Week 6 Reflection

This week in physics, we wrapped up unit 2 (velocity) and are now on to unit 6 (forces). On Monday we worked on the T-Bone Challenge, in which we had to position two cars and make them form a "T" when hitting. However, the most difficult part about the challenge was where to place the cars behind the specified tape lines. In order to figure this out, my group had to calculate the speed of both cars, as they had different velocities, measure the distance from the tape line to the tapped x, and figure out how the distance and speed correlated with each other. The first try we missed the target by barely an inch, but we nailed it the second time by repositioning our cars in order to create the "T" of the cars. This activity finished our first unit off.

On Tuesday, our class moved on to the forces unit and we began looking at the difference between mass, weight, and force. It was concluded that mass is when one object contains the total weight, such as muscle mass. Weight is the force exerted on an object. For example, your mass would be the weight of your total body mass, but your weight is the force you exert on the ground/chair/ect. In simplier terms, weight is the same thing as force. I had never really explored the difference between these terms and had no idea before learning it in this class. Everyone thinks they are synonymous, but they indeed are not.

Today (Friday), we began discovering the relation between mass and weight by measuring different masses and their forces using a "forceometer". It was concluded that the larger the mass used, the larger the force the object can exert. For example, a 500 gram mass can exert 5 newtons worth of force, and a 1000 gram mass can exert 10 newtons of force. Because of the delayed pep assembly, we weren't able to get much farther other than finding data, graphing, and equation, but I'm understanding the idea of the lab and the process of it. And as you know, it's all about the process, not the answer.

Signing out from TmPhys12