Sleafphysics's Blog

May 5th 2010: Western Culture Global response

sleafphysics — Thu, 06 May 2010 02:23:41 +0000

1) According to the website, what are the fundamental principles/assumptions of Western Culture? Recognizing that these are the cultural values that have been instilled in you since you were old enough to crawl, how cognizant are you of the way that these values shape your world view?

Western Culture’s Fundamental Principles:
That human knowledge comes from reasoning and promotes individualism, happiness, rights, capitalism within the human community.
Western Culture Assumptions:
Its the “advanced civilization” because it is both accepting to all types of humans and it is always learning and improving its previous knowledge. Although whites created the culture, all races are not excluded from it, and many can adapt and learn the culture easily. It is the superior culture because of basic statistics and it is pro-human-culture.
Values and me:
I definitely find myself needing to prove things and back up things with reasoning before i believe it to be true. My judgments in trusting the truth is reasonable in my perspective because in the western culture i live in truth is extremely important. I am always putting things in two boxes either truth or lie, and anything in between i categorize as a lie. These judgments i make, make things more tangible and easier to comprehend, and in going through school it has made learning easier.

2) According to the site, who are some of the primary figures of importance in the development of Western Culture?

Aristotle, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Reisman ( God and other religious figures have importance too though because Western Culture did not want revolve around what they call a “dependent individual”

3) After searching through the site, what relationships between Newtonian Physics and the principles of Western Culture have you identified?

Like Newton, the Western Culture (according to this website), relied on reasoning and proofs rather than different imaginary beliefs. Newtonian physics challenged cultures to think beyond their religious beliefs, and into a “advanced culture”. Newtonian Physics “prooved” that heaven and earthly laws before his time, were not true. Both Newtonian Physics and the principles of Western Culture seem like they try to pull strong religious cultures away from what they believe is true, and try to give evidence to what they want those people to believe. For example, Newton described the Universal law of Gravity which challenged previous heavenly beliefs of planetary motion, which is similar to how western culture describes God, Muhammad, and other religious figures as beings that hold people back from individualism.

May 4th 2010: Project Presentation Outline

sleafphysics — Wed, 05 May 2010 00:40:36 +0000

Part 1: Explain why I chose this topic and show a clip of what drifting looks like (possibly a clip from the movie Tokyo drift)
love race car movies, and fascinated by stunts
interested in how it all works, and if it is possible

Part 2: Explain why i chose to study the Handbrake drift and then give a step by step “how to” (explain using a hand drawn diagram)
1. Build up speed in the first gear
2. Swing the wheel over sharply
3. Pull the handbrake (keeping finger on the button)
4. Dip the clutch
5. Release the handbrake and hold wheel straight
6. Accelerate out

Part 3: Describe the physics in each step of the turn, and what causes the car to “drift”….also explain how the driver maintains control of the car
1. acceleration
2. lose control slightly- direction and friction
3. tangential friction and rotational inertia
4. negative acceleration
5. gain control- decrease friction
6. acceleration

Part 4: Explain why and how drifting is so popular in movies, and in culture today
simplicity of a car stunt in comparison to others
growing popularity around the world (especially in japan)
done in almost any car (although dangerous, and costly)

April 18th 2010: Project Proposal

sleafphysics — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 02:48:38 +0000

1) My Project Topic is:
The physics of drifting a car (The Handbrake Drift)
2) I chose this project because….
I have always loved the movies The Fast and the Furious, and in one of the most recent movies they take a look at Drifting cars in Tokyo. After buying the DVD and watching all the behind the scene specials, i realized how interesting this skill was. I often see stunts in movies that are almost impossible to do in real life, but after watching this movie, i was drawn to how realistic this ‘drifting’ skill was. I want to do this project because i want to understand how people ‘drift’ cars in a controlled way.
3) The goal(s) of my project (what do you want to learn?):
The goals of my project are to understand the physics in a handbrake drift, and understand what it takes to ‘drift’ a car in a controlled manner. I also want to learn if this stunt is even as realistic as it seems, and what the chances are of mistakes. Is this stunt almost impossible like the rest of those stunts in race car movies, or is it just a little bit more realistic?
4) My finished product, due on May 15, will be (a PowerPoint presentation? video? experiment report? web site?):
A PowerPoint presentation, including diagrams of the physics of drifting and possibly mini clips of what drifting looks like. I also want to possibly include stats of how precise a person has to be when performing this stunt.
5) Here are two PROPERLY REFERENCED published journal articles/web sites that I will use as resources for my project.

“Drifting Techniques and How to Drift.” DRIFTING UK Car Clubs Drift Events ::.. Web. 19 Apr. 2010. .

“How to Drift a Car.” How to Videos, Tips and Instructions – Tipdeck.com. Web. 19 Apr. 2010. .

PHYSICS PROJECT

sleafphysics — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 00:34:32 +0000

1) I’m thinking that I might want to explore drifting cars for my Final Physics Project. Alternatively, I might choose to learn about car gear shifts instead . the link button isn’t working

http://www.driftlock.co.uk/drift-techniques.php

http://www.explainthatstuff.com/gears.html

Angular Momentum: March13th 2010

sleafphysics — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 23:07:32 +0000

How does Angular Momentum impact the design of the mousetrap car? Where in your design does the angular momentum exist and do you want to maximize or minimize the angular momentum in these locations?
The Angular Momentum is located in both the wheels and the lever arm. The Angular Moment basically impacts the rotation of the wheels and the rotation of the lever arm. This Angular momentum will determine how far the race car goes. The wheels should be large so that each rotation will cover large distances.The lever arm should be maximized too so that the car will travel a longer distance in the amount of time that the lever arm reaches from one side of the race car to the other. Both parts should be maximized, but at the same time should not be too heavy, because the overall mass of the race car should not be too heavy for the torque to pull, and thus will give the car a greater angular momentum.
What is the difference between rational inertia and angular momentum?
Rational Inertia is the constant amount that of the thing that is rotating, and angular momentum is the constant rate of rotation that object is accelerating by.

March 2nd 2010: Excersises 2 and 4

sleafphysics — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:32:38 +0000

2:The Rotational Speed of the smaller wheel is higher than the rotational speed of the larger wheel. This is because both the wheels rotate on different axises and the smaller wheel has a smaller revolution per unit of time.Assuming the belt doesn’t slip the tangential speed is the same on both wheels. The directional speed that is tangent to the surface of the ground includes both the small and large wheels.
4: Sue’s bike has a greater rotational speed because the smaller diameter means that the wheel has a smaller revolution per unit of time.

Feb. 10th 2010: Is Earth a “Closed System”?

sleafphysics — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:29:02 +0000

No the Earth is not a “closed system”. A “closed system” is a confined space where the total amount of mass/energy is constant. The Earth, on the other hand, Deflects, Absorbs, and Transmits energy through its atmosphere, thus the energy in the earth is not completely accounted for because some frequencies of energy escape from its atmosphere.

Feb. 4th 2010: Electric Potential, Voltage, Capacitor, and the Electrin Potential Energy

sleafphysics — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 02:25:40 +0000

Electric Potential:the amount of potential energy in an electric field…”potential energy per unit charge”…. electric potential
(volt) = electric potential energy (Joule) / charge (coulomb)
Voltage:The unit of measurement for Electric Potential is the volt, thus the Electric Potential is commonly called “voltage”
Capacitor:an object at which electric energy is stored (in nearly all electronic circuits)… they store the energy in “photoflash units”
Electric Potential Energy:An object has potential energy if it is in an electric “field”. If work is done to an object in an electric “field” then the potential energy changes.

Feb. 2nd 2010: Comparison and contrast on the concepts of momentum and kinetic energy

sleafphysics — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:05:36 +0000

Momentum and Kinetic Energy are both qualities of motion, but both are measured in different ways. Momentum is a vector quantity, and Kinetic Energy is a scalar quantity. As a vector quantity, Momentum is always conserved, therefore it has the ability to be either a negative or positive number, that cancels out in a total momentum equation to create an overall solution of zero. On the other hand, Kinetic energy is a scalar quantity and can only be a positive number, therefore the total kinetic energy cannot cancel out. The total Kinetic Energy can be lost or gained because it can change into different forms like sound or friction energy.

Jan. 31st 2010:Elastic and Inelastic Collisions

sleafphysics — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:08:47 +0000

Elastic Collisions:Kinetic Energy is conserved (conservation of momentum applies along with conservation of kinetic energy)
Inelastic Collisions:Kinetic Energy is not conserved (conservation of momentum applies only)