Semester 1 Summary

So far, this course has honestly been tiring and at some times intense while at the same time being very intriguing. So much information has been packed into 3 long weeks that have felt like months. Generally speaking, we've only learned the basics of kinematics and forces, but 3 weeks ago I definitely wouldn't have been able to tell you how high a cliff is based on how long it takes to fall down, finding a distance based on the angle of trajectory, or even the now seemingly simple difference between velocity and speed. Although things were challenging quite often, it always kept me engaged and i can't remember a time where I wasn't either paying full attention or working on something. Besides the obvious challenges such as "I don't understand what the question is saying" and "We weren't learning this when I left to go to the bathroom 2 minutes ago," I can honestly say that I didn't have any problems whatsoever for these past 3 weeks. Overall, I have had a great time so far and anxiously look forward to the second semester.

Unit 6 Part 1

Unit 6 so far has been a continuation of what we learned at the end of unit 5. We're currently continuing the topics of forces and force diagrams with the equation "Fnet = ma" which means that the total amount of force is equal to the acceleration of the object multiplied by the mass. If given an example such as an elevator with a person inside of it moving at a constant rate, the floor of the elevator would be pushing up with the same force as your weight. This lesson, we learned about objects accelerating and therefore changing the value of the net force. This topic so far has been a little difficult because making the force diagrams confuses me a lot, but its getting easier as I practice the concept more.

Unit 5 Part 2

In part 2 of Unit 5, we learned about forces. For objects at equilibrium which means that the object is not accelerating, what ever force is being applied to the object, theres an equal and opposite force being applied. Using examples such as a desk being pulled in one direction, we could find the force of friction acting in the opposite direction based on how hard you're pulling the desk. We also learned about how important the force of friction is. In the pictures below, you can see that the first picture shows how with a lot of friction, it makes it difficult to slide across the surface, but in the second picture, we see that by adding soap and water, we reduce friction making it easier to slide across the surface.

Unit 5 part 1

We began unit 5 today and focused the day mainly on vectors in two dimensions. A vector can be defined basically as a quantity with magnitude and direction. They can be illustrated on a piece of paper as a line with a starting point and an arrow. Today, we learned that the sum of two vectors would be the displacement of the distances on a two dimensional surface. We practiced adding vectors on the x and y axes but then moved on the the much more complicated diagonal vectors. We learned to add these vectors by making a right triangle for each diagonal vector and turning them into the hypotenuse for a right triangle. We then found the values for the opposite and adjacent sides of the triangle(s) and found the sum of the x and y values of the axes to be used to make another right triangle. That last set of vectors will form a right triangle where the hypotenuse of that triangle would be the final answer along with angle (data)

Unit 4 Part 2

In the second part of unit 4 we began to learn about angles of trajectory. Using what we learned from part one, we used trigonometry when we were given the initial velocity (hypotenuse) to find the vertical (opposite leg) velocity and horizontal (adjacent leg) velocity. In the picture below, we launched a n air powered rocket into the air and measured its muzzle or initial velocity. We then used that and an angle to predict approximately where the rocket would land. Although our rocket didn't hit its target due to some technical difficulties with our base, i was surprised to see how accurate some of the other student's calculations were.

Unit 4 part 1

Today we began unit 4. the first part of unit 4 has been basically about how far objects travel when traveling along the x axis at a constant velocity. We learned that the x and y axes are completely independence from each other disregarding time. For example, my picture was of when Mr. Blake explained that when a pen is dropped and a pen is thrown horizontally, gravity has the same acceleration on both objects meaning that they would hit the ground at the same time but land in different places. Using this information, we then learned how to predict about where something would land depending on things like height from the ground, initial velocity, etc using the equations we leaned in the previous unit.

Unit 3 Summary

Unit 3 was focused mainly on these three equations:

d = ½ at^2 + VoT

V = Vo + at

V^2 = Vo^2 + 2ad

These equations were basically used to help us figure out the values of unknown variables such as figuring out the height of a cliff when given the time it takes to fall down and the acceleration of gravity.

Additionally to that, we learned the relationships between graphs displaying data like position versus time, velocity versus time, and acceleration versus time. These graphs helped us apply our equations to real life situations such as balls falling, cars increasing speed, etc.

Overall, Unit 3 was very interesting and challenging because of a lot of technical things such as making mathematical errors in calculations. The most challenging part for me was keeping track of which direction the acceleration was working in. For example, if a ball was thrown up, gravity is accelerating it down but the value of gravity can change between 9.8 m/s^2 to -9.8 m/s^2 depending on whether or not you wanted the cliff to be x meters high or –x meters high.

