Free Fall Lab

Free Fall Lab

 

Procedure: Measure a distance above the ground. Drop your object and with a timer, determine how long it takes to hit the ground. Be as precise as possible. Repeat 4 more times.
Choose a new distance and perform the same procedure again. Repeat for 5 different distances, including two that are over 3 meters in length.

 

 

Table 1

 

Distance (m) Trial 1 (s) Trial 2 (s) Trial 3 (s) Trial 4 (s) Trial 5 (s) Avg time (s)

 

School Vector Lab

School Vector Lab

 

With a tape measure, measure the distance for each case from Mr. Hayes’ class room. We will set the directions such that facing the front of the school is North. You are only allowed to move North, South, East or West. You cannot go at any angle.

 

Part 1:

  1. Measure the distance to Mrs. Patterson’s (room 1117) classroom. Accurately measure the North, South, East and West displacements for every part of the trip.
  2. Measure the distance to Ms. Robertson’s (room 213) classroom. Accurately measure the North, South, East and West displacements for every part of the trip.
  3. Measure the distance to Ms. Moyse’s (room 242) classroom. Accurately measure the North, South, East and West displacements for every part of the trip.
  4. Measure the distance to Mr. Reynolds’s classroom (room 405). Accurately measure the North, South, East and West displacements for every part of the trip.
  5. Measure the distance to Mr. Wilkinson’s (room 825 h) office. Accurately measure the North, South, East and West displacements for every part of the trip.
  6. Measure the distance to the Mr. Hall’s classroom (room 234). Accurately measure the North, South, East and West displacements for every part of the trip.

Pennium Lab

Title: Radioactive decay of Pennium.

 

Purpose: To simulate nuclear rate of decay.

 

Procedure:

  1. Obtain 100 pennies, 100 bb’s and a cup.
  2. Put the pennies in the cup and shake.
  3. Pour pennies on the table.
  4. Remove the “heads” and replace each “heads” with a bb.

Count the “tails” and record the number in the data table.

  1. Place the “tails” back into the cup with the bb’s and repeat steps 2-3

until no pennies remain.

 

Data/Observation:

Trial                        # of pennies on tails

0                                              100

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Catapult Lab

Procedure: Using your catapult, place a small projectile in the box. Pull the catapult arm all the way back until it touches the base. Release the catapult and measure the distance from the front of the catapult to the place where the object first lands. Repeat 5 times to get an accurate distance. Repeat the same procedure, but now measure the maximum height of the projectile. Repeat 5 times to get an accurate height.

 

 

 

 

Calculate the velocity of the projectile in the x and y direction and then calculate the velocity and direction of the projectile.

Ramp Lab

Procedure:

Measure out a distance of 1 meter on the ramp. Raise your ramp to a height of 20 cm at the one meter mark.

  1. Measure out a distance of 0.25 meters on the ramp. Place your ball or marble at the 0.25 meter mark on the ramp. Time the ball rolling down the ramp and record the time in your notebook. Do this five times and get an average.
  2. Measure out a distance of 0.5 meters on the ramp. Place your ball or marble at the 0.5 meter mark on the ramp. Time the ball rolling down the ramp and record the time in your notebook. Do this five times and get an average.
  3. Measure out a distance of 1 meter on the ramp. Place your ball or marble at the 1 meter mark on the ramp. Time the ball rolling down the ramp and record the time in your notebook. Do this five times and get an average.
  4. Measure out a distance of 1.5 meters (or the full length of the ramp). Place your ball or marble at the 1.5 meter mark on the ramp. Time the ball rolling down the ramp and record the time in your notebook. Do this five times and get an average.
  5. Measure out a distance of 2.0 meters (or 1.25 meters if the ramp is less than 2.0 meters long) on the ramp. Place your ball or marble at the 2.0 meter mark on the ramp. Time the ball rolling down the ramp and record the time in your notebook. Do this five times and get an average.

 

 

 

 

 

Table 1

Run 1 (s) Run 2 (s) Run 3 (s) Run 4 (s) Run 5 (s) Avg time (s)
0.25 m
0.5 m
1.0 m
1.5 m
2.0 m

 

 

For all my overacheivers….

Here is the summer reading assignment for anyone that wants to go ahead and get started.

Honors Physics Summer Reading

For each of the following questions, answer fully and completely. Give several justifications for your answers. Each answer should be one to three paragraphs in length and should discuss the physics related to your answer. Before each paragraph please put the chapter and superhero that you are discussing for each question.

1. In the first section, which superhero did you feel was the least likely to really exist and explain why?
2. In the first section, which storyline related to a super hero did you find the most interesting and why?
3. In the second section, which superhero did you relate with the most and why?
4. In the second section, what physics related topic did you find most interesting. Would you like to spend extra time learning more about that topic?
5. The third section is the shortest. Describe a superhero that could be invented that would be relevant to this section. What would his/her powers be? What types of problems would they encounter?
6. Mr. Hayes’ favorite quote is on page (page in version 1). What quote stood out the most for you and why?

Each question is worth 16 pts. You gain 4 points for turning in the assignment as well.
0- 12 pts for the depth of discussion related to physics, 0- 4 pts for grammar, spelling and punctuation.

Welcome to physics

Physics, the scary science. Hopefully we will learn that physics is just the science to explain why the world does what it does.

Physics is the study of matter and energy and how they interact. Physics often uses mathmatical models to help predict the behavior of matter and energy. It is crucial for your success that you have a strong math background. You will be expected to derive or manipulate equations to solve for a given variable.

While I do have some calculators, your own would be preferred. If you have a graphing calculator, you may find that useful, since you can check the graphs that you will draw. My calculators are always first come, first use.

Finally, physics is in my opinion, the key science. It is the science that ties biology (the study of life) to chemistry (the study of elements). It also is used to explain not only what we observe, but attempts to explain why we observe it.

Item list for this class will include:
1 spiral notebook or 3 ring binder and loose leaf paper for taking notes
1 bound graph paper composition notebook college rule will be acceptable
pen or pencil will be required daily
dry erase markers used with erase boards
scientific calculator graphing calculators are ok
colored pencils needed 2nd semester