last physics post

The future solution to generate electricity may lie in nuclear fusion. Right now nuclear plants use fission where large atoms are broken down into smaller elements and a mass defect. It occurs in a chain reaction where a neutron collides with the nucleus of an atom causing it to separate. The mass defect is translated into energy by the equation E=mc^2.
Fusion, on the other hand, is the combination of small elements into larger elements. Rather than using a rare uranium element, fusion requires isotopes of hydrogen. Since hydrogen is much more common, fusion can almost be considered a renewable energy source.

Fish

I was looking at fish in the water swimming by my feet when I tried to grab one out of the water. I thought that I was on path to grab the fish when in reality the light was refracting and my hand missed the fish. The index of refraction of the water is much greater than the index of air. Therefore light travels slower in water than in air. The frequency of the light is constant in both mediums.

The angles can be calculated using the formula nsin(x)=nsin(x)where n=the index of refraction.

Music

Music is nothing but physics and waves. A pluck of the string creates a wave of a specific length that produces a sound of a certain frequency. Air can also create a wave frequency like that of a flute, trumpet, or harmonica. The distinct sound of each instrument is caused by the unique combination of different wave lengths that make up the sound. When plotted on a graph, the sound can be as simple as a sine wave or complex like a heartbeat monitor.
Different harmonics can be created by using the same instrument. In this illustration, the tubing shows how different wave lengths can occur from the same tube.

mirror

I was looking at myself in the mirror when I noticed that I could see my whole body in a mirror that was no more than three feet tall. Why could this occur? I could see my feet because the light rays from my feet reflect off of the mirror at the halfway point between my feet and my eyes. The light from the top of my head reflects off of the mirror where it is halfway between the top of my head and my eyes. By increasing the distance to the mirror, a smaller angle of reflection is required and therefore the mirror can be shorter in length.

CD wave diffraction

So I was driving in my car listening to my CD when I realized that I had been taking waves for granted. Sound waves were being amplified by the speakers and reaching my ears. When I would change the balance and tilt of the car, different speakers changed their amplification in order to make the sound loudest at a specific point in the car. I also realized that a CD works by means of light diffraction. A laser is shown beneath the CD and reflected off of the CD back into a laser reader. The bottom of the CD contains grooves that cause the laser to be deflected back at different lengths. The constructive and destructive interferences allow the CD reader to process the light waves into sound waves.

Spoons

I was eating a cup of yogurt when I was staring into the spoon. I appeared upside down in the image. The spoon acted like a concave mirror and produced a real inverted image.The distance of the image appears at the distance x in the equation (1/distance of focus)-(1/Distance of object)=(1/x). The magnification of the object is equal to (height of the image)/(height of the object). The negative value shows that the image is inverted. The magnification is also equal to -(distance of image)/(distance of object).

Renewable energy & global warming

Jeff Mikulina presented ideas for the future of Hawaii's renewable energy crisis. The results of burning fossil fuels have released a lot of carbon dioxide into the air. There is a correlation between the increase of CO2 and the recent increase in global temperature. By using other ways to generate electricity, global warming can be stalled and maybe even stopped.
Mikulina presented the most effective methods of generating electricity in Hawaii. Solar electricity will take advantage of Hawaii's abundance of sunlight. Wind turbines are also very practical. The method that was new to me was the conversion of waves into electricity. Although it is a work in progress, buoys take advantage of what surrounds our islands.
We must all do our part to eleminate our carbon footprint.

Chinese food

I was eating at a Chinese restaurant when several spoons flew off of the spinning table in the center. The inward frictional forces of the spoons were less than the required mv^2/r that would have kept the spoons spinning in a circular motion. The spoons therefore traveled in a trajectory off of the table that is tangent to the rim of the table. The mustard, on the other hand, had a larger normal force and frictional constant that allowed the mustard to stay on the spinning table.
In this perfectly drawn picture, the block has a inward frictional force that keeps it on the table. One spoon flies off of the table at tangency since it does not have enough frictional force. A spoon that has a smaller radius is also traveling at a slower linear velocity than the other spoon.

Relative velocity

I was sitting in the back of a pickup truck while tossing a coin up in the air. At first when I tossed it relatively low, the coin seemed to fall as if I was sitting inside of the truck. It fell straight down in my perspective because it had the same horizontal velocity of the car. To someone on the sidewalk, however, it would look as if it was moving in a parabolic motion. When I threw the coin higher, however, the coin encountered a wind force that slowed down the horizontal motion of the coin. This resulted in the coin landing on the road in back of the tailgate. This drawing illustrates the air flow.
When the tailgate is up, an air pocket is formed. This helps the truck to be more aerodynamic. If the tailgate is down, the air current will have higher pressure above the bed, increasing the drag of the truck in motion.

Circuits

Physics has shown that when wired in parallel, potential difference does not change among resistors. This would be the ideal way to wire a house because a large potential difference will not be needed. Rather than be shared among resistors in series, resistors in parallel will have the same potential difference as the power source. If potential energy is high, power will increase(P=IV). Parallel is also ideal for wiring a house because if something like a light bulb burns out, the rest of the circuit will continue to work. In series, the entire circuit would not work because the circuit is broken at the bulb. The best example of this are christmas lights. If one bulb breaks, you would have to check each bulb to see which one broke if it is wired in series. Finding out which bulb burnt out would be a pain.

Air Pump

According to the regulation bounce of a basketball, when the ball is dropped at the full extension of the arm the ball should bounce to shoulder level. In order to inflate my slightly deflated ball, I needed to do work to move the pump. The work allowed air to be pushed into the ball. Unlike a heat engine where air currents do work, the pump required work and resulted in air change. The volume of the pump is compressed (isobaric) so that air flows out. The ball remained isochoric as the volume never changed.
The ball bounces higher once air is pumped in because the impact with the ground becomes more of an elastic collision with more air in the ball.
By using work to push the handle in, air flows out of the nozzle and into the ball creating more pressure.

Dr. Ignacio's Presentation

Dr. Ignacio was able to share a little insight to being an orthopedic surgeon. It was interesting to see the situations that required a "carpenter" to fix. Surgery required knowledge of not only biology, but many of the sciences including physics. She was able to convey all of the hard work and schooling needed in order to become a doctor in any field. She is an example of following your passion rather than following what others believe is right. She decided to work in the field of sports medicine and orthopedic surgery despite being outnumbered by many males. It was inspiring to see such a successful Iolani graduate.