Microcontroller Projects

Honors Physics II students recently completed their Arduino-based microcontroller projects. Check out this sweet laser MIDI guitar! Videos of each project can be found on our YouTube channel (accessible from the right sidebar of this page).

Exam Week

Photo by Sashamd

Exams are this week! Students will (hopefully) be studying like crazy in preparation for the big tests. I thought it would be an appropriate time to build a list of some exam taking tips. List any tips or suggestions you've heard about studying or taking exams. These can range from the sound, like being sure to get enough sleep the night before the test--to the ridiculous, like being sure to bring your lucky coin so you can flip it to answer the true/false section of your physics exam.

What advice or tips have you heard? Do you actually plan to use any of them?

Looking Back at First Semester

Photo courtesy of iStock.

This is the last week of first semester. We've encountered many physics topics so far, ranging from the trivial to the complex, and from the mundane to the exciting. Let's spend a few minutes reflecting on what we've done so far:

1. What do you think has been the most difficult topic we've covered so far?
2. What do you think has been the most exciting / thought-provoking topic?
3. Which topic would you have preferred to skip altogether?
4. Which topics have been the most mathematically challenging (this may or may not be the same as the answer to question 1)?
5. Are there any things you'd like to be done differently in second semester?

Do you agree or disagree with what other commentators are saying?

Gravity Sims

Four objects are shown gravitationally interacting.

In physics, we are studying the concepts of universal gravitation--the idea that every object in the universe with mass attracts every other object in the universe with mass. This force is directly proportional to the the product of the two masses involved and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the objects.

Our friends over at PhET have created a really cool gravity simulator graphing application. It can be found here. Head over to the PhET website and spend some time experimenting with the tool. Be sure to manually adjust the settings as well as to try all of the presets.

1. Which of the presets is the most "complicated" looking?
2. Which of the presets is your favorite? Why?
3. Under what conditions does the motion closely resemble circular motion?

Angry Projectiles

Angry Birds, available for a multitude of devices from Rovio.

It seems as though the talk of the school's hallways this holiday season is Angry Birds. I've heard countless students discussing playing the game on their new devices. To be honest, the popularity of the game is a bit of a mystery to me... ... I just don't find it all that much fun. I think puzzle games like Cut the Rope or Where's My Water are more challenging and fun, and they make better use of a muti-touch environment. For simple arcade fun, it's tough to beat Fruit Ninja. Perhaps the popularity of Angry Birds is not because of its awesome gameplay, but rather because of its ubiquity--one can play Angry birds on every make and model of computer or smart phone.

In any case, we are currently studying projectile motion in our physics class. If you think about it, the birds (and their "weapons") from Angry Birds can be thought of as projectiles. They fly through the air along parabolic trajectories. That got me thinking... ... what other "classic" games are variations of a similar idea? It seems like many games' primary control feature is that the player adjusts the elevation of some type of projectile launcher.

A few questions for consideration... ...

1. Do you like Angry Birds? Is it a great game?
2. Should we consider the angry birds to be projectiles (from a strict physics sense)? Explain.
3. What other games have you played where you are mainly adjusting the angle of inclination (elevation) of a projectile launcher? Are these fun games?

Sunrise, Sunset

Photo by Politikaner.

The winter solstice has come and gone (on December 22, 2011) for us. The solstice marks the shortest day of the year. It might come as surprise, then, to learn that December 22 was neither the day of the latest sunrise nor the earliest sunset. This seems counter-intuitive, doesn't it? To see what's going on here, let's try to answer a few questions. So that more can participate, please limit your response (at least initially) to just one question.

1. What was the date of the earliest sunset for Port Huron (in December, 2011 or January, 2012)? At what time did the sun set on this date?
2. What was the date of the latest sunrise for Port Huron (in December, 2011 or January, 2012)? At what time did the sun rise on this date?

Do a search for the word "analemma" and read about it.

1. What causes the analemma?
2. How is the analemma related to the earliest sunset and latest sunrise?