generating electricity

When I went on a trip this last past spring vacation, my family went to this really neat place that was really cool and informative (even though at first all I wanted to do was sleep). In fact, I was probably the last one to leave out of my entire family (I spent too much time at each attraction because they were all so cool and so full of physics!). If I could bring up just one of the attractions, it would be the one that you could generate electricity. I thought it was really cool because you could pedal really hard to make a certain wattage and try power up a lightbulb, a radio, a fan, or whatever else there was. Unfortunately, I could not use the attraction very long because some other people wanted their turn, so I had to bid ado to the fun mechanism. oh, boo hoo. On the bright side, I would be happy to go because they're really cool and informative and full of physics. :)

Transformers

It's a little late for my blog, but I plan on doing it anyways. So, this is a picture of a transformer. A transformer uses magnets to change the voltage and current of a circuit. They also help change the voltage of a power plant to be compatible with the voltage of an ordinary house. The really cool thing about transformers is that the power in a transformer remains constant, but the voltage goes up when the current goes down and vice-versa. Another really cool thing about transformers is that they do not have direct current, like a battery. In fact, they have something called alternating current. In the transformer, there are at least two copper coils. Both have a different amount of coils. The one with more coils will have a higher voltage and a lower current and with less coils there will be a lower voltage and a higher current. This is caused by an electromagnetic induction. :) Isn't it cool?

Wii Fit

This weekend, my parents surprised me and my siblings by buying Wii Fit. They had talked about getting this video game to inspire exercise for our family, but I did not actually believe that they would go out of their way to buy one. It's quite an amazing piece of technology, actually. Even though Wii Fit is supposed to be for exercise, I prefer to think of it as a bunch of interactive games that require vigorous movement.

In my opinion, the interesting thing about Wii Fit is that it includes a balanceboard. This piece of technology can calculate your center of mass, which they call the center of balance. The Wii Fit video game includes many exercises to help people with their sense of balance. There are many exercises that help people learn to control their center of balance.

The amazing Balance Board can also calculate the mass of an object standing on it as long as the object is less than or equal to 150 kg. Aren't video games exciting?

track season!

ah, it is such a "beautiful" time for the season of track to start. It's rainy, it's cold, it's miserable. But track has started, nonetheless, and it's time to get those spikes out of the closet. Everyone runs crazy fast; it's easy to forget that everyone starts off at a velocity of zero. Yes, velocity is the topic for today's blog.

Being a long jumper myself, I video-taped some of my fellow jumper's strutting their stuff. All long jumpers must start at the velocity of zero. Then, they accelerate as fast as they can, and at the end of the jump, they have reached the highest velocity possible so that they can jump as far as they can.

For the most effective jumps, the long jumper must try and stay consistent with each run. Each runner has a mark where they start from. Right before they jump, they lower their center of mass so that they can jump higher into the air for maximum results. Gravity pulls them down, but in my opinion, they look like they're flying for a brief moment.

I may be biased, but I really do believe that long jumping is the most interesting event in track!

house wiring

After my older brother was whisked off to the whimsical world of college, my parents have had a lot of free times on their hands (no more football games to attend, no more high school graduation to worry about for another year). So, with all that free time, they went out and bought a humongous amount of plants. Now that they spend so much time in the garden, my parents were in need to install a few lights here and there for seeing at nighttime. My dad, being a handy man and liking hands-on experiments, installed the lights by himself. He used parallel circuits, using Step by Step Guide Book on Home Wiring. That book has such great diagrams on how to do home wiring. So, using these diagrams, my dad used parallel circuits to make a few lights hang by the plants that he needs to take care of. It's a good thing, too, because if he used series circuit wiring, if one light went off, then all the lights would go off, and then it would be hard to find out which bulb was the one that is not working anymore. Parallel circuits really are great, but they use up more energy, unfortunately. Well, that's it. Signing off, in 5, 4, 3, 2 . . .

batteries

so this weekend, my cousins came over for a little party. While my cousins were at my house, they played halo 3 on the xbox 360 with my brother. they were having a lot of fun when suddenly one of my cousin's controller's went "boop" and the screen said that the controller was not connected to the xbox console any longer. This was because the batteries were dead and needed to be changed.

This got me thinking about physics. I looked at all the text on the battery (there is a LOT of text, apparently. I was shocked at how much, and I cannot believe that i never noticed the plentiful amount of text on a battery before) and it said that the AA battery has 1.5 volts, which means the electric potential difference is 1.5 volts. Of course, I noticed the plus and minus signs a long time ago, which are on opposite sides, indicating the higher potential energy and lower potential energy.

Batteries are so scientific :).

caution! beware of static electricity (at the gas pump)

Okay, so yesterday, my parents and I were in the same car doing errands (in the first time in forever, since I can drive myself now). We dropped my brother off at this school event, and then my parents went to Costco for some cheap gas (because everyone just absolutely hates buying gas, right?) When I was talking to my dad about the age when one can finally pump gas into a car, I noticed something I had never noticed before (because I was never looking for it before). There appeared to be a WARNING sign on the gas pump that I recall talking about in Physics just that week (or the week before, I cannot remember. All I can remember is that I could recall talking about it).

I was shocked (lol) by the dangers of static electricity when near a gas pump. Apparently, just accumulating static electricity from getting back into the car and gaining electrons from friction with the seat is dangerous! It could cause an explosion of sorts. And then there's the entire thing about only filling a container if its placed on the ground so that the container is "grounded" and therefore any extra electrons added to the system would harmlessly flow into the ground and stay relatively neutral. There are many dangers at a gas station, so beware for now on, yes?

walking around on a rug

Today, I was walking around the mall with my brother and sister to grab a bite to eat. When I'm lazy, I tend to drag my feet when walking. Suddenly, my brother bumped into and we both felt a shock! What could it be other than static electricity! Because the mall is air-conditioned, the air is less humid and there is more likely for static electricity to occur in an environment that has less water molecules in the air. Dragging my feet on the carpet at the mall caused friction and my body gained electrons! With all these factors in the mall, how could one NOT shock someone at the mall? After the first shock, my brother and I started to see who could shock the other person more. Unfortunately, we had to leave the mall, and outside we couldn't shock each other. I guess we couldn't build up static electricity outside because it was more humid. Shocking, isn't it?

merry go all around!

Ah, the merry-go-round. One of the most tame, but still fun and romantic, parts of a carnival. The Punahou Carnival is something I look forward to every year, and riding the merry-go-ride is something that is on my list this year. The cool thing now is, I know all the physics of a merry go round! I know that the centripetal force (center searching) is mass multiplied by the velocity squared and then divided by the radius of the ride. I also know that the centripetal force is friction to keep all the little horses moving in a circle and not tangent to the circle. The merry-go-round cannot go too fast, though. Otherwise, the centrifugal force (center fleeing) will be too great and make the person fly tangent to the circle. Thank goodness merry-go-rounds go slowly! There are no seatbelts to keep us strapped in if it were moving too fast!