Wednesday, October 20, 2010

A Reflection of Vectors and Projectile Motion's Past

     In this unit I learned about vectors and prjectile motion. This is what I learned about projectile motion. While studying projectile motion I learned that there are always two components you have to consider, the horizontal (x) and vertical (y). While the vertical component changes velocity, the horizontal does not because the horizontal component does not have the variable of gravity while the vertical does. The factors of this lesson that I thought were confusing and that I could not understand were the formulas for the projectile motion at an angle problems. My problem-solving skills helped me in this lesson because most of the time I can find the other formulas based off of one of the formulas. I can make plently of connections to this unit. When I hunt of course my bullet is not going to just go straight forever because I have learned that there is a vertical component to the shot. Also when I throw the Shot Put I can now, roughly, grasp an idea of where it will land if I estimate my angle and velocity. I also learned a great deal about vectors. With vectors I learned how to plot them correctly on a graph by showing the length as the magnitude and the direction of the line the direction of the vector. What I found difficult about vectors is how to know when to subtract 180 or add 180 and etc. Wtih my problem solving skills I have been succesful in finding out how to use the -180 and +180 by using trial and error, but thats only when I have the answer. In my life there are vectors when I run because I can calculate the velocity which is a vector. I learned much in this unit of physics about projectile motion and vectors.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

WARNING: Gravity Hurts

     Mrs. Gende had us create a Tagxedo about Kinematics, as you can see mine below. Mrs. Gende also had us create a comic using pixton about a concept of Kinematics, I chose gravity. My comic explains acceleration due to gravity. Gravity is a term used for the downward acceleration when something is falling, and also the upward acceleration when something is thrown up. In my comic I present an example of downward acceleration due to gravity. In it the object ( in this case a person,) has a downward acceleration of 9.8 m/s². When the person is thrown upward he maintains his acceleration of -9.8 m/s² which causes his speed to gradually decrease, except in this case because of Mrs. Gende's super kick. Gravity is explained in a very understandable way in my comic.