work is completed most of the time and I come prepared and ready to participate everyday. My self-confidence in physics has skyrocketed from the last unit. I don’t know if it is because math is involved but when it comes to equations like d=1/2(g)(t²), v=d/t, and F_weight-F_air/mass= acceleration, I get super excited and feel overly confident about my work.  

I also feel like I can take down difficult physics question, which in the first unit I was sky to approach.

When it comes to solving difficult problems I draw things out now. Whether t is a chart, graph, or just a box to make things easier and clearer for my brain to process.

My communication by spoken and written words has been swell in my opinion. I feel like I make my answers very clear and understandable. I absolutely love group work. Not only do I make sure to have fun with my partner, but I do make sure our work is above average. I also love group work because it allows you to understand and get to know someone you might not have talked to before. When that happens is just makes the class tighter and stronger.

My goal for the next unit is not to miss a single HW assignment, ace every quiz, and maintain at least a 95 test average.

Physics is all around us. Projectile motion connects to football, soccer, baseball basketball, tennis, etc. The concept of falling through the air not only connects to skydiving, but also base jumping, or just jumping in general.