Unit 3 part 2

In the second part of unit 3, we began using much more of the different types of equations to find unknown variables such as acceleration, average velocity, etc. Using d=at^2/2 + VoT (nicknamed DAT) V=Vo +at (VAT) and V^2=Vo2 + 2ad (VAD) we learned how to plug in our data to solve for different problems such as the height of a cliff that takes 6 seconds to fall from. Given the variables a for acceleration (9.8m/s^2 or the force of gravity) t for time which was 6, and an initial velocity (Vo) of 0, we could plug in the numbers

d=(9.8m/s^2)(6sec^2)/2+0 where d (distance) would equal 176.4 meters.

we could also use this to find the velocity of when its about to hit the ground using

V^2 = 2(9.8m/s^2)(176.4m) where the velocity would be 58.8m/s.

once we learn how to factor in things such as air resistance, i feel like this lesson could very much be applied to everyday usage.

Unit 3 Part 1

Today, we finished Unit 2 and began Unit 3. Unit 3 has started off as a continuation of kinematics like the previous 2 units but this time contains "acceleration versus time" graphs. We are now learning the full relationships between position versus time, velocity versus time, and acceleration versus time. Acceleration is defined as "any change in velocity" changing my whole perspective on the concept of acceleration. This means that slowing down, increasing speed, and even changing directions ca be defined as acceleration. In the activity we did today, we took two different types of wheeled objects: a board with wheels and a skateboard as shown in the picture below. We then positioned timers across as 45 meter sloped straightaway and graphed the data for 9 different positions going down the hill giving us an exponential graph shape.

Unit 2 part 2

In part 2 of unit 2, we continued kinematics. This time instead of a "Position Versus Time" graph, we used a "Velocity Versus Time" graph. We learned 2 very important rules when dealing with velocity versus time graphs which were that the curve of a velocity versus time graph would show acceleration and that the areas under the curve are the distances traveled over the relative time. To show this, we did a lab involving a distance sensor (shown in the picture below) where we tried to match different shapes on a position versus time graph and then created a velocity versus time graphs to accompany them.

Unit 2

Unit 2 was all about Kinematics which is the study of motion. Today we did the "Physics Olympics" lab which compared the velocities of different activities such as running, walking and jogging. Using our data, we made a graph where the independent variable (time) showed a direct relationship with the dependent variable (distance traveled) for all 4 activities. Then, we learned how to find the average velocity which was the total distance traveled (per activity) divided by the total time elapsed of the same activity which gave us the slope of the line (average velocity) in meters per second. Doing this lab demonstrated the applications of the formula for velocity and vectors. Once we better grasped the ideas of going in straight lines which on a graph would create a positive slope and therefore a positive velocity, we then added in things like change in velocity, immediate velocity, and negative velocity which was essentially going in the opposite direction. This graph shows our data from the lab we did in class.

Physics Unit 1

In unit 1, we learned about the different types of relationships between dependent and independent variables based on the shapes of a graph, the algebraic equations to go along with them, how to use scientific notation, and dimensional analysis. In the first part of unit 1, we learned how to record data correctly on a graph (differentiating between the independent variable which would be the x axis and the dependent variable which would be the y axis) and how to use the equations based on the shape of the graph to predict the value of the dependent variable based on the results of previous data. in the second part of unit one, we practiced the use of scientific notation and then applied it to dimensional analysis so that it would be easier to convert and visualize numbers with a large amount of digits. I would have chosen to take a picture of the "Pendulum Lab" that we did during class to represent unit 1 as it was a very important lab in aiding our understanding of the different types of graphs and relationships between variables, but i failed to remember to take a picture so I chose to substitute it with a picture of one of our graphs that we made in the lab. One of the most important things i learned in this lab was that many factors can come into play causing our data to differ from what is considered "correct" and that having a larger amount of data would give us a better understanding of the relationship of our variables.

Letter and Picture of Introduction

My name is Brent Tokumi, i live in Ewa, I'm 15 years old, my birthday is July 16th 1997, and I'm an upcoming junior. I've been attending Punahou School since I was in 7th grade and it has been an incredible life-changing experience. My hobbies include gaming and playing the guitar. I personally don't consider myself one of the best students because i tend to have a lack of motivation to accomplish tasks such as homework and studying for test which is related to a lot of what I want to accomplish in this course. The results of my poor study habits this past year has given me motivation to try to start studying harder and trying to learn more in my classes. So far in high school, i have only taken regular biology and chemistry and i have finished algebra 1 and geometry. My picture contains a few of the things i use to record music (except for the computer because i have my own but was using the school issued computer) and it best represents me because its my favorite activity in the world when i have good ideas and has brought me together with a couple of my best friends.