Egg Drop

For this blog post, I’ll be talking about our egg drop lab. This past week, we constructed our own egg drop that descended Akahi’s 3.5-story tall building. As seen in the video, our contraption was made out of three sponges. We made a hole for the egg in the middle of a sponge and two supportive sponges on either side of it. To secure it together we used two headbands to keep the sponges in place. In order for an egg drop to be successful (an egg with no cracks in it) it needs to contain a small amount mass, materials that may crush easily or absorb the shock to the egg, a protective casing for it, and a way for the contraption to generate an increase in its fall time. Without a doubt, the sponges allowed our egg to survive its ‘cliff of impending death’ with its light weight, absorbable shock media, and a big enough surface area to decrease the fall time (the time it took to reach the ground).

Static Equilibrium

In the picture above, static equilibrium is shown when both of them fight over the same toy. The angles shown using the arrows are a better view of what is taking place. When this happens there is an invisible arrow connecting the two. The force of the dog to the right + the force of the dog to the left =the resultant. But to place the toy into a state of static equilibrium, a third force would have to be added. Shown in blue, the static equilibrium + the force of the two dogs will balance out which also equals to zero.

Inertia in Motion

The dictionary definition of inertia is the property of matter by which it retains its state of rest or its velocity along a straight line so long as it is not acted upon by an external force. In the picture above, I created a home example to better describe how inertia works. In the picture to the right, a bottle cap is at rest on top of a post card. In the picture there are two forces acting upon the bottle cap, the weight that is going down (g down) and the N (normal force that pushes upward). It will continue to stay at rest due to these two balanced forces until an outside force acts upon it. As I quickly move the post card, the bottle cap falls into the cup. Hence, the reason for the change in velocity when an external force is acted upon it.

Momentum

The first impression of momentum that I have is of the pendulum ball. When you raise and let go of the outside ball it creates force that is transformed to the other side. I also think of a kick or battement (French for an outward movement which is also a dance term). The more force you push on the ground will allow the momentum of the battement to increase in height. Although these are only my interpretation of what momentum is, the real and standardized definition for momentum is a property of a moving body that the body has by virtue of its mass and motion and that is equal to the product of the body's mass and velocity; broadly: a property of a moving body that determines the length of time required to bring it to rest when under the action of a constant force or moment found in the Webster’s Dictionary. In simpler words, momentum is the strength or force gained by motion or by a series of events.

Impulse

In sports such as baseball, tennis, racquetball and volleyball, impulse is a big part in scoring points. The idea of following through relates to impulse and its intentions. When you follow through, you increase your contact time with the ball, making it travel farther. Impulse is a change of momentum and its m (mass) x v (velocity). The picture above this shows exactly what impulse is and what was explained previously. 

Newton's #2 Law

Newton’s Second Law states that the acceleration and speed of an object depends on the net force acting upon the object and the mass of it. In a supermarket, when adults push the shopping cart, it seems easier for them than if a child was pushing it. This shows that the more mass a person has, the faster and easier it will be to do work. Another example is the variation of weight the shopping cart has. The more weight, it has the harder it is than if you were to take everything out and push it around.

Newton’s #1 Law

Newton’s First Law explains that objects at rest tend to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. We’ve studied and found that this law is valid through our trials in our collision lab. Another example of this is when you have to shake the ketchup bottle to get ketchup out of it. Most times when you reach to put ketchup on your food, you’re caught with the situation of having to use Newton’s 1^st Law. As said before, objects that are at rest tend to stay at rest. (the stubborn ketchup) but when you add a force to place objects in motion, it stays in motion (ketchup placed in motion) unless it is encountered by an unbalanced force (the bottle cap that is at the top of the bottle).