11/15 Miley

First thing we did in physics today was check over homework, which was pg. 75-76 of our lab manual. Most of the problems occurred on the back of our homework. Most of us believed that since N was equal and opposite to W, that N and W were an action-reaction pair. But since both N and W were acting on the apple, an action-reaction pair was impossible. An action-reaction pair only occurs when the action and reaction after on different objects. We also later had to clarify that that hand and apple were an action-reaction pair because both forces were acting on different objects (the apple pushes on the hand and the hand pushes on the apple). Also, when the N force was increased to 2 Newtons, the apple accelerated upward and the magnitude in comparison to W was twice as much. The last question also needed some clarification. Since the apple left the hand, N force would be zero causing the net force only to be the value of W since it's the only force acting upon the object. After reviewing the homework, Mrs. Coats-Haan handed out our homework for the evening, Newton's Law. We then had time to work on our lab "Rocket Power" which was from pages 85-86 of our lab manual. Our team struggled with this lab at first because we didn’t tape the balloon on correctly, but also because Nathan and Clay were lost without their other “I <3 Team Life” members Michael and Johnny. On top of the heart break of doing his first lab without “I <3 Team Life”, Mrs. Coats-Haan abused Nathan by throwing tape at him. But as we continued, the lab became easier. We first had to hold a string across the room with a half of a straw on it. We then had to blow up a balloon and tape the balloon onto the piece of straw as we held the neck of the balloon to make sure the air wasn’t released. Then we let the balloon go and watched it goes across the string. We did this procedure several times, but with a different independent variable by changing the degree the balloon was released at. We then built a rocket using two balloons and a bottom-less cup. Nathan at first had some trouble creating the rocket, but with some words of wisdom from Johnny he was able to build the rocket and we were able to finish the lab. The idea behind the rocket is that the second balloon would lose its air as the cup was released from rocket. Since the cup and balloon were gone, the other balloon lost mass allowing it to accelerate faster. This lab was able to demonstrate Newton’s Second Law of Motion stating the idea that mass and acceleration are inversely proportional. Through this lab, we can also answer the question of why rockets have stages. Just as our rocket needed to lose mass, the stages of a rocket help it to lose mass through the release of fuel. The smaller mass gives the rocket a larger acceleration giving the rocket the energy it needs to leave the Earth. All in all, today’s physics class was very entertaining and knowledgeable.