Unit Blog

• In this unit I learned about....

a whole bunch of interesting information. I learned about centripetal and centrifugal force. This explained my childhood confusion on why I would always go left when we turned right and bump into the door. This is because of inertia. My body wanted to continue in the same path so it swayed to the right but the door stopped me. The door is the centripetal force. I also learned the centrifigual is not a force, but more of just the feeling that you are fleeing from the center of rotation. I also learned about rotational velocity and tangential velocity.

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

I found it very difficult to understand rotational inertia, rotational velocity, and tangential velocity. I could not name the difference between rotational velocity and tangential velocity. Also the concept of rotational inertia was just too confusing. I didnt understand how weight distribution affected speed.

• I overcame these difficulties by…….

studying on my own free time. I eventually understood everything that i was confused by. I started to understand that it was called tangential speed because the direction of motion of an object moving along a circular path was tangent to the circumference. I also learned that rotational velocity involved the number of rotations or revolutions per unit of time. I also understood the concept of rotational inertia. If mass was distributed towards the center of rotation the object would be more likely to rotate and the further the mass the less the object would rotate.

• My problem solving skills and effort 

have increased. I no longer allow myself to quit, instead i think of alternatives to make things work. For example, just the other day in class we did a lab on finding the mass of a meter stick. I was completely lost, but instead of quitting and giving up I instead used my head and thought of an easier way to do it. We ended up makin a seesaw and finding the mass that way. Using formulas such as; torque= lever arm x force, and counter clockwise rotation=clockwise rotation we were able to find that in fact the sides of the seesaw were equal and therefore the mass and the meter stick weighed the same.

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

not settle. I feel like i am at a good spot for physics but i know that i can do better! I am actually starting to become mentally attached to physics and I would not want that to lack because im satisfied. I am going to continue to work hard so that I can increase my understanding of physics, which is probably the most interesting class I have. 

This section of physics was much easier to connect to actual life. Just this summer my families car got a flat tire. We had to use a special tool to take the nuts off the cars tire. The lever arm on the tool was probably a foot long, big tool. But this made it much easier to take the thick nuts off the heavy car. Also my childhood questions of why I go left when we turn right has been answered. It is simply because of inertia. Also learning that centripetal force is the reason why I didn't fly out the car was interesting, too.