Connections: to the World Beyond the Book
The "Mu of your shoe" portion of the Force lab stations included physics that I could directly relate to my own life. I often play basketball with friends at Manoa District Park on the weekends and I always run into the dilemma of choosing which shoe to wear, as quite often I find myself slipping and having little friction between the court and the bottom of my shoe.
Before completing this activity I did not understand how frictional force was calculated and what factors impact the magnitude of frictional force. The equation to find frictional force is Ff= μ Fn; where Ff is frictional force, greek letter (Mu) is coefficient of friction and Fn is normal force. By manipulating the normal force the frictional force changed; normal force is directly proportional to frictional force. We tested my shoe, a nike sneaker, and Roger's shoe, a vans sneaker, and tested four different normal forces for each shoe. We graphed this data and the slope of the graph, Frictional force versus Force Normal, is the coefficient of friction. We discovered that Roger's shoe had a higher coefficient of friction and therefore better grip. Put simply, next time I play basketball I should consider wearing Vans sneakers over Nike sneakers.
Some goals to aim for in relation to making connections to the world beyond the book is to relate physic concepts to activities or objects to help me better understand, physic concepts. For example, I could relate acceleration to a car or kinetic energy to football. A long term goal could be to actually and calculate the different physic concepts for personal activities. For instance, if I wanted to find out how much kinetic energy my car has when going down the freeway, I would calculate it, instead of just relating kinetic energy to my car.
Before completing this activity I did not understand how frictional force was calculated and what factors impact the magnitude of frictional force. The equation to find frictional force is Ff= μ Fn; where Ff is frictional force, greek letter (Mu) is coefficient of friction and Fn is normal force. By manipulating the normal force the frictional force changed; normal force is directly proportional to frictional force. We tested my shoe, a nike sneaker, and Roger's shoe, a vans sneaker, and tested four different normal forces for each shoe. We graphed this data and the slope of the graph, Frictional force versus Force Normal, is the coefficient of friction. We discovered that Roger's shoe had a higher coefficient of friction and therefore better grip. Put simply, next time I play basketball I should consider wearing Vans sneakers over Nike sneakers.
Some goals to aim for in relation to making connections to the world beyond the book is to relate physic concepts to activities or objects to help me better understand, physic concepts. For example, I could relate acceleration to a car or kinetic energy to football. A long term goal could be to actually and calculate the different physic concepts for personal activities. For instance, if I wanted to find out how much kinetic energy my car has when going down the freeway, I would calculate it, instead of just relating kinetic energy to my car.
Perseverance/ Persistence
The Atwood's Machine section of the Force Stations lab required extreme perseverance and persistence by not only me but my partners as well. We first started this section of the lab on a Thursday, which physics is the last period of the day. My partners and I were exhausted and when we read this through the first time nothing made sense to us. I was confused on what the procedure was and couldn't fully comprehend what we were even testing for. Thankfully, the lab was not due that day, so I had the opportunity and time to understand the Atwood's machine over the weekend. I easily could have given up and put the entire burden on my partners' shoulders, but I showed persistence and tenacity. I completed the topic 2 problem set because the material covered in topic 2 directly relates to the Atwood's machine and its purpose. Once I finished the problem set, I opened the lab and read carefully the procedure, instructions, and questions. It finally made sense to me that the purpose of the Atwood's machine is to define the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration (Newton's second law of motion). When time came to continue the lab on Thursday, I was ready to get to work and make up for lost time; my partners came prepared as well and we were all on the same page. We were able to complete the Atwood's machine section in a timely manner, and other groups even came up to us to ask clarifying questions about this section. We discovered that acceleration is directly related to force but indirectly related to mass.
Some goals to aim for in relation to persistence and perseverance is to make the effort to understand the concept first. If I am stuck on a problem and at a stalemate; I will make sure to read through both the book and keynotes about the concept and ensure that I understand what exactly is going on. I could also watch youtube tutorial videos and do practice problems in the book as the solution is available in the back, so I can check my work. Persistence, I believe is the most important habit of mind in relation to physics as it is almost a guarantee that you wont understand a topic the first time around. It requires multiple attempts, failures, and plenty of frustration before success is achieved.
Some goals to aim for in relation to persistence and perseverance is to make the effort to understand the concept first. If I am stuck on a problem and at a stalemate; I will make sure to read through both the book and keynotes about the concept and ensure that I understand what exactly is going on. I could also watch youtube tutorial videos and do practice problems in the book as the solution is available in the back, so I can check my work. Persistence, I believe is the most important habit of mind in relation to physics as it is almost a guarantee that you wont understand a topic the first time around. It requires multiple attempts, failures, and plenty of frustration before success is achieved.
Effective use of data or gain knowledge
The toilet paper lab intro assisted me in gaining knowledge with using video physics, the app, and circular motion. In small groups, we did a mini lab of comparing a toiler paper roll's fall time when rolled out and dropped directly to the ground. We used video physics, which I never used before and now I know how to use it like a pro. Through this activity, I gained knowledge on using an app that will be extremely useful throughout the school year. After getting our data and displaying it in a graph, we discovered that the toilet paper in complete free fall hit the ground faster compared to the toilet paper that was rolled out (circular motion). I used this data effectively and calculated the acceleration for each graph. The math supported our data and came out correct, as it is an accepted fact in the scientific community that an object in circular motion will move slower than an object in complete free fall, given the object is identical.
Some goals to aim for in relation to effective use of data or gain knowledge is to constantly be considering which equations can be used to verify my data. Making the connection between experiments and labs with physics equations is vital and will help me better understand the concept I am testing. After completing a lab, I can take maybe 10-15 minutes to write down what I learned from this lab and what topic it falls under and how it may be connected to other topics. One of the main goals of mine is to be able to apply the equations I learn in the classroom with the data I collect in the field.
Some goals to aim for in relation to effective use of data or gain knowledge is to constantly be considering which equations can be used to verify my data. Making the connection between experiments and labs with physics equations is vital and will help me better understand the concept I am testing. After completing a lab, I can take maybe 10-15 minutes to write down what I learned from this lab and what topic it falls under and how it may be connected to other topics. One of the main goals of mine is to be able to apply the equations I learn in the classroom with the data I collect in the field.
Reflection
Quarter one was a success and I believe I am well on my way to becoming a successful physicist and scoring well on the AP/IB exam. This quarter's content was mostly things we covered last year, but I definitely got a much better understanding of these topics. This course in no way is a walk in the park and there were many long nights in which I contemplated my decision to take this course, but I am not one to give up and applied multiple habits of mind and specifically, connections to the real world, effective use of data, and persistence. These habits helped me excel in this course and made getting work done, correctly, possible. In each habit of mind I set goals for myself that I hope to complete little by little each quarter. My largest goal of this course is to get a college credit from this class. To complete this I will need to familiarize myself with each habit of mind and by the end of the year have an artifact for all habits.