Cannons!

Yesterday in class we were given a new task: to build a cannon out of five pop cans and a ball made out of two Styrofoam cups held together with duct tape, and hope for it to go the furthest it can. We will be using ethanol as the liquid inside, and will light it up with a match. The objective of this assignment is to make the ball shoot the furthest, or at the least leave the cannon, and the creativity of the design. This will be done in groups of four, preferably your roller coaster group, but if not, then a group of your own. We will have the whole period on Thursday to build our design, and we will be shooting our cannons on Monday. Remember, you only get ONE try, so use it wisely!

With a little research online, you can find a clever and efficient way to build a cannon that will meet the requirements of the assignment, it is fairly simple to make in an hour, and can shoot the furthest. If you are able to cover all three of these areas, you will receive a satisfying mark.
In order to make a successful cannon, the launcher itself needs to be long so that the ball can travel inside it. Yo then need to connect the pop cans with duct tape, so that nothing leeks, and make a base, with your creativity.
Here is a link I found that shows how to make a cannon with five pop cans. In this video, they do not have a base, but it is easy to make one. However, the trick is to get the angle correct as to increase the flying distance of the ball!
Check it out!!!!!

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1006657/can_canon_with_soda_cans/


JUST FOR FUN!
Here is a video I found that shows how to make a potato cannon. It seems pretty intense and I enjoyed watching it, so if your interested, take a look. =)

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/699080/how_to_make_a_potato_canon/

-Peggy.

Inclines and Pulleys and Trains Oh My! Plus Equilibrium!

Another unit has ended and a new one has begun. Yes, after the painful kinematics test we wrote last week, we moved onto a new chapter in our fascinating physics textbook, NEWTONS! I must admit, Newtons is not easy, but it is interesting. If you know what you are doing, then it is a guaranteed A on the test and of course, exam. However, for ones who try to escape math as much as possible and find it hard to do math, like myself, need to work hard to try and understand the problems. There are only four different problems we are learning to solve in this chapter, and they are: equilibrium problems, inclines, pulleys and trains. They sound easy, no? Well what can I say. They are okay but they require a big chunk of your time, energy and brain to wrap your head around them.

Before I start, you need to know Newton's three rules.
Newton's first law, law of inertia, states: '' all objects will remain in a state of rest or continue to move with a constant velocity unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.''
Newton's second law states: '' the acceleration of an object depends inversely on its mass and directly on the unbalanced force applied to it.''
Newton's third law states: ''for every action force, there is an equal and opposite reaction force.''
Once you are familiar with these concepts, you can apply them to solve the four problems: equilibrium, incline, pulleys and trains.

EQUILIBRIUM: when all forces are balanced









INCLINE: Friction, Static




Friction:






Static:





PULLEYS:








TRAINS:






NOTE: For every problem, do not forget to draw the FREE BODY DIAGRAM, otherwise you will lose marks, and it might be more difficult to do the equations!

-Peggy.

Survival of the EGGS!

Humpty Dumpty's journey was very exciting and exhilarating for the past few days. I must inform you though that Humpty Dumpty is my group's egg in which we had to help survive a one story fall. We all had the task of having to build a cage made purely out of 25 straws and limited tape. We also had to make the cage in a way in which we could easily take the egg out if needed. We also could not do anything to our egg, like boil it or put tape on it or any other clever thing that comes to mind. On the day of the drop, Humpty Dumpty was very excited yet quit nervous too. He was unsure of the structure we had built for him and was terrified to even think that his short life may come to an abrupt end, with one bad stunt. Of course, being the hero he is, he had faith in our ability to keep him alive. With his belief and loyalty to the group, he agreed to experience this one story fall. As we anxiously waited at the bottom of the wall in which Humpty Dumpty would be dropped from, we wished him the best of luck. Here is what Humpty Dumpty's fall looked like in a snap shot.

When Humpty Dumpty landed, my group members and I took a picture of our beloved egg. Can you guess if Humpty Dumpty survived his fall or not?




By now your probably know that Humpty Dumpty's fall was SUCCESSFUL! He enjoyed his fall very much, and thanked us for letting him live another day. All thanks to our brilliant engineer minds, we were able to save an egg from cracking! Here is a picture of Humpty Dumpty's landing.




Until next time,
Bye!

-Peggy.

How does the marble drop?

What is the difference between holding a paper ball in your hand and dropping it into a container while walking versus running towards the container and dropping the ball in hopes of it landing in the container? Well, we you are walking and you drop the ball, the ball generally falls in a vertical motion, considering of course that there is no wind. However, when you run and drop the ball, the path of the ball will be curved. This is called a projectile. There are four types of projectiles.

Here is an example to help you grasp the concept better.

Example #1

Hope this clears up everything.
Thanks,

-Peggy.