Physics - Risk Assessments and Brainiacs

It's the DOUBLE period of physics on MONDAY! Yay! *^o^*

Today we explored the world of insulators on transmission lines. But I won't go into detail on that.

The innovations of technology! Everything was prepared for us on a powerpoint presentation that was put up onto the smart board installed in our lab. If the teacher wanted to make a note all she had to do was lift the "marker" and she could make a mark directly on the presentation. Gyaah!!! So cool! There was also a video hyperlink included in the powerpoint presentation but it failed to work. It doesn't matter. Techno rocks!

On a random note: I'm so happy that I managed to fit all my notes on insulators into one A4 page of paper! It feels so neat.

We also had a demonstration of a simple AC induction motor that consisted of a turntable, rare earth magnets and a suspended aluminum disk. Rare earth magnets are COOL. They are so strong that you can't just pull them apart - you have to push them apart. And watch out for fingers. What happens when I have a rare earth magnet and someone else brings another rare earth magnet close to mine? Right, they SNAP together. Because it was an accidental meeting of magnets that wasn't meant to happen, my index finger was in the way. SNAP. Right on my nail. It stung. It hurt. But rare earth magnets are still fun. Our physics teacher looked at me shaking life into my finger and made the comment that she should have probably made a risk assessment before conducting the experiment. Risks increase exponentially when I'm around. And then again, almost everything that comes into contact with me is either lethal or destroyed. That is why delicate things tend to avoid me, and I am grateful for that.

On the other hand, I learnt about some famous scientists. Max Planck, Albert Einstein and Millikan. Here's how they are all connected: Max Planck came up with a mathematical trick that explained the black body radiation curve, but he had no self-confidence in his idea because it violated the ideas of classical physics. Albert Einstein was his student, and he borrowed Planck's trick to create a hypothesis about the photoelectric effect that Max Planck had observed (but Planck didn't think anything about it). Millikan was the one who proved Albert's Einstein's hypothesis, effectively proving Max Planck's trick because Einstein's hypothesis involved the usage of the trick. What trick is that? It is the Planck's constant, h = 6.626 x 10^(-34) J.s, as well as the equation E = hf. Planck's trick was also the basis of quantum physics as we know it today. WOW that is so cool how one trick could string together a bunch of brainiacs and affect our world just like that. 

Okay, I'm going to stop my rant now and sign off because I'm exhausted and a little sick. When I'm feeling better, I may elaborate on this post and bore everyone to tears over how much I love physics. XD

Cheers!
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Crazy World

The world has gone crazy on me. After one term of discussing Einstein's theory of relativity and a sleepless night, everything looks a bit...weird.

I was walking back from school when I made the observation that the pole in my path was making its way towards me instead of me moving towards the pole. At the same time it was not me that was pushing against the earth and exerting a force that enables me to walk but the earth that was pushing against me and exerting a force equal to the force I exerted and thus allowing me to lift my feet. I felt that I was not "walking" but continually falling until a force is exerted by my other foot that enables me to "stop"/change direction. It was also observed that I could be "stationary" and it was the earth that was moving beneath my feet and changing the direction in which I was traveling.

This is pretty scary stuff for a person who was surviving the day on a high from sleep deprivation. I ran home and curled up in bed, only to feel the bed moving beneath me. But I figured out that this could be explained by the blood circulating my head. Flinging myself onto the bed after running did not allow my circulating blood to change direction as fast as my body was, thus creating the sensation that I (or the bed) was still moving even though I had already "stopped". Liquids don't move as fast as solids. Same reason why the Earth has a spare tire around its equator.

Happy Anzac Day! Although theoretically I should not say "happy" since it is in fact a day that commemorates the Australian and New Zealand soldiers that fought in WWI.

I probably should stop thinking so much now. I'd be heaps happier.

Cheers!
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Physics - Motors and generators

Double physics today: fun, fun, fun!!!!

We've just started a new topic this week: motors and generators. For some peculiar reason learning about motors and generators makes me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. Today was the real word application of current carrying wires and external magnetic fields. Since we were learning about torque force, we were given a demonstration on how a simple motor works.

The simple motor with three wire coils, 2 curved magnets and a tiny commutator was connected to the power box and whooo!!! It spun!!! Then we saw a motor that a science teacher had made, and it was absolutely fantastic. It consisted of a wire wrapped around a cork with nails in it attached to a pencil, permanent bar magnets, felt and copper strips, all taped on a board. Its simplicity was stunning. AND IT WORKED!!!! Okay, it did not manage to turned 360 degrees, but it made it to 90 degrees! So amazing...I want to make one someday.

As a bonus reward for being so attentive we were given Newton's cradle to play with. *tap tap tap tap tap* XD I could stare at that the whole day and not get bored. If I have one of those I'll never get anything done. So maybe it's a good thing I don't have one of those. Haha. Another toy that was demonstrated was the chicken toy. Four chickens on a board with their pivoting necks attached to strings that ended in a weight under the board, and when you swung the weight, the heads bobbed up and down, pecking at the board!!! Gaaaah I love the toys physics has.

Cheers!
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Physics - Relativity XD

I have just been reprimanded by three persons for making their life even more complicated. Oh well.

What happened was physics. We were talking about relativity, a concept that is a bit hard for me to get my head around. I keep firing questions at the teacher. (keep is in present tense because it is an ongoing process). One of the many questions I asked whether l₀ of the length contraction equation referred to the length at rest according to the moving object or according to the stationary object (I later figured out that I was being redundant as this was basically the same thing in both frames of reference. No wonder everyone got so confused. They probably subconsciously spotted the mistake but couldn’t figure out why my question was so confusing. XP). After much discussion, it was determined that l₀ referred to the proper length in any inertial frame.

Another question was about time dilation (moving clocks measure slowly), ie. a clock travelling at the speed of light would record a time shorter than a stationary clock on earth. Here comes my dilemma: according to time dilation, a human being travelling at the speed of light would theoretically age slower than a human being on Earth. OH GOSH. I think I’ve just stumbled across a formula for immortality!!!... NOT.

What took me about two days to figure out was this: it doesn’t matter whether time appears to move slower or faster. Human beings have an average lifespan of under one century in Earth years that cannot be changed (just yet). Just because the time seems to go by slowly does not necessarily warrant a longer life. It’s just like how one year on Mars is about 2 years (687days) on Earth. Does that mean we age slower on Mars? No…. the only thing that is different is the measurement. We are STILL aging. Dang!! Bang goes that immortality theory.

By the time I figured all this out, lots of people were getting confused. Sorry, I can’t help it. It’s my nature to ask until something clicks in my head, regardless of whether other people understand it. XD

Haha, I like this article. It’s just a little bit of insight that I have gleaned from my physics class. As well as the incredibly long thought process of mine.

Cheers!

PS: When an object approaches to the speed of light, energy gradually becomes the equivalent of mass. Despite the fact that energy gets converted to mass when an object is travelling at c, increasing the mass exponentially, why hasn’t anyone tried to stop that process of mass conversion and instead use that energy to continue the acceleration of the rocket? (Put in layman terms, it seems easy, but apparently it’s a long and difficult process way beyond anything I’m likely to learn in High School. Sigh.)

PPS: Does anyone know how to insert equations into the blog? Or would you guys recommend me to stay completely off the subject because it bores you to sleep?

